The’Jeezes disease’
Okay,I’ve decided that the atheists who criticize the social evils perpetrated in the name of religion – are right…
Of course I’m a committed, believing, (reasonably open-minded) Jew.
But you’d have to be blind to deny all the ills that were perpetrated by the followers of Jeezes or Muhamit.
I believe in G-od. I believe in G-od’s ultimate goodness. I believe in
G-od’s love for us, for His creation. I believe that He has let His will be known in a pretty clear way to humanity…
Now, practically all the religious people on the planet, Muslims and X-ians and the Jews, all agree that at some point in the biblical times, the Creator of the Heaven & Earth had made himself known to the world. He had made His WILL known to us.
So, basically all religions agree that G-od is good, wants us to be good and to love one another, just as He loves us.
Now, that is where the Jeezes – disease comes in. For the X-ians and the Muslims, it is not enuff to believe in G-od and to do good deeds, help each other & pray for G-od’s mercy. No! You have to believe that G-od came down as Jeezes, or spoke to Mohamit thru the angel Gabriel. Otherwise you are no good!!!
IT IS NOT ENUFF 2 BE A GOOD, G-OD LOVING PERSON! IT IS NOT ENUFF TO DO GOOD DEEDS, HELP YOUR NEIGHBOR, TRY YOUR BEST TO FULFILL G-OD’S WILL. NO. YOU CAN ONLY DO IT UNDER THE BANNER OF MOHAMIT OR Jeezes. WHY? NO IDEA…
Don’t get me wrong! I give the X-ians the right to their beliefs. It’s okay with me! It is okay for them to believe that the symbol of G-od’s love for them was His coming down in human form and dying for our sins.
BUT WHAT IS WRONG WITH BELIEVING IN G-OD’S GOODNESS WITHOUT CLAIMING THAT HE HAD SHOWN HIMSELF as Jeezes???
You have to remember that this one single ‘detail’ had cost MILLIONS of innocent lives. American Indians, Jews, Pagans…
Same with the Muslims: I could be a G-od fearing person who gives zakah(charity), who prays (salah) the proscribed number of times, eat pure halal food, etc. But if I refuse to believe that the angel Gabriel has revealed the final prophecy to Mohamit, I’m a ‘kaffir’ – a nonbeliever!!!
And a duty of all believing Muslims is, if I refuse to join them, is, to subjugate me!!! At all costs!!! Which in practice has translated to oppression and murder. Yes. Check your history books. If you are a good Muslim, you have to struggle to subdue the Earth for Allah’s sake.
Well, if I’m ALREADY a believer and a follower of Allah? Not good enuff! I also have to believe that the final prophecy came thru Mohamit! All other prophecies, according to the Muslims have been ‘corrupted’… and you are not acceptable to G-od, unless you proclaim Mohamit as the chief prophet, last and best!!!
What really irks me is the fact that on the surface, all three religions seem to teach the same thing, at least as far as the basics are concerned: You have to be good, do good, believe in G-od, help each other, believe in G-od’s goodness and His love of mankind.
We all believe (we=X-ians, muslims & jews) that our actions are not really expected to be perfect. We can accomplish anything only with G-od’s help. Xians call it grace.
We Jews don’t have any special single word for it, I think. But we believe the same thing. There is a concept of ‘matnas chinam’ – an ‘undeserved gift’ from G-od to us. We have to actively do good, to help us earn our heavenly reward. What that means: We strive to do good, but we are aware that ultimately it all comes down as G-od’s ‘chesed’- kindness.
We can only try. G-od’s love for us is what REALLY does the trick.
The Muslims believe, basically the same thing: that the purpose of our existence is to submit ourselves to G-od. The word ‘islam’ means-submission.
So, according to all three religions, if we are doing the will of G-od, doing our best to be good & humble, doing good deeds for G-od’s glory, not for our own reasons, we are fulfilling our earthly goal here on Earth. And, according to all three religions, we get our heavenly reward in the world to come.
SO, DEAR PEOPLE, I AM ASKING YOU: WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THE PROBLEM? WHY ARE THE MUSLIMS KILLING EACH OTHER, AS WELL AS US?
WHY HAVE THE X-IANS BEEN KILLING THE JEWS AND THE MUSLIMS THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY?
We are, basically the same; we worship the same G-od(we all agree on that), which is the whole purpose, after all…
We only disagree which prophet was the biggest and the most ‘powerful’…
But isn’t it missing the point? Focusing on G-od’s messenger instead of G-od Himself?
The X-ians believe that Jeezes was basically, G-od Himself.
So,if a Jew worships G-od honestly and tries his/her best to do G-od’s will, and sincerely submits to G-od’s will, and prays for G-od’s forgiveness and grace and believes in G-od’s goodness and mercy, -but without calling it <Jeezes>, isn’t it enuff??? isn’t my belief in One G-od good enuff?
Well, as signified by thousands of years of X-ian persecution of the Jewish people, inquisitions, crusades, pogroms, etc, it was not enuff!
Same with Muslims… It is not enuff for the Muslims that we believe in
G-od. No! As long as we refuse to proclaim that Mohamit is the last, final, and the most perfect prophet- we are not “MUSLIMS”. So we must be subjugated or killed or be treated as subhumans, without any rights. If you don’t believe me, just google ‘rightsof non-muslims in muslim countries‘ or Non–Muslims under Islam
As a Jewish guy, I’d ask a muslim: how exactly had islam improved or changed anything major in the worship of G-od? Belief in His unity & Omnipotence? We have it in the Torah- CheckV. Submission to G-od? Check V. Charity? Check V. Fasting? Check V.We’ve even got the pilgrimage holidays and the fasts, just like Hajj and Ramadan… (we got the three pilgrimage festivals and several fasts, Yom Kippur being the major one)
By the way, it was written inthe Torah FIRST. So, how exactly had Mohamit improved the faith? Allhe did was taught it to the Arab nations. But they had used it as an excuse to kill & pillage the non-islamic nations.
What in the world are we killing each other for? The prophets were sent to bring peace & unity among nations, not as an excuse to kill each other!!!
I can ask the same question of a X-ian guy: what has Jeezes changed or added to the main idea of service of One and Only G-od?
X-ians like to portray the ‘old’ testament as a bunch of rules, impossible to follow, with an angry G-od, just waiting to ‘trip us up’ and send us some punishment. They claim that the G-od in the ‘old’ testament is unapproachable, while the ‘new’ testament is all fluffy-touchy-feely.
Hello people. It is the same G-od. Open the Torah. Learn its lessons. Read the prophets, the Psalms, Song of Songs… It really shows what a close, loving relationship G-od has with his people.
The “old’ testament is forever. G-od doesn’t change his mind. There is no expiration date on G-od’s love or kindness or his expectations of us. He knows we are not perfect, but he still loves us. He believes in us. He gave us his word for a reason- to follow his teachings and cleave to him, like to a loving parent.
The Torah was given to people -not to angels or robots. G-od gave us the Torah PRECISELY because we are not perfect -to help us become better.
The ‘golden rule’comes from the Torah, from the ‘old’ part…(Leviticus 19:18 &18:34). It wasn’t Jeezes’ invention!!!
G-od’s love? Deuteronomy 7:7, 7:8, 4:37, 10:15, 23:5
Isaiah 43:1-4,Psalms (4, 5, 37, 103, 136, many more), Song of Songs gushes with G-od’s love for us. Yes, the ‘old’ testament.
But, if the X-ians want to believe that Jebus was G-od and his coming was meant to bring us closer to G-od, that’s okay. You won’t see Jews running around killing people for their believe in Jebus or Mohamit.
Forgiveness? HoseaChapter 14:2-3, Kings 8:46-53, Jonah 3, Ezekiel 18:19-23 (“As forthe wicked man, if he should turn away from all his sins which hedid, and safeguard all My decrees, and do justice and righteousness;he shall surely live. He will not die. All his transgressions whichhe committed will not be remembered against him. For therighteousness which he did, he shall live. Do I desire at all thedeath of the wicked man — the words of my Lord, God — is it notrather his return from his ways, that he might live.)”
But the X-ians claim that G-od’s love and forgiveness CAN ONLY COME THRU Jeezes. So- if you refuse to accept Jeezes- no matter what you do, no matter how dedicated and righteous and humble and submitted to G-od’s will you are, you are not good enuff and you will go to Hell!
This is what I call ‘the Jeezes Disease’ = my way or … HELL!!!
Is that a way to bring unity and love? Did Jeezes cause unity or enmity? How did the Church manage to ‘convince’ European pagans to become X-ian? Through fire and sword. Read an eye-opening historical novel “Poland” by James Michener. It describes historically, how the X-ian Templar knights have managed to ‘convert’ the pagan Europe: basically, whichever poor shmo pagan had objected to kissing Jeezes’ toes, they would kill him and his whole village. Or t least ruin the whole city financially.
Nobody was even mentioning the ‘other cheek’ among the Templars. Neither among the conquistadors in the New World. The Indians weren’tYoshke’s followers, no, they prayed to the Great Spirit of the Universe. So they got butchered by the ‘morally advanced’ & merciful followers of Jeezes. Thanx G-od that Judaism had never participated in such genocides.
What exactly had the ‘new’ testament added, except an excuse to hate others? People have picked on some unessential differences and made those differences MORE IMPORTANT THAN OUR UNIFYING FACTORS.
I know that there are ‘Jeezes-inspired’ thousands on earth today who would feel that they are betraying G-od’s only son who has died for our sins and we can only come to Him thru Jeezes … G-od’s own grace isn’t good enough…
It must be only G-od’s grace as shown thru Jeezes. Nothing else is any good! Does it make sense?
Do you really believe that a just, loving G-od would punish His people for being loyal to His teachings?
Ultimately, what is the purpose of Jeezes‘ coming and dying, according to the X-ians? -To teach us about G-od’s grace,His love for us, His willingness to love and accept us – in spiteof our sinfulness.
No honest or sane X-ian priest or cleric would tell you that killing, stealing or raping is okay if you only accept G-od’s grace. They would all say the same thing, just what the rabbis and the imams say: that we have to submit ourselves to the will of G-od, while trying to do good deeds for His sake, (while remembering that our good deeds are not really a reason we will get our heavenly reward of becoming close to G-od — rather G-od’s grace and love for us is the reason…’)
But no good X-ian will say that. They will spend their time and money to get a Jew or a Muslim -at all costs- to say specifically that they accept Jeezes the Messiah, king, savior etc. Isn’t G-od enuff? Guess not for them…
So too, the Muslims, even though they share all these main points of their faith with us, they will try to either convince us to accept their version (with Mohamit as the last prophet), or they will try to subjugate us as non-muslims.
Now:the question you all have been waiting for:
What does Judaism teach about other faiths??? Do I have to become Jewish to come close to G-od?
Do I have to start eating kosher & keep Shabbat even though I’m not Jewish, to gain G-od’s forgiveness/grace/love/closeness/etc ?
Simple answer: no! you are okay just the way you are!!! As long as you conduct yourselves according to the above mentioned ideals,
if you live trying your best to do G-od’s will, avoid immorality, murder, cruelty and worshiping false gods… you are okay the way you are!!!
Isn’t it good news? Finally, nobody is trying to change you. Finally, you are accepted the way you are!
And-you can have your Jeezes or Mohamit! As long as you won’t worship them as gods, you are okay!!! Just don’t lose the ‘main idea’ of your religion: God!!!
After all, X-anity & Islam both agree that G-od has indeed revealed His will to us on Mount Sinai? X-anity and Islam agree that Moses has faithfully given over G-od’s word to us?
So why shouldn’t we try to live according to G-od’s word?
Keep it simple: be good, do good & stick to G-od!
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