#and it works because Judaism came before Christianity and Islam!

[crafty-butch]

Embalmed

A short story by me (tw: body horror, self-harm kinda)

Did you know embalming isn't actually that common, worldwide? I didn't. Sure, there are some famous exceptions–looking at you, pharaohs–but embalming random schlubs is mostly a US thing. Plenty of religions ban it outright. Islam, Judaism, several branches of Christianity…

Bear with me. I promise I have a point.

Anyway, I've got no opinion on what God wants us to do with our corpses. I've never been religious. I'm still not, weird as that sounds. But I'm with Islam, Judaism, and several branches of Christianity on this one. Just skip the embalming and bury the body before it starts to rot. It'll be easier for everyone, on the off chance someone decides to bring them back.

No, this isn't a joke. Look, I'm not saying it's likely, okay? I know the stats. Less than twenty confirmed resurrections in the last half-century. Maybe twice that many ambiguous cases. Actually ambiguous, that is. Just because someone is flaired “unconfirmed” on r/Resurrected doesn't mean there's a chance in Hell they're legit. So, yeah, I get it's unlikely. But let's jump back to embalming real quick.

You know how it works, right? At least vaguely? Blood goes out, formaldehyde goes in. Well, that's step one. Step two is sucking all the non-blood fluids out of your body cavity and swapping those for embalming fluid too. They also sew your mouth shut, stuff some cotton in you to stop any leaking–I could go on, but I won't. Like I said, I don't have any issue with embalming from a treatment-of-the-dead-body standpoint. I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad for embalming Great-Aunt Edith, here. I'm just saying, if the dead body becomes an alive body, you can see why there might be some issues.

Yeah, yeah, I know what you're going to say: “It's magic, dumbass.” And, yes, it is. That's why waking up with your mouth sewn shut and your body stuffed full of formaldehyde doesn't immediately kill you again. Doesn't make it fun, though.

Okay, maybe I shouldn't focus on the mouth thing. I'm sure it's happened to someone, but my sister cut the stitches out before she brought me back. She was thorough like that. I just feel like it's easier to picture, you know? Mouth won't open and hurts when you try. The rest of it's harder.

I don't blame my sister for not dealing with the formaldehyde. I know there wasn't much she could do about it. If she'd had more time, I'm sure she could've come up with something, but once you've dug up a body, you're kind of on a (ha) deadline. If someone sees you, you're done. So I get it. I've had a lot of time to think it over, and I'm still not sure what she could've done better. Other than just letting me stay dead.

I don't want to sound ungrateful, but…maybe I am? A little bit? I know that's an awful thing to say. It's not like I wanted to die. That's not what this is about. It's also not about how super amazingly great the afterlife is. Sorry to disappoint, but I have no idea. I don't remember anything between the hospital and waking up on the grass with a chest full of embalming fluid. Does that mean there's nothing after? Or did coming back just give me amnesia? No idea. I leave that one to the philosophers.

My sister probably would've had an opinion.

She was always…

Let me tell you about my sister.

She was great. I'm not saying this because of what happened. She really was incredible. Almost perfect. One of those people who's so smart and so kind and so beautiful and so goddamn humble but not so humble you can even accuse them of humblebragging, to the point where you can't help but hate them a little for making you look so fucking shitty in comparison and then you feel like the biggest bitch in the world and that just makes you hate them more.

Okay, maybe she wasn't quite as perfect as all that. After I came back, I learned some things. Turns out she was just as much of a fuckup as me, in her own way. She was just better at hiding it. But I never met that version of her. In my memories, she's still just Little Miss Impossibly Perfect. I wish she'd told me about any of it. Maybe…

No, that isn't fair. Why would she tell me anything that could get her in trouble? Maybe I would've hated her less, or maybe I would've just gone and told our parents. Even once we grew up. Would I really have been able to resist knocking her off that pedestal? I'd like to think I would, but come on. Look how I'm talking about her. And that's after she sold her soul for me.

If you're thinking right now that the world probably would've been better off with her instead of me, you're not the only one. Don't worry, I won't take it personally. Or maybe you're not thinking that at all. I've been told I project onto other people.

Maybe you're just confused about why I'm talking about her in the past tense. After all, it's not like selling your soul kills you, and you've probably never met someone unensouled. Or maybe you have, and you know exactly why I'm talking like this. Probably not, though. There are a lot more unensouled than there are people who were resurrected–people sell their souls for all sorts of reasons–but there are a lot more fakers too. Pro tip: if someone claiming they sold their soul gives any sign of caring about literally anything, including whether you believe them, they're lying to you.

So, yeah, she's still here. I know I keep saying it, but I'm not religious. I don't think my sister is burning in Hell while her empty husk sits up here, and if you ask me, that's just a real convenient excuse not to help the person who's still right there in front of you. Whatever a “soul” actually is, there's clearly someone here.

Sorry, I might be preaching to the choir here. And I don't want to sound like I think every religious person thinks that way. I just made the mistake of talking to my parents this weekend, and I'm still a little mad. Or a lot mad. Look, I know I'm getting off topic. Just, real quick, I want to explain.

She's still my sister. I'm not denying that. I keep saying she was this or she was that because she's not really any of those things anymore. She's not cruel, but she doesn't care enough to be kind. I'm sure she's still smart, but she doesn't actually want to use her smarts for anything. She barely eats if I don't pester her into it. I don't think she'd have an opinion on what my lack of memory says about the afterlife anymore. But, hey, maybe she would. Maybe I should ask.

Anyway. None of this is really my point. My point is, waking up next to your own open grave is freaky enough when you're not choking on formaldehyde. It took weeks before I was mostly bleeding blood again. (Yeah, I checked. Don't judge. You'd be curious too.) I coughed up embalming fluid for months. My insides still don't feel quite right. I could get them checked out, but I'll be honest with you. I don't want to know. I haven't been anywhere near a doctor since I got back.

I know, you don't think this will happen to you. No one you know is the right combination of smart enough to wade through all the bullshit to figure out how to revive you and stupid enough to go through with it. And you're probably right. But I thought that too.

[beardedmrbean]

Weird question what is the importance of Jerusalem for Christians and Jews? Was Jerusalem the capital of ancient Israel and why Christians like the Templars wanted to retake it?

I got long, I'm gonna TL:DR; at the end ____________________

Jerusalem was the capital of the united kingdom of Israel, well after Saul at least David moved it there and Solomon built the temple there on the piece of land that is called "the temple mount" in English at least which is the single holiest site in Judaism, which if you speak to the remaining Samaritans you will hear different since they claim to be the ones following the true way and their capital was Samaria and their temple was on Mount Gerizim that was after the split of united Israel after the death of Solomon got Judea and Samaria.

Babylonians came in and destroyed and looted the first temple Solomon's Temple in in 587 BC, Assyrians had gotten Samaria and scattered it's people to the wing the best they could getting us The Ten Lost Tribes.

Eventually the Persian empire, (guys from the battle of Thermopylae aka 300 Spartan thing) KO'd the Babylonian empire and they were a lot nicer and also understood the politics of not getting in the way of local faiths because that's one of those things people will die for.

So Cyrus the Great gave his cup-bearer Nehemiah permission to go home and rebuild his city and its temple, so construction on the Second Temple started in 516 BC. (there's lots of extrabiblical stuff to back this up btw, in case you wondered it's not all just stuff from the Torah, names may be different that's fine tho) Ezekiel came in and rededicated it and began teaching "The Law ™" and over time it was expanded and eventually Herod the Great (same one from the Christmas story that killed all the babies looking for Jesus) got it all done and if we look at the timeline and that little bit of info about Herod we can see why Christians are so attached to the place too.

The Temple held the Holy of Holies, which is where the Ark of the Covenant (from Indiana Jones, lol) was kept had the original 10 commandment tablets a jar of mana and Aaron's staff in it and the actual location was considered the conduit between this world and the other, inelegant way to put it but still. It's where the high priest could go once a year and offer a sacrifice for the people, on Yom Kippur the holiest day in both Judaism and Samaratinsim (they agree mazel tov) I remember something about a rope being tied to their leg and they had to wear bells just in case they were "smited" and needed to be "removed" not sure how real that is.

With all of that it should be fairly simple to figure out why Jewish people are so attached to it, and the Jesus connection what with the whole bit about the money changers and flipping tables taking place in the courtyard of that temple, the whole last bit of each of the gospels starting well before the triumphal entrance on what Christians call Palm Sunday all the way through the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension that was all in and around Jerusalem.

Jews were ending their Passover Seder with L'Shana Haba'ah B'Yerushalayim (Next year in Jerusalem) starting somewhere in the 1400's from what I can see as a wish to be able to go home and worship and fellowship in their own homeland among other reasons.

So here we have the previously mentioned Temple Mount

That bit where it says "Western Wall" is a remnant from the 2nd temple, Jesus touched that and may have taught while using it to shade himself it's all happened there.

The city is in the DNA of every Jewish person and by extension Christians though not as deeply ingrained.

Then we get to Islam, as you see in the image up there they built a mosque on top of the location for the Jewish Temple, it's how history works may have been some middle finger flipping when it happened but as history goes that's how a invading conquering force does thing, always have.

Dome of the rock there on the inside looks like this

The exposed bit there is goes by several names, "Foundation Stone" is one, it's believed by (some) Jews that this is the location where the Holy of Holies was/is and for Muslims it's where Muhammad ascended went on his "night journey" spoke directly to both Moses and Allah to get the law for Muslims some of it at least.

Spot under that rock is the "well of souls" bet you can guess what significance that has.

So bringing it all together and hitting the TL:DR at the same time. _____________________________-

TL:DR; all 3 Abrahamic faiths are very attached to the city of Jerusalem and its surrounding area because it plays a central part in the stories of them.

Jews were there first so they get the strongest claim imho but as it sits it is a holy and revered site for all 3 faiths because it's deeply connected to them all both physically and spiritually.

Slightly less holy to Muslims since their temple mount buildings are just the third most sacred place in Islam, but still dreadfully sacred. ______________

Sorry this was really long, hope it was slightly interesting at least if you read it, it's as accurate as I could make it without spending a lot more time fact checking myself too.

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

I have some different opinions about religion than when I started on here. I was a lot angrier towards Christianity as someone growing up in an evangelical home when I first started posting and was pretty vocal about it. In hindsight, there are some things I said that were perhaps not my place such as about Islam, because I was angry with how some people here view any criticism of non Christian religions as “cultural Christianity” and would shut down apostates. My view now is that “not every religion is Christianity and there are things that aren’t your place to talk about”, “Christianity is not inherently evil or abusive” and “viewing every other religion as more progressive or better than Christianity invalidates those who suffered and leads to Chauvanist attitudes” are all statements that can coexist. Before I created even an account, I was browsing tumblr a lot and came across many Jumblr blogs here that portrayed Judaism as the progressive religion that was the opposite of American Christianity. I fell for a lot of the jumblr rhetoric that claimed “Christianity, atheism and Islam” are inherently antisemitic and it made me hold some prejudice against people who did not deserve it including Muslim classmates I had and that view basically condemns billions of people as evil or bigoted.

So many people using that talking point turned out to be Zionists which makes their view that anyone born in a religion is part of it forever make a lot more sense. I am not sure if atheist or ex Christian works as a label for me as I am still figuring that out. I still respect and validate ex Christians who have suffered and are treated poorly by progressives here but I am starting to think some of the ways trauma is expressed here is detrimental to the cause and only fuels persecution complexes. @roundearthsociety talked about this, but a lot of people here on both left and right view religion as a club people join because of their moral or political beliefs and don’t understand how some can just have faith in it.

I still am a bit angry that I fell for the Chauvanist attitudes of Zionist jumblr converts and had times I agreed with Zionism myself. Avoidance is not a good way to deal with trauma or emotional baggage and I had a phase where I considered conversion to Judaism to escape what I saw as an irredeemable and hateful religion. Talking to people on r/exjew and @bringmemyrocks sort of changed that. Before anyone comes at me, I don’t hate Jews or Judaism and I do condemn Christian, atheist or Muslim antisemitism, but viewing any criticism of it or Zionism is not that different from evangelical persecution complexes, same with viewing anyone outside the religion as the enemy. I am sorry for some of the things I have said before like calling Islam toxic, but I am in a different place now than months ago.

[judd051]

Is "Wicca" a religion?

Before we can ask if Wicca or Neopaganism are “religions”, we must question what we mean by religion, and whence those ideas arose.

I majored on Religious Studies at UC Berkeley.  In the first course every major took – RS 90a – the first book we read was The Meaning and End of Religion by Wilfred Cantwell Smith.  It pointed out to the many students who came in making assumptions about what a religion was and wasn’t that, among the so-called “Big Five” religions…

Christianity – refers to the followers of an incarnate god, Christ

Buddhism – refers to the followers of an enlightened teacher, the Buddha

Islam – refers to the followers of  the teachings in a Book, the Qur’an

Judaism – refers to the members of a tribe

Hinduism – refers to “everybody on the other side of that river” (the Indus) from the point of view of European colonizers

These are all wildly different categories yet we lump them together under the term “religions”.  Smith argued for abandoning the term “religion” altogether and instead using “faith” and “practice”.

Yet Smith was still coming from the assumption that religion necessarily involves “faith”.  When I started doing public education on behalf of Craft groups back in 1985, I enjoyed responding to the question “What do Witches (as we used the term back then) believe?”  I would respond by reminding people of the (then) recent interview series on PBS that the journalist Bill Moyers did with mythographer Joseph Campbell.  It was most Americans’ first exposure to global mythology, Eastern religions, and Indigenous traditions.  At the end of the series, Moyers asked Campbell “What do you believe?”  Campbell replied, “I don’t need belief; I have experience.”

Neopaganism, I would explain, was a religion that did not require a leap of faith.  We were never asked or expected to believe something.  We were taught techniques that could lead to a direct experience of the Divine.  If those techniques worked for you, and your experience of the Divine was similar to ours, then you would stay.  If they didn’t, then we would help you find somewhere else that did work for you.  I only “believed” in things I had experienced myself or were logical extensions of my experience.

When I started doing interfaith work, many Witches had problems with the terms “interfaith” and “faith traditions”, since we didn’t see ourselves as having anything to do with “faith”, but the terminology was there and in widespread use and there really wasn’t anything we could do about it.  It was in widespread use because the organizers of global interfaith had – by and large – been Christians, and they projected their own ideas about “religion” onto the rest of the world.  This became a problem when the United Religions Initiative was forming.  Many of the global representatives at the organizing Summits from around the world objected to the term “religion”.  In the end, the URI had to adopt the language “religions, spiritual expressions, and indigenous traditions” (where once they would have said just “religions”) before everybody was satisfied.

Coming from a religious studies background, and if I have to the time to go into sufficient depth, I will explain to non-Pagans that the best way to understand modern Neopaganism is as a “religious context”, much as we understand Chinese religion or classical Greek religion.  In all three groups, most people have a general religious sense and spiritual connection to the world, but then go to “specialists” for different needs…

In classical Greece & Rome, I would go to the Apollo temple if I need healing, or I might become an initiate of the Eleusinian Mysteries if I felt so inclined, or pursue the Mysteries of Mithras if I was a soldier, but these things weren’t exclusive.  It was common for people to be members of more than one group.

In Chinese religion, I might go to the Taoists for healing or a spell, or to the Confucians for help preparing for a civil service position, or become a Budhhist monk if I wanted to pursue a contemplative life.  And traditional veneration of ancestors and local spirits was a part of everyone’s lives.

In modern Neopaganism, I might just live a generically Pagan life – caring for the Earth, going to the occasional Sabbat – or I might become a Wiccan initiate (our analog to the ancient Mysteries) – or I might attend a Heathen seidh ceremony if I needed the answer to a question in my life, or a Kemetic group, or a Druidic group, whatever, but none of these are exclusive and it’s quite common for a Neopagan to be an attendee, initiate, or even priest/ess of more than one tradition simultaneously.

That’s because these are “religious contexts” rather than religions.

So, I see Wicca as a Mystery path within the religious context of Neopaganism.  I am a High Priest of a Wiccan coven, but I am an initiate of two Craft Traditions, a first Degree Druid (RDNA), and even a first Degree member of the Church of Satan (but that’s another story).  I’ve attended Heathen, Lucumi, and Kemetic ceremonies in the US, indigenous ceremonies in Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico, Inca ceremonies in Peru, Shinto ceremonies in South Africa & the US, traditional Chinese ceremonies in Taiwanese temples, and even Maya ceremonies deep in the Guatemalan jungle.

These are not “spiritual tourism”.  These are all important parts of my spiritual / religious life as a Neopagan.

All that being said, I get the impression that many newer Witches are rejecting all things “religious”, in part because they come at all this with the same assumptions I discussed above.  I often encounter the term “Wicca” used to mean “all religious witchcraft”.  This is historically incorrect, but language changes.  And it changes now faster than ever.  It’s important to find out what a speaker means by the language they use, before engaging based on a possible misunderstanding.

[defacatestenderly]

Obey Me Toilet Thoughts With defacatestenderly (how ironic)

Ok I need to know how religion works in the Obey Me universe, because obviously it takes place in a timeline where angels and demons are real. Like biblically real (kinda). In the human world, do the other abrahamic religions still exist? Are they still practiced? Do non-abrahamic religions still exist and are they practiced? Does Christianity reign supreme because of the Devildom and Celestial Realm having been revealed to the human world? Does everyone on Earth even KNOW about the exchange program and the existence of the other realms? If the exchange program was the only confirmation of the abrahamic religions, did it send the world into a frenzy and cause a religious revolution of some sort? Do the people know that Santa is actually real and how would they react if they knew?

From my light research, it seems that the story in Obey Me follows Christianity. Although fallen angels do exist in Judaism, the books from which the fallen angels stories come from are not considered canonical by most Jews. I do not know of how everything ties together in the context of Islam, as I only researched it’s ties in Judaism because of all abrahamic religions, Judaism came first.

Even though the religious reality of the Obey Me universe is from the Bible, there are differences in Obey Me that don’t match up. It is a wide belief that Lucifer is Satan, and vice versa. Which makes sense when we find out that Satan was born FROM Lucifer himself. However, the brothers embodying the seven deadly sins is a medieval classification, as the definitions and names of the Archdemons have changed greatly over time. Also, Satan is canon in Judaism. He is known as an adversary of humans but still, a servant of God. Satan is more of a job description than a singular being but both are mentioned in the Torah. Satan was also an angel in the Bible. This means that Satan spent eons being an angel, unlike in the Obey Me story where he doesn’t have many memories as an angel, and he didn’t spend much time in the Celestial Realm before falling. There are also many holes in Lucifer’s story in relation to the Bible as well. However, if I were to write about every difference in the Torah, Bible, and Obey Me in regards to angels and demons I would never stop writing. So you readers are gonna have to be left with this not-so-in-depth elaboration of my thoughts and research despite what I actually know.

It seems to me that Obey Me is not biblically accurate in terms of religious context in the game. But hey, it’s an otome game. All of this thinking and research on the toilet has made me come to these realizations. What time period are we even in in the Obey Me universe? From my menial knowledge of the time approximation of when the angels fell, we are a couple thousand years in the future from our year of 2023. Which brings me to this question, Does religion even exist in the Obey Me universe, or is there no religion because the existence of the other realms and beings among them are real and part of basic reality, like rain and clouds are part of the rain cycle? There are so many more questions I have regarding the complexity of the reality of the Obey Me universe, but that’s only in the religious context! I haven’t even gone into the role of magic and powers and how that plays in everything. For example, Barbatos’s time powers. But I have talked enough. I hope this rant made sense and that this invokes a nice conversation in the Obey Me fandom, because I haven’t seen a conversation like this being sparked before. I gotta get going though, my legs are falling asleep.

[187days]

Day Forty-Eight

The quarter ended today! That went by really fast!

As a thank-you, our admins bought coffee and breakfast treats, which was nice. I started the day by grabbing some from the main office. Then I went about cleaning my classroom, making photocopies, grading work as it came in, all of that.

When my first Global Studies students arrived, I took attendance and got them ready to finish the video about that hajj they'd started watching yesterday, but then Mrs. R came over to cover for me while I went to a meeting.

The meeting was heavy, but mercifully short.

I returned to my classroom before the bell, and did my best to shake it off. By that time, my students had finished the video and moved on to an assignment about how Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have impacted different aspects of culture. That went incredibly well in all four sections of the class, and it's especially fun because one of the questions in the assignment uses a picture of my older brother (showing terrible manners while deployed to Iraq because he didn't know any better). Students always like that.

In APGOV, we discussed the Bill of Rights because the SCOTUS cases they're learning about in this unit are all related to civil liberties. Initially, students did have many questions, but the more we discussed, the more they asked, which was cool. When we got into looking at specific cases, I started off by introducing them to Tinker v. Des Moines with a couple video clips from PBS and the ACLU. Then I had them read the Oyez explainer about that case and six other cases: Engel v. Vitale, Wisconsin v. Yoder, Schenck v. United States, Gideon v. Wainwright, New York Times Company v. United States, and Mcdonald v. Chicago. More lessons involving those next week.

I went bounding through the halls at 2:40 to get my cacophonous friends because we'd made plans for celebratory pizza and stuff since we all survived a quarter. Some of the newbies joined us, but not Mr. C, so he and I will have words on Monday. This job is way easier if you have back-up, and if you have fun together, rather than working too late at your desk and then going home.

[purronronner]

Part of it is that if we were going to get a state to ourselves, that land was going to have to come from somewhere where people of some variety or another were already living, just because of how the planet works.

Part of it is that we do have a connection to that land as our original homeland, and also that there were still Jewish communities already living on that land at the time (and who’d been living there for ages).

Part of it is that at the time there were actually a variety of other potential options under discussion (such as alaska - the novel the yiddish policeman’s union takes place in an alternate universe where that happened!) but this is the only one that ended up working out.

Part of it is that (parts of) the diaspora had been aspiring to get back to that land for millennia, and building a movement around it in more recent decades.

Part of it is that, given we were just coming out of the Holocaust, we wouldn’t exactly have been in a position to turn down whatever was offered to us anyway.

Part of it is that, when you’re Britain and you have control over the Mandate of Palestine, and the locals (whether jewish, muslim, or christian) aren’t exactly happy with you ruling over them (the land’s never not been ruled over by an empire since long before living memory at this point), it’s strategically advantageous to give the land to a group of people who have a strong reason to be grateful to you for giving them the land.

Part of it is that after WWII it was unfashionable to be antisemitic but that didn’t mean that people actually liked jews any more than they had previously, but hey if we get them all to willingly relocate to their ~ancestral homeland~ then we’ve Done A Good Deed and also we don’t have to deal with them in our space, win-win!

Part of it is that the land has always been desirable for practical reasons even when Judaism had the only specifically religious claim—agriculturally and geographically, it’s in a good position. Then of course when Christianity and Islam came around, the religious angle on claims to the land only got exponentially more complicated. The land currently called Israel was previously known as the British Mandate of Palestine, previously part of the Ottoman Empire, previously part of the Mamluk Sultanate, previously the Kingdom of Jerusalem (or the Latin Kingdom) under the Crusaders, previously under the Fatimids the Abbasids the Umayyads the Rashiduns the Byzantine Empire the Romans Alexander the Great for thousands of years this piece of real estate has never not been hotly debated. There were Jews there the entire time. There were also various kinds of non-Jews the entire time, some of whom came and went and some of whom were, like Jews, there for a long, long time.

I’m not going to get into all of the everything that happened after the modern state of Israel was founded, that helped shape the situation into what it is today. But at the time when it was founded, these are some of the reasons why it happened the way it did—and some of the reasons why it was already inevitably not going to go smoothly.

spotted this sticker outside my apartment building and I think it illustrates an important point about the moment we’re in.

on a surface level this is something that a lot of people who consider themselves antizionist would agree with. but take 10 seconds to google the url at the bottom and you’ll see that this is a sticker for a neo-Nazi group.

“We serve one nation” is a reference to the dual loyalty trope, the idea that Jews can never be loyal to America because they are first and foremost loyal to Israel.

There are a lot of hate groups taking advantage of the moment we’re in. It’s easy to replace “Jew” with “Zionist” and get a lot more people to agree with them. Do not fall for it.

[iwantjobs]

10/8/2024: UH OH. I don't know if there's a non-human-force of God as Jesus' father/Allah/Yahweh/Brahman/Ong Troi/etc. but the poor Floridians (conservative-state-Americans who support Netanyahu and his war cabinet destruction in of Gaza especially in poor Lebanon where the most innocent people in this white-Christian-backed-Judaism-Islam war the Christians in the forms of Lebanese children and adults. In the beginning of this Israel-Hamas war, Florida's governor and Florida made national headlines to accept a small plane filled with Israeli refugees. Coming the West side of Florida is extremely rare as the direction for hurricane.) are suffering a lot of lives and destruction similar to a war zone with the 2 hurricane-storms being back to back with the second storm forcing 5 millions Floridians were suggested to move out of the area like this war forced 1.2 millions Lebanese to move out of their house in matter of hours before Isreal strike Hezbolla in their area. Florida is where Trump is and I think this will be the Christian-Zionist man's warning in case he comes the next president since Trump loves war and he talks about WWWIII against Iran (WWWIII is very scary for the planet and humans). Today, your Netanyahu hero just warned Lebanese if they don't take arms to fight Hezbollah along with him, hell flatten Gaza if he has to to eradicare Hezbolla. While the world praises Netanyahu and his excellent IDf for killing nearly all Hezbollah leaders, 2,000 Lebanese were killed in the bombings in the first two weeks because IDF gave very short notice for people to love befoee strikinf their precision bombs. IDF bombed only hours after warning people to leave and some were hit while leavie. Evil Putin only killed 12,000 ukrainians in last 2 years. Trang's work of searching for evidence of God as a non-human-force that created the universe at 54.49 years old. My Palestinian lawsuit will get its decision soon for it has been 2.5 months already. I know I promise not to return to Tumblr, but if I discover more evidence of a God via weird and un-human-made coincidences in life, I'll go back to document it. Pray for less lives loss in this Milton storm in Florida for the Helene took at lot of lives and destruction already. I fear the next destruction is in California for their support of the 3.1 gays (or 3.1 bosses with 1.1 bosses at Starbucks who didn't report my backsprain work injury on June 1st, 2008 at Starbucks) who bullied and harassed near death to become what I am today: disabled, mental, lost my condo and most of my savings, semi-homeless and 16.5 years to have biological children). The first hurricane (Helen) came about 1-2 weeks after Israel started bombing Lebanon like madness and its highly successful terrorist technique of placing bombs in pager and telephone. A Fox warspecialists said on NPR radio that he doesn't blame democracy Isreal to turn to terrorist technique to kill terrorists because he said they have to find ways to fight back. I, Trang, said"if this Fox war specialist thinks it was OK for rich democracy Israel to use terrorist technique as of desperate measure then he will have to be fair and no a hypocrite to also think that the poor Hamas terrorists also thought they had no choice to use terrorist technique on October 7th to kill democracy terrorist stealing their land of 400 years and keeping them in an apartheid open-aired jail from seeing their grandparents while you are hufging yours on the other side of the fence. Can't accept one terrorist move and deny another.". Thank heavens i have disability checcks two years after injury. California hasn't suffered a big earthquake in a long time. I don't know which part of California (liberal State) but I became injured in the northern part in gay capital of the world (San Francisco,) and this is where my appeal lawsuit is currently sitting (9th appeal court). I asked the court for a speedy answer since the Gaza children are suffering much but the court is taking it time. Peace and love via suing.

[freebiblestudyhub]

How Old Was Moses When God Called Him?

The life of Moses is one of the most compelling narratives in the Bible, marked by dramatic events and profound encounters with God. From his miraculous survival as an infant to his leadership of the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage, Moses’ story is central to the biblical narrative.

One of the pivotal moments in his life is his call from God at the burning bush, a transformative event that set the course for his mission to liberate his people.

The Early Life of Moses

Moses, a central figure in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, was born in a tumultuous period for the Israelites. His story begins in the Book of Exodus, where we learn of his birth during a time of severe oppression. The Pharaoh of Egypt had decreed the death of all male Hebrew infants, aiming to curb the growing population of the Israelites (Exodus 1:22). To save him, Moses’ mother placed him in a basket and set him afloat on the Nile River. He was found and adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter, raised in the Egyptian court, and educated in the ways of Egyptian culture and politics.

Moses’ Early Years and Flight to Midian: As an adult, Moses witnessed the harsh treatment of his fellow Hebrews and, in a moment of impulsive justice, killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave. Fearing for his life, Moses fled to Midian, where he married Zipporah, the daughter of a Midianite priest, and lived as a shepherd.

The Burning Bush Encounter: The defining moment of Moses’ life came when he was tending sheep on Mount Horeb. There, he encountered a bush that was on fire but not consumed by the flames. From this bush, God called out to Moses and commissioned him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 3:1-10). This divine call marked the beginning of Moses’ role as a prophet and leader, setting the stage for the Exodus and the giving of the Law at Sinai.

Biblical Clues to Moses’ Age

To determine Moses’ age at the time of God’s call, we need to examine various biblical passages and reconcile them with historical and chronological data.

1. The Book of Exodus: The Book of Exodus provides the primary account of Moses’ life and mission. However, it does not explicitly state Moses’ age at the burning bush. The chronological clues come from other parts of the Bible, particularly the ages given for Moses and other key events.

2. The Age of Moses at the Exodus: According to Exodus 7:7, Moses was 80 years old at the time of the Exodus. This verse is critical because it allows us to work backward to estimate his age at the burning bush. The Exodus occurred in the 13th century BC, during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses II, according to many scholars. If we accept that Moses was 80 years old at the Exodus, we can use this information to calculate his age at the time of the burning bush.

3. The Time of the Burning Bush: Scholars generally estimate that the burning bush encounter happened about 40 years before the Exodus. This estimation is based on the 40-year period Moses spent in Midian before returning to Egypt. Therefore, if Moses was 80 years old at the Exodus, he would have been around 40 years old at the time of the burning bush.

Historical and Theological Context

1. The Significance of Moses’ Age: Understanding Moses’ age at the burning bush provides insight into the significance of his calling. At around 40 years old, Moses was in a transitional phase of life. Having lived a life of privilege in Egypt and then a period of relative obscurity in Midian, he was at a point where he could fully embrace his role as God’s messenger. His age also signifies a maturity and readiness for the monumental task of leading the Israelites.

2. The Theological Implications: The age of Moses at his calling reflects the biblical theme of God choosing individuals at various stages of life for significant purposes. It underscores the idea that God can use people at any age and stage of life to fulfill His plans. Moses’ life exemplifies how God prepares and equips individuals over time for their divine missions.

3. The 40-Year Period in Midian: The 40 years Moses spent in Midian is a significant period in biblical tradition. The number 40 is often associated with periods of testing, preparation, and transition. For Moses, this time was crucial for developing the skills and character needed for his leadership role. It also mirrored the 40 years the Israelites would spend in the wilderness, further emphasizing the theme of preparation and endurance.

See also: Was Moses Circumcised? A Full Analysis

Moses’ Age and Its Impact on Leadership

1. Leadership and Maturity: Moses’ age at the time of his calling highlights the importance of life experience in leadership. At 40, Moses had experienced the privileges of Egyptian royalty and the hardships of life as a shepherd. This combination of experiences equipped him with the wisdom, resilience, and empathy needed for his role as a leader.

2. The Calling and Preparation: The burning bush encounter marks a pivotal moment in Moses’ life, where he transitions from a shepherd in Midian to a prophet and leader of the Israelites. His age and life experiences at this point were integral to his preparation for this divine calling. The encounter with God at the burning bush represents a culmination of his preparation and the beginning of his public mission.

The Timelessness of Moses’ Call

Determining Moses’ age at the time of his calling by God to lead the Israelites involves a careful examination of biblical texts, historical context, and scholarly interpretations. Based on the available data, Moses was likely around 40 years old when he encountered God at the burning bush, marking the beginning of his mission to liberate the Israelites from Egyptian bondage.

As we consider Moses’ age and mission, we are invited to recognize and embrace our own callings, trusting that God can use us at any stage of life to make a meaningful impact in His service.

[lowkeynando]

revelations [1] and promises, [2] and continue to play important roles in the Abrahamic faiths.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam hold that the patriarchs, along with their primary wives, known as the matriarchs - Sarah (wife of Abraham), Rebekah (wife of Isaac) and Leah (one of the wives of Jacob) - are entombed at the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron, a site held holy by the three religions. Rachel is said to be buried separately at what is known as Rachel's Tomb, near Bethlehem, at the site where she is believed to have died in childbirth. [3]

More widely, the term patriarchs can be used to refer to the twenty male ancestor-figures between Adam and Abraham. The first ten of these are called the antediluvian patriarchs, because they came before the Flood. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is a constituent of the apocryphal scriptures connected with the Bible. It is believed to be a pseudepigraphical work of the dying commands of the twelve sons of Jacob. It is part of the Oskan Armenian Orthodox Bible of 1666.

Fragments of similar writings were found at Qumran, but opinions are divided as to whether these are the same texts. It is generally considered apocalyptic literature. The Testaments were written in Hebrew or Greek, and reached their final form in the 2nd century CE. In the 13th century they were introduced into the Western world through the agency of Roberts CLONES

[hjellacott]

Persecution, race and genetic inheritance.

Or how I came to discover my family was fake Christian and hiding Jewish roots.

Growing up in South Europe, I was never a stranger to the stories about racial persecutions. My home city bears enormous signs of having been dominated by Jews back in the day, but also by Muslims and Christians. A history full of race, each of which left their own footprint. A history I've always been proud of, in a way, for the moments in which we showed all three main religions could coexist peacefully in once city. But somehow I never really stopped to question my racial heritage growing up.

I look as white as any Southern European does. While in my home city, I've been treated as a white person just like anyone because this is our normal look. My family was, I thought, ferociously Catholic, even though my parents' generation was already non-practising, and so am I. So for a long time I had no reason to question anything. And then I came to the UK. And for the first time, it was pointed out to me that I looked different. Just like that, I was suddenly some other race, in my 20s.

Somebody asked me if I was Muslim and I said no, but stopped to consider I do have the looks, a little. Looking at pictures from my dad, his family, and particularly, his mother's extended family, I realised everyone looked so Islamic. So dark and hairy. I thought of where we came from. Our history. And I began to realise... we could be Muslim. There's no reason why not.

I began to ask in my family. To question. And to my surprise, everyone had been doing the same thing. Having the same thoughts. It was then revealed to me that my father's paternal line was Catholic as far as we could see, but his maternal line originated in a very Muslim place and time in history. After much studying, we realised that actually, they'd mixed. They weren't just Muslims. They'd mixed with Jews. But then they'd been heavily persecuted, so they hid and pretended to be, like millions of Jews and Muslims did in our area back then, the perfect Catholics.

I'd seen people discover these roots before, in programmes like Who do you think you are, but never thought it'd be me. The gist of it is that when they were so terrified to be uncovered as non-Christians, multiple families (centuries ago) would even hide their true religion from their own children, who'd grow up thinking they were Christians. That's what we now know happened in my grandma's family. Looking at them, they scream mixed race. Jews and Muslims. But they made themselves Christians to survive, and I don't believe grandma ever knew her own roots, because it took us a lot of hard work to find out. Ironically, my grandma had become a very Conservative Christian woman married to a very Conservative Christian man, so I can only imagine if they'd known, she would've had a heart attack.

For most of my family it's become a funny anecdote. Nothing's changed and we're quite sure that the origins of everyone in our country whose first 5 generations up are locals must have, surely, this type of mixed race origin. But for me? Things have changed.

I always knew I had a bit of Jew. It'd been hinted to me that my mother also came from one of those families that were Jews and converted to Catholicism. This was after all a very common survival skill in my country. And my mother's surname is linked to Judaism. But once I knew it was the same in my father's line, something within me changed.

I've been feeling more and more Jewish since then. It hasn't happened with any of the other races I'm mixed with, but with Judaism I always feel like it speaks to me. I don't practise religions, I practise spirituality. But my whole life, even before I knew any of this (which came into my knowledge only in the recent past) I always felt a magnetism towards Judaism. Like, as a teen, I suddenly manifested a desire to learn Hebrew for absolutely no reason.

Many of the people I admire most are Jews. I've now studied a lot about the Jewish way of living, their beliefs, spirituality... and found a place in a Jewish community. I've got plenty of Jewish friends and family who are proud to say our race is a good old cocktail. And the more I learn about Judaism, their sense of community, the Synagogue, prayer, customs and beliefs, the more I like it. Growing up raised to go to church and attending Catholic school, I always felt out of place. But amongst Jews, I feel at home.

It's very bizarre, admittedly, but also, to find out how much of my origins goes back to Judaism is an incredible relief. As a kid, The Prince of Egypt was one of my most beloved films (and still is). I've always been obsessed with walking around the Jewish streets of my home city. In my teens I had a phase of absolute obsession with Judaism that came totally out of nowhere. I didn't just want to learn Hebrew. I wanted to go to Israel, I wanted to read more about Jewish persecution by nazis, no matter how much it made me cry, and when my mother asked why I was so obsessed, I remember repeatedly insisting that "I needed to know". What exactly? I never said. There just always seemed to be an invisible energy connecting me and dragging me towards Jewish things.

I think I understand now. I'm spiritual enough to think perhaps a part of me always knew there was a solid link there. A part of me always looked at the colour of my skin, the shape of my nose and the looks of some relatives and felt an inner voice screaming JUDAISM! And perhaps that was just a spiritual call to return to the beginning. To the origin. Don't we all feel something similar at times? And I'm not a practising Jew nor am I sure I ever will be, but I accept it as part of my roots, my community, friends and family. A source of great pride, because I know the lessons from Judaism and there is just so much good to learn from them.

I now avidly consume as much knowledge about Judaism and Jews as I can. I'd love to start going to the synagogue at some point, and I've been encouraged to do so by Jewish friends who say everyone's welcomed. When 2 of my grandparents come have turned out to come from a long line of hidden Jews, it kind of feels like a natural thing to do. Like a way to find peace for my roots. To say OK, we can have it all now. We won't be persecuted now.

Blood is a wonderful mix... and there's no need to hide any more. I certainly won't. And if in the future I end up fully converting to Judaism, to be honest, it doesn't seem like a bad idea at all.

[thenexusofsouls]

"Unfortunately..." Michael said, looking into the mirror as he once again reached over his shoulder to keep stitching one of his wounds closed, "I had no choice but to severe the two most convincing pieces of evidence of who I am. You will simply have to have faith." He winced and recoiled for a second, his eyes closing as he acclimated to the pain before he started working again. "But I am not here to take you back to him. David will not be bothering you... anymore."

As she pressed him, he hesitated to merely announce himself as an archangel. With his wings gone and his connection to god severed, he had no magical ability, no ability to produce his sword, and no other real evidence to show her that would prove to her he was an angel. And Michael was well aware of how disbelieving most human beings were nowadays. She was more likely to laugh at him if he simply came out with it, so he tried to ease her into it gently.

"Have ever read the Bible? Or the Qu'ran? Or are you at all familiar with Christianity, Judaism, or Islam?" he asked. Different groups of humans thought of god and his angels differently, having different names for them sometimes, or different ways of interpreting their roles and meaning, but reality was even more complicated than even all of that. "If you are familiar with any of them, the name Michael should carry some meaning to you."

Michael was so surprised at her kindness, but then, that was why he'd decided to protect her instead of killing her, wasn't it? Because she deserved to live, and because there had to be a better way to set mankind right than starting an apocalypse. "No, I didn't," Michael replied. "It wasn't necessary. I am immune to mortal illness, and that includes infection," he explained matter-of-factly. He held as still as possible while she worked, thankful for her help.

“Oh god I am so sorry- what the hell happened to you?” (Leigh to Michael; @mxrvelouscreations

@mxrvelouscreations

Michael startled a bit when the young woman barged into the bathroom, almost reaching for his ritual knife. He was so jumpy, so paranoid, for he knew that he was a target now for anyone who wanted to do him harm. And not just him, but the one he wanted to keep safe as well...

As he turned to assess the threat level of the person who had spoken, Michael was taken aback to see... that it was Leigh. The very human he wanted to protect. How strangely fortuitous this was. Michael thought he was going to have to search for her, and yet here she was, standing right near him. He stared at her for a moment, swallowed hard, and then returned to his work of stitching his wounds closed.

Using the mirror to see what he was doing, he continued to try and stitch the remnants of his wings closed. God, it hurt. The pain was nauseating to him, but the physical pain wasn't even the worst part of it. He hadn't even begun to process the emotional pain of having sliced off both of his wings. He felt sickeningly light, off balance, and vulnerable without them, but there was no time to dwell on his own feelings.

"It was necessary," he said calmly, despite the horrific look of the two gaping wounds on his back and the rather haphazard suturing job he was doing with a curved piece of wire and some carpet thread. "Do not be afraid, Leigh. I am here to protect you." He kept right on stitching, trembling and sweating from the pain as he did so.

[sins-of-the-sea]

((Meta question: In Christian tradition, pride is the most deadly of the seven sins. And yet, Ruixiong seems pretty friendly and not as dangerous as the others. He's also happy with his position in the crew and doesn't insist on being the captain. Why do you think that is?))

The short, semi-shitposty but not entirely wrong answer: CHRISTIANITY IS NOT CHINESE!!

The actual answer: Ruixiong's Pride themes is less on Catholic tradition (or at least how St. Thomas Aquinas lays it out) and more an exploration of Chinese, as per Confucianism, Buddhist, and Taoist ideals. In actual Catholic tradition, not only is Rui's Pride themes a subversion (or just a play on the concept), but a hint to the true nature of why the Seven (as in Pride being the 'deadliest' of the Sins) sold their souls to begin with... and a clue as to how, in canon and in RP, how the Seven can be redeemed if you choose to go the Salvation story route.

Due to having lost his family in Beijing around age six, and thus having little to no memory as to how/why he doesn't have his parents anymore, and the world's (and especially China's) general unkind attitude to orphan street kids with no money, influence, or legitimacy, Ruixiong has a very warped sense of Pride in himelf. This is especially true in his experiences and perspectives with the concept of Li (禮) and the 5 Constant Relationships--Parents>Children, and thus filial piety being the most prominent. No order, no one to look up to for guidance, no way of learning proper behavior and form that is in the natural order of society and the world. So what does Rui do instead? Make his own rules. Make his own order. Make himself worthy of admiration and piety. Ruixiong would then do many things that would be viewed as extremely haughty and improper in Chinese society, though not much thought would be put into it--he's a bandit, after all. Which feeds into a cycle for Ruixiong to attempt everything and anything for recognition and acknowledgement--and thus creating a vicious cycle of what would be improper and transgressive Pride.

As a play of the idea of Catholic pride, indeed, Ruixiong seems to be fairly happy in his position and unwilling to take over as Captain... because Chinese tradition is still at play here. When one dies, damnation in Hell is not permanent, and moving on to the next life would happen once the appropriate time spent in Diyu and its different levels of Hell is over. The deal with the Master for Ruixiong, thus, lies on the conceit that Ruixiong would remember his times of this life and carry it on to the next, as well as (supposedly) lessened punishment in whatever level of Hell awaits for him. Or just thorough access through Hell and just move on to the next life without any punishment altogether. Thus, Ruixiong has the most lax and nonchalant attitudes towards having to spend time in Hell and the punishment awaiting for him--because unlike in Abrahamic religion, time in Hell is never permanent. In other words, Ruixiong is taking his damn, sweet time in doing whatever the fuck he wants as long as he is immortal and his soul is bound to the Master, making him the least tormented of the Seven... and the Master wouldn't have it any other way. With all these elements coming together, the Catholic sense of Pride now finally shows up--Pride in that Ruixiong will never get his due punishment, that he is above it all. And with this sense of Pride, the Master doesn't have to resort to abuse and manipulation to get what he wants out of Ruixiong--Ruixiong is already stupidly handing everything over on a silver platter.

With all this in mind, Ruixiong's attitudes and Pride can be helpful in figuring out how to help the Seven from their bondage to the Master. Indeed, in Catholic tradition, Pride is the deadliest of the Seven Sins, because all Sin can be rooted to Pride in some shape of form. Covetousness, avarice, anger, indulgence, etc etc. And yet... here is Ruixiong, the youngest of the Seven, and yes! Friendly and not all that dangerous. Stupid, careless, impulsive, and with an ego that dwarfs all of China, but still... not that bad of a guy. I have said so before--Ruixiong is actually the most heroic of the Seven, the most unwilling to hurt people in the name of the Master or himself. One of Ruixiong's warped (but ultimately helpful and even noble) codes of personal honor and morality is that he will NEVER knock someone down in order to raise himself up. No one deserves that UNLESS it is a person who abuses that station in life (hence one way he is disrupting Li--he is not showing due piousness towards authority). So Ruixiong is actually something of a representation that the Seven's predicaments aren't rooted in Pride at all.

So what is it, then? What is the Sin that the actual 'deadliest' among this Crew? It is the Sin that is seen in the First of the Seven, the one who approached the Master the first. The Sin that has evolved the most over time, the one rooted deeply in something all Seven has in common more than just offenses to their Pride. It is the sin of dejection. The sin of apathy, of losing hope in God and the world. The sin of despair. The sin of eternal surrender. The failure to maintain good, to remain in the graces of God, to not allow evil to thrive.

It is Sloth. The First of the Seven is Sloth. Phoebus is the deadliest of the Seven because all he has to do is say "Die" and anything around him, or his target, will die instantly. And it is despair that is the root of all the sins of the Crew.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

One thing:

I've noticed that by religion in general, you actually mean only Christianity, Catholisism, and Islam. Yeah, those religions do LOTS of harm and reinforce many horrid things, but many other religions have beliefs that are totally different. For example, Buddhists who don't actually believe there is a god, or Sikhs who believe everyone should be treated as equals, or like Jews who have been persecuted and violented so heavily simply for existing

No, I don't mean only those ones. If you've come to that conclusion, then you've definitely misunderstood.

Xians tell me all the time that Xianity brings them meaning and purpose and peace. Muslim - more often non-Muslim Islam apologists - insist that Islam doesn't allow violence. So, just because you say all of this, doesn't mean it's the entire story. I can cherry-pick out one or two "nice" things from almost every religion.

But since it seems as if, like me, you would find those unconvincing about Xianity and Islam, why should it be sufficient to me when you cherry-pick from Sikhism, Buddhism and Judaism?

They're not "totally different." Those religions, like Xianity, like Islam, rely on faith. Firm, unfalsifiable, intractable belief, not just in spite of a lack of evidence, but because of the absence of evidence. And it’s not the exclusive domain of religions either - anti-vax, Flat Earth, Woke theology and crystal healing are all held entirely through faith.

And it isn't merely just the case that faith isn't a pathway to finding truth. It's worse: faith actually works against, and opposes truth.

I don't care how "nice" Sikhism is, it's not true. Although, it's alarming that the bar is so low as "everyone should be treated as equals" for divinely inspired beliefs. Particularly considering Chinese and Greek philosophers had talked about equality 2000 years before Sikhism emerged.

I don't care that Buddhism doesn't require any gods, it still asserts magic is real, the universe is keeping a tally, that death is inconsequential because you'll reincarnate, offers pseudoscientific "alternative medicines" such as "healing teas," and prioritizes happiness over purpose.

Whether the Jews have been persecuted is irrelevant to truth; Genesis and Exodus factually never happened, so everything that came out of those myths is not true, and lives have been wasted over a false belief. And I don't just mean the people who died or suffered due persecution. I also mean the devout Jew who dies peacefully in her sleep at the ripe old age of 94 having spent her life adhering to arbitrary restrictions in the pursuit of satisfying an imaginary deity.

I don't care whether they're nice, I care whether they're true.

Being "nice" or being less-bad is an excuse for wanting to be selectively inconsistent; in my experience, this is usually out of misplaced "sensitivity", as well as the appeal of the unfamiliar and exotic.

What you notably didn't say is either that any of them are actually true, or that they do anything inarguably and uniquely good, that cannot be achieved without those particular religions, or any religion at all. If we're going to overlook the fact they're not true, we should at least expect to be getting something uniquely beneficial from them.

A society that puts belief ahead of truth is a society that is operating on delusion. Without truth as the most important value, we can't navigate or understand our world accurately. We cannot find causes or find solutions when we hear that it's "gods will" or "karma" or some other reality-disconnected explanation. Humanity cannot flourish, honestly and fearlessly address our problems, or possibly even survive, while it remains in the grip of faith.

[187days]

Day One Hundred Twelve

The snow finally stopped around 3:00AM, so it was back to our regularly scheduled school day today. Everyone was a bit out of sorts, at first, but that’s to be expected. I’m lucky because I’ve got prep time Block 1, so I could spend it getting ready to teach my courses. 

I lectured on the origins of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in World, and then had students read an article about the main beliefs Judaism (read aloud as a class by popular request). That sparked some fantastic questions, as did the video I showed documenting the daily life of a rabbi. There aren’t a lot of Jewish people in this area, so most of my students know very little about the religion or its customs, which makes it cool to teach. 

My one big challenge was that the student who hadn’t been showing up to class earlier in the semester didn’t show up today, which was disappointing because he’d been better with his attendance just before the break. 

Sigh. 

APGOV was alright. Most of my students came to play test review Kahoot during flex block, which was fun. Then, during the actual class block, we went over the practice argument FRQ they’d done yesterday. I asked them share what they’d written, and discussed what they’d done well and/or what they could add. Some students were reluctant to share, which I definitely understand; it’s is all fear of being wrong, being embarrassed, etc... But I encouraged them to try to overcome that reluctance (because their professors will cold call on them next year, which is a lot more nerve-wracking). My classroom’s a small, safe space where they all know each other well, and I reminded them that no one’s going to be judgmental, and all I’m going to do is help them improve. A few more did share their work after that, which was good. 

Because nearly all of them chose the same side of the argument, I offered to show them how to make the opposing argument, and quickly drafted a response on the board. Then I gave them the remainder of the block to ask me anything about the required material (they had a study guide to refer to), reminded them of the various study tools they have available, and called it a day.

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

Hi OP,

If you're curious about the underlying history and theology at work here, I strongly encourage you to read these posts from a person who was raised messianic and converted to Judaism as an adult. He explains the predatory nature of the movement and its true origins, and many of the problems that are rife within it:

Post 1

Post 2

Post 3

Ultimately, however, it is deeply appropriative of Judaism and violates the most basic tenet of Judaism - one of the only three that we are commanded to die rather than commit - which is avodah zarah.

Christianity inherently worships different gods than Judaism, and is fundamentally polytheistic from a halachic perspective. While Christians may claim that the "Father" is the same god as ours, the problem is that the moment you divide G-d or try to add distinct elements to G-d, you have articulated a fully distinct god-concept from Judaism's god-concept. The most baseline belief in Judaism is stated in the Shema, which is:

"Hear O Israel, the Lord your G-d, the Lord is One"

It's worth noting that the utter intensity with which the Oneness of Hashem is meant is captured only in the Hebrew word "Echad," the final word of the Shema.

(It is worth noting that actually the concept Tawhid in Islam is very similar and likely accounts for why Islam is seen as a Noachide religion, while Christianity must first be declared shituf before a gentile practicing it can be said to be a Noachide)

While one could argue in good faith (ha) that the Holy Spirit is an evolution of the concept of the Shechinah, it is 100% impossible to argue that Jesus, as conceptualized by Christians or anyone else who holds him as Divine, can be "part of" G-d without destroying that unity. There are numerous problems with this: Jesus is said to be 100% human and 100% God. The fundamental condition of humanity is that we are not G-d. Therefore, no human could ever validly claim or be said to be G-d without adding a fully distinct entity to G-d. You not only have the problem of "dividing" or "adding to" G-d, but you also have the problem of trying to make something human into an idol.

Whether or not he was the Messiah is a whole other issue, but the bottom line is that the Jewish criteria for what makes someone the Moshiach are not met, at all, by Jesus. No matter what, though, Moshiach was never meant to be a divine figure and never to be worshipped as a god alongside Hashem.

Think about it like this: if someone came along and tried to argue that because many of the ancient Israelites also worshipped Ba'al and/or Asherah, that we should create a Jewish trinitarian religion based on these these three entities, would you still describe this new sect as either monotheistic or Jewish?

Well, even if you might, I can promise you that no Jew actually would. It's not some special hatred or disdain for Jesus or Christians; it's the idolatry.

Edit: I also wanted to second what @rose-in-a-fisted-glove said above and in the replies - my own personal Jewish community has had several folks who left messianism for Judaism and we welcomed them with open arms. It's not your fault that your family was preyed upon, and you are always welcome to return to the kehilla if you sincerely wish to convert. And if not, that's also totally fine! There are a number of really wonderful churches out there that I'm sure would welcome you as well.

Genuine question, do you believe messianic Jews are valid? Do you believe they are not just Christians? I am a messianic Jew, and it’s actually a long story on how my family ended up this way, but I don’t feel like dwelling. I saw one posts that said messianic Jews were just Christians who appropriated Jewish practices, and tried to trick Jews into following Jesus. I obviously don’t believe that is true, but please give me your opinion.