They want to see Buckingham Palace become a mosque

[NeonSamurai]

Originally Posted by Skybird

I readily admit my knowledge on Judaism is not as much as what I know on islam and Christianity and the church.

No offense meant but I can tell you don't.

As I see it, the Bible'S stories of the times before jesus base on the Abrahmaic god of the Jews and represent some kind of "reformed" form of Judaism.

The two religions are very different, and bare very little resemblance to each other. Later Christians (Greeks mostly) borrowed from the Torah, and in several cases screwed up the meaning of what they borrowed. Christianity has almost nothing to do with Judaism other then having had borrowed from their writings.

the history of Judaism is a history of constant conflict and war, isn't it, the whole region there still lives and dies by this old tradition's "heritage".

Sure, there is a lot of conflict and war. It is an oral history of the Israelites, and there was a lot of warfare and violence during those times (as with everywhere else). There were also times of peace, prosperity, and innovation (such as during the reign of king Solomon). As for what is happening now in Israel, it is hard to have peace when certain groups keep sending suicide bombers and mortar/rocket attack the bordering cities and towns. Its not that the people of Israel don't want peace, but they are not going to leave Israel to get it (which is what the other side wants). So the fighting continues.

I did not refer to the Thora, becasue I do not know much about it. But the old stories of the bible are basing on the Judaic concept of a God - as much as I know a god as tyrannic and punishing and psychotic like the god of the old testament, which makes sense if both traditions are linked.

That interpretation of the Judaic god is the one from their earliest history, when Yahweh was the fire god of the mountain. Also a lot of the earliest stories (genesis, the flood, etc) are also borrowed from other religions of the time, and altered to fit. The slightly more modern interpretation is that G*d is a balancing force, that every action taken by G*d in the stories was to balance out man's actions. For example god destroyed the pursuing army of the Pharaoh at the Red Sea, to balance out the killing of all the first born by the Pharaoh's order.

I think here is a reason for the proverbial hairplitting philosophic thinking in Judaic tradition, for which already the pharisees in roman times and earlier werew famous: it really needed some tricks and efforts to re-interprete such a brutal deity and chnage it's image into a man-loving, forgiving, kind old grandfather who takes care for his children.

I don't believe most Jews view G*d in that way, but more of an enigma that we try to understand, but cannot ever understand. the Pharisees and then Rabbis, have continued to debate and ponder the meanings behind the texts, but it is not hair splitting as you put it. Philosophically they do believe that G*d does care about it's creations.

I must admit I tend to see both the church'S and the Jews image of God like this as truly schizophrenic, celebrating a god that rescues somebody's life aftr having send him the car that rolled over him, and promises salvation and forgiveness - not in life, but after death.

Your mixing up Christianity and Judaism. There is no specific salvation or heaven per say in the Jewish tradition, no hell either. That is an unaddressed enigma. The view is that Jews have a purpose in life, to bring the divine to earth, and bring earth to the divine, or achieve balance between the two.

From all these traditions, I see the teahcings of Jesus as the most advanced, and being the one of the four that is almost completely disconnected from the meaning of the old Abrahamic cult the other traditions (church, Judaism and Islam) are basing on.

A lot of those teachings are not exactly new, and many were lifted from Jewish thinking (also from the Greek gnostics and others), many can't even be directly attributed to Jesus. To be a good Jew, you are to lead a good life, do your work in the world, do your mitzvah or blessings (good deeds basicly), find balance in your life, and show gratitude to G*d for what has been given you.


Honestly Skybird, you don't realy know the first thing about the old Abrahamic cult as you put it. Unfortunately neither do most others, which I think contributes to so much anti-semitism in the world.

I myself am not Jewish, though my stepfather was. I am agnostic, and was raised as one by my mother. I have to say though, if I had to choose one of the three, I would easily choose to be Jewish then the others, far more thought and philosophy, and much less dogma and mishegas.