YZKCU@cunyvm.bitnet (Yaakov Kayman) (05/26/91)
In reply to the very Christian assertion by smithjh@argus.CS.ORST.EDU on the alleged divinity of J____: [Thomas Blake's quoted Lk 10:25-28, in which Jesus endorses "Love the Lord your God ..." (Deut. 6:5) as the basis for salvation. Jeremy Smith responded that since Jesus is God and Lord, that passage refers to loving Jesus. This is a Christian reinterpretation of one of the most basic Jewish confessions of faith. --clh] Thanks for making public and clear the basic premise of Christianity, which is familiar to me, and with which I, as an Orthodox Jew, necessari- ly disagree most strongly. It should lay to a well-deserved final rest all notions of compatibility of your religion and Judaism. Yaakov K. -------- Yaakov Kayman (212) 903-3666 City University of New York BITNET: YZKCU@CUNYVM "Lucky is the shepherd, and lucky his flock Internet: YZKCU@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU about whom the wolves complain"
gad@eclipse.its.rpi.edu (Garance A. Drosehn) (05/27/91)
In article <May.26.01.56.06.1991.13487@athos.rutgers.edu> YZKCU@cunyvm.bitnet (Yaakov Kayman) writes: > In reply to the very Christian assertion by smithjh@argus.CS.ORST.EDU on > the alleged divinity of J____: > > [Thomas Blake's quoted Lk 10:25-28, in which Jesus endorses "Love the > Lord your God ..." (Deut. 6:5) as the basis for salvation. Jeremy > Smith responded that since Jesus is God and Lord, that passage refers > to loving Jesus. This is a Christian reinterpretation of one of the > most basic Jewish confessions of faith. --clh] > > Thanks for making public and clear the basic premise of Christianity, > which is familiar to me, and with which I, as an Orthodox Jew, necessari- > ly disagree most strongly. It should lay to a well-deserved final rest > all notions of compatibility of your religion and Judaism. It only puts those notions to rest if the claims of Jesus are wrong. If the claims of Jesus are true, then the "two" religions will most certainly find themselves compatible. He did not come to start a new religion, after all (or at least he didn't claim that he wanted to abolish Judism). His claim is that he came to fulfill the law and the prophets. I'm not saying that to start an argument, but to make a point. Christianity, as a religion, is either right or wrong. The same goes for Judism. There is a connection between these two religions such that Christianity could be wrong and Judism right, and yet if Christianity is right then by definition Judism (by that I mean the Law and the Prophets) must also be right. And if the Law and the Prophets are wrong, then Christianity must also be wrong. - - - - - - - - Garance Alistair Drosehn = gad@rpi.edu or gad@eclipse.its.rpi.edu [Sort of. This begins to look like discussions of whether LDS are Christian, and is about as uninteresting. It's a matter of what you mean by Judaism. Certainly if you mean Judaism as it is practiced now, i.e. based on Rabbinical tradition, the Talmud, etc., Christianity, whether right or wrong, is not consistent with Judaism. That is surely what our Jewish posters are thinking of. Christianity sees itself as being based on the Law and the Prophets. On the other hand, surely it's clear that Paul (who is the Biblical author that dealt most explicitly with the relationship between Christianity and Judaism) was led by his experience of Christ to interpret the Law and the Prophets very differently than those who did not have that experience. Christians presumably see this as their true meaning. But we should hardly be surprised that non-Christian Jews reject those reinterpretations. --clh]