Jews closer to Muslims than Christians

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Jermyn Davidson

Matthew 10:34 - 36

34) “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

35) For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

36) And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.


I don't know how to rationalize it, but maybe all of the division found within Christianity is the WILL of God.

Christ's words above is primarily about how His Gospel will divide Christian converts from their devoutly Jewish families. Of course, the same could be said if one's family were pagan, or any other religion. This isn't necessarily about Christ Himself bringing division and confusion to the bride.

I believe what divides us are all our human opinions, lists, and interpretations. We're not spiritually mature enough to admit that these things originate from us. Instead, churches demand that their understanding is the absolute truth. In doing this, Oneness believers were cast out of traditional churches. Preterists were cast out of churches they faithfully served their entire lives. Post Tribulation Rapture believers have been disfellowshipped by denominations, ministries, and universities. Churches have different standards and expectations of holiness. They pick and choose what laws apply and what laws don't, each having a different list that applies. They have disfellowshipped over Annihilationism, eternality of the soul, soul sleep, and the nature of Hell. They have slandered and disfellowshipped over keeping the Sabbath or not keeping the Sabbath. Anathemas ring through the air in a cacophony of fighting, insults, slander, bickering, and debate.

If we could just admit for 24 hours that what we believe is truly our "opinion" or our "interpretation" or our "understanding" instead of demanding that it is absolute truth. There might be world peace. lol

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Jermyn Davidson

Matthew 10:34 - 36

34) “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

35) For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

36) And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.


I don't know how to rationalize it, but maybe all of the division found within Christianity is the WILL of God.

Here's a post of mine that I posted back in 2014. I believe this explains why the body of Christ is so divided.

Originally Posted by Aquila

It's been said that, "Just a little talk with Jesus makes it right." Well, I tried this. And what happened has left me astounded. I was speaking to the LORD in prayer recently I began to ask Him, "Why are we so divided?", and, "What must I do to be holy?" And this is the message that I felt burning in my heart so hot that I had to simply type it out as the power overwhelmed me… (I paraphrase in that it all came as a block of emotions to my spirit... not necessarily words). So, here it is... my little talk with the LORD....

"Why are we so divided?"
"What must I do to be holy?"

My child, I will tell you why you are all so divided. It is your religions. They are not of me. Each of you has a list. A list of do’s and don’ts. And each of you think that I authored your respective lists. Baptists have their list, Catholics have their lists, Pentecostals have their lists, Methodists have their lists, Lutherans have their lists, Charismatics have their lists, Messianics have their lists, Episcopals have their lists… each list is different. I’m not a God of confusion. Each list is a doctrine of man. Some say you must keep the Ten Commandments that I delivered to Moses to give to my people. Some of you expand upon these and add feast days, Sabbaths, dietary regulations, linguistic nuances of eccentricity wherein you think you are shown to be wise, yet you are looking foolish in your conceits. You want to be so much like my people… but not like me. You fail to realize… I’m the eternal, the constant, the source; the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning, the ending, the all in all, the great I AM that I AM… I’m not Catholic, Protestant, or Evangelical… neither am I Jewish. I’m GOD. Still some of you have codified my teachings into a strict body of church law in which you seek to please me by changing your “behavior”… but not your “being”. Teachings of mine were for spiritual development, they were not intended to be turned into dry do’s and don’ts to maintain a religious status quo. Then some of you codified the methods with which I addressed issues in Israel or the first generation of churches... making them “commandments” instead of seeing the spirit behind the reasoning. A reasoning that endures in any context, be it time or culture. Then you added historical traditions established by various religious leaders and founders. You codified congregation structures, financial models, added liturgies, added dietary regulations, added special days of worship, added dress codes, even added prohibitions on both men and women I never required. Each of you has these LISTS! Stop trying to please me by living these man-made lists! They divide you because you measure yourselves against one another based on your respective man-made LISTS. Ask the Pharisee to list exactly what must be done to please me! Let him present his list! And suddenly you’ll see another Pharisee argue against something on the first Pharisee’s list, or seek to add something from their list to it!!! Eventually they are all squabbling over which commandments on which list has to be obeyed and which do not! Why? It is because the spirit of legalism leaves you awash in the sea of subjective personal interpretation wherein one man’s interpretation is just as good as another’s. Yet you cling to them because you think they make you “holy”. These lists don’t make you holy. What makes you Holy is… ME.

You see… I am the Vine, and you are the branches. You are called to be living extensions of me… not living extensions of the ancient nation of Israel, your given church, or your given denomination. You are called to be conformed into the image and likeness of Christ… not the image and likeness of your respective church, movement, or denomination. When you live by their LISTS… you are becoming like them… NOT like me.

And so you ask… How do I become like you? I, the LORD, shall answer you this day. Let him who has an ear, let him hear!!!...

The answer is in the very nature of my being my beloved. You see… I AM… love. When you are loving, gracious, forgiving, kind, compassionate, patient, long suffering, temperate, and giving… you are being like Me. Do you wish to fulfill “the law”??? DON’T live by it. Find its core. Find its essence. Find my reason for delivering said laws in their given contexts. You’ll discover that it is because I was teaching many different things… but the core was and always has been… MY love. Love me my child. Love me with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And demonstrate your love for me by loving others as yourself. If you do this you will have fulfilled the essence of MY law. If there is any other commandment ever brought to your attention, know this… it is fulfilled in this single statement, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” In this you do no wrong… and in loving… you become like me… the one who is love itself.

So be not swayed by their LISTS. Do not be deceived by their vain and eccentric verbiage. Do not emulate a nation, a denomination, or a church. Instead… emulate Me and you will find rest for your souls. Love Me with all your being… and show me that you love Me by loving others as yourself. The only commandment I give you is this… LOVE. For love will not murder, steal, covet, slander, commit adultery, rage, revenge, or blaspheme. Love will set every day aside as holy… because love seeks to give absolute devotion every single day without end. I am not impressed with your LISTS. First, your lists all differ. And second, you don’t even keep your own lists perfectly! This makes you hypocrites of the worst kind. Why do you do this to yourselves??? Do you really think I’m IMPRESSED by anything you do? Am I impressed by any cherry picked LIST of commandments you’ve chosen to embrace… at the expense of others that you chose not to? Do you really think I’m going to open the books and judge you by each of your respective lists???! Will I judge according to dress code, hairstyles, feast days, and your labored mispronunciations of an ancient language??? Will I praise you for acting Jewish… even though if the truth were to be told… you don’t have a single drop of Hebrew blood in your body??? No. When you stand before Me… I will only seek to know two things: Did you love me with all your being? Did you seek to show your love for me by loving others as yourself? And you’ll then begin to see how your LISTS hindered you from loving your neighbors. You will see how your lusts, adulteries, thievery, slander, etc. are not rooted in failing to obey a rule on a LIST… but in your failure to LOVE. For love does no harm to the object of its affection.

So I leave you with this… become like Me. Be conformed into the very image and likeness of Jesus Christ, my beloved Son. And in this you will find true holiness. In this you will find the law of liberty… the law of LOVE. You will have discovered… ME.

[aegsm76]

Originally Posted by Aquila

Of course there are extremists in every religion. Islam is a strange creature. Much of Islamic practice can be regional. Also, differences are often based on politics as much as their religion.

This link may be interesting for you to look at:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...di-arabia.html

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by aegsm76

A - I would strongly disagree. Orthodox Jews regard non-orthodox Jews almost the same as they regard Gentiles.
And the Shia and Sunni's believe that the other camp is heretics.
Therefore it is ok to kill them.

You should watch Jews go after each other. Especially chabadniks. They LOVE to blast chabadniks. And Zionists.

The point in the original video, though, was to show that although Christians often feel a close affinity with or for Jews, Jews generally have more affinity with or for Muslims (with whom they are practically at war) than with Christians.

According to Orthodox Judaism, Christians are idolaters - except JWs, Christadelphians, unitarians, and others who deny the Deity of Christ. Whereas Muslims are not. In fact, the only problem between Islam and Judaism is the Palestine/Israeli state issue, which is related to jihad. Jews have generally gotten along just fine in Muslim countries, unless the Palestine/Israeli issue is in play.

Of course, Muslims blow each other up on a routine basis as well...