Robertson Links Sharon Stroke, God's Wrath

There is the Jewish nation and there is the Jewish faith (I suspect a lot are both, don't you?). So, if someone from the Jewish nationality or faith became Christian does that make them any less a Jew?

Robertson{heart}Ahmadinejad

Saturday, January 7, 2006; A16



CHRISTIAN television evangelist Pat Robertson and the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have a well-established affinity for the outrageous. This time their mutual embrace of indecency places them in a category all to themselves. As Ariel Sharon lies hospitalized and critically incapacitated by a massive stroke, Mr. Robertson, one of America's best-known religious extremists, and his Iranian counterpart -- no slouch when it comes to religious demagoguery -- suggested that Israel's prime minister had it coming. Speaking on his TV show, "The 700 Club," on the Christian Broadcasting Network, Mr. Robertson said the Bible "makes it very clear that God has enmity against those who 'divide my land.' " Mr. Sharon, Mr. Robertson asserted, "was dividing God's land, and I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course." As Mr. Robertson was offering up his thoughts about a man fighting for his life, Iran's president was expressing unrestrained hope that Mr. Sharon would simply die.

Pat Robertson and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are probably beyond the point where they can be reached by embarrassment or shame. But they are not beyond the kind of strong condemnation that they have richly earned. We need not recite the records of contemptible remarks made by both men in the past. There is little reason to believe that either will cease his disgraceful behavior. Mr. Ahmadinejad, the president of a country with a lamentable human rights record and a nuclear program, is dangerous, where Mr. Robertson is only pathetic. But they share a self-righteousness that blinds them to the distance that they have placed between themselves and the majority of people who find their remarks repulsive. It's sufficient to know, we suppose, that at a time when messages of hope are flowing from around the world to the bedside of Ariel Sharon, Pat Robertson and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad still have each other.

Mr. Ahmadinejad, the president of a country with a lamentable human rights record and a nuclear program, is dangerous...,

joefromchicago,

I still disagree. I have a friend who lives in Shreveport. She will tell you she is Jewish only in the respect of nationality/family lineage ~ straight from Israel. However, she says she is a Christian Jew.

Momma Angel wrote:

joefromchicago,

I still disagree. I have a friend who lives in Shreveport. She will tell you she is Jewish only in the respect of nationality/family lineage ~ straight from Israel. However, she says she is a Christian Jew.

"Christian Jew" is about as oxymoronic as "rap music," "temporary tax," or "compassionate conservative." I'll be generous and conclude that your friend is simply confused. That sounds much better than assuming she's an idiot.

"Christian Jew" is about as oxymoronic as "rap music," "temporary tax," or "compassionate conservative."

Forty-five percent of American Jews are secular -- the highest rate of any religion. But "secular" includes people who may not practice their religion but who believe in God. Of secular Jews, 34 percent don't believe in God. Still, they consider themselves Jewish.

Momma Angel wrote:

There is the Jewish nation and there is the Jewish faith (I suspect a lot are both, don't you?). So, if someone from the Jewish nationality or faith became Christian does that make them any less a Jew?

Of course it does. This notion that there is a distinction between the Jewish "nation" and the Jewish religion is just so much nonsense. If there is any such thing as a Jewish "nation," its membership is restricted to those who adhere to the Jewish religion. Any Jew who professes a belief in Jesus Christ as the messiah is not a Jew, and, perforce, not a member of the Jewish "nation."

Would you assume these to be idiots or simply confused?

http://www.cjf.org/messianic_perspectives/webcast/Webcast_main.html

joefromchicago wrote:

"Christian Jew" is about as oxymoronic as "rap music," "temporary tax," or "compassionate conservative."

i'm not sure about that, if "secular Jew" isn't an oxymoron. the last time i heard, secular Jews made up a plurality of Israelis. then there's this comment from a PBS show:

Quote:

Forty-five percent of American Jews are secular -- the highest rate of any religion. But "secular" includes people who may not practice their religion but who believe in God. Of secular Jews, 34 percent don't believe in God. Still, they consider themselves Jewish.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week609/feature.html

I know quite a few people who consider themselves "jews," but who do not consider themselves followers of Judaism. Are you saying they are fooling themselves?

What identity are they qualified to claim?

if it is expected that all Jews actively practice their faith in order to be considered a Jew, and if "secular Jew" is defined as a person who had previously practiced the Jewish faith but no longer does so, then a "secular Jew" is synonymous with "non-Jewish Jew."