"Born-Again Christian" co-worker's Anti-Semetic comment distirbs me.

by booker-t 24 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Terry

  Hitler's background

  Despite trying to depict himself otherwise in Mein Kampf, Hitler's youth was not one of privation, but one of the adequate means afforded to his father, a minor customs official. Hitler (born 1889) was confirmed a Roman Catholic at his mother's wish on Whit Sunday 1904 at the Cathedral at Linz, one year following the death of his father. [Bullock, Alan, Hitler, A Study in Tyranny. Harper & Row, 1962, p. 26] According to Heiden [Der Fuehrer .p 632] Hitler still went to confession and communion in 1918.

  Was Hitler's anti-Semitism based on the Christian Bible? "There was nothing new in Hitler's anti-Semitism; it was endemic in Vienna, and everything he ever said or wrote about the Jews is only a reflection of the anti-Semitic periodicals and pamphlets he read in Vienna before 1914".[Bullock p. 39] Indeed, Hitler's hatred of Jews was racial rather than religious in nature. "The Jews were responsible for bring negroes into the Rhineland with the ultimate idea of bastardizing the white race which they hate and thus lowering its cultural and political level so that the Jew might dominate." [Hitler, Adolf, Mein Kampf, p. 273.] Since the 4th century, Christians were anti-Jewish; what is new is the concept of "scientific racism". Anti-Jews want Jews to convert to Christianity; anti-Semites want them dead.

  http://www.davnet.org/kevin/essays/hitler.html

  The New Testament evolved from Jew-neutral to anti-semitic in a very short time.

  The uprising of the Sicarii against Rome and the military response terrified early Christians into taking a firm stance against natural Jews.

  The rhetoric transformed Judeo-Christianity.

  The natural Jews fled into the Diaspora and Paul deconstructed them into "spiritual Jew" language to finish them off.

  The history of Christianity is almost entirely anit-semite.
• 

  needproof

  Yes, I have read Mein Kampf and it bored me to death. So even to this day, Hitler is still killing people.
• 

  slimboyfat

  1. There's no such thing as a non-born again Christian.

  Yes there is.

  Slim
• 

  ozziepost

  Mrs Smith:

  I'm a Christian and I don't agree with this comment at all!! Romans chapter 1,2 ,3 and 4 clear states that those who live by the law will be judged by the law (meaning the jews) and those who belive in Christ will be judged by Christ.

  I don't believe you've read my post correctly, or at least as I intended. What i said, as quoted by you, was that christian belief is that all who are not "in christ" are destined for hell. Then I spoke of what people may understand hell to be. Nowhere did I mention that Jews, or anyone, will burn in hell, although i acknowledge that many believe in a fiery hell. From what I've read, the jury's out on that one. I presume you don't subscribe to a fiery hell. That's fine! Then I assume you understand it to be separation from God. Am I correct in thinking that?

  The jews, the anglos, the slavs, the arabs, etc etc (as I said before) are all included. Please re-read my post.
• 

  Leolaia

  I agree with ozziepost and onlycurious....your friend's comment by itself is not antisemitic per se, reflecting an exclusivist view of salvation that is not directed towards any group tho deeper down it may also have a basis in Christian supersessionism which can be found in the NT itself. The irony is that such exclusivist views originated in Judaism via the "two ways" dualism typical to some brands of Judaism (e.g. punishment in Gehenna is reserved for those who do not do the will of God as expressed in the Torah), inherited in Christianity through Essenism and probably Pharisaism (two major movements within Judaism that contributed ideas to Christianity).

  In fact, the wording ("What a shame...") suggests that your friend is processing a minor cognitive dissonance between his belief about salvation coming only through Christ and the biblical promises made to the Jews.
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  Seeker4

  Ah, now we're touching on the crux of the matter with most religions.
  
  Group one - you take your Holy Book at face value and believe that you have the complete truth, and anyone who doesn't believe like you will be destroyed by your god. We see this clearly with fundamentalist Christians, Jews and Moselms. You must believe as they do, or you'll be destroyed.
  
  Group two - You take a more moderate view of your Holy Book, look for the passages that speak of love, compassion and forgiveness. You either ignore or try to water down your Holy Book's passages that describe what's going to happen to the non-believers - usually being the object of your god's wrath and anger resulting in their death or torture, or both. Your diluted version of your faith lacks power, and puts you in a category where the fundamentalists of your faith consider you worse than the non-belivers, and even more deserving of death.
  
  So, if you REALLY accept what your Holy Book says, as a Christian you know your god will destroy the Jews, Moslems, Christians who read the Holy Writ a bit differently from you, and so on. As a Moslem, you know the Christian, Jew and all infidels will be destroyed, as well as the Sunnis, if you're a Shi'ite, and vice versa.
  
  At it's core, this is the essence of religion. Why do we continue to let ourselves be guided by the fanatical scribblings of ancient goatherders? Why not work to create a truly compassionate, loving and forgiving approach to life without all the creator mumbo jumbo that turns an essentially ethical view of life into a god-driven genocidal horror show?
  
  S4
• 

  whyizit

  Perhaps your self-proclaimed "born-again" friend does not understand what it is to be a born-again Christian.

  The reason I say this, is because a true born-again Christian most likely would not say such a thing.

  It kind of goes along the lines of that old saying: Just because someone goes to church and says they are a Christian does not make them one, any more than standing in a garage proclaiming to be a car makes them an automobile.
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  Makena1

  Well said Seeker. I guess a "kinder, gentler" version of hell is more PC.
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  Kudra

  I think that the born-again Christian's response of "we don't believe that Jews (or whoever) are going to burn in the lake of fire" is the same as the JWs answer of "we don't believe that Jehovah is going to destroy ALL non-witnesses at Armageddon..."
  
  We all know what the JWs REALLY mean, like I suspect all born-againers know what they reeeeaaly mean.
  
  I think we might get the real scoop if we could have an EX-born againer on here tell us what they were exposed to.
  
  -K
• 

  reneeisorym

  What we really think is that if you do not trust in Jesus Christ, you will be eternally seperated from God's love.

  I do not personally think that hell is literally burning fire. I just believe hell is seperation from God.