Good for you, Robbie.
BTS
Thoughts From A Jew
by shamus100 40 Replies latest jw friends
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shamus100
I like Jews so much, I converted. They are loving, fun, and down to earth people. At least the reform are.
Let me put it to you this way; my latest love is Jewish, and part of his problem was me being agnostic, not really believing in god. When I actually met these people, they seemed so normal, so sane, down to earth and un judgemental it left me stunned. True, I'm not converting, but I'm just saying... how can a gay person be in such a high position of a religion?
The most important thing that he stressed to me is that Christians are just completely transfixed on sin and sin alone. I completely agree.
Israel? I don't know a thing about it; completely ignorant. I've been completely ignorant about a lot of things, lately.
Seems that being a Jew is just as much about being social as following a rabbi. Just saying - perhaps Rodbar can fill us in here.
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Gregor
And now I am in a serious relationship with a Catholic. My rabbi doesn't give two hoots what religion he is as long as he is a good man. And he is a good man.
Gee, Rob, kind of a harsh way to break it to me. Where does that leave us?
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Robdar
Good for you, Robbie.
Thanks, BTS. Last night on the phone we were discussing the similarities between the Holy Roman Catholic Church and Judaism. There are many and that makes us pretty happy.
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Paralipomenon
I have several reformed jewish friends. In my opinion it's more of a culture/social group than religion.
I get the feeling if science was able to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was no God of any sort, they'd drop the ceremony and keep meeting.
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shamus100
I get the feeling if science was able to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was no God of any sort, they'd drop the ceremony and keep meeting.
Kind of the feeling I got too, Paralipomenon.
The other thing that I find interesting is they argue scripture. As an example, the first words of genesis can be read as "In a beginning" instead of "In the beginning". To me it's just a book, and there's plenty more to argue about, but my point is you can argue about scripture. Not just sit there like a drone and have it spoon-fed to you like an infant. (hintitey hint-hint, lurkers)
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Robdar
Gee, Rob, kind of a harsh way to break it to me. Where does that leave us?
LOL
Gregor, I will always love you. Just not the way I used to.
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Robdar
The other thing that I find interesting is they argue scripture. As an example, the first words of genesis can be read as "In a beginning" instead of "In the beginning". To me it's just a book, and there's plenty more to argue about, but my point is you can argue about scripture. Not just sit there like a drone and have it spoon-fed to you like an infant. (hintitey hint-hint, lurkers)
Shamus, it is a mitzvot (commandment) to discuss and argue scripture. I've really enjoyed the Torah discussions I've participated in. A Jew is not allowed to tell another Jew that their interpretation is incorrect. That is a very freeing concept.
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moshe
Good thought provoking questions. Here is a mish mash of thought from another ex-JW Jew. It was explained to me by a Rabbi during my conversion that the only requirement that is unchanging is that I had to believe in the one G-d of the Jewish people. Worship and prayer is a person matter. The Jews I fellowship with are looking to leave the world a better place for their children. We don't put much stock in waiting on G-d to fix the problems of this material world. The Holocaust pretty much proved to Jews what happens when you wait on the holy spirit to save your life. Like all people, you have extremes of opinion and the Jews in the black hats do have rigid ideas. Since I didn't convert in an Orthodox temple, they don't consider me a Jew. Interestingly, the Orthodox Jews on the Jewish federation board are OK with sending me a yearly pledge card and accepting money from me for Jewish causes- they just don't want to shake my hand. I belong to Reform Temple. The president told me a story recently about a local church pastor who stopped by the Temple to ask a question and saw a sign- we were having a drive to raise money to remodel our kitchen. She went back to her church and talked to their board they gave our Temple $1000 for that remodeling project. Jews don't seek out members, nor do they object to the religion of non-Jews. Like would be easier for all, if we just stopped trying to convert people to another religion.
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leec
Dr. Laura is Jewish (converted from RC, iirc). She has stated more times than I can count that she has Jewish friends. I've heard her take calls from gay people and not attack them or make a big deal of the gay thing. If you couldn't tell, I like her. Simply because she stands up for the rights of kids over the selfishness of adults. I don't agree with everything she says, and I often get annoyed when she carries over her bad feelings about one caller onto another or doesn't really listen well enough to understand the issue, but you can't throw out everything just because of a few bad pieces. 80/20 rule applies, as usual.