The custom is not to expose something holy to the possibility of being mistreated if possible.
Very interesting, never knew this. What about saying the words as you mentioned in your first answer?
Since it is not pronouncing the Name, and in fact not writing it in Hebrew
Or writing/saying it in Hebrew?
Their babbling probably means their reciting a long list of divine names, hoping that one of them will force a response from the deity.
Interesting, thank you for the insight!
Do you think Psalm 118 is bad? It uses repetition. Should we avoid and maybe even remove this Psalm because of this?
We probably see things quite differently when it comes to scriptures being "good" or "bad".
NIV (Psalm 118:10-12)
10All the nations surrounded me,
but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
11They surrounded me on every side,
but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
12They swarmed around me like bees,
but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns;
in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
I think killing nations in the name of God might be considered "bad".
As for repetition in praying being good or bad, I think the problem with repetition of words or motions in worship is that it easily becomes mundane and "only another habit". If you repeat because you really mean it, that is one thing. But if you do so because you are used to it or because it is written that way in a psalm, that is when I think it could be considered "bad" because it is not from the heart anymore.
I am agnostic so when I write this I am simply sharing my opinion of how I think worship should be conducted if there is a God.
and tried to make the circumstances fit their preconception.
I got the same feeling when I read the NT after waking up, which makes me question the validity of what is written.
None of this makes them the Messiah in Jewish theology anymore than Jesus.
But if you think Jesus was a prophet, that would mean what he said was from God? And when he told his apostles that he was the Messiah that must have been true. Or he lied but then he would have lost Gods blessing.
NIV (Matthew 16:16-17)
16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.
You are probably aware that the idea that Jesus was the Messiah and Gods only son where present among the church fathers and have been a core belief since then. The Idea that Jesus is part of the God head is not new either, no matter how much the JWs want it to be otherwise :P
So how can you believe he might have been a prophet?
If you want a really close view on practically what I think about the New Testament, read The Jewish Annotated New Testament.
Is it available online? And is it a long read? :P
(as well as wrong views about atheists, Catholics, Mormons, tuna fish, the paying of taxes, homosexuality and tight pants, etc.)
Amen! xD
even if my views may not be fully acceptable by some or may need adjustments themselves.
With that attitude it wont matter what you believe, you are intellectually free and that is all that matters imo.
The fact that this ushered in a 2000-year "Messianic Age " where Jews were persecuted, tortured, expelled from country after country, and then thrown into concentration camps by Christian nations in an attempt to wipe us off the face of the planet kinda makes it hard for me to accept the claims about Jesus in the New Testament...but that's just me.
Do you attribute the holocaust to Christians? I have heard people say that since the German soldiers had: "Gott mit uns" on there belts it should be.
However, if you look into their practices it was a lot like a cult.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_aspects_of_Nazism
Historians, political scientists and philosophers have studied Nazism with a specific focus on its religious and pseudo-religious aspects.[1] It has been debated whether Nazism would constitute a political religion, and there has also been research on the millenarian, messianic, and occult or esoteric aspects of Nazism.
I don't think it should be but that is my opinion, I can understand you have "problems" with Jesus if you think his followers did that to your people.
