Anti-semitism in Europe
by Donald E. Hester
on Sunday, 15 February 2009
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Donald E. Hester
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Director Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League recently said of Europeans:
"Anti-Semitism remains alive and well in the minds of many Europeans. It is distressing that there seems to be no movement away from the constancy of anti-Semitic held views, with accusations about Jews of disloyalty, control and responsibility for the death of Jesus," http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2617
First, Christianity has been on a decline in Europe for the last 40 years. Christians are a minority in Europe, prior to WWII Secularism was on the rise and now Islam is on the rise. If Europe is increasingly secular or Muslim why would they care if the Jews were in control and responsible for the death of Jesus? They wouldn’t be. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-08-10-europe-religion-cover_x.htm
The idea that Europeans are anti-Semitic because of a perception that the Jews are responsible for the death of Jesus is preposterous. It is a distraction from the real facts. The Nazis who were a secular humanist group where the ones who tried to eradicate the Jews from the world. No doubt, the real culprits would like to use Christians as a scapegoat. Second, Jesus had to be crucified. For God’s greatest glory, as a means to rescue us and redeem us from the curse of our sins. God is just and required payment for my sins and he provided a way in Jesus, just as God provided a sacrifice for Abraham. Abraham and his son Isaac were acting out a Devine foreshadowing of what was to come later in that very place.
If you need to blame someone, blame me. After all, my sins required propitiation. By extension, everyone is to blame in all history, because Jesus died for all our sins.
So-called Christians who blame the Jews for Jesus the Messiah’s death have no understand of our faith and God’s glory is hidden from them. I am not denying that people who claim to be Christians have said some stupid things. Some may have been Christians like, Martin Luther, however, they may have been right about other things but were completely wrong about the Jews.
Personally, I think God still has work for the Jews and that one day they will see God’s glory as well.
There is a group of people that I look up to or think exemplify a certain trait that is worth of emulation. I call them heroes for the lack of a better term. As a disclaimer, I realize that no one is perfect. I may count someone as a hero who may also have negative traits. For example Noah is a great hero because he was faithful, however, he was also a drunk.
In some of my previous posts on Atheist, I have explored the source of their ethics.
The second post in a series exploring homosexuality and Christianity.
I came across this very intriguing book about the evidence of a very ancient lost civilization. A very intriguing speculation and hypothesis. Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock is a fascinating exploration of what he believes is a lost prehistoric civilization that was destroyed by a flood. He concludes that our civilization will be destroyed by fire some time soon. (Maybe 23 Dec 2012). In his book he discusses such monuments as the pyramids of Giza as if they are calendrical devices that declare ancient science and mystical secrets. These monuments were built to preserve and transmit the knowledge and inscribe secrets in hidden texts within these monuments. He talks about the grand precessional cycle and how it relates to past disasters. In particular an ancient disaster that led to a worldwide flood.
In a previous post on "What would you say to Richard Dawkins question?" I had such a success I decided to do another one. One of the questions Dawkins like to ask about God in an effort to show he is capricious and thus not worthy of our attention is, "What would you do if God told you to kill someone?" Obviously, this is illusory to Abraham and Isaac. The Christian context of the event was not that God was capricious; it was that God was foreshadowing things to come and Isaac was never going to be harmed
I have been listening to some debates recently and realized that winning a debate does not make the premise true. The Truth of a statement is independent of how well defenders argue it. I have seen some website comments on some of the debates I have listened to and everyone thinks that their 'guy' won the debate. Truth is truth independent of someone ability to convince you otherwise.
Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different (Unabridged) by Gordon S. Wood. This book was a great listen. It covered the founding fathers in a way I haven't heard or read yet. It was balanced. They were not portrayed as demigods or vilified as demons. They were portrayed in a manner that was balanced and informational. It is far better than one of my history books that vilifies them for what was then a social norm because now it is considered unconscionable. Other, mostly older books, portray them as some type of titanic individuals who were always noble and unblemished. It is refreshing to read something that does not try to convert the readers to their point of view.
I listened to a series of lectures titled "Plato, Socrates, and the Dialogues" which was given by Professor Michael Surgrue of Princeton University. There are 16 lectures, each lasting 45 minutes.