Hamas War

Sunday, October 24, 2010

“Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam,” A Time Line?

There's a new impressive exhibit at the New York Public Library, “Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam.

Considering the history, the sequence of events, when and how each of those three religions began, I wonder if there's a Time Line prominently posted to indicate to one and all how both Christianity and Islam are just faux Jewish aggressive wannabes.  To this very day, both Christianity and Islam are attempting to take over the status, people and land of the Jews.

In fact, because Christianity developed out of Judaism, and Islam grew out of both, similarities and allusions are also the markers of great differences. Each religion aggressively reinterpreted its predecessors, accepting its sacred texts but radically altering their implications and meanings. And each predecessor religion, in turn, opposed attempts to treat it as a prelude to something greater.


These are not subtle disputes, and the consequences were far from ecumenical, particularly when successor religions sought to spread their beliefs through conquest and conversion. And while the three share many traits — these are not primarily meditative or contemplative religions, after all, and they are indeed historical faiths, concerned with action, even with mission — their commonalities also lead to profound contrasts. For two millenniums, Judaism, tied to a particular people, was the least outwardly directed, but all three religions saw themselves as shaping world history. Each one also imagined a distinctive role for believers within it. And here the three are quite diverse indeed.


This is, of course, beyond the scope of this show... (complete article)

There is no simple benign, philosophical, intellectual discussion among spiritual leaders.  This "competition" is the core of the rabid, seemingly irrational anti-Israel, antisemitic atmosphere in places like the United Nations, the international media and academic universities and journals all over the world.

A number of years ago when I accompanied a Christian tour group to Tel Shiloh, a young girl innocently asked me, during question time, why so many nations, peoples and religions attacked Jews.  None of us had an answer for her, and that question has been troubling me ever since.  But now I know.

The world's dominant and competing religions, Christianity and Islam exist to be replacements for Judaism.  Therefore they see the survival, existence of the Jewish Religion, People and State to be a threat, proof of their illegitimacy.  That's why we're attacked.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nothing new under the sun.

Perhaps that should be "son", in this case. Yuck! Now I have to wash my 2 typing fingers! :(

Batya said...

Shy, careful with the puns... ooops

נחום said...

I believe this is exactly the point. Truth and autethicity is one of the recurrent motifs of the anti-Zionist/anti-Semite propaganda. They say Jews are not a real people, Judaism is not a real religion [just a set of repressive / chauvinitic rulings], Israelis lack a real connection with the land [take into a greenish, or blut-und-boden kind of twist] and so forth. Such an obsessive-compulsive labelling of the opponent as an "untrue, unauthentic" reveals seriuos doubts about the confidence or the authenthicity of the locutor himself. Simple Freudian projections.
[By the way, when I did realize this, I turned my political views in something more realistic, and Zionist. But that's another story]
cheers

YMedad said...

Uri Tzvi Greenberg, in one of his poems, Shir Geza Avraham, suggests that we are hated because we brought forth monotheism, and a moral code which the goyim could not tolerate and hated us for dragging them into a new value system instead of what they used to enjoy.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Batya, that would describe Amalek to a tee.

Historyscoper said...

Master the complete history of Islam from square one including its roots in Judaism free online at your own pace with the Historyscoper. To get started click http://go.to/islamhistory

Anonymous said...

In addition to TLW's site, above, Robert Spencer's site, JihadWatch, has two important sections on the subject:

Islam 101

Qur'an commentary

The latter is great when some Islamophile quotes you some misleadingly soothing verse from the Qur'an. Look it up, see what Islamic scholars have to say and read the verse in its surrounding context.

Batya said...

Great comments, thanks.