But they rejected the actual halacha of the "Tanach " saying that it's just metaphor and that so-and-so fulfilled all that for them already so they don't have to keep it. The fact is they don't have a real law code. That presents an opening for any odd action to be presented as fitting with their belief, even if some guy or some other Christian thinks it doesn't. I didn't say they didn't have a "story," I said they didn't have a law code. Big difference.
The comparison with Islam is not necessary here. In fact I'm not sure what you mean by that. No one can claim that a Muslim who eats pork is doing so in the name of Islam. No one can claim that a jihadist attack is NOT in the name of Islam. The lawcode establishes the parameters and boundaries of the religion. I think you failed to understand my comment. I was not saying "Christians are bad and did bad things because they don't have a lawcode." Not at all. What I'm saying is that govt leaders and even priests had an opening to claim any actions (even antisemitic and Jew-hating) as "in the name of their Christian religion" because there was no real law code.
Even if a religion has a lawcode, people can still behave badly. What I'm addressing is not, how can a person believe such-and-such but still do bad things, but more a question of, how can they claim that their bad behaviors fit with their religion. That is what sets it apart as a question specifically to Christianity, whereas you don't really have that question with a religion with a lawcode. Anyone can see whether it really fits or not if there is a lawcode (or at least have a general idea if not an expert in it.
And if Christianity persecutes Jews, of course Muslims will love it, even if it is outside the parameters of what Islam allows in terms of religious belief. Anything to itbach a yahoood is ok by them. So Hitler's y''s "Christianity" is something Muslims love, just like they love anything about Hitler y''s since he was a murderer of Jews. The person asking the question to hanna doesn't understand that just because someone ostensibly is "Christian" does not mean he won't exhibit behavior that a muslim barbarian will stand and cheer about. Because a wide range of actions can be called "Christian" by various people.
I have a little bit of training in Christian theology, so let me try to handle this. If any of this appears offensive please don't take it as such, I am just trying to explain where "we" come from.
1: All orthodox (orthodox as in mainstream/theologically standard, not Orthodox the denomination) Christianity accepts that the written Law was/is all the word of G-d and literally true and binding at least for a period or epoch. Even though Christians do not practice most of it, all of us who are genuine about our faith at least respect its place and role in the Bible. In fact, Christians generally believe that prior to Jesus, the entire Torah was binding on all human beings for salvation (i.e. we don't have a concept of "righteous Gentiles" per se). Most Christians today would say that the "distinctive" laws of Torah (i.e. those that are considered to only apply to Jews) are not incumbent upon anybody for salvation. We do feel that all of the Noahide Laws, or what correspond to them (we don't call them that though) ARE binding upon all human beings, although we would consider living them out a sign of being "saved", not a means in and of themselves to go to heaven. A simplified form of the 7NLs is found in the New Testament verse, Acts 15:29. Some Christian groups, such as the Adventists and some of the Messianics, do attempt to practice varying degrees of halacha or even argue that they are necessary for salvation (I don't agree with these groups).
As far as I know there is no single Christian position on the Oral Torah or Mishnahs. There are many different opinions about them in our faith, but we have not formulated a formal stance about it.
2: Overall you are correct that we don't have a "law code" (and I do believe that that comes directly from the N.T.), but it depends on what Christians you talk to. Catholicism does have a "law code" in that the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church is considered to be the binding and inerrant/infallible word of G-d and the pontiff is likewise incontrovertible, speaking directly from G-d. However, Catholic teaching and doctrine has changed somewhat over the centuries. Orthodox Christianity is similar to Catholicism but somewhat less formal--instead of placing ultimate reliance on patriarchal (their equivalent of the pope) or bishopric teaching, they place their highest value in liturgy (devotional literature and music) and decisions reached by popular consensus within the church. Protestants are a whole other ballgame--most of us (I am a Protestant by definition) do not put any absolute value in any institution other than the Bible ("sola scriptura"). You could say that we view the Bible and N.T. in particular as a "law code", I suppose, but we put emphasis on faith lived-out more than following rules per se, even the ones that are extremely obvious (i.e. no immorality, murder, stealing, etc.).
3: I agree naturally that Christianity in general needs to be made painfully aware of the millenia of horrific anti-Semitism that has taken place in the name of Jesus, but I think that it is absolutely possible to make a distinction between so-called "Christian anti-Semitism" and Islamic anti-Semitism. The difference is that the Christian holy Scripture (the N.T.) does not call on anybody to abuse or persecute Jews, whereas the Koran obviously does. Yes, I am aware that the N.T. says things that are very problematic to Jews (i.e. that they are wrong to reject Jesus), but that does not translate to going out and harming or murdering them, especially when the apostle Paul took severe pains to warn the Gentile Christians that they are adopted stepchildren compared to the real, original Chosen people (Romans 11). I think that the behavior alone of the medieval pogromists (i.e. murder, rape, pillaging) should be enough to demonstrate that for whatever reason, be it extreme ignorance/primitiveness or deliberate disobedience of it (probably both), they were not in any way living out the true values of the N.T. The same applies, of course, to the German Nazis.
Yes, I know full well that the above is of little consolation to the millions of Jews who have been martyred in the name of Christianity...
Topic: can someone please help me explain to the Christians I'm trying to educate as to (Read 6604 times)