October 2, 2009 5 Comments

Other Jews baffle me. How are atheist Jews, agnostic Jews, Buddhist Jews, and Pagan Jews more acceptable than messianic Jews?

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5 Comments

  1. polyanarch October 2, 2009 at 13:49

    I think this is what is called self-hatred.

  2. greymaiden October 2, 2009 at 18:47

    Because Jesus was clearly some kind of undead creature, and it is blasphemous to worship that kind of evil.

  3. countfroggy October 4, 2009 at 14:28

    I’ll take that as a serious question

    and not just as voicing frustration and go through the list for you:
    atheist Jews; Jews are both a religion and a tribe. Judaism does not require a belief in a God existing (the phrase is ‘You shall have no other gods before Me.’) and you can still be a member of the tribe.
    agnostic Jews; Jews are both a religion and a tribe. Judaism does not require a belief in a God existing or not (the phrase is ‘You shall have no other gods before Me.’) and you can still be a member of the tribe.
    Buddhist Jews; Buddhists don’t have a God (see atheist and agnostic) but do have a ethic that doesn’t diverge from Jewish norms and you can still be a member of the tribe.
    Pagan Jews; Pagan Jews of my knowledge and acquaintance may believe in spirits, but still do not recognize any gods greater than God (awkward, isn’t it) and you can still be a member of the tribe.
    messianic Jews; the category requires denial of the idea that other people can be ethical enough to find favor in God’s sight. Also, they deny the direct access of every Jew directly to God (whatever you may or not believe God to be). Those basic requirements of Christianity are exclusionary and anti-ethical to most other Jews, regardless of branch/movement or other distinctions listed above, even if you were born a member of the tribe (indeed, they exclude all other members of the tribe).
    I recognize that not all messianic Jews may put as much importance on that teaching as others.

  4. countfroggy October 4, 2009 at 14:36

    In the interests of full disclosure, I’m an agnostic Jew (raised Conservadox), married to a Reform Jew (raised Reconstructionist).

    1. countfroggy October 4, 2009 at 14:38

      And a PCLinuxOS user 🙂

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