FW: RE: [TruthTalk]

[ShieldsFamily]

I found the response I sent; here it is again.  Have a blessed Christmas, iz   From: ShieldsFamily [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 6:30 PM To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: RE: [Norton AntiSpam] RE: [TruthTalk]   Thanks for asking, jd.  I get very discouraged to read what I see as scurrilous statements about Jews and Judaism that denigrate what I consider to be a beautiful faith and a wonderful people.  I realize it comes from ignorance.  I don’t know a lot about them either, to be sure, but I do know enough to realize that I love them dearly.  I don’t even know how to begin to correct your (plural) perceptions.  I guess you could try to start by comprehending that the Jews were called out by God, their nation was established by God, and God came to us as one of them.  If that doesn’t give one pause, what can?  To think they are finished in God’s history is a huge mistake.  And if you have never had a glimpse of the community they enjoy, and the rich history, and their deep reverence for God for life and for each other, even while not yet knowing their Messiah, well how does one describe a rainbow to a blind man?  I guess that is why I hesitate to use my words to belittle another person who claims to know Christ if I don’t know a lot about them—they could be very precious in the eyes of our Lord, just as the Jews are today.  iz   From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 11:19 AM To: TruthTalk@mail.innglory.org; TruthTalk@mail.innglory.org Cc: ShieldsFamily Subject: [Norton AntiSpam] RE: [TruthTalk]   You are correct, Linda --  I know very little about these Olt Testament people and it is a problem.  What do you find as "appalling" in what I wrote, specifically.   I am just wondering if you were planning of helping in addition to your attack ?     I wouldn't mind a little input.   Lay it on me.    jd   -------------- Original message -------------- From: "ShieldsFamily" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Jd, your lack of understanding of the Jews is appalling, as demonstrated by every post you write about them.  Why not try learning about them instead of speculating out of thin air? I’m talking HUGE lack of understanding—HUGE! iz   From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, December 12, 2005 9:30 PM To: TruthTalk@mail.innglory.org; TruthTalk@mail.innglory.org Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [TruthTalk]       Probably no interest on this one, but I'll throw it out there anyway.   Isreal claims ancestry through Abraham to God.   But there was no Israel from the beginning of earth's history to around 1600 BC or so.     The Egyptians had their own culture, religion and mythology.   The Jews really had no national identity at all.    If if if the Egyptians had incorporated these people into their society in the early years, there would have been no Israel of God   ---  or, at the very least,  Egyptian mythology and culture would have survived in Israel.   But, the very fact of continued bondage  IMO created an  "us versus them"  psychology that prevented Israel from being lost in the sea of Egyptian nuance.     Their escape from Egypt was that of a people needing Divine  help at the most basic  levels  of national existence. .   They had no law or national structure.   Their God of the past 400 years  (of bondage) was a God of tradition and little more.   We are talking about 2 to 3 million people (so some assert) leaving Egypt with absolutely no where to go,  no way to survive militarily ,  a culture of bondage and defeat as the National Story,   And when they got to the Red Sea,  reality hit them between the eyes.   This defeatist attitude becomes a part of their tradition and , perhaps,  is an aspect of their repeated rebellion.   It is almost as if they are the Divine Stepchild and they really don't  care for this  identiy.   Does this have anything to do with fact that do not approach God as "Father God"  ??    And what is Moses doing with the writing of Genesis if not collecting the oral traditions in an effort at presenting Iseal  (this brandnew nation) with a history that it can claim as its own???   Perhaps he begins with the Beginning  because this was the perfect place to start.   ..........     contrasting the Egyptian mythologies of the beginnings of man with an account of a sovereign God  and His creation.   These Jews,  freah out of Egypt,  most definitely knew of the Egyptian stories.   The contrast would have been startling.     Whatever.   jd