If you do a little research (google, ask your Jewish friends), Jews don't believe in Hell, probably because it's not mentioned in the Old Testament. Instead, they believe in trying to live a good life now.

Yet, Christians do believe in such a place, based on language in the New Testament, and use this threat to scare people into believing in their religion. Pascal's Wager, anyone?

Since the Jews are god's chosen people, and according to the bible he doesn't change, how is it that he managed to neglect revealing that they risked suffering this eternal torment? Does this apply to people who died before the idea of Hell made it's way into the bible? Did he change his mind?

Quote:If you do a little research (google, ask your Jewish friends), Jews don't believe in Hell, probably because it's not mentioned in the Old Testament. Instead, they believe in trying to live a good life now

I asked an orthodox rabbi at an on line Yeshiva the same thing. His response was that they do believe in divine punishment after death..The Jewish hell sounds just like the Christian purgatory;everyone eventually gets out.


Perhaps it's pertinent to ask why Christians DO believe in hell. Christianity began as a strictly Jewish sect,following a rabbinical tradition which is still extant in orthodox Judaism..One HAD to be a practicing Jew to belong,or convert. That meant following the Law,ALL of it,as admonished by Jesus.

Saul introduced eternal Hell to Christianity during the de-Jewifying process Christianity went through from the C1st. (Saul's epistles predate the Gospels) Smart move; makes a counter point to heaven,and appeals to notions of revenge and natural justice, albeit at a rather primitive level.(part of the redneck appeal of Christianity)

A more cynical person might say people are motivated by both hope of reward and fear of punishment. Being able to terrify people with the fear of hell is a powerful tool of social control and wonderfully lucrative financially.

Choose whichever one will further your capitalistic pigism.



(shoulda seen me coming too)

I know a Jewish guy who thinks that an evening with his in-laws is hell.

(April 15, 2010 at 7:51 pm)padraic Wrote: Perhaps it's pertinent to ask why Christians DO believe in hell. Christianity began as a strictly Jewish sect,following a rabbinical tradition which is still extant in orthodox Judaism..One HAD to be a practicing Jew to belong,or convert. That meant following the Law,ALL of it,as admonished by Jesus.

Jesus corrected the interpretation of the law. The interpretation of mosaic law at the time he lived was under the control of lawyers, which he overturned.

(April 15, 2010 at 9:50 pm)Dotard Wrote: Choose whichever one will further your capitalistic pigism.



(shoulda seen me coming too)

Wrong thread dude

THAT'S where your comment went. Lols.

EvF

Quote:Jesus corrected the interpretation of the law. The interpretation of mosaic law at the time he lived was under the control of lawyers, which he overturned.

I've heard that apologist nonsense all of my life. It's simply untrue. It also shows an appalling ignorance of Jewish Law and custom,not uncommon in Gospels.

In the Gospels Jesus admonished his followers to keep The Law and is recorded as saying he came to fulfill The Law,not to replace it.

IF the apologist claim was correct, that would have happened from the very beginning,but it did not. Until Saul stuck in his oar in, to be a follower of Jesus one HAD TO BE A JEW OR CONVERT. That meant keeping The Law,all of it, including circumcision and keeping the strict dietary laws.There was some vehement opposition to the changes introduced by Saul.

The Epistles of the writers know collectively as 'Saul of Tarsus' date from 55 to 155 CE depending on whom one reads. (Jesus allegedly died at age 33 ca 27-29CE)

.It is generally accepted that the Epistles predate the gospels ,with the earliest,Mark, being written sometime between 40 and 140 CE,with 70 CE accepted by many apologists as the most likely date.

My point: The Gospels and the Epistles were ALL written AL LEAST a full generation after the death of Christ. The de-Jewification of Christianity did not begin until late in the C1st CE at the earliest,probably actually in the C2nd. If Jesus had abrogated Mosaic Law in any way (assuming he was not stoned for blasphemy) the changes would have begun immediately.



Disclaimer: The above is for academic interest only. My position is that the Jesus of the NT is pure myth. The religion of Christianity was invented by Saul. The personal mythology accepted today was invented by Mark,and embellished by the 3 later Gospel writers, who tidied and embellished Mark's rough Greek.

It also needs to be kept in mind that most the Christian canon was chosen arbitrarily in the C4th from thousands of texts by one man,Athanasius of Alexandria, (C293-373) largely to meet a political agenda.

Quote:Fulfilling the Torah was the task of a first century rabbi. The technical term for interpreting the Scripture so it would be obeyed correctly was -fulfill-. To interpret Scripture incorrectly so it would not be obeyed as God intended was to -destroy- the Torah. Jesus uses these terms to describe his task as well (Matt. 5:17-19). Contrary to what some think Jesus did not come to do away with God's Torah or Old Testament. He came to complete it and to show how to correctly keep it. One of the ways Jesus interpreted the Torah was to stress the importance of the right attitude of heart as well as the right action (Matt. 5:27-28 ).

Source : http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2753

Jesus didn't change the law, or abolish it... instead he interpreted it correctly. As I said, and is reiterated many times in the gospels: Jesus was challenged by those who's profession it was to interpret the law because they had twisted it to fulfil their own aims. There is no de-jewification implied in my statement, if you interpreted it in that way.

(April 15, 2010 at 7:19 pm)Darwinian Wrote: If you do a little research (google, ask your Jewish friends), Jews don't believe in Hell, probably because it's not mentioned in the Old Testament. Instead, they believe in trying to live a good life now.

Oh they believe in a Hell-like underworld alright, call it Sheol or Gehenna or whatever, except they're not going there, according to them we are. They're "god's chosen people" and the rest of us are screwed for simply existing.

They just believe in getting to the good life more so, yep, in Revelations all 144,000 of them are going to live in bliss with sky-daddy, so says all three of me.

Comprehending a supernatural deity being outside time and space that is beyond empirical observation or study is relatively straightforward... just don't ask them to do the basic math.

*Disclaimer*: the views and ideas expressed here are totally fucked up and are not necessarily the views of anyone (especially myself).

Jews don't believe in Hell because they are sissies. I mean seriously... whether it be roaming a few days months years in the desert and complaining about it to the guy who brought them out of slavery... them requiring their God to be at their side in every battle they God ever won... or that time when a bunch of Jews got their asses raped by a couple of blondes (Nazis): ----->>>>>SISSIES<<<<<-----

Like any other sissy, I have found that Jews go quite well with ground glass, and I would recommend you try this dish at least 5 times before you knock it.

/end disclaimer notice.

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Now I just need to translate my perfect English into Egyptian Hieroglyphs so that you lot will understand it