read the bible

[Epimethean]

Uh, no.

[liam]

Uh, no.

then i certainly am lost.

[Polaris]

By neighbor, it refers to the Jewish people which would mean those among the community of believers in modern usage.

I doubt that. The parable of the good Samaritan seems to be fairly clear. Also, as I recall the daughter of a Roman soldier was healed. That would suggest that Jesus extended his goodwill to those outside the faith community.

---

I wish more militant Atheists would read the Bible. Ignorance gets annoying.

I just wish some would read their own posts to realize how nasty and self-absorbed they sound.

Weren't Samaritans believers as well? They just disagreed on where to worship.

[Minimalist]

Significant archaeology on this question recently. Jews will be upset...xtians will be apoplectic.


http://www.spiegel.de/international/worl...27144.html

Yet the most exciting indication of how history actually transpired has now been unearthed by Yitzhak Magen. Working behind security fences, the archaeologist has been digging on the windswept summit of Mount Gerizim.

His findings, which have only been partially published, are a virtual sensation: As early as 2,500 years ago, the mountain was already crowned with a huge, dazzling shrine, surrounded by a 96 by 98-meter (315 by 321-foot) enclosure. The wall had six-chamber gates with colossal wooden doors.

At the time, the Temple of Jerusalem was, at most, but a simple structure.

Magen has discovered 400,000 bone remains from sacrificial animals. Inscriptions identify the site as the "House of the Lord." A silver ring is adorned with the tetragrammaton YHWH, which stands for Yahweh.

All of this means that a vast, rival place of worship stood only 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Jerusalem.

To underscore their claim, the Jewish people wove an entire biblical tale around their small, southern kingdom. According to this story, around 1000 BC the biblical King David ruled from Jerusalem over a glorious kingdom. His son Solomon allegedly built in the city a temple made of cedar, "completely overlaid with gold." According to the Bible, over 180,000 workers toiled to build it.

Total nonsense: Not a single shred of archaeological evidence has ever been found to confirm the existence of Solomon's Temple.

Let the fundie howling begin.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Weren't Samaritans believers as well?

Samaritans were and are Abrahamic believers. There are still about 3000 Samaritans living.

The full wiki article is worth reading.

The Samaritans (Hebrew: שומרונים‎ Shomronim, Arabic: السامريون‎ as-Sāmariyyūn) are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant. Religiously the Samaritans are adherents of Samaritanism, an Abrahamic religion closely related to Judaism. Based on the Samaritan Torah, Samaritans claim their worship is the true religion of the ancient Israelites prior to the Babylonian Exile, preserved by those who remained in the Land of Israel, as opposed to Judaism, which they assert is a related but altered and amended religion brought back by those returning from exile.

Ancestrally, Samaritans claim descent from a group of Israelite inhabitants from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (the two sons of Joseph) as well as some descendants from the priestly tribe of Levi,[3] who have connections to ancient Samaria from the period of their entry into the land of Canaan, while some suggest that it was from the beginning of the Babylonian Exile up to the Samaritan Kingdom of Baba Rabba. The Samaritans, however, derive their name not from this geographical designation, but rather from the Hebrew term Shamerim שַמֶרִים, "Keepers [of the Law]".[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritan

[downbeatplumb]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIVB3DdRgqU