Questions to Jews & Christians

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Muslima wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm Christian...

To answer your questions:

1. Do you guys have a certain number of mandatory prayers that you do every day? Does it depend on what branch of Christianity you follow?
No... I don't know about all the "branches" (denominations), but most of the Protestant ones do not. Not sure about Catholics.

2. What is the difference between Catholics, Protestants and Methodists?
Protestants grew out of the Reformation period from the Roman Catholic church. In a nutshell, some people felt the Catholic Church was a bit too corrupt so they split from them. Then different fractions started appearing... Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran... each started by different leaders. They all hold to the universal truths about Christianity, just vary slightly in certain aspects of the belief.

3. Can you guys go to each other's churches?
Yes, it is very open. I grew up in a Presbyterian church but now go to what is called non-denominational.

Thank you, I appreciate it. So Catholics were the "Original Christians" and all the other denominations branched out from them?

The Roman Catholics were the original organized Christians, with a creed, a set of scriptures and set of rules that the leaders devised and agreed to at the council of Nicea in 325, but before that there were many independent groups, just as there are today.

The Roman Catholics, were not "Roman" until they broke away from the Orthodox Eastern Catholics. There were many independent groups before during and after Nicea.

The Egyptian Copts I know swear they were the original Christians. doesn't really matter to me but Eastern Orthodox in general is older than Roman Catholicism.

There are no "original" Christians.. they've since all died. Every type of Christian church/denomination/sect is a derivative of the Apostles/Disciples. I don't think you can equate oldest Christian group to "original".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"The World's Religions" by Huston Smith is a well-written, readable book that explains the basics of major religions. This is a better way to learn than relying on the possibly uninformed opinions of us DCUM'ers!

I agree, have a copy, and refer to it often.

[Anonymous]

Muslima, you can't even get information correct about the Israel/Palestine threads you create and then monopolize over on Political Discussion. I sure as heck am not going to try to give you Christian information to twist around and misquote.

[takoma]

Anonymous wrote:Muslima, you can't even get information correct about the Israel/Palestine threads you create and then monopolize over on Political Discussion. I sure as heck am not going to try to give you Christian information to twist around and misquote.

That strikes me as rather harsh. I don't always agree with Muslima, but it seems to me she states her opinions in moderate language, gives more citations and explanations than most, and does not engage in personal attacks or generalizations about Jews or other groups.

I find her comments among the most interesting on DCUM, and am glad that she lets us know they are from the same person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Muslima, I have noticed that this thread is full of mistakes and misinformation. Please go out and read a book or authoritative source about different religions. I get tips on baking or saving money on DCUM, not spiritual matters.

I think it's interesting to see all the different responses. Some of it's not wrong, per se, as much of it reflects beliefs in different denominations.

But I agree with a book recommendation. Muslima, Karen Armstrong writes a lot about different religions. I've always enjoyed her works.

No. There's a lot of nonsense in this thread, and at least 1 made up term (I'll let you hunt for it and see if you can find it!).

[Anonymous]

takoma wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Muslima, you can't even get information correct about the Israel/Palestine threads you create and then monopolize over on Political Discussion. I sure as heck am not going to try to give you Christian information to twist around and misquote.

That strikes me as rather harsh. I don't always agree with Muslima, but it seems to me she states her opinions in moderate language, gives more citations and explanations than most, and does not engage in personal attacks or generalizations about Jews or other groups.

I find her comments among the most interesting on DCUM, and am glad that she lets us know they are from the same person.

I usually avoid the Political Forum as I would avoid the plague. But here in the Religion forum, I do think Muslima gives a somewhat uneven view of Islam on some threads here, particularly wrt the Islamic takes on God, Jesus, and Jews. I don't want to get into an ugly row, and I've actually stopped myself from citing the Qu'ran on these subjects, so I'll leave it at that. I do appreciate that she identifies herself, and she's open and friendly.

[Muslima]

takoma wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Muslima, you can't even get information correct about the Israel/Palestine threads you create and then monopolize over on Political Discussion. I sure as heck am not going to try to give you Christian information to twist around and misquote.

That strikes me as rather harsh. I don't always agree with Muslima, but it seems to me she states her opinions in moderate language, gives more citations and explanations than most, and does not engage in personal attacks or generalizations about Jews or other groups.

I find her comments among the most interesting on DCUM, and am glad that she lets us know they are from the same person.

Thank you. I am not afraid to take a stance and I'm always open to discuss my views and ideas. Because, i choose to identify myself, I've gotten personal attacks, but I think that's the reason why God gave me a sense of humor, I laugh off most of the comments and move on. I don't let things get to me. I'm interested in exchanging with people and learning from them while sharing my views, that's all.

[Muslima]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"The World's Religions" by Huston Smith is a well-written, readable book that explains the basics of major religions. This is a better way to learn than relying on the possibly uninformed opinions of us DCUM'ers!

I agree, have a copy, and refer to it often.

I heard about this book before. Will put it on my wish list

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:to clariy - no Jewish legal authority allows the consumption of Hallah meat in place of kosher meat. Rather that is a practice evolving among some partially observant lay Jews.

Is there an exception, like in Islam, for times of sever hardship?

anything is kosher if you are starving and need to eat it for health "pkuach nefesh" saving a life - trumps ritual law as a general rule.

But few human beings need to eat meat to live (and of course most of us would be healthier eating less) so the law does not allow for eating nonkosher meat when vegetarian food (much easier to make kosher) is available.

Note this applys only to things you are going to ingest. There is no law against contacting or benefiting from even pig parts - you can play football with a pigskin covered ball, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Muslima wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm Christian...

To answer your questions:

1. Do you guys have a certain number of mandatory prayers that you do every day? Does it depend on what branch of Christianity you follow?
No... I don't know about all the "branches" (denominations), but most of the Protestant ones do not. Not sure about Catholics.

2. What is the difference between Catholics, Protestants and Methodists?
Protestants grew out of the Reformation period from the Roman Catholic church. In a nutshell, some people felt the Catholic Church was a bit too corrupt so they split from them. Then different fractions started appearing... Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran... each started by different leaders. They all hold to the universal truths about Christianity, just vary slightly in certain aspects of the belief.

3. Can you guys go to each other's churches?
Yes, it is very open. I grew up in a Presbyterian church but now go to what is called non-denominational.

Thank you, I appreciate it. So Catholics were the "Original Christians" and all the other denominations branched out from them?

The Roman Catholics were the original organized Christians, with a creed, a set of scriptures and set of rules that the leaders devised and agreed to at the council of Nicea in 325, but before that there were many independent groups, just as there are today.

The Roman Catholics, were not "Roman" until they broke away from the Orthodox Eastern Catholics. There were many independent groups before during and after Nicea.

The Egyptian Copts I know swear they were the original Christians. doesn't really matter to me but Eastern Orthodox in general is older than Roman Catholicism.

There are no "original" Christians.. they've since all died. Every type of Christian church/denomination/sect is a derivative of the Apostles/Disciples. I don't think you can equate oldest Christian group to "original".

Original in that the way they practice Christianity is the way it was first practiced.

[Muslima]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:to clariy - no Jewish legal authority allows the consumption of Hallah meat in place of kosher meat. Rather that is a practice evolving among some partially observant lay Jews.

Is there an exception, like in Islam, for times of sever hardship?

anything is kosher if you are starving and need to eat it for health "pkuach nefesh" saving a life - trumps ritual law as a general rule.

But few human beings need to eat meat to live (and of course most of us would be healthier eating less) so the law does not allow for eating nonkosher meat when vegetarian food (much easier to make kosher) is available.

Note this applys only to things you are going to ingest. There is no law against contacting or benefiting from even pig parts - you can play football with a pigskin covered ball, etc.

Muslims have the same belief as well. If you were about to die of hunger, and the only thing available to. Save your life is pork, you are allowed to eat it.

[Anonymous]

Muslima wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:to clariy - no Jewish legal authority allows the consumption of Hallah meat in place of kosher meat. Rather that is a practice evolving among some partially observant lay Jews.

Is there an exception, like in Islam, for times of sever hardship?

anything is kosher if you are starving and need to eat it for health "pkuach nefesh" saving a life - trumps ritual law as a general rule.

But few human beings need to eat meat to live (and of course most of us would be healthier eating less) so the law does not allow for eating nonkosher meat when vegetarian food (much easier to make kosher) is available.

Note this applys only to things you are going to ingest. There is no law against contacting or benefiting from even pig parts - you can play football with a pigskin covered ball, etc.

Muslims have the same belief as well. If you were about to die of hunger, and the only thing available to. Save your life is pork, you are allowed to eat it.

Yes, because Islam is derived from Judaism isn't it? Ismail was the bastard son of Isaac?

[takoma]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, because Islam is derived from Judaism isn't it? Ismail was the bastard son of Isaac?

I think the Torah says that Abraham took Sarah's handmaiden Hagar in marriage to give a child to him and Sarah. So Ishmael was legitimate, and was Isaac's older half brother. I think the Quran says he was the one that Abraham almost sacrificed.

[Anonymous]

http://www.jewfaq.org/index.shtml

[Muslima]

takoma wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, because Islam is derived from Judaism isn't it? Ismail was the bastard son of Isaac?

I think the Torah says that Abraham took Sarah's handmaiden Hagar in marriage to give a child to him and Sarah. So Ishmael was legitimate, and was Isaac's older half brother. I think the Quran says he was the one that Abraham almost sacrificed.

Yes, that is correct according to the Qu'ranic interpretation, Hajr was his second wife.