Savoia:
Of course. Yoel sees it that way and so does Mike Savoia,
but the Jews believe the Laws were given by God, not by man, else
they'd have no valid basis for their religion. That would raise the
importance of sacrifices to above that of a social phenomenon,
within their own belief system.
Yoel
> As far as I can tell, there is no God. Judaism is as ridiculous as
> any religion. But what makes you so adamant that sacrifices are so
> very crucial to it?
Savoia
Simply because they were commanded by Yahweh. If they were
commanded forever, to not keep them today would -- no, let me
rephrase that -- *should* require that the Jews have a 'rescinding'
command by Yahweh, saying, "ok guys, you don't have to do this
anymore." Lacking this rescinding command, it would be as valid to
call a Jew to task for not performing sacrifices as it would be to
call a Catholic to task for not taking communion. If they're going
to pick and choose which of their own laws are convenient, the more
"honest" thing to do would be to drop the religion and admit they
don't really believe it's all coherent.
> >Savoia
> >
> >Who said it's hard to understand? I knew they must have some way
> >of getting around it, which probably includes an interpretation of
> >the word "forever". Come to think of it, the fact that no temple
> >exists probably plays a part in the excuse for no sacrifices...
>
> yoel-
>
> Oh yeah- you are probably right! In fact... I am sure you are! If a
> temple existed, I am sure that there probably would be sacrifices.
If so, then are you saying they would probably resume sacrifices out
of a sort of nostalgia, but not because they would feel any
obligation by the law? If their rationale for resuming sacrifices
was something like "as commanded in the Torah", then they'd have to
admit to disobeying the Torah for all these years.
> But Judaism is not and never was sacrifices only. There is more to
> it than that, and this is mentioned in the Bible. Judaism existed
> apart from sacrifices. This is why the Christian assertion that a
> blood sacrifice was crucial for forgiveness is not biblically based.
> It just isn't.
Well, Christianity aside, I certainly understand that Judaism is not
solely sacrifices, but neither is it solely circumcision, yet as I
understand it they still keep this "command" to Abraham. It would
not have to be a pillar of Judaism for them to keep it. I would
think disobeying *any* law by Yahweh should be acknowledged as
"wrong" in their own eyes. For that matter, I assume they don't keep
the other many cruel marital and familial laws commanded by Yahweh,
using the same kind of rationale that they were "allowances" for
their pagan roots..
Cheers,
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Savoia
msavoia@iac.co.jp