*CHRISTIAN INTERMEDIARIES – PAGAN CONCEPT*** *Hugh Fogelman, et al*
* * Christians and Jews approach God differently. Long before the birth of Jesus, the Jewish people experienced an intimate and loving relationship with God. Thus Jewish prophets always stressed that all could approach God directly, without an intermediary. In trying to find why Christians feel a need to approach God through an intermediary, Jesus, there could be a deep-seated root of the episode of the Golden Calf. Non-Jews cannot phantom a concept of worshipping a god they cannot see. If Christianity grew out of the Torah, which was given to the Jewish people, then why did Christianity abandon the Torah's direct approach to God and begin to stress that people can only approach God through Jesus? Christians, perhaps feel that God is too awesome and remote to approach directly. So too, many people of the ancient world felt that God was too awesome and remote to approach directly. Christians felt the need for intermediaries between them and God, and this attitude led to the spread of idolatry. The founders of Christianity, i.e. Paul, were seeking followers among the idol-worshiping nations, and they understood their mentality. Thus, they taught their followers that Jesus would serve as their link to God. In this way, the founders of Christianity hoped to make their religion more acceptable to the pagans, whom they felt were not yet ready for the pure monotheism of the Torah that stressed a direct approach to the One and Only God. For as Maimonides wrote, it is forbidden to pray to God through any intermediary, as it is written (Exodus 20:3*), "You shall have no other gods before Me"* (The Thirteen Principles of Faith). For the pagan peoples, God was too high, proud, and remote to be concerned about "lowly" human beings. This was why they began to pray to the various forces within nature. Christianity, through the teachings of Paul therefore offered the pagan nations the comforting message that God had sent his "only son" to redeem them. The Jews, however, were not impressed with this message for they knew that God has many children, as Moses proclaimed to the People of Israel: *"You are children to the Compassionate One - your God"* (Deuteronomy 14:1). As the children of the Compassionate One, they had always approached their loving Parent in Heaven directly, so why would they now need an intermediary? >From the very dawn of their history, Jews experienced the direct and loving redemption of the Compassionate One, and at each Passover Seder, Jews remind themselves of this close relationship by chanting words from the Passover Hagaddah (a book read during Seder). In their search for loving, feminine comfort, the pagan peoples would bring offerings to various forces in nature, which they viewed as "goddesses." Even the earth became a goddess. At a later stage of history, the Catholic Church provided people with "Mother Mary" who would intervene with "her son, Jesus." Like the goddesses, "Mother Mary" was a comforting figure, as the Beatles sang in their famous song, "Let it Be," "Mother Mary, comfort me." Christians may claim they are not going through any "intermediaries," then why MUST they end *every* prayer in Jesus' name? The Jewish people, however, know that they are to receive motherly comfort from the Compassionate One, Who proclaimed: *"Like a person whose mother comforts him, so will I comfort you, and in **Jerusalem** you will be comforted."* (Isaiah 66:13) Throughout biblical history, the Jewish prophets protested against pagan teachings that human beings need to worship the forces within nature to receive help and redemption. As part of their protest, the prophets emphasized the idea that the Compassionate One is close to all who are suffering and in need. For example, the Prophet Isaiah proclaimed the following Divine message: *"For thus said the High and Exalted One, Who abides forever and Whose Name is Holy: I abide in exaltedness and holiness, but I am with the despondent and lowly of spirit - to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the despondent."* (Isaiah 57:15) As one of our great writers wrote: *"You take Jesus, we'll take God."* * * <http://../../cr/pages/xianity.html> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> . --- Brief CV of Jusfiq Hadjar Jusfiq Hadjar, a christian, 66 years old, is an Indonesian living in the Netherlands. He currently lives together out of wed-lock with Marlene Van Doorn - a documentalist in African Studies Center (ASC) library - in Leiden. Jusfiq Hadjar has, thus far, succesfully deceived many NGOs into believing that he is a human rights activistist. One of the NGOs that has been trapped in his lies is a Muslim human rights group, the Movement against Racism and for Friendship among Peoples. Jusfiq Hadjar is very active in his campaigns against Islam and Muslims on the Internet, especially in several Indonesian mailing lists. He will spread massive amounts of offensive, slanderous, lying statements against Islam and Muslims day in and day out and at the same time claiming that he is a Muslim. Undoubtedly, Jusfiq Hadjar is one of those people who still thinks that adhering to a daily routine of cursing and swearing on the Internet would help to make him look intelligent and preserve his sanity. It shoots no wonder then if you find mosts of his writings on the Internet are just about cursing and swearing at Muslims and licking the ass of his christian friends. Jusfiq Hadjar has joined several mailing lists in order to spread his severe hatred against Islam and Muslim on the Internet: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/islamkristen/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/apakabar/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/minangnet/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/istiqlal/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/partai-keadilan/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ijtihad/<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/partai-keadilan/> Marlene Van Doorn is very supportive of his life partner's evil activities on the Internet, and gives her financial support by providing him with meals, accomodation and Internet connection. He is also allegedly financed by Leiden church. He has no children. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! 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