Irrefutable historical proof of Jesus’ existence – from multiple sources

You would expect a movement that began and then spread far and wide in only a few decades to have a founder, and—absent very strong evidence to the contrary—it does not make sense to reject the movement’s claim about who its founder was.

From non-Christian sources alone, we could have predicted that Christianity likely had a founder who lived some time in the first half of the first century.

When we find Christian sources agreeing with this and identifying that founder as Jesus of Nazareth, we have reason to credit this claim and to conclude: Jesus of Nazareth existed.

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Wrong! World-wide abortion is indeed a holocaust – with a scope and consequences much greater than any other, in history.

Abortion Holocaust – Man’s inhumanity to man – WWII Holocaust

Seen at JewishJournal.com

Michelle Duggar, along with her husband Jim Bob, are the stars of the TLC reality show 19 Kids & Counting, which has been on television for eleven seasons.  She is the mother of 19, does not believe in abortion, is openly pro-life, and not shy about sharing her opinion and religious beliefs.  I do not know her, but am sure she is a perfectly lovely woman.

However, to compare abortion to Hitler’s attempt to eradicate the Jewish people is offensive to me as a woman, as a Jew, and as an intelligent human being.  I didn’t really have an opinion on Mrs. Duggar until now, but will share that I think she is unaware and uneducated on the subject of the Holocaust. Shame on her for making such a hurtful statement.

The Holocaust was the systematic mass murder of six million Jews during World War ll.  Not only were Jews persecuted, but also Jehovah’s Witnesses, Roma Gypsies, blacks, homosexuals, Priests and Pastors who would not accept the Nazi ideology, the disabled and handicapped. Eleven million people were murdered during the Holocaust.

It was heartbreaking to hear what Mrs. Duggar said.  How is it possible that people are so uneducated about this time in history?  How is possible that a seemingly lovely woman would say such an idiotic thing in order to push her own personal agenda? How is it possible that those who lost their lives during the Holocaust are disrespected in this way?

Editor’s note: I am offended at the way s person who claims to have experienced the horrors of the historical WWII holocaust and who also claims to be a woman, a Jew, and an intelligent human being – can possibly fail to acknowledge other, similar events – clear and blatant examples of man’s inhumanity to man – on a massive scale – occurring in today’s world – right before her eyes.

This constitutes the height of political/cultural hubris and elitism – and a new low, for the human race.

With already 50 million plus world-wide deaths from abortion – and counting – there is no excuse.

Shame on you, Ms. Angel!

New Pope is sensitive to Jewish concerns.

Under his leadership in Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio made important strides in maintaining positive Catholic-Jewish relations following the transformational papacies of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI – pontiffs who launched historic reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people.

Cardinal Bergoglio maintained a close relationship with the Jewish community in Argentina.  He has celebrated various Jewish holidays with the Argentinian Jewish community, including Chanukah where he lit a candle on the menorah, attended a Buenos Aires synagogue for Slichot, a pre-Rosh Hashana service, the Jewish New Year, as well as a commemoration of Kristallnacht, the wave of violent Nazi attacks against Jews before World War II.

In 2010, during a commemoration of the 1994 bombing, Cardinal Bergoglio called it “a house of solidarity” and added “God bless them and help them accomplish their work,” which showed his dedication and support in standing up against extremism.

In 2010, he together with Argentinian Rabbi Abraham Skorka, published the book “On Heaven and Earth” addressing issues of interfaith dialogue.

Link

Editor’s note: Now perhaps Pope Francis can spend some time reconciling Catholic Traditionalists.

When it comes to believing in God or following a religion, everyone wants to see the facts, but nobody wants to do the work.

As strange as it sounds I ended up finding my faith by being surrounded by people who thought devout Catholics were out of their minds. The beliefs of those in my family contested my Catholic education and sparked a relentless search for answers and for truth. I listened to the arguments against the Church and searched for answers until I was satisfied. To this day the Church has not failed me in providing rational answers to my many questions.

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Late summer and early fall sequence of Jewish high holy days may serve as supernatural “markers” for coming end time events

Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem

by Doug Lawrence

CNS reports: Pope Benedict offered his “heartfelt best wishes” for Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkot, in the telegram released to reporters by the Vatican Sept. 20.

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I’m not trying to stoke “end of the world” fever here, and I’m not attempting to predict the day or the year Jesus will return. All I’m doing is correlating the ancient Hebrew feast days with the old and new testament scriptures, in order to calculate what time of the year we’re most likely to see Jesus, again.

See if you can follow the logic:

Near as I can figure, John the Baptist … Jesus’ cousin … was born at or around Passover … sometime in April.

Jesus was six months junior to John, which would put the actual date of his birth (Christmas) around late September/early October.

That coincides with the end of the high holy days … the feast of Sukkot … which is typically celebrating by living outside, in tents and other types of temporary shelters. (The shepherds may not have been alone, when they were out there in the fields, tending their sheep.)

It’s quite common for God to mark out the time for future events, through past events. So … if  God chose to sanctify a particular day in late September/early October for Jesus’ first coming … why couldn’t he do pretty much the same thing for his second?

Then we have what Jesus correctly predicted as the “end” of the ancient Jewish world … the Roman siege of Jerusalem and the subsequent destruction of the Temple … which began in the spring, on Pentecost, in the year 70 AD, followed some six months later by the fiery destruction of the Temple, in the fall … right around the end of the high holy days … punctuated by a trumpet blast (St. Paul’s “last” trump … St. John’s 7th?)

Those familiar with the scriptures will note many corrollaries between these events and still to come end time events, as detailed by Jesus, St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. John, and many of the old testament writers.

If you’re “into” this type of thing, here’s a few comprehensive links for you:

“Deep” background

16 End Times

17 Scriptures for the End

18 What Do We Do Now?

19 A Catholic Look At the AntiChrist

Popular Jewish Misconception: Vatican II affirmed the validity of God’s ongoing covenant with the Jewish people. (Nope!)

From a recent Jewish News Service (JTA) op-ed piece:

While in New York, Cardinal Koch will meet with, among others, the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, or IJCIC. This coalition of Jewish organizations, recognized by the Vatican as the official consultative Jewish body for the advancement of Catholic-Jewish relations, was created in the aftermath of Nostra Aetate.

That document of the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II, 1962-1965) changed the course of Catholic-Jewish history with its revolutionary statements rejecting the deicide charge against the Jews, decrying anti-Semitism and affirming the validity of God’s ongoing covenant with the Jewish people. In the post-Shoah era, the Church had begun to come to terms with its role in facilitating anti-Jewish animus that created a climate receptive to the horrors of the Holocaust.

Link

Jesus saith to them: Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? By the Lord this has been done; and it is wonderful in our eyes. Therefore I say to you that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they knew that he spoke of them.
(Matthew 21:42-45)

Wherefore it is said in the scripture: Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious. And he that shall believe in him shall not be confounded. To you therefore that believe, he is honour: but to them that believe not, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the head of the corner: And a stone of stumbling and a rock of scandal, to them who stumble at the word, neither do believe, whereunto also they are set. But you are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people: that you may declare his virtues, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: Who in times past were not a people: but are now the people of God. Who had not obtained mercy: but now have obtained mercy.
(1 Peter 2:6-10)

Behold, I will bring of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and adore before thy feet. And they shall know that I have loved thee.
(Revelation 3:9)

Council of Trent, Canon 1: “If anyone shall say that man can be justified before God by his own works which are done through his own natural powers, or through the teaching of the Law…let him be anathema.”

Council of Florence, DS 695: “There are seven sacraments of the new Law: namely, baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, penance, extreme unction, orders, and matrimony, which differ a great deal from the sacraments of the Old Law. For those of the Old Law did not effect grace, but only pronounced that it should be given through the passion of Christ; these sacraments of ours contain grace, and confer it upon those who receive them worthily.”

Council of Florence, DS 712: “It firmly believes, professes, and teaches that the matter pertaining to the law of the Old Testament, of the Mosiac law, which are divided into ceremonies, sacred rites, sacrifices, and sacraments, because they were established to signify something in the future, although they were suited to the divine worship at that time, after our Lord’s coming had been signified by them, ceased, and the sacraments of the New Testament began; and that whoever, even after the passion, placed hope in these matters of the law and submitted himself to them as necessary for salvation, as if faith in Christ could not save without them, sinned mortally.”

“All, therefore, who after that time observe circumcision and the Sabbath and the other requirements of the law, it declares alien to the Christian faith and not in the least fit to participate in eternal salvation, unless someday they recover from these errors. Therefore, it commands all who glory in the name of Christian, at whatever time, before or after baptism’ to cease entirely from circumcision, since, whether or not one places hope in it, it cannot be observed at all without the loss of eternal salvation.”

Pope Benedict XIV, Ex Quo Primum, #59: “However they are not attempting to observe the precepts of the old Law, which as everyone knows have been revoked by the coming of Christ.”

Pope Benedict XIV, Ex Quo Primum, #61: “The first consideration is that the ceremonies of the Mosaic law were abrogated by the coming of Christ and they can no longer be observed without sin after the promulgation of the Gospel.”

Pius VI, DS 1519-1520 (condemned the following): “Likewise, the doctrine which adds that under the Law man ‘became a prevaricator, since he was powerless to observe it, not indeed by the fault of the Law, which was most sacred, but by the guilt of man, who, under the Law, without grace, became more and more a prevaricator’; and it further adds, ‘that the Law, if it did not heal the heart of man, brought it about that he would recognize his evil, and, being convinced of his weakness, would desire the grace of a mediator’; in this part it generally intimates that man became a prevaricator through the nonobservance of the Law which he was powerless to observe, as if ‘He who is just could command something impossible, or He who is pious would be likely to condemn man for that which he could not avoid’ (from St. Caesarius Serm. 73, in append., St. Augustine, Serm. 273, edit. Maurin; from St. August., De nat, et “rat., e. 43; De “rat. et lib. arb., e. 16, Enarr. in psalm. 56, n. I),– false scandalous, impious, condemned in Baius (see n. 1504).

1520 20. “In that part in which it is to be understood that man, while under the Law and without grace, could conceive a desire for the grace of a Mediator related to the salvation promised through Christ, as if ‘grace itself does not effect that He be invoked by us’ (from Conc. Araus. II, can. 3 [v.n. 176]),– the proposition as it stands, deceitful, suspect, favorable to the Semipelagian heresy.

More…

And more…

What happens when a Jewish mom sends her daughter to a Catholic school?

“So what did you have for lunch today?” I asked my daughter the other day. She has started a new school this year, one that provides lunches and snacks.

“I made myself a ham sandwich,” she answered proudly. “I love ham.”

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This Week’s Ask Alice: What the Bible (and the Catholic Church) teaches about abortion.

Send A Question To Alice

She’ll answer your Catholic questions
right here, every Thursday.

Email responses will also be provided, as time permits.

Rob Asks: What are the strongest Bible verses condemning abortion?

Alice Responds: Some of the strongest Bible passages condemning abortion present evidence that life begins in the womb.

A beautiful Pro Life witness was proclaimed by Elizabeth, in the New Testament, when her pregnant cousin, the Virgin Mary, came to visit.

Elizabeth clearly felt the movement of John (the Baptist) … her yet to be born son … in response to the awesome presence of the Holy Spirit:

“Thereupon Mary set out, preceding into the hill country to a town of Judah, where she entered Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. It happened, when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, that the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Luke 41:39-41)

Here are more Scripture verses to help change the hearts and minds of people who tolerate abortion:

“For you formed me in my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb….My frame wasn’t hidden from you., when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were written, the days that you ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.” (Psalm 139:13, 15-16)

“Didn’t He who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb?” (Job 31:15)

“Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again?” (Job 10:2, 8-9)

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you came out of the womb I sanctified you.” (Jeremiah 1:4-5)

“Cursed is he who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.. All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ “ (Deuteronomy 27:25)

Throughout history, the saints have taught us invaluable lessons about the sanctity of life. The maternal heroism of St. Gianna Beretta Molla (1922-1962) serves an an inspiration to all Pro Lifers.

Gianna was a pediatric physician and devoted mother of three children. During the second month of her fourth pregnancy, doctors discovered a fibroma on Gianna’s uterus.

Physicians offered her three choices: 1) an abortion to save her life and allow her to have more children; 2) a complete hysterectomy to preserve her life, but end the unborn child’s life; 3) removal of only the fibroma, with potential further complications.

Insisting that her unborn baby must be saved, Gianna chose the removal of only the fibroma. On April 21, 1962, Good Friday, Gianna’s delivered her fourth child, Gianna Emmanuela, by Caesarean section. In great pain, Gianna died seven days after giving birth, from septic peritonitis.

She was canonized on May 16, 2004. Her husband Pietro and the daughter she saved, Gianna Emmanuela, were both present at the ceremony.

In Christ’s Love,

Alice

Doug Lawrence adds: Abortion has always been abhorrent to those of the authentic Jewish and Christian faith traditions.

Probably the best, most specific, written proof of this can be found in this excerpt from chapter 2 of the earliest known, most widely circulated, extra-biblical teachings of the apostles – known as “The Didache” – dated to 100 AD – about 300 years before the Canon of Sacred Scripture was officially compiled and certified:

…you shall not practice magic, you shall not practice witchcraft, you shall not murder a child by abortion
nor kill that which is begotten.

The Didache, for a number of reasons, is still very much worth reading, for any Christian … since at the time it was written, the Christian Church was already being identified as “Catholic”.

Some 500 years later, Muslims and the Koran came out firmly against abortion and infanticide.

Only in later times was this totally consistent reverence and respect for life attacked and weakened by the false teachings of various apostates … and in turn … by their lethal, politically motivated spawn.

Daughter of St. Gianna visits U.S. church that bears her mother’s name

Click here to see all of Alice’s other columns

Israeli diplomat praises Pope Pius XII for saving thousands of Jews during the Holocaust

Apparently breaking with a taboo among critics of the Catholic Church and of Pope Pius XII – who reigned during the Second World War and the Holocaust – Israel’s ambassador to the Vatican has recognized that the pontiff did actually save thousands of Jews during the years of Nazi predation.

Ambassador Mordechai Lewy affirmed on June 23 that “as of the raid of 16 October 1943 and the days following in the ghetto of Rome, the monasteries and orphanages of the religious orders opened their doors to Jews, and we have reason to believe that this occurred under the supervision of the highest authorities of the Vatican, who were aware of these measures.” The diplomat spoke at a ceremony in which a Catholic priest, Gaetano Piccinini of the order founded by Don Orione, was post-humously awarded a medal honoring him as numbering among righteous Gentiles.

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This Week’s Ask Alice: Should a doubtful (but otherwise practicing) Catholic receive Holy Communion?

Send A Question To Alice

She’ll answer as many questions as possible,
right here, every Thursday.

Email responses will also be provided, as time permits.

Yaron asks: I am a Jew I wanted to ask two questions about your faith: 1. If there is a Catholic that was baptized as a baby in the Catholic church and he comes every week to the church and gives money to the church, however he does not believe that Jesus is God, can he take from the bread and wine in the church? 2. Will this Catholic enter paradise after he dies? I appreciate your reply.

Alice answers: You’ve asked two worthwhile questions which merit complicated answers. It’s interesting that a Jewish person like yourself, seems to have a clearer understanding of Catholic teachings than your Catholic friend does.

To licitly receive the Body (bread) and Blood (wine) of Christ a Catholic must: 1) Be in the state of grace, (i.e. have no unconfessed mortal sins); 2) Believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament; and 3) Observe the Eucharistic fast.

If a baptized Catholic does not believe that Jesus is God, there would be no point to his receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, since that person would receive Holy Communion unworthily.

However, no human being fully understands how Jesus can be both God and man. This mystery is called the Incarnation. Faith means believing what we cannot see. If your friend struggles with doubts about Jesus being God he is like many other Catholics, even some saints, who suffer from what St. John of the Cross dubbed, “the dark night of the soul.” As long as your friend believes in God, prays, attends weekly Mass, and financially supports his church, we must be wary of judging his heart. That’s God’s job.

Just as the Incarnation remains a mystery to all of humanity, an even greater mystery is Divine Mercy. No one can guarantee exactly where your friend will spend eternity because God’s mercy is “astonishment for Angels, incomprehensible for Saints” (Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska: 949) Although you friend’s heart is riddled with doubts, God in His infinite mercy, can choose to forgive him and admit him to Paradise. That’s God’s choice.

“He says to Moses, ‘I will show mercy to whomever I choose; I will have pity on whomever I wish.’ So it is not a question of man’s willing or doing, but of God’s mercy……In other words, God has mercy on whom He wishes, and whom He wishes He makes obdurate.” (Romans 9:15)

Please pray for your Catholic friend, that God will enlighten his heart and increase his faith.

In Christ’s Love,

Alice

Click here to see all of Alice’s other columns

Anti-Defamation League (ADL) complains about criticism of Jewish abortionists

Abortion Holocaust                            WWII Era Holocaust

The ADL recently published a long-winded article complaining about the fact that members of the pro-life movement have routinely criticized abortionists who happen to be Jewish, for wantonly destroying innocent life in the womb.

The ADL also seems to think it has a copyright on the word “Holocaust”, since according to the ADL, the word has only one authentic meaning (the murder of Jews by the Nazis) … and woe be to anyone who dares to compare the six million Jews killed by Hitler with the fifty million killed in the abortuaries (many of whom are also undoubtedly of Jewish descent).

Here’s a paragraph or two  from the article … but you really ought to read the whole thing.

In 1993, an article in HLI’s newsletter declared: “Today, certain members of this people whose ancient religion and culture managed to survive Auschwitz and Buchenwald are presiding over the greatest Holocaust in the history of the world. American Jews have been leaders in establishing and defending the efficient destruction of more than 30 million preborn children in this country….Why are the victims of one Holocaust perpetrating another?”

The ADL should really go back and carefully read their own article. Then they might actually begin to realize that Jews are indeed overly represented in the abortion arena.

Too many Jewish babies being slaughtered.

Too many Jewish abortionists doing the slaughtering.

Too many Jewish lawyers (particularly in the ACLU, in the Congress, and in the courts, promoting and defending the abominable practice.

And of course, too many Jewish apologists attempting to defend the indefensible.

Abortion isn’t merely a Jewish problem. It’s a human rights issue of truly Biblical proportions … and the ADL ought to know better!

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Israel already has that of which the Obama administration can only dream: no constitution to worry about!

The modern state of Israel has NO constitution

To propose a constitution, in other words, is to ask the question: What form of sovereignty is higher than that of the present voters? America’s Founders appealed to “nature and nature’s God.” Judaism has an answer to this question, elaborated in the oral and written Torah—however remote they appear, at first consideration, from the practical requirements of the state of Israel.

Judaism is founded on a covenant between God and Israel. Instead of unilaterally imposing his will on Israel, God enters into a relation of mutual obligations with a people. This relation is, in content, not only religious but political and legal, and it is understood in this fashion in the Bible and rabbinic literature, where God is called “the King of all Kings” perhaps more often than by any other appellation.

God, moreover, exercises his kingship through proxies. There are three religious institutions and persons in the biblical polity who are divinely sanctioned: the king, the prophet, and the high priest. But of these three offices, only the term king is routinely applied to human beings as well as to God. This is noteworthy because, of the three, the prophet and high priest hold religious functions while the office of king is largely secular. In the presence of a human king, the following blessing is recited: “Blessed are You, Hashem, our God, King of the Universe, Who has given of His glory to flesh and blood.” A human king thus participates in the glory of God. To see a human king is, in a sense, to see a proxy for God.

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Investigating the papacy of Pope Pius XII

The Pave the Way Foundation, in cooperation with the Vatican, is making an unprecedented effort to translate and make publicly available on the internet, all the documents relevant to the papacy of Pius XII and his wartime activities.

According to Gary Krupp, of the Pave the Way Foundation:

“Controversy abounds on whether he did enough to prevent the slaughter of Jews at the hands of the Nazis,” Krupp affirmed.

He continued: “Our research has revealed that five years after Pius XII’s death, the KGB hatched a plot to discredit their enemy, the Roman Catholic Church, called ‘Seat 12.’

“A dirty trick, which condemned Pope Pius XII for his ‘silence’ during the Holocaust in the form of Rolf Hochhuth’s fictitious 1963 play ‘The Deputy.’ The result was the worst character assassination of the twentieth century.”

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New Nazareth excavation site expected to shed light on what Jesus, Mary, Joseph’s home may have been like

NAZARETH, Israel – Days before Christmas, Israeli archaeologists on Monday unveiled what they said were the remains of the first dwelling in Nazareth that can be dated back to the time of Jesus — a find that could shed new light on what the hamlet was like during the period the New Testament says Jesus lived there as a boy.

The dwelling and older discoveries of nearby tombs in burial caves suggest that Nazareth was an out-of-the-way hamlet of around 50 houses on a patch of about four acres (1.6 hectares). It was evidently populated by Jews of modest means who kept camouflaged grottos to hide from Roman invaders, said archaeologist Yardena Alexandre, excavations director at the Israel Antiquities Authority,

Based on clay and chalk shards found at the site, the dwelling appeared to house a “simple Jewish family,” Alexandre added, as workers at the site carefully chipped away at mud with small pickaxes to reveal stone walls.

Nazareth holds a cherished place in Christianity. It is the town where Christian tradition says Jesus grew up and where an angel told Mary she would bear the child of God.

“This may well have been a place that Jesus and his contemporaries were familiar with,” Alexandre said. A young Jesus may have played around the house with his cousins and friends, she said. “It’s a logical suggestion.”

Read the article, see the photo

Is everyone who submits to God’s will a Muslim?

Q:  If Muslims are called to be submissive to God’s will, does that mean that everyone who willingly submits to God’s will is actually a Muslim?

A: The key question should be: By what means can one actually discover and correctly discern the authentic will of God?

Muslims claim that God revealed himself to Mohamed. Hence, Muslims base their understanding of God’s will essentially on their particular interpretations of Mohamed’s Quran.

Jews claim that God revealed himself to them through Abraham, Moses, and other prophets, many of whom the Jews and Muslims revere in common, so the Jewish understanding of God’s will isn’t very far removed from that of the Muslims.

Muslim fundamental beliefs are codified in Sharia Law, which is very similar to what the Jews know as their own Mosaic Law (the Ten Commandments) along with several hundred related statutes and ordinances.

On the other hand, Christians take what was first basically revealed to the Jews and then build upon it, using the authentic teachings and personal revelations of Jesus Christ.

Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment of all the original scriptures … the Messiah … the promised savior of the world … making possible the reconciliation of mankind with God … just as God had originally promised … and Jesus died and rose again from the dead to prove that what he claimed was true.

While the Jews and Muslims know only the Old Testament God of wrath, Christians know a God of tender love and gracious forgiveness … resulting exclusively from the atoning work of Jesus Christ.

Anyone who adamantly remains mired in the past fails to get the complete message, and is likely to remain in fear and relative darkness, forever. That is hardly a position from which to properly discern the authentic will of God.

But thanks to Jesus Christ, who is (among other things) the light of the world, Christians know without a doubt that God loves us, that he wants us to know him, to love him, and to serve him, in this world and in the next, and that he (God) will provide everything necessary to make that possible … simply because he loves us … and that he’ll accomplish his will primarily through the good offices and sacraments of the only Church that Jesus Christ ever founded, for the purpose of our salvation.

So … since Muslims and Jews accept only the early, relatively obscure, and essentially incomplete portions of God’s divine revelation, they miss the most important and most fulfilling part of the message … redemption, peace, rest, and gracious pardon from God’s justifiable wrath.

Their world view remains skewed, and their discernment of God’s authentic will, fatally flawed.

Alternatively, faith in Jesus Christ, his teachings, and his Church, provides Christians with all the missing pieces of the puzzle, resulting in grace, rest, freedom from inordinate concerns about divine judgment and wrath, personal peace, and eternal life.

All of this should permit Christians (ideally, at least) to love God and to love their neighbor … which is indeed the express will of God, according to Jesus Christ … who ought to know, because he IS God … and he told us as much, as he went about preaching in first century Palestine … fulfilling all that had been written in the books of the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets.

Hard Hitting Article Explains Why the U.S. Government Promotes Abortion and Why After 40 Years the Pro-Life Movement Has Yet To Turn the Tide

Although Judaism has no central authority, and its congregations are organized into three branches, Orthodox, Conservative, and Reformed, often differing in interpretation of Jewish tradition, its position on the beginnings of human life contrasts sharply with Catholic theology.

The three branches of Judaism (Orthodox, Conservative and Reformed) all promote abortion on demand in one form or another and they have heavily influenced every stage of the 40-year debacle.

The Catholic response to the pro-abortion forces has also been severely compromised in recent years. Some of the leading figures, who on the surface appear to be waging a worthy battle, have in reality been bowing to political and financial pressures and have become useful idiots for a system that is corrupt at its core.

Read the whole article (PDF format)

Erroneous Teachings About the Jews/Israel by Some Catholics, Other Christians and Jews

Read the article (PDF file)

Serious problems with the recent USCCB document regarding Catholics and Jews

  

Committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), in a document jointly issued on June 18 by the Committee on Doctrine and Pastoral Practice and the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, has stepped in and attempted to correct some of the theological errors that have been created in the wake of the Catholic-Jewish dialogue.

Although it took the USCCB seven years to officially recognize the problems in Reflections, as the saying goes, it is better late than never. In 2002, except for a brief criticism by Rosalind Moss published by Catholic Answers, our apostolate was one of the few that had written a detailed and comprehensive critique of Reflections, titled Conversion of the Jews Not Necessary?1

In it we not only critiqued Reflections for its theological errors, we also showed some of the controversial history of the Catholic-Jewish dialogue, beginning with Jules Isaac’s books in the 1940s that appear to be the impetus for why the Catholic prelature had traveled down this dubious path in the first place.

Essentially, the past 40 years of Catholic-Jewish dialogue has resulted in little more than a constant temptation for Catholic prelates to water down or even contradict Catholic doctrine in the hopes of placating the Jews; the errors in the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults and the Reflections on Covenant and Missions being two of only a number of outstanding examples of this phenomena.

Hopefully, the prelature has finally recognized the dangers of going down this path, since, after having to make two major retractions in high profile ecclesiastical documents, its learning curve has been rather painful in the last year.

Read the entire article

More about this matter

A unique education on the teachings of Judaism and the talmud

Compiled after 15 months’ filming and editing, this fast-moving, professional video documentary will give you a unique education on the inner teachings of Judaism and the talmud.

Through the television camera “The Other Israel” takes you where few Christian scholars have gone before.

Some claim this controversial video is anti-Israel, anti-Jew, and/or anti-semetic.

After much study and reflection, I have come to believe that the intentions of the video producer are pure, and he is simply trying to shed some light on matters that remain very  mysterious to many … including the majority of our Jewish brothers and sisters … and that what you will see on the video is the essential truth.

For the record, this is what the official Catechism of the Catholic Church says about non-Christian faith traditions … including Jews, Muslims, and others:

The Church and non-Christians

839 “Those who have not yet received the Gospel are related to the People of God in various ways.”³²⁵

The relationship of the Church with the Jewish People. When she delves into her own mystery, the Church, the People of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish People,³²⁶ “the first to hear the Word of God.”³²⁷ The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God’s revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews “belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ”,³²⁸ “for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.”³²⁹

840 And when one considers the future, God’s People of the Old Covenant and the new People of God tend towards similar goals: expectation of the coming (or the return) of the Messiah. But one awaits the return of the Messiah who died and rose from the dead and is recognized as Lord and Son of God; the other awaits the coming of a Messiah, whose features remain hidden till the end of time; and the latter waiting is accompanied by the drama of not knowing or of misunderstanding Christ Jesus.

841 The Church’s relationship with the Muslims. “The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”³³⁰

842 The Church’s bond with non-Christian religions is in the first place the common origin and end of the human race:

 All nations form but one community. This is so because all stem from the one stock which God created to people the entire earth, and also because all share a common destiny, namely God. His providence, evident goodness, and saving designs extend to all against the day when the elect are gathered together in the holy city. . .³³¹

843 The Catholic Church recognizes in other religions that search, among shadows and images, for the God who is unknown yet near since he gives life and breath and all things and wants all men to be saved. Thus, the Church considers all goodness and truth found in these religions as “a preparation for the Gospel and given by him who enlightens all men that they may at length have life.”³³²

844 In their religious behavior, however, men also display the limits and errors that disfigure the image of God in them:

Very often, deceived by the Evil One, men have become vain in their reasonings, and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and served the creature rather than the Creator. Or else, living and dying in this world without God, they are exposed to ultimate despair.³³³

845 To reunite all his children, scattered and led astray by sin, the Father willed to call the whole of humanity together into his Son’s Church. The Church is the place where humanity must rediscover its unity and salvation. The Church is “the world reconciled.” She is that bark which “in the full sail of the Lord’s cross, by the breath of the Holy Spirit, navigates safely in this world.” According to another image dear to the Church Fathers, she is prefigured by Noah’s ark, which alone saves from the flood.³³⁴

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Be Proud of Being Catholic – An article written by a Jewish businessman

Be Proud of Being Catholic (Excerpts of an article written by Sam Miller, prominent Cleveland Jewish businessman – (NOT a Catholic) Submitted by Dee L.

Why would newspapers carry on a vendetta on one of the most important institutions that we have today in the United States, namely the Catholic Church?

Do you know – the Catholic Church educates 2.6 million students everyday at the cost to your Church of 10 billion dollars, and a savings on the other hand to the American taxpayer of 18 billion dollars. Your graduates go on to graduate studies at the rate of 92%, all at a cost to you. To the rest of the Americans it’s free.

The Church has 230 colleges and universities in the U.S. with an enrollment of 700,000 students. The Catholic Church has a non-profit hospital system of 637 hospitals, which account for hospital treatment of 1 out of every 5 people – not just Catholics – in the United States today.

But the press is vindictive and trying to totally denigrate in every way the Catholic Church in this country. They have blamed the disease of pedophilia on the Catholic Church, which is as irresponsible as blaming adultery on the institution of marriage. Let me give you some figures that you as Catholics should know and remember. For example, 12% of the 300 Protestant clergy surveyed admitted to sexual intercourse with a parishioner; 38% acknowledged other inappropriate sexual contact in a study by the United Methodist Church, 41.8 % of clergywomen reported unwanted sexual behavior; 17% of laywomen have been sexually harassed. Meanwhile, 1.7% of the Catholic clergy has been found guilty of pedophilia. 10% of the Protestant ministers have been found guilty of pedophilia. This is not a Catholic Problem.

A study of American priests showed that most are happy in the priesthood and find it even better than they had expected, and that most, if given the choice, would choose to be priests again in face of all this obnoxious PR the church has been receiving.

The Catholic Church is bleeding from self-inflicted wounds. The agony that Catholics have felt and suffered is not necessarily the fault of the Church. You have been hurt by a small number of wayward priests that have probably been totally weeded out by now.

Walk with your shoulders high and you head higher. Be a proud member of the most important non governmental agency in the United States. Then remember what Jeremiah said: “Stand by the roads, and look and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is and walk in it, and find rest for your souls” Be proud to speak up for your faith with pride and reverence and learn what your Church does for all other religions. Be proud that you’re a Catholic.

Thanks to Doria2 for this article.