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And the truth—for eighth-century Samaria—was this: to serve God means to act with justice. One cannot pray and offer sacrifice while ignoring the poor, the beggars at the gates. But more radical still: if you have more than you need, you are a thief, for what you “own” is stolen from those who do not have enough. You are a murderer, who lives on the abundance that has been taken from the mouths of the starving. You are an idolator, for what you worship is not the true God. You are a whore, for you have bedded down with other gods, the gods of your own comfort and self-delusion, you who “cram [your] palaces with violence and extortion,” who have “sold the upright for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals [from Gucci, no doubt],” who “have crushed the heads of the weak into the dust and thrust the rights of the oppressed to one side.””<br> | And the truth—for eighth-century Samaria—was this: to serve God means to act with justice. One cannot pray and offer sacrifice while ignoring the poor, the beggars at the gates. But more radical still: if you have more than you need, you are a thief, for what you “own” is stolen from those who do not have enough. You are a murderer, who lives on the abundance that has been taken from the mouths of the starving. You are an idolator, for what you worship is not the true God. You are a whore, for you have bedded down with other gods, the gods of your own comfort and self-delusion, you who “cram [your] palaces with violence and extortion,” who have “sold the upright for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals [from Gucci, no doubt],” who “have crushed the heads of the weak into the dust and thrust the rights of the oppressed to one side.””<br> | ||
Therefore, USA is “Samaritan” to the core — a thief, murderer, idolater, whore, and violent extortioner for not worshipping the True God, but instead the Mammon god of its “own comfort and self-delusion”. So much for all those empty, shallow, hypocritical American demands that "God Bless America”. | Therefore, USA is “Samaritan” to the core — a thief, murderer, idolater, whore, and violent extortioner for not worshipping the True God, but instead the Mammon god of its “own comfort and self-delusion”. So much for all those empty, shallow, hypocritical American demands that "God Bless America”. | ||
[[wikipedia:Jesus_in_the_Talmud|Jesus in the Talmud]] | Wikipedia<br> | |||
— In the context of Christian-Judaic polemics<br> | |||
“In the first few centuries CE, there were many sects of Judaism (such as Pharisees, Essenes, and Sadducees) each claiming to be the correct faith. Some scholars treat Christianity, during that era, referred to as Early Christianity, as simply one of many sects of Judaism. Some sects wrote polemics advocating their position, and occasionally disparaging rival sects. Some scholars view the depictions of Jesus in the Talmud as a manifestation of those inter-sect rivalries – thus the depictions can be read as polemics by the rabbinic authors of the Talmud which indirectly criticized the rival sect (Christianity), which was growing and becoming more dominant.”<br> | |||
[https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691143187/jesus-in-the-talmud Jesus in the Talmud]<br> | |||
[http://www.messiahnj.org/talmud.htm What is the Talmud and is it Anti-Christian?] | |||
===Alfred Edersheim=== | ===Alfred Edersheim=== | ||