About being subjective and/or objective: The following edited version of a letter, by me, was published in the National Post, today, with the headline:

'Two-way missionizing'

National Post Published: Friday, August 07, 2009

Re: Why Shariah Must be Opposed, Daniel Pipes, Aug. 5.

Daniel Pipes makes the very important point that there is a fundamental difference which separates Judaism from Islam. Unlike Islam, Judaism is not a missionizing religion.

What about Christianity? Surely it was a missionizing religion from the beginning. Many Christians are still proud missionizers. They like to remind Christians of the quote, "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." Long before the rise of Islam, Paul and others were filled with this missionary zeal. Where did they get it?

Nowhere is it written in the Hebrew scriptures that Jews were told by God never to spread the idea that he is the one, all powerful God who would eventually expose the evils of idolatry and draw all good people to him. In fact, the Book of Isaiah is about drawing people to the worship of the one true God in Jerusalem.

I advocate a two-way kind of missionizing -- dialoguing about our differences. Let the dialogue begin.

Reverend Lindsay G. King, Thornhill, Ont.
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Actually, I should have said: Let us dialogue about our similarities and our enriching differences.

In his August 5 article, the very controversial Daniel Pipes seemed to imply that Islam is the only missionizing-kind of religion and that Judaism isn't.

Incidentally, Pipes failed to mention Christianity, which began as a sect of Judaism. The Hebrew Bible, part of the Christian Bible, especially the book of Isaiah, makes it clear that Judaism began as a theocracy--similar to Islam. The Bible tells us that it was expected that God was going to establish the House of David as his choice to rule the Kingdom of God of justice and peace, forever.

BTW, in Luke 4: 16-30, at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus quotes from Isaiah 61:1-2. And I believe he quoted it to reform, not with approval. He wanted to include the Gentile world. Note: the passage tells us his refrom was rejected.

JEWS, CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS WERE ALL MISSIONIZERS
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The original intention of certain ambitious political leaders was to spread the Kingdom of God, under a Jewish Messiah--one who would rule, politically and religiously, from Jerusalem which would be the capital of the world.

Rome later picked up the pieces left after the break-up of the empire started by Alexander the great. It took up the idea a theocracy and called it Christianity. There followed an ongoing struggle as to whether the Pope or the Emperor was the supreme power under God.

In the 7th. Century, Islam came along with the same idea. The idea of the separation of church and state did not come along until much later:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_church_and_state
Thomas Jefferson (1802) mentioned the phrase in a letter he wrote.

Last edited by Revlgking; 08/07/09 09:19 PM.

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