Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Conversion of the Jews.
No sooner had the Roman world been conquered by the Church than the conversion of the Jews became its ever present aim, much against the intention of the founder of Christianity (Matt. x. 6); and henceforth conversion assumed a new meaning. It was no longer a return to God in repentance, but the adoption of a new faith—not always from inner conviction, but under the influence of a ruling and threatening outward power. No barbarity seemed too cruel to be used as a means of enforcing the conversion of the Jews (see the letter of Bishop Severus concerning the Jews of Magona [island of Minorca], in Grätz, "Gesch." 3d ed., iv. 363; compare v. 47, 49, etc.), although Pope Gregory I. (ib. v. 41), Bernard of Clairvaux (ib. vi. 151), and other prelates deprecated such measures (see Ersch and Gruber, "Encyc." section ii., pp. 57, 62, 68, 77, 124, 151 et seq., 221 et seq., 230 et seq.). Even when, for the sake of keeping up the semblance of conversion by arguments, "disputations" were held between Jews and Christians in the presence of potentates, prelates, and the people, the defeat of the Jews was a foregone conclusion, and renewed persecution the unfailing sequel. Strangely enough, Jewish apostates acted as the most unscrupulous defamers of Judaism with the view of converting their former brethren (see Apostasy). The conversion of the Jews formed at all times an object of ambition of the Roman pontiffs, who compelled the Jews to attend at least once a year the Catholic service, for the purpose of listening to a conversionistic appeal. This practise was also followed in England, where the legal enactment forbidding Jews to disinherit their baptized children (see Disabilities) was enforced. In 1550 Pope Paul III. founded an institute for the conversion of Jews. England had its Hospital of Converts and House of Converts in London and Oxford as early as the thirteenth century (see "Missionen unter den Juden," in Herzog-Hauck, "Real-Encyc." 2d ed.). - CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY - JewishEncyclopedia.com
In the dissent past , Mostly people who rejected Jesus like the Jews and the Mohammedan were a threat to the Christian communities of nations in the west were leaders would deport the Jews out or kill thousands of Jews to break a plague , so converting them would be easier then killing them ...... Still if Christians lost a disputation debate with Jew to convert to Christ then they would be deported out of the nation ................It is different today as the liberal ideas of arrogance will not support offending people of any race and has dominion in most western nations
In the dissent past , Mostly people who rejected Jesus like the Jews and the Mohammedan were a threat to the Christian communities of nations in the west were leaders would deport the Jews out or kill thousands of Jews to break a plague , so converting them would be easier then killing them ...... Still if Christians lost a disputation debate with Jew to convert to Christ then they would be deported out of the nation ................It is different today as the liberal ideas of arrogance will not support offending people of any race and has dominion in most western nations
No sooner had the Roman world been conquered by the Church than the conversion of the Jews became its ever present aim...
Why?...
As a practical matter, the most widespread and successful religions ('successful' in terms of amassing adherents and gaining control of mechanisms of power) tend to follow several self-advantageous practices. One of these practices is building followers, which serves to both bolster their own numbers as well as reduce the numbers present in other faiths that might otherwise present a challenge. The Jews, and the pagans, were obvious targets for Christianity as it exerted its dominance in the Roman world. Simply put, the Jews were one of the speed-bumps in the way of the Christian express to power and control.
In the dissent past , Mostly people who rejected Jesus like the Jews and the Mohammedan were a threat to the Christian communities of nations in the west were leaders would deport the Jews out or kill thousands of Jews to break a plague , so converting them would be easier then killing them ...... Still if Christians lost a disputation debate with Jew to convert to Christ then they would be deported out of the nation ................It is different today as the liberal ideas of arrogance will not support offending people of any race and has dominion in most western nations
The Muslims I won't dispute, but can you substantiate the claim that Jews were a threat to the Christians?
Luke -Acts I am afraid won't do. Luke is biased and unreliable and so is Acts. Paul is fuming about Jews who understandably don't like his efforts to undermine their laws, and the Jews may have been a threat to his early churches, but surely, after it had become recognized by Rome (before that Christianity has to worry more about Pagan Rome, not Jews). A programme of conversion of Jews on the grounds they were a threat to Roman Christianity just won't wash.
The Muslims I won't dispute, but can you substantiate the claim that Jews were a threat to the Christians?
.......
By their perceptions, the Jews were what was left of God's promise of a Messiah. By refusing to accept Jesus after all their "advantages" they invalidate the perception of Jesus AS that Messiah, and THAT is the threat. I believe that is the basis for the original drive and that snowballed as the situation continued.
The fact is that they were building a religion that had already abandoned the basis of the message of Christ, and that very abandonment and concern for their power through that religion drove that persecution.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
