From: utzoo!decvax!decwrl!qubix!lab
Newsgroups: net.religion
Title: Public Reply to charge of Anti-Semitism
Article-I.D.: qubix.189
Posted: Sat Apr  2 17:07:56 1983
Received: Sun Apr  3 04:38:30 1983

FtG has made a public charge that I have posted Anti-Semitic material.
This warrants a two-fold reply: that the references quoted were not
anti-Semitic, and that I have not given anti-Semitic meaning to them.

C.S.Lewis's reference to the things Jesus said and did are based on the
records penned by the following men:
	Matthew (Levi), a SEMITE tax collector
	John Mark, cousin to Joseph Barnabas, a Levite & SEMITE
	Luke, (probably Gentile) traveling companion of Saul of Tarsus
	John, a SEMITE fisherman
	Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee of the tribe of Benjamin
		(also known as the Apostle Paul), SEMITE
I rather doubt that any of the above-named were anti-Semitic, especially
since they attributed divinity to another SEMITE of the tribe of Judah and
the house and lineage of David.

For me personally to be anti-Semitic is a contradiction of my faith. I have
believed the record given in the Hebrew Bible (by SEMITES), that is points
toward a particular SEMITE (Jesus), and that I am now a son by faith of the
SEMITE Abraham (Galatians 3:29). Further, my God is the God of Israel, who
has not cast His people off, but will redeem them at His appointed time.

Christianity is not a Gentile religion. In fact, the Jewish Christians were
astonished that God would grant the Gentiles the repentance that leads to
life (Acts 11:18).

Points to Ponder: Islam has its own separate set of teaching by Jesus; were
they done by His contemporaries? What accuracy can be granted them? If the
Moslem tradition is that someone else was mistaken for Jesus and crucified
in His place, what happened to the body? (for fun and flaming, what happened
to the body of Jesus, anyway? Serious stuff, please. The advice columns
give me enough laughs daily.)

If there was a case of mistaken identity, consider:
"Many a man will die for what he believes is true.
 Who will die for what he knows is false?" (the followers, not the leader)

					Keeping it at 4 Celsius,
					Larry Bickford
					decvax!decwrl!qubix!lab