Wednesday Bible Study: Not exactly the First Amendment

Deuteronomy 13 is a strong reminder that we are immersed in a very different theological context from modern Judaism or the other so-called Abrahamic religions -- Christianity and Islam. One could also include Mormonism (I know they ' ve decided they don ' t like that term) and various other offshoots from the Big Three. These are all monotheistic, and the mainstream view is that they are all trying to understand and worship the same God, albeit with different rituals and different though overlapping mythology. That ' s why we can have interfaith councils and ecumenical prayer services. That ' s not to say that there aren ' t some true believers who condemn apostasy and attempts to convert people from their version of the faith to another. In a few Islamic countries, trying to convert people from Islam is a crime. However, that is different from what this chapter is about.Yahweh is specific to the Hebrews. Other people have other Gods, who are just as real, though Yahweh would like us to know they are not as powerful as he is. He isn ' t interested in converting other people to worshiping him, and he doesn ' t care what gods other people follow, although he does plan to murder all the people in the land he intends to give to the Hebrews. Outside of that land, however, he doesn ' t care what other people do. What matters is thathis people remain loyal to him. Of course, not even the most orthodox of Jews follow these commandments today, and if they did, even in Israel, they wo...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs