(urth) OT: heresy

James Wynn crushtv at gmail.com
Fri Dec 18 11:11:16 PST 2009


> I'm just going by the meaning of the terms. I'm either a Jew or a Brunian, 
> depending what mood I'm in when you ask me:
> I have no dog in this fight.

Well, the meaning of terms is formed entirely by the context and the era it 
is used. The Reformation and Reaction was all about the meaning of those 
terms.

For example, I could argue that all Christian denominations merely branches 
of Judaism based on Jeremiah 31 (where the term New Testament comes from) 
with altered rules for receiving converts. Certainly that is how 1st century 
Jewish Christians saw themselves. Just because they were expelled from the 
synagogues and so had to set up their own synagogues (which were eventually 
called "kyriakon" from which we get "church") does not rationally deny them 
that status. There's not even an "original group" to deny them that status 
since Judaism from the 2nd century on is a new branch itself developed to 
carry on without a Temple in Jerusalem.

Obviously, however, this definition of terms would be unacceptable to 99.99% 
of Jewish rabbis.

J. 




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