At the end of August - yes, I am that far behind, and more, on some of the items I have saved for inclusion in the blog - the Washington Post ran a story about a woman who had converted to Judaism in 1992 and lived in Israel for the last 15 years. She and her husband sought a divorce, which, in Israel, meant that they had to appear before a court made up of Ultra-orthodox rabbis. After appearing before the court, the woman was told the shocking news, at least it was to her, that she did not need a divorce because she had never really been married because she had never really been Jewish. In one fell swoop, the court of rabbis waved a 'religious wand' and made the last 15 years of her life disappear and made her children less than respectable.
The decision of the rabbinical court was based on the woman's faithfulness in obeying all of the Jewish law. For those who are not aware, there are generally considered to be 613 commands in the Hebrew scripture. This woman was found to be negligent in her obedience and, thus, not really a true convert.
That, of course, sparked some questions for me. I do not agree with the decision of the Ultra-orthodox rabbis in Israel, but my objection to their decision does not matter at all. They obviously followed what they believed to be the clear teaching of their scripture.
This incident caused me to reflect on other people in other faiths, as in Christianity, who have taken on the same mantle of authority and made similar pronouncements of who is and who is not really a Christian. Too frequently, these pronouncements are based on more subjective criteria than the corpus of Jewish law. For example, on more than one occasion, someone has presumed to tell me that I am not a Christian because I have not agreed with their particular interpretation of some doctrinal point. I think I am glad that there is no similar human court of orthodoxy within Christianity. I am much more comfortable to leave such decisions for God.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Who gets to decide who is what?
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Here is another fresher story published online by the Washington Post! The Pope seems to be trying to get along with the Jews which is good, and he is sure right about secular societies. I suppose the question is whether America is more likely to go the way of Europe or China?
"Pope opens synod, warns of modern godless societies
By Philip Pullella
Reuters
Sunday, October 5, 2008; 10:39 AM
ROME (Reuters) - Pope Benedict opened a major Vatican meeting on Sunday by decrying a modern culture so devoid of faith that some people were declaring God 'dead' and entire nations were losing their identity.
The 81-year-old German pope made his comments in the homily of a mass opening a month-long synod of Roman Catholic bishops from around the world who will be discussing God's message through Scripture.
He said nations that were "once rich in faith" were now "losing their identity under the harmful and destructive influence of a certain modern culture."
Since his election in 2005 the pope has been condemning a loss of Christian identity in most developed countries in Europe and has recently been speaking out about the need to re-inject moral values into Europe's political arena.
"There are those, who, after deciding that 'God is dead,' declare themselves to be 'god' and the artisan of their own destiny, the absolute master of the world," he said.
Attempts to "brush God aside" lead to arrogance of power, selfishness, injustice, exploitation and violence, he said at the Basilica of St Paul's in Rome.
"When men proclaim themselves to be absolute masters of themselves and sole masters of creation, can they truly build a society where freedom, justice and peace reign?," he said.
CHINA SAYS NO TO BISHOPS
The synod, whose formal work begins on Monday, will be discussing scripture and will break new ground when Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen becomes the first Jew to address such a Vatican gathering.
But it has been marred by Beijing's denial of permission for Catholic bishops to travel to Rome for the event.
China's communist government does not allow its Catholics to recognize the pope's authority and forces them to be members of state-backed Catholic organization.
China's eight to 12 million Catholics are split between the officially approved church and an "underground" one loyal to the pope.
The lack of participation from China came as a surprise because there had been signs of improved relations this year.
A bishop from Hong Kong represented Pope Benedict at the opening ceremony of the Olympics in August and in May China's national orchestra played for the pope at an unprecedented concert in the Vatican.
Benedict has made improving relations with China a main goal of his pontificate and hopes diplomatic ties can be restored.
China says that before restoring ties that were broken off two years after the 1949 Communist takeover, the Vatican must first sever relations with Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province.
Bishops from Macao and Honk Kong, regions with a degree of autonomy from Beijing, will attend.
In an event related to the synod, the pope will be the first of some 1,200 people to take part in a marathon non-stop reading of the Bible expected to last a week and be broadcast on Italian state television RAI.
The pope will read from the book of Genesis. Rome's chief rabbi, Riccardo di Segni, had been expected to read immediately after the pope but pulled out of the event last month, saying it had become "too Catholic."
All 73 books of the Catholic edition of the Bible will be read. Each speaker will read for about 5-8 minutes on live TV."
The Jewish woman, you write about probably has a much better chance at life, and freedom to worship God in Israel than she would in China. The Pope may go beyond making 15 years of a person's life disappear, he may sell out a whole country with 60 years of struggle behind it, in order to try to please the communist atheists!
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