Why anti-Semitism is Stupid
One of the most foolish statements anyone could make, is to blame some societal problem "on Jews". It is preposterous to suggest that any societal problem can be blamed on "one group of people". When Hitler did this in the 1930s it didn't resolve problems, it created more of them.
Hitler claimed the Soviet Union was run by Jews and were trying to take over the world. It is true Joseph Stalin killed millions, but Stalin wasn't Jewish, and there were no Jews telling Stalin what to do. Joseph Stalin did what he wanted to do.
Hitler mainly used the term "Jews" in an incorrect manner to mean communists, but most members of the Jewish faith were not communist. Some Jewish groups were promoting social change in Europe, helping workers organize to receive higher wages, paid sick leave and universal health care, but only a few Jewish groups were radical to the point of promoting communism. Communism was mostly promoted by non-Jews.
Hitler was wrong, and when someone launches a war based on false claims, he usually loses, and Hitler lost.
The way to address societal problems wasn't for nations to begin fighting each other, but to establish decent employee benefits. Social programs were needed so the average family could have a good life, instead of working for slave wages with no health care (as many people did back then).
Internet Anti-Semitism - a waste of time Today on the Internet, anti-Semitic documents falsely blame certain societal problems "on Jews", where some people inadvertently repeat those false statements. Some young guy may put copies of the false documents on a website for no other reason than to create interest or "to make noise". What these youths don't realize, is that once a societal problem is blamed on some group or another, then that societal problem usually doesn't get solved. Why? Because no one group is the cause for any societal problem. Doing this actually shifts public attention away from really studying the causes of that societal problem, which would thus allow it to be solved.
The main societal problems today most Americans consider are America's homelessness, the high crime rate, good jobs being shipped overseas, and 50 million Americans with no health care who have to ignore injuries or illnesses (which often get worse and more expensive from neglect).
Anyone to falsely claim "Jews" are responsible for any of America's social problems is not only incorrect, but he's helping prolong those social problems by shifting attention away from the real causes for these problems.
One of America's main problems is that cooperation is not being taught enough in the public schools. People do much better with cooperation, not so much competition. A good book to read showing the great benefits of cooperation is No Contest, written by Alfie Kohn.
Judaism is not racial Another foolish claim is that Judaism is a "race". One of the most prominent matriarchs of the Jewish faith is Ruth, a woman who wasn't initially Jewish. Ruth converted to Judaism. To see that one of the most famous of Jews converted to Judaism is proof that Judaism is not based on race. It is a religion of goodness, knowledge and learning which is open to all people willing to love God and obey the law.
During Ancient Roman times, JudeoChristians were persecuted because they wouldn't worship the beast-like Roman emperor as "god". JudeoChristianity teaches we should only worship God, the God of Life, God our Creator, God who is all love and goodness and wisdom. God who dwells in us.
God is love, and God dwells in us.
Egypt's Pharaoh Amenemope compiled valuable Wisdom teachings, similar to King Solomon of Israel's Book of Proverbs
Judaism's roots in Ancient Egypt
In Ancient Egypt, where Judaism has its roots, the same held true when a particular pharaoh would deify himself by calling himself God. Judaism taught it was wrong to worship any person as God.
God dwells in us, and we are all made in the image of God, with incredible love and compassion, but no person is a god who has special rights over other people. The law applies to all people equally.
Judaism teaches it is wrong to worship any statue as God. If a statue of a pharaoh or wise man was made, Judaism respects that person greatly for his wisdom, but will not worship the person as God.
Both Judaism and JudeoChristianity teaches we cannot hold any person in godlike status, whether it be an Egyptian pharaoh proclaiming he is God, or the Greeks claiming Zeus is God, or Napoleon claiming he himself is God.
JudeoChristianity's often reference to Jesus being God apparently comes from the mentioning that Jesus was the son of God, and that we are all the children of God.
The volcanic eruption at Santorini in 1,500 BC is most likely what caused the plagues in Egypt, resulting in Moses and large numbers of monotheists to exodus from Egypt. This is where the term passover comes from.
Some websites put forth highly superstitious views on Exodus, but the Santorini volcano causing the plagues makes the most sense.
The ancient term "chosen ones" apparently referred to the first elected assemblies who were, quite literally, chosen by people to help govern a certain region. The term "chosen ones" in the Old Testament basically refers to voting and election results, which is in stark contrast to other regions whose leaders came to power through sheer bullying; by using violence, physically threats and assassinations to become the leaders. In ancient Rome, most caesars (kings) came to power through murdering his opponents.
In ancient times, most societies were governed by these bigger bullies who threatened the people with violence. They weren't elected. Ancient Israel was different in that it was governed by people voting. Townsfolk voted and thus chose their leaders. The chosen ones were those with great wisdom, compassion and fairness.
There are many aspects to God. God is all goodness. God is expressed in all life, love, and absolute perfection. God is wisdom, honesty, compassion, dignity and sympathy. God is all encompassing and all goodness.
The "Good and Evil balance" is false God has no opposite. There is a theory claiming God is on one side, and the devil is on the other side, is not only foolish but it doesn't make sense. Nor do people do well when they hold that viewpoint. This is the same notion that says good and evil are balancing forces, and that we need both. This is a completely false theory because it suggests we need both goodness and badness, that we should do good things and bad things. This is preposterous.
Should a teenager in High School have one good day for every bad day he has? Certainly not. Let every day at school be wonderful and productive, where the teenager develops and maintains good friendships. Of all the cars an auto mechanic repairs, should he fix 50% of the cars properly, and make mistakes on the other 50% of the cars he fixes so his mistakes causes problems for those cars owners? Of course not.
Closer examination of this foolish theory of "good and evil being balancing forces" shows that while there are certain fundamentalist churches who promote this incorrect view, the main religions promoting this view are the devil worship religions. These are the religions where the followers join mainly because they don't want to follow rules or laws. They may admire the animal world to the extent where, when they see wild animals attack each other or steal food, these adherents decide they themselves should drop all restraints and do whatever they feel like.
Since stealing is natural within the animal world, they can now justify it when they steal. Although it's rare, certain individuals involved in devil worship will commit violent crimes, sometimes for fun, and claim it was okay to harm others. They again justify their illegal acts by pointing out that animals do it, so it must be okay, regardless of whether society considers violent crime to be evil. They follow an ideology that claims it's fine to do both good things and evil things, since those are the two balancing forces in the world. It therefore must be okay. The real reason teenagers tend to get involved in devil worship seems to be they want to rebel and get attention, that they are involved in something special and "off limits" which most teenagers are not involved in.
Within the uncivilized animal world, nature does seem to have a balancing aspect, where too many animals of one species tend to die off so as not to overpopulate the forest. For example, too many deer being born will cause other animals like foxes or bears to attack those deer for food, thereby reducing the deer's numbers to keep nature in balance. The problem is, that applies to the uncivilized animal world, not to people. It is true that animals are supposed to compete against each other for food, where only the strongest survive, and the weak and crippled will die off. People are not animals though, nor should people act like animals.
The animal world is such that when they run together in a herd, an action takes place of "weeding out" the animals who are weak, sick or crippled. Those animals can't run as fast as the healthy animals, so they stray off to the side to become easy prey for lions and other predators who are supposed to attack them. That's how the uncivilized aspects of nature works, but that's not what people are supposed to do.
Civilized people are entirely different because we don't act in a way to allow the weak, disabled and elderly to be killed off. This animal like ideology of "only the strongest survive" was embraced by the Nazi party in the 1930s, but this didn't make them stronger. It ultimately led to their defeat in World War II. The civilized, compassionate people of the world, who didn't follow those animal like teachings, proved to be far stronger than the cold, cruel Nazi High Command.
In the Soviet Union, where atheism was mandated and belief in God shunned, saw similar animal based teachings were employed when Joseph Stalin addressed internal problems by killing off tens of millions of innocent people. This bold display of "cold and callous brute force" on a large scale didn't result in the Soviet Union becoming wealthier, it caused the nation to suffer even more hardships and poverties. Those savage, uncivilized acts of violence turned the Russia into a slave state where people had to wait decades just to get a tiny apartment or washing machine. Here we can see proof that when people engage in uncivilized animal acts of depravity, it doesn't help the people engaging in it. It harms them immensely.
Most every animal "steals for food" yet civilized people have laws against that, dating back at least to the time of Moses when the Ten Commandments were implemented. Any sensible studies will show that people don't do worse by following the Ten Commandments, they do better. Obeying these basic laws of respect, cooperation and love has allowed civilized people to develop much higher forms of compassion and love than can be found in the uncivilized animal world. Animals are very poor examples for people to follow.
Virtually all of these undesirable animal traits are advised against by King Solomon in Proverbs. If there is a limited amount of food available, people do better by cooperating with each other to create more food, instead of competing against each other for a limited amount of food. Animals don't have the creativity that civilized people have, but this doesn't mean animals are bad. It just means a lot of things that uncivilized animals do, civilized people do not do. Following a set of teachings like devil worship, that considers animals to be good examples of how people should act, is downright foolish. It doesn't work and it causes problems when people follow those teachings.
Book of Proverbs (written)
Book of Proverbs (audio)
It's important to respect all cultures equally
God made all cultures a little different to add more beauty to the world. Because you respect your own culture, doesn't mean you have to hate anyone else's culture. In fact, the more a person respects his own culture, the more he will tend to respect other cultures when he comes across them.
Mutual Cultural Respect
The best rule of thumb to follow, is to describe your own culture in a good manner, and to speak about other cultures with respect. No culture is better or worse than another culture. All people are good, and all cultures are good.
If someone is from two different cultures, it doesn't mean one culture is "better than" the other culture. All cultures are good. A person can respect and treasure all cultures, including his own.
Why anti-Semitism is Stupid
One of the most foolish statements anyone could make, is to blame some societal problem "on Jews". It is preposterous to suggest that any societal problem can be blamed on "one group of people". When Hitler did this in the 1930s it didn't resolve problems, it created more of them.
Hitler claimed the Soviet Union was run by Jews and were trying to take over the world. It is true Joseph Stalin killed millions, but Stalin wasn't Jewish, and there were no Jews telling Stalin what to do. Joseph Stalin did what he wanted to do.
Hitler mainly used the term "Jews" in an incorrect manner to mean communists, but most members of the Jewish faith were not communist. Some Jewish groups were promoting social change in Europe, helping workers organize to receive higher wages, paid sick leave and universal health care, but only a few Jewish groups were radical to the point of promoting communism. Communism was mostly promoted by non-Jews.
Hitler was wrong, and when someone launches a war based on false claims, he usually loses, and Hitler lost.
The way to address societal problems wasn't for nations to begin fighting each other, but to establish decent employee benefits. Social programs were needed so the average family could have a good life, instead of working for slave wages with no health care (as many people did back then).
Internet Anti-Semitism - a waste of time Today on the Internet, anti-Semitic documents falsely blame certain societal problems "on Jews", where some people inadvertently repeat those false statements. Some young guy may put copies of the false documents on a website for no other reason than to create interest or "to make noise". What these youths don't realize, is that once a societal problem is blamed on some group or another, then that societal problem usually doesn't get solved. Why? Because no one group is the cause for any societal problem. Doing this actually shifts public attention away from really studying the causes of that societal problem, which would thus allow it to be solved.
The main societal problems today most Americans consider are America's homelessness, the high crime rate, good jobs being shipped overseas, and 50 million Americans with no health care who have to ignore injuries or illnesses (which often get worse and more expensive from neglect).
Anyone to falsely claim "Jews" are responsible for any of America's social problems is not only incorrect, but he's helping prolong those social problems by shifting attention away from the real causes for these problems.
One of America's main problems is that cooperation is not being taught enough in the public schools. People do much better with cooperation, not so much competition. A good book to read showing the great benefits of cooperation is No Contest, written by Alfie Kohn.
Judaism is not racial Another foolish claim is that Judaism is a "race". One of the most prominent matriarchs of the Jewish faith is Ruth, a woman who wasn't initially Jewish. Ruth converted to Judaism. To see that one of the most famous of Jews converted to Judaism is proof that Judaism is not based on race. It is a religion of goodness, knowledge and learning which is open to all people willing to love God and obey the law.
During Ancient Roman times, JudeoChristians were persecuted because they wouldn't worship the beast-like Roman emperor as "god". JudeoChristianity teaches we should only worship God, the God of Life, God our Creator, God who is all love and goodness and wisdom. God who dwells in us.
God is love, and God dwells in us.
Egypt's Pharaoh Amenemope compiled valuable Wisdom teachings, similar to King Solomon of Israel's Book of Proverbs
Judaism's roots in Ancient Egypt
In Ancient Egypt, where Judaism has its roots, the same held true when a particular pharaoh would deify himself by calling himself God. Judaism taught it was wrong to worship any person as God.
God dwells in us, and we are all made in the image of God, with incredible love and compassion, but no person is a god who has special rights over other people. The law applies to all people equally.
Judaism teaches it is wrong to worship any statue as God. If a statue of a pharaoh or wise man was made, Judaism respects that person greatly for his wisdom, but will not worship the person as God.
Both Judaism and JudeoChristianity teaches we cannot hold any person in godlike status, whether it be an Egyptian pharaoh proclaiming he is God, or the Greeks claiming Zeus is God, or Napoleon claiming he himself is God.
JudeoChristianity's often reference to Jesus being God apparently comes from the mentioning that Jesus was the son of God, and that we are all the children of God.
The volcanic eruption at Santorini in 1,500 BC is most likely what caused the plagues in Egypt, resulting in Moses and large numbers of monotheists to exodus from Egypt. This is where the term passover comes from.
Some websites put forth highly superstitious views on Exodus, but the Santorini volcano causing the plagues makes the most sense.
The ancient term "chosen ones" apparently referred to the first elected assemblies who were, quite literally, chosen by people to help govern a certain region. The term "chosen ones" in the Old Testament basically refers to voting and election results, which is in stark contrast to other regions whose leaders came to power through sheer bullying; by using violence, physically threats and assassinations to become the leaders. In ancient Rome, most caesars (kings) came to power through murdering his opponents.
In ancient times, most societies were governed by these bigger bullies who threatened the people with violence. They weren't elected. Ancient Israel was different in that it was governed by people voting. Townsfolk voted and thus chose their leaders. The chosen ones were those with great wisdom, compassion and fairness.
There are many aspects to God. God is all goodness. God is expressed in all life, love, and absolute perfection. God is wisdom, honesty, compassion, dignity and sympathy. God is all encompassing and all goodness.
The "Good and Evil balance" is false God has no opposite. There is a theory claiming God is on one side, and the devil is on the other side, is not only foolish but it doesn't make sense. Nor do people do well when they hold that viewpoint
. This is the same notion that says good and evil are balancing forces, and that we need both. This is a completely false theory because it suggests we need both goodness and badness, that we should do good things and bad things. This is preposterous.
Should a teenager in High School have one good day for every bad day he has? Certainly not. Let every day at school be wonderful and productive, where the teenager develops and maintains good friendships. Of all the cars an auto mechanic repairs, should he fix 50% of the cars properly, and make mistakes on the other 50% of the cars he fixes so his mistakes causes problems for those cars owners? Of course not.
Closer examination of this foolish theory of "good and evil being balancing forces" shows that while there are certain fundamentalist churches who promote this incorrect view, the main religions promoting this view are the devil worship religions. These are the religions where the followers join mainly because they don't want to follow rules or laws. They may admire the animal world to the extent where, when they see wild animals attack each other or steal food, these adherents decide they themselves should drop all restraints and do whatever they feel like.
Since stealing is natural within the animal world, they can now justify it when they steal. Although it's rare, certain individuals involved in devil worship will commit violent crimes, sometimes for fun, and claim it was okay to harm others. They again justify their illegal acts by pointing out that animals do it, so it must be okay, regardless of whether society considers violent crime to be evil. They follow an ideology that claims it's fine to do both good things and evil things, since those are the two balancing forces in the world. It therefore must be okay. The real reason teenagers tend to get involved in devil worship seems to be they want to rebel and get attention, that they are involved in something special and "off limits" which most teenagers are not involved in.
Within the uncivilized animal world, nature does seem to have a balancing aspect, where too many animals of one species tend to die off so as not to overpopulate the forest. For example, too many deer being born will cause other animals like foxes or bears to attack those deer for food, thereby reducing the deer's numbers to keep nature in balance. The problem is, that applies to the uncivilized animal world, not to people. It is true that animals are supposed to compete against each other for food, where only the strongest survive, and the weak and crippled will die off. People are not animals though, nor should people act like animals.
The animal world is such that when they run together in a herd, an action takes place of "weeding out" the animals who are weak, sick or crippled. Those animals can't run as fast as the healthy animals, so they stray off to the side to become easy prey for lions and other predators who are supposed to attack them. That's how the uncivilized aspects of nature works, but that's not what people are supposed to do.
Civilized people are entirely different because we don't act in a way to allow the weak, disabled and elderly to be killed off. This animal like ideology of "only the strongest survive" was embraced by the Nazi party in the 1930s, but this didn't make them stronger. It ultimately led to their defeat in World War II. The civilized, compassionate people of the world, who didn't follow those animal like teachings, proved to be far stronger than the cold, cruel Nazi High Command.
In the Soviet Union, where atheism was mandated and belief in God shunned, saw similar animal based teachings were employed when Joseph Stalin addressed internal problems by killing off tens of millions of innocent people. This bold display of "cold and callous brute force" on a large scale didn't result in the Soviet Union becoming wealthier, it caused the nation to suffer even more hardships and poverties. Those savage, uncivilized acts of violence turned the Russia into a slave state where people had to wait decades just to get a tiny apartment or washing machine. Here we can see proof that when people engage in uncivilized animal acts of depravity, it doesn't help the people engaging in it. It harms them immensely.
Most every animal "steals for food" yet civilized people have laws against that, dating back at least to the time of Moses when the Ten Commandments were implemented. Any sensible studies will show that people don't do worse by following the Ten Commandments, they do better. Obeying these basic laws of respect, cooperation and love has allowed civilized people to develop much higher forms of compassion and love than can be found in the uncivilized animal world. Animals are very poor examples for people to follow.
Virtually all of these undesirable animal traits are advised against by King Solomon in Proverbs. If there is a limited amount of food available, people do better by cooperating with each other to create more food, instead of competing against each other for a limited amount of food. Animals don't have the creativity that civilized people have, but this doesn't mean animals are bad. It just means a lot of things that uncivilized animals do, civilized people do not do. Following a set of teachings like devil worship, that considers animals to be good examples of how people should act, is downright foolish. It doesn't work and it causes problems when people follow those teachings.
Book of Proverbs (written)
Book of Proverbs (audio)
It's important to respect all cultures equally
God made all cultures a little different to add more beauty to the world. Because you respect your own culture, doesn't mean you have to hate anyone else's culture. In fact, the more a person respects his own culture, the more he will tend to respect other cultures when he comes across them.
Mutual Cultural Respect
The best rule of thumb to follow, is to describe your own culture in a good manner, and to speak about other cultures with respect. No culture is better or worse than another culture. All people are good, and all cultures are good.
If someone is from two different cultures, it doesn't mean one culture is "better than" the other culture. All cultures are good. A person can respect and treasure all cultures, including his own.