Ah, but did Herr Ratzinger at least give naughty boy Rydzyk a slap on the hand? Or possibly even on the backs of his legs? Was he told that if he ever did it again, there would be tears before bedtime? What did Benedict say to him about his remarks at all? Where was the papal censure or even punishment? "Distancing" oneself from remarks is all well and good. But this is outright, downright anti-Semitism. If we are to accept the Pope's good intentions, surely he must do more. Why not fire Rydzyk? There would appear to be no end of mediocre, run of the mill, here today gone tomorrow, common or garden Polish clerics and, quite frankly, it being common corporate practice that no-one in an organization is irreplaceable, would anyone in the Roman Catholic Church even notice? Actions speak louder than words.

1. Motek, I agree with your subject line with respect to "simple mind." 2. Not having a religious affiliation doesn't make one an Atheist. 3.You know exactly what my point was. You don't have an answer, so resort to "silly." 4, I wouldn't waste a good hate on you. 5. How can direct quotes from the Old Testament be distortions? Look 'em up! They're from your "good book," written by your sages, supposedly inspired, if not "dictated," by a god you claim. My god isn't that bloodthirsty, he can keep his stories straight, and he certainly would have made sure that his grand announcements wouldn't have to be re-interpreted time and time again by more people who, not knowing god any better than the rest of us, insult him by spouting more garbage. 6. Funny you should refer to the medical profession. You must have a lot of experience. I don't. Should I ever need a mental health professional, you can give me the name of yours. I'd have to look one up in the Yellow Pages. 7.You'd be surprised at my IQ. My god was kind enough to bless me with it, and he expects me to use it, think for myself and not swallow garbage that doesn't make sense, especially if it is attributed to an unknowable god by screwballs who purport to talk to him and from whom he seems to have withheld the most basic, scientific facts of his own, natural laws. 8. For the sake of improving your English - my second language - it's "If I were," not, "If I was." There's more, but I can live with it. 8. Since you're so familiar with comic books, should I surmise that you read those in the waiting room of your mental health provider or do you collect them? Oh, I'm, btw., a 69 year old female, and whether due to divine providence or merely thanks to a good education, I can outsmart you, outthink you and outtalk you any day of the week and that's before I've had the first cup of coffee. Call me obnoxious, arrogant or both, but you don't have what it takes to, verbally, push me into a corner or spar with me logically. If you intend to talk about something, at least, inform yourself and read up on the subject, so you won't look like a total dumba--.

amein

dubdubdub dot gotquestions dot org/ pope hyphen antichrist dot html

Look i am in the US Military in Kentucky about to return to Iraq again for the 3rd time in the good ole bible belt USA and all I can say is this. As long as the Xians believe we don't exist we are good, we are safe as long as they believe we are really just a fringe group (of xianity) that occupy a small piece of "nostalgic albeit antiquated" Xian traditional land that they can't immediately locate on a world map but know is really theirs just the same. If we just say "oh yes you are right and Israel is really the 51st State" we will be good, if we continue to acquiesce to their perceived academic, philosophical and theological supremacy we will be good, when diatribe becomes inflamed and differences in perspective regardless of how small they are manifest and we claim "hey, we are really secular, agnostics they will be placated and we will be good. Anyway I wish as weary as I am of violence and strife and anxious for peace that I am I could continue to believe this but, sadly I can't. There is a new paradigm emerging and it is unstoppable and unavoidable and, it is as ironic as anything ever presented by the infinitely complex cosmic clock worker has ever presented. To shorten this posting by a great extent just let me pass this little story on to you. I was recently working with 16 Iraqi translators preparing for deployment to Iraq but, here in the US and a news media story came on the Television about immigration problems along the US Southern border and I noticed a bizarre consensus amongst the "formerly Iraqi" interpreters; they were extremely hostile and apprehensive about the flow of illegal immigrants is the US from Mexico. If a person didn't know better they would have assumed they walked into a CPAC/young Republican pundit meeting as ironic as that is because they are almost all here on permanent resident alien credentials the difference is "they have good paying jobs". As the western US/Europe "Bible-Belt countries" continue contact either violent or nonviolent with "Islam-Belt countries" the result will be the same; they will learn that in diametric opposition to them is the Medinat Yisroel and the Yehudim. Every time I hear the commanders and influential personages here refer to Israel as the 51st state I consider my time in Arizona and I hope that instead of a state of the empire we remain more similar to a US "Indian Reservation" part of the whole but strong, united, independent and faithful to our identity. America is going to make Palestine a reality that is just a simple fact that they can't help and "Aid packages" to Israel will always be viewed as charitable donations to the weak and inflicted and these prosperity evangelicals that are so influential here have a unique way of ultimately detesting the poor. I that relations improve in material and tactile areas but in philosophic and theological areas I see no positive signs of understanding or community.

really, what are Jews doing wrong to deserve the inquisition, blood libel, pogroms, deportations, genocide? What exactly, in your highly qualified and educated opinion, do Jews have to figure out to approach and surpass the Catholic population? BTW, long lists do not intelligence make, IMHO. Show us whatcha got! Maybe a cup of cofee is in order, after all?

Early Christians took almost whole religious system, including scriptures, from the Jews, because there was lack of intellectual property rights at that time. Maybe the pope should think now about paying for these inventions that brought him and others so much profit )))

If you know Catholics who saved , by risking their lives , Jews during the Shoa , I know Jews who were hidden , helped and saved by Catholics and other non Jews .

As "schmuk" is not in my vocabulary , i don't know how to spell it . Have a look at your ID card , there this word is certainly written after : first name

the next Pope will see the destruciton of Rome for destroying the second temple in Jerusalem. I wish the Vatican would move its art treasures and vast manuscript and litbrary treasures away from Rome to preserve them. The last Pope Benedict (XV) had a vision of the destruction that would come to the Vatican and Rome and though it would be in his reign. Thankfully, it was not. Sad times are coming. Many Roman Catholic visionaries including St. Malachi saw what is coming and wrote about it. I think it will probably be a terrorist attack, nuclear in nature, as well as biological warfare from the descriptions of the visionaries. If the manuscripts are not moved to another location before that, how will the Jews ever find out who were the Jews among the forced conversions they seek? If that is what they want to know, the archives should be preserved my moving them.

You make a valid point about David but no argument for accepting the pope. Oddly the ancient groups (claimed decendants of Israel and the line of Aaron) feel that davidic line is corruption and does not represent truth but rather changing of history by a king. (sounds possible by todays political standards and G-d criticism of kings). I am glad you point out that G-d has killed for things lesser than abandoning Torah and taking on another G-d. Do you think G-d would send a devine punisher to gather up the fallen Jews (those who do not do Torah) as the prophets predicted and based on his form of justice historically. Because that is what Jesus said he was doing. Oddly Crist killer is what you state, yet so did the German Jew collecting machine who spoke of Jesus and had a Swasticka (Sanskrit for a crucifix) . Like Revelation, did not the Jews who refused to take a Christian sign of the cross in a baptism or the swastika, not be refused to buy or sell in shops. Were they not collected and killed by the majority of Christians. Understand these thing did happen. Now on the topic of the Jews killed Christ, lets look at the facts. Jesus followers openly broke the law enforced by Rome claiming to have a new king. (Don't think Jesus ever maid this claim) The punishment was the death sentance and masacre. They also broke the laws of Torah, which also have a death sentance. Seems they broke many laws, yes? This group had to its credit, theives, whores, publicans, fallen preists, and those who rejected following the laws of G-d. A hord being told their sins are forgiven. Jews were afraid of being persecuted by Romans and lived under their law. One of their own was agravating this situation and defying the validity of enforcing Torah by questioning the entire idea of judegement (counterdicting be yee a nation of Judges - Torah). In court Jesus did not defend himself against the death penalty. "you say I am." Once again, was Justice served. Christians and Jesus hold this was G-d's intention. (This could be agrued as not true, as Jesus asks G-d why have you forsaken me.) Not one Jew made a death sentance, and no Jew executed the judgement of Pontios Pialat. Pontious did not need to ask anyones opinion but he did. For follower and non-follower: When a leader that could crush you asks what punishment should I give to this man that some of you claim is king over my Roman king, it seems like a loaded question. If the Jews said don't kill Jesus, would they have not validated the claim that they thought he was their king. When asked to choose between the theif and the man leader who told everyone he should die, who should Jews choose? For the follower: If they said the theif, would they not show that they do not believe what Jesus said that these things will come about. In that case Jesus' prophecy would have failed and he could be stoned for being a false prophet. Of course we all know it is a no-brainer that he would be killed in those days for what he was doing - leading an uprising. Remeber his prophecy was that he would rise again. Remeber all present were Jews, followers of Jesus and non-followers. So the issue of who killed Jesus when the parameters are set in context is answered: Jesus led his followers to choose to killed Jesus and the claims of his followers saying he was the king led Pontious Pilat to kill Jesus, and his vilations of Torah lead Torah following Jews to prefer he be killed. Jesus killed Jesus. Note however, the Torah Jews were doing stonings in their time (remeber the whore story), so they could have done it themselves, but they didn't.

Regarding your bible quotes: Would you argue that G-d was not righteous in all that was stated in your post and that the lossers in these killing did not deserve it? Are you saying that the death of the Jews by the Christians falls into the same biblical pattern of G-d punishing his people? Fact is if evil is allowed to thrive over good, everything goes bad as evil groups to build power and momentum. Soon the good of the garden is choked out from the weeds. No matter who you are in this world, there is a group set against you and would kill and supress you, if you let them. Man has learned war. Now they feed their childrens bellies with the money made in the military arms industry. What role/job do you have in this picture? By the way, Moses warned this would happen as a result of choosing not to follow Torah. This and fat children, evil wives, abortion of children, enemies promoted higher, one-world military domination, etc.etc. Based on this hindsight - it appears it is each indviduals choice under Torah, is a choice for death and to bring the curses of war, knowing and seeing before their eyes the parameters of the system. On G-d One Love

I am sure that Pope didn't even know who Rydzyk is. It could be like this: Pope: And what is your job, father? Rydzyk: I run a radio station. Pope: Good, than I bless you. Pope sees many people each day. For me, and for a large majority of Poles, father Rydzyk is no-one.

To put it very bluntly, it pisses me off to no end to see and hear Jews waste their time wailing about things that happened in the past, can't be undone and then use arguments that don't hold water for anyone equally like, for instance, religion. I only tried to show with my list that, with respect to religion, the beliefs of Jews are based on something just as screwball as that of the Christians on whose sins they so like to hang their hats. When you blame, you cede the power over your life to somebody or something else, and I have a problem with that. I’m not saying that you should pretend that something never happened, but why let it define you? Who knows or cares what Christians or that pope think or say? Once you know of what someone is capable, don’t allow them do it to you over and over or keep depending on what someone peddled as a promise from a god who, from the results so far, simply and only gave all of us the gift of life and the choice to do whatever we want to and with the consequences of which we all have to live, or as the French would say, “Help yourself, and god will help you.” Jews, for crying out loud, have accomplished more than enough to point at themselves in the present. Why always and forever look backwards? Who cares why Catholics want to make saints or of whom? Since that’s one of their schticks, they can sanctify cockroaches, as far as I’m concerned. If they want to line them up, light candles to them or have parades in their honor that, too, is fine with me. If I see one around here, it’ll get stomped. End of story. As my mother drummed into my head long ago, people will only walk on you as long as you lie down and that, if you don’t like it, you had best stand the hell up. I get a little put out, too, with this constant fear that Christians try to convert Jews as if it were some sort of aberration. If you honestly believe that someone’s salvation depends on your beliefs, shouldn’t you feel obligated to lead everybody to that belief? It sounds perfectly normal to me. The Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses have been trying to convert me for years, and I’m sure that one or the other, as usual, will knock on my door this morning. They show up so often, I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s a bonus on my head. So far, the result has been that I learned a lot about Mormonism and that their beliefs don’t interest me any more than those of any other religion. Do I curse them for trying? No. Am I afraid of their efforts? Double no. I admire them for giving up two years of their lives on behalf of their religion, but that’s as far as I’ll go. (Besides, they won’t let me have three husbands, hehehehe) Jews, especially in the Diaspora, instead of trying to hide the fact that they’re Jews which so many of them do, should, maybe, be a little more proud of their Jewishness and could, by the decency of their behavior and lives, do a much better job of leading people to Judaism. My granddaughter’s boyfriend is a Jewish kid. When I, a non-believer in any religion, have to jerk a plate full of shrimp away from that boy, because he didn’t want to offend my granddaughter, who didn’t know about that particular Jewish commandment, something is seriously wrong. He thinks his girlfriend’s grandma is as crazy as a bedbug. Why? Because I told him that since he claims to be a Jew, he’ll be a good one, if I have anything to do with it. I recognize that most people need a religion of one sort or the other. But for Pete’s sake, it’s a lot more important to look for the why’s than for the why not’s. Now, if you want to see me really go nuts, hand me a Christian who trashes Jews based on religion.

Why should Jews fear conversion ? Are their religious feelings so weak ? I'm a secular atheist . How many times were those witnesses not coming ringing at my door ? Did'nt some religious Jews not try to make a "ba'al tshuva" from me ? Missionaries can come , i'll give them a "fine" reception , they will not try a second time . I'm sure of what i'm thinking and believing in . NOBODY will convert me . So why are religious Jews so warrying ? is their belief in a god so weak ?

I am a State Trooper (last 21 years). The average person doesn't really know who lives next to them, or what they are capable of. If it wasn't for you who knows how much worse the chaos would be. Thank you so much for you service. May G-d keep you safe.

TYPE OF ISRAEL. Each thing and person relates in one way or another to the overall. THATS WHY THE KINGDOM NEVER COMES.

Exactly! But how often is there one tb or the other about banning Christians from Israel, because they're all hell-bent to convert Jews. If you want to ban somebody, come up with a better reason; not your own insecurity.(This "you" is meant as a generality; not something personal) And yes, today was the JW's turn. I don't care for them. They're too much into gloom, doom and Armageddon. One of these days, I will manage to get the Mormons and the JW's into my living room at the same time. Then I'll lock all the doors, take the keys to bed with me, tell them to convert each other, not to get too loud and to wake me up, when they've come to an understanding. With my luck, they'd come up with a new religion, Witmonism. People wouldn't be able to figure out who exactly bothers them on Saturday mornings. Witmonism: the lethal combination of gloom and doom and no fun, at all, for anybody. Their slogan could be, "Contemplating suicide? Call us! Speedy success guaranteed or your money back " Maybe I had best leave well enough alone and keep them away from each other.

The last time those witnesses were ringing , they , as always said : we want to help you in your life . That's fine i answered , my domestic help is ill and could not clean , will you do it ? They did not insist .

is that Christians generally think of "saved" as getting to heaven, when it is really all about a WAY OF LIFE. They then have various "systems", by which someone gets to heaven. They then try to get people to believe in their system (saying a prayer, sacraments, believing in different versions of who G-d is etc. etc.). Man has free will to CHOOSE which path or WAY he wants to walk in life. Less guilt in your life means more life eternal (knowing G-d). This is of course if someone believes in G-d....in which case they have other systems in which to live by.

I’m terrified. What have you done to the boy that likes shrimps? Now he will hide his affiliation with Jews to eat shrimps everyday. What a mess... BTW, thank for the nice list of the Old God's achievement for which God in the Sky loves You. Cheers

It was late when I drafted the post and I was was feeling a little melodramatic. Again and again I read these stories of antisemitism rising once again in Europe and I know that here in America many are straddling the line. I think everywhere but, particularly in America people are so sure of the infallibility of their education and beliefs. When we plan so meticulously and put so much analysis into a particular course of action and we are so sure our leaders have "covered every base" and then fate intervenes and the plans unravel we find it difficult if not impossible to adjust our actions. Admitting error has never been and will never be a strong point of influential and powerful Americans. I will say that none of the ability, skill or intellect of those in power is questionable, indeed after twenty years of service I have complete faith in the capability of those placed in authority over me; the problem is much of the core beliefs that form the premise of their actions and decisions are predicated on fear, bias and bigotry. When all the numbers are added up and the equation doesn't factor we rely on the ethical and moral teachings of clerics and advisor's.

I have gotten in trouble and my career has been effectively terminated because I have spoken out against inaccurate and incorrect bigotries. I just can't even tell you how many times I have heard field grade officers say the most outrageous things and then issue orders based upon these thoughts. There seems to be this pervasive belief that Iraqis and particularly Muslims are inherently violent, uneducated, unteachable and therefore irrelevant but, as you might have noticed from the news they seem to be demonstrating their relevancy with an almost ceaseless frequency in the form of disrupting accomplishment of the goals stated by our college educated General Staff and President. Much of this frustration has evolved and is evolving into an increased animus toward anything Semitic. To the overwhelmingly Xian authorities American Jewry is just barely tolerable and Israeli's are often the subject of increasing fear and suspicion in the upper echelons of power. The American power elite is learning that their perceptions an assumptions are faulty, there is this growing belief that Semitic peoples regardless of religious belief, academic similarity or skin pigmentation engender just too many differences to be communicated with on an equal footing. Any diplomatic initiatives will be conducted from an overwhelming position of power and domination. In other words the conversation will start only after the suspect is "zip tied" and blindfolded. I mean shouldn't we expect more from our "diplomats" after all they are getting paid well for their efforts. I mean just look at recent political criticism of statements made by Sen. Barack Obama in reference to to the AQI and Pakistan. Barely mentioned or criticized was the recent and recurring statement made by Steve Tancredo about threatening nuclear obliteration of Mecca as a means of deterring terrorist attacks. I believe the reason why this is barely mentioned in the media is because a large segment of the American population see this as a viable strategy of deterrence. Republicans and conservative Xians want to categorize and oversimplify this entire situation they have helped to create. The first reprimand I received is when I showed an American Colonel ridiculing Islam and making jibes about the quantity of Ishtar star symbols around the Muhafazat of Salah Ad Din. The Colonel and his staff got so much amusement from what they described as the inherently evil nature of the "Islamic Ishtar" symbol until I showed them that indeed the Pope has the same symbol embroidered on a shall he frequently wears. That was the beginning of the end of my career because no matter how accomplished and celebrated American officers are they refuse to believe that soldiers can accomplish missions and execute their orders either violent or non violent without hate. The Army I joined twenty years ago was pluralistic, tolerant and multi-cultural and that sentiment has been abolished. The regulations and mechanisms enforcing professional conduct and tolerance are slowly and methodically being dismantled and that is a large reason why there is such a large contingent of "private commercial security firms" operating in Iraq. the decision makers advocate and supplicate these firms because they are free from accountability and can operate more as a "members only club". I just hope that others are aware of this and preparing - (at a minimum) their diplomats other nations need to adjust their communication techniques to abide this new American paradigm. I thank you for your service and honestly in my modest opinion I believe that you are absolutely waging the most important facet of this "War on Terror" you are guarding the disinterested populace that could without your stewardship fall victim "crossfire" Thanks again for the job you do.

Thank you for sharing what pisses you off. My questions still remain unanswered, however. What exactly, in your opinion, have Jews done to deserve 2000 years of oppression and what they should do to make it stop? Your statements come down to simplistic sloganeering. You take an issue and rapidly slide into abstractions, missing all the nuance of the Jewish experience and interfaith relations. I remind you, the starting point for your diatribe was the fact that someone was not happy that Catholics were beatifying Isabella the Catholic, who ordered the expulsion of Jews from the Iberian peninsula. I am not sure if your list of "screwball" things that the G-d of Torah was responsible for has convinced me to forget that little fact. I guess that Neo-Nazis love Hitler, and we should just love them for it, despite the "screwball" things he did to Jews, Slavs, Roma, etc. Well, maybe squash him if he is around, but oterwise, forget. Who cares, forget the past, we won't let it define us... Now, M Hartley, let me get a bit more personal. You really feel that you are in a position to use the forum of Ynet talkbacks to preach your banal cliches? You, whose experience with religious conversion has consisted of Mormons and JW's knocking on your door and offering pamphlets? Do you really feel that you are in a position to admonish us to "stand the hell up?" The readers of these talkbacks include veterans of many wars, people who have been standing up. There are nuances here, you know. Like, bear with my metaphore here, when there is a tank rolling over you? Sometimes we stand up, sometimes we don't (remember the topic of Lustiger's conversion?), and sometimes we even bitch about things and people that piss us off. Like Isabella. Or Radzyk. Or Hitler, Spanish inquisition, Luther, etc. Perhaps, some of us even define themselves as victims: like when touring the quaint little ghetto in Gerona, or the remains of Auschwitz, or hearing from our relatives first hand accounts of atrocities that they have experienced. But how dare you, M Hartley from Atlanta, accuse Jews as a whole of whining and living in the past? Your views on religious conversion are simplistic on the verge of absurdity. Why fear? Because Jewish experience with religious conversion has been quite a bit more rigorous than a couple of pimply young men knocking on the door and offering pamphlets. Ahem, quite a bit more rigorous, indeed... Then, M Hartley from Atlanta, you go on insisting that Jews should stand up "proud of their Jewishness" and "do a much better job leading people to Judaism" There seems to be a fine distinction you are missing here: contrary to Christianity and Islamt, Judaism is not a missionary religion. You even take it upon yourself to help us along by denying your granddaughter's boyfriend that succulent shellfish, a brave and far reaching action, indeed. You really feel that you are in position to define what being a "good Jew" means and to force someone to behave that way? I, personally, do not believe you. I think your statements are soaked with cynicism, and I feel really sorry for the poor kid that has to salivate as you are wolfing down that last lobster. Granny is just too cheap...

In his homily at the canonization Mass, Pope John Paul II said: “"Because she was Jewish, Edith Stein was taken with her sister Rosa and many other Catholics and Jews from the Netherlands to the concentration camp in Auschwitz, where she died with them in the gas chambers. Today we remember them all with deep respect. A few days before her deportation, the woman religious had dismissed the question about a possible rescue: '‘Do not do it! Why should I be spared? Is it not right that I should gain no advantage from my Baptism? If I cannot share the lot of my brothers and sisters, my life, in a certain sense, is destroyed'.’” Addressing himself to the young people gathered for the canonization, the pope said: “Your life is not an endless series of open doors! Listen to your heart! Do not stay on the surface but go to the heart of things! And when the time is right, have the courage to decide! The Lord is waiting for you to put your freedom in his good hands."”

i also thought judaism wasn't a missionary religion until i came here. you should rethink your position and argument.

simplistic arguments. " Jesus said unto them, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I Am" (John 8:58). "42 Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose Son is He? They say unto Him, The Son of David. 43 He saith unto them, How then doth David in Spirit call Him LORD, saying, 44 The LORD [God the Father] said unto my LORD [God the Son], Sit Thou on My right hand, till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool? 45 If David then call Him LORD, how is He his Son? 46 And no man was able to answer Him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask Him any more questions" (Matthew 22:42-46). "9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? 10 Believest thou not that I Am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the Words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works. 11 Believe Me that I Am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works' sake" (John 14:9-11).

Prophecies: OT Scripture NT Fulfillment The Messiah would ascend into heaven after His resurrection. Daniel 7:13-14a Acts 1:9-11 The Messiah would be highly exalted with God. Daniel 7:13-14b Ephesians 1:20-22 The Messiah's dominion would be eternal. Daniel 7:13-14c Luke 1:31-33 Hebrews 1:8 The Messiah would come to condemn sin and conquer death. Daniel 9:24a Galatians 1:3-5 The Messiah would be God's anointed. Daniel 9:24b Luke 1:35 The Messiah would be revealed to the Jews 483 years after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem. Daniel 9:25 John 12:12-13 The Messiah would be put to death. Daniel 9:26a Matthew 27:35 The Messiah would die to take away the sins of the world. Daniel 9:26b Hebrews 2:9 The Messiah would die before the temple was destroyed. Daniel 9:26c Matthew 27:50-51 Daniel saw a vision of the Messiah in His glorification. Daniel 10:5-6 Revelation 1:13-16