The Primary Indicator of Religious Affiliation:

mozo41 said:

are you saying that GOD is a Jew because as we know Jesus identified himself as His Son and therefor making himself equal with GOD, and as we know it is for this reason they murdered him ...

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No. God is God. Jesus, the only son that God begat by the flesh, was a Jew. He worshipped God, and he did so as a Jew.

mozo41 said:

I like Jesus have never had a religion ....

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Then you are making up a Jesus that suits you. Jesus HIMSELF SAID that he was a Jew, and I've quoted him twice. I'll quote him again, speaking words directly out his own mouth to a woman: "we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews." We. We Jews. We Jews worship what we Jews know.

Right there Jesus self-identified as a Jew. Are you just going to ignore Jesus and assert that you know him better than he himself did?

Yes, you are. Because your understanding of Jesus is different, and these words of his don't fit it, so you discard them. Nobody can stop you. In this day and age nobody is going to haul you off and burn you alive or anything (though Christians past of various denominations would have been all to happy to do so, because many were evil thugs).

Nevertheless, Jesus said he was a Jew, so he was a Jew, and your belief that he was not is wrong.

Vicomte13 said:

No. God is God. Jesus, the only son that God begat by the flesh, was a Jew. He worshipped God, and he did so as a Jew.

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Jesus believed himself one with GOD and worshiped Him in spirit and in truth ... Judaism does not do this ...

Vicomte13 said:

Then you are making up a Jesus that suits you. Jesus HIMSELF SAID that he was a Jew, and I've quoted him twice. I'll quote him again, speaking words directly out his own mouth to a woman: "we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews." We. We Jews. We Jews worship what we Jews know.

Right there Jesus self-identified as a Jew. Are you just going to ignore Jesus and assert that you know him better than he himself did?

Yes, you are. Because your understanding of Jesus is different, and these words of his don't fit it, so you discard them. Nobody can stop you. In this day and age nobody is going to haul you off and burn you alive or anything (though Christians past of various denominations would have been all to happy to do so, because many were evil thugs).

Nevertheless, Jesus said he was a Jew, so he was a Jew, and your belief that he was not is wrong.

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many would say i am of the Christian religion but i hold to none of her doctrines ...

Steve Petersen said:

Geography. Where you were born.

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Possibly, but not always. There are many Christians is in traditional Hindu or Islamic or Atheistic nations. As far as Christianity goes, geography has no effect on the Christian faith.

Steve Petersen said:

Geography. Where you were born.

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I think this determines it more.

Acts chapter 17 verse 26
From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.

Steve Petersen said:

Geography. Where you were born.

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This is the understanding that Catholics bring to theology, with their baptism of infants into the faith. We imprint those we are in closest contact with our faith, and they imprint their on us.

I find that modern Christians put much more emphasis on choice and free will than the Bible ever does. That is not to say that morality is not ultimately based on choice, but that that the scope of our choice is never infinite, and does not arise in a vacuum.
Christianity has a main focus on inner change and redeeming the inner sinner, in terms of its theology. Jesus however made a point of him coming first for the Jews. He saw his Jewish identity as essential to the purpose of redeeming the world. The national identity and Law that was established from the time of Moses and Abraham to his incarnation created a world in which his form of faith could be possible.

Geography is predictive, but it is not determinative. The geography of faith is in constant flux, as faith communities expand into different locales. That is the role of Christian evangelization.

JoeP222w said:

As far as Christianity goes, geography has no effect on the Christian faith.

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Except that people are more likely to become members of the faith previlent in those areas.

Archivist said:

Except that people are more likely to become members of the faith previlent in those areas.

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Further explanation, yes some on those areas may be born into Christianity or another faith or a lack thereof, some may convert, but they are far more likely to follow the previlent faith.

mozo41 said:

Jesus believed himself one with GOD and worshiped Him in spirit and in truth ... Judaism does not do this ...

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Ok, modern Judaism does not do thus and so. It is well that you can read Jesus' mind. You can all read what he SAID. HE IDENTIFIED HIMSELF AS A JEW, WITH WORDS FROM HIS OWN MOUTH.

If you're going to disregard what he SAID, because you don't like religion for your own reasons, nobody can stop you, but your Jesus is not the one recorded in the Scripture. And given that there is not one word he said recorded anywhere else, you either had a personal visitation by the Lord, or you're making it up.

So, did you have a personal visitation by Jesus?

mozo41 said:

many would say i am of the Christian religion but i hold to none of her doctrines ...

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Well, wait. Is Jesus Lord? Do you follow what he said in order to become close to God?
If so, then you believe the same doctrine I do, and I'm a Catholic.

☦Marius☦ said:

I heard of a woman in Northern Vietnam who had a vision of the Theotokos and had never even had contact with a Christian, until she went looking.

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I've heard about this kind of stuff also, like people having visions of Jesus Christ even before having access to Christian information.

☦Marius☦ said:

I heard of a woman in Northern Vietnam who had a vision of the Theotokos and had never even had contact with a Christian, until she went looking.

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Hearing that a vietnamese woman had a Catholic vision doesn't sound unique to me. There are a lot of catholics in vietnam and in certain places it's hard to decipher between statues of Mary and statues of the Buddha, cause they both look the same from a distance.

DamianWarS said:

Hearing that a vietnamese woman had a Catholic vision doesn't sound unique to me. There are a lot of catholics in vietnam and in certain places it's hard to decipher between statues of Mary and statues of the Buddha, cause they both look the same from a distance.

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I'm meaning Christian visions "In General".

JoeP222w said:

Possibly, but not always. There are many Christians is in traditional Hindu or Islamic or Atheistic nations. As far as Christianity goes, geography has no effect on the Christian faith.

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Saudi Arabia has laws against converting Muslims to Christianity. There are few Arab Christians there, and they are not allowed to preach Christ in public.

Nazareth is Muslim, Christian and Jewish. They used to have a Christian mayor until many Christians left to move to the west. Now there is a Muslim mayor. There is segregation in Israel.

I remember a neighborhood in Boston that was Roman Catholic. They had an annual street festival to celebrate a saint. There were no mosques in that neighborhood.

Vicomte13 said:

No. God is God. Jesus, the only son that God begat by the flesh, was a Jew. He worshipped God, and he did so as a Jew.

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It think this is what he was referring to maybe, the last verse.

Joh 5:16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
Joh 5:17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Joh 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

mozo41 said:

Jesus did not have religion ...

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we certainly do

Steve Petersen said:

Geography. Where you were born.

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A bit presumptuous there. Some of us have actually asked, along with sought, along with knocked-for truth wherever it might be found. Some of us have forsook our native religion to look for truth in other religions and belief systems. And some of those same people have come to believe in Jesus Christ, even to their own surprise, returning to the faith they were brought up in.

Vicomte13 said:

Well, wait. Is Jesus Lord? Do you follow what he said in order to become close to God?
If so, then you believe the same doctrine I do, and I'm a Catholic.

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yes but only at this time, he being my brother first and always will be ...
i hear him, but only our Father draws us back in to Himself who we are ....

Catholics like all religions see a God as separate from themselves which is not what our brother Jesus taught ....

Vicomte13 said:

Ok, modern Judaism does not do thus and so. It is well that you can read Jesus' mind. You can all read what he SAID. HE IDENTIFIED HIMSELF AS A JEW, WITH WORDS FROM HIS OWN MOUTH.

If you're going to disregard what he SAID, because you don't like religion for your own reasons, nobody can stop you, but your Jesus is not the one recorded in the Scripture. And given that there is not one word he said recorded anywhere else, you either had a personal visitation by the Lord, or you're making it up.

So, did you have a personal visitation by Jesus?

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relating himself to the Jews does not imply he shared their belief system, which is evident by the many times he rebuked these scribes and pharisees ....