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Cathdefender
Guest
Why wouldn’t anyone say anything to a Jew’s face, as if they are the
better people? What kind of comment is this?
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better people? What kind of comment is this?
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Valke2
Guest
Sounds like a frying pan vs. fire choice. But I might be convinced that Jews are better off being Catholics than Jews for Jesus.
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inJESUS
Guest
Raining on good friday is not a legend…it is an observation. In my country, it happens most of the time, even if the day starting without one cloud in the sky …so it’s an observation, something happening and recurring, not some fairy tale from the past.
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mercygate
Guest
Actually, in my acquaintance, Catholics and observang Jews have more in common in outlook than Catholics have with some Christian sects. As one of my buddies at the office used to say: “Same mischigas.”
Also, once a Jew squints at Scripture the way Catholic Christians do, the Christianity that is most consistent with Judaism is the Christianity that sees itself as deeply embedded in, and spiritually arising from, the ashes of the Temple.
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Freshman88
Guest
This is true, but that does not mean that a short life is necessarily because of some kind of curse or other ridiculous notion. In fact, given the circumstances, I can only conclude that an early death was a great blessing.
Many saints have been taken away by our Lord during or after the Holy Sacrifice of the mass.
It was common in the early days of Christianity to wait untill one’s later years, or untill near death to receive baptism, so to ensure that one would not stain their souls with sin so soon after having been cleansed.
I will repeat, a Catholic can only view an early death, given these circumstances (conversion to Holy Mother Church), as a great blessing.
It seems as if our Lord was yearning for their return. Thankfully they did convert before their death, as it is Christ’s wish that we all would convert to His Church, and receive His Sacraments.
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Cathdefender
Guest
:yup:
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Lapell
Guest
I haven’t read other posts than the OP… I supposed in the case of premature death, it might have been caused by tensions that have remained with ones very, very dear to them, who then turned away from them and never forgave them for their decision? When you lose a very dear friend, it hurts very much. It’s even worse if the convert is of the kind that would keep his pain all to himself and wouldn’t share it with a good friend.
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Lapell
Guest
Cardinal Lustiger was 80 when he died.
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Cathdefender
Guest
I can name several Jews who became Catholic who are alive and kicking!:dancing:
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manualman
Guest
Why do we try to convert? Because we are commanded to. One of the last things Jesus said to his disciplies before acending into heaven as “Go you therefore and make disciples of ALL nations.”
The immature approach and interpretation of that is to get in the face of everyone you meet and try to convert them via argument and persuasion. The mature way is to be conscious to interact with a wide variety of people and to always take that way of life to prayer in Christ so that others see the effect Christ has within us. Then the Holy Spirit does the converting, not us.
Methinks the late Cardinal O’Connor might have been better at that than you suspect!
The immature approach and interpretation of that is to get in the face of everyone you meet and try to convert them via argument and persuasion. The mature way is to be conscious to interact with a wide variety of people and to always take that way of life to prayer in Christ so that others see the effect Christ has within us. Then the Holy Spirit does the converting, not us.
Methinks the late Cardinal O’Connor might have been better at that than you suspect!
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Freshman88
Guest
St. Francis De Sales used argument, persuasion and his own example to help convert souls. He was so bold as to go the heart of calvinism in order to do his work, how much bolder could he have been?Why do we try to convert? Because we are commanded to. One of the last things Jesus said to his disciplies before acending into heaven as “Go you therefore and make disciples of ALL nations.”
The immature approach and interpretation of that is to get in the face of everyone you meet and try to convert them via argument and persuasion. The mature way is to be conscious to interact with a wide variety of people and to always take that way of life to prayer in Christ so that others see the effect Christ has within us. Then the Holy Spirit does the converting, not us.
Methinks the late Cardinal O’Connor might have been better at that than you suspect!
How many other saints have written long treatises against heresies and non-Catholics to help convert their souls?
There is no reason why the Holy Spirit cannot use arguments or a lack of argument as a means to converting souls.
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dessert
Guest
Today is friday and boy did it rain
Not once but three times. Just at seven when I was leaving for Mass and then later when I got home from the doctors and then … when I got home from my mom after shaking her rugs and cleaning, does that mean I shouldn’t clean anymore
Just kidding. I shook them rugs real hard
We are having a nice sunset now, bout time.
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happychristian
Guest
Peace my borther. Pope John Paul the Great called the Jews our elder brothers because Christianity is an offshoot from Judaism. Many Catholic rituals are Jewish. Our Lord Jesus the Christ, Blessed Virgin Mary, the early apostles and disciples and present Christians in Holy Land were and are Jews.
Anyway I read this and I like to share this with you.
catholicism.org/forgotten-converts.html
Anyway I read this and I like to share this with you.
catholicism.org/forgotten-converts.html
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happychristian
Guest
To HashemEchad;
Would you believe that my co-worker was a Jew and now a Catholic?
He fell from his roof trying to repair a leak. He died instantly. According to him, he saw his body and all his family crying and everything around him etc. Then he saw the light and he went through that tunnel . On his arrival in heaven he felt a sense of peace and happiness he never experienced before. He never want to leave. Then he saw a bearded man in white and a very beautiful lady dressed in white and blue besides the man. They were smiling at him. He asked them who they are. He told him he is Jesus and the lady is his mother. He was asked to go back because its not his time to die. On his way back he was chased by strange animals and then he felt very heavy. His family was scared to death when he woke up to the point according to him his mother screamed and fainted. After his recovery he became interested about who this Jesus and Mary are and to make the long story short he was converted to Catholicism and then after a year his entie family was accepted to the Catholic faith.
Would you believe that my co-worker was a Jew and now a Catholic?
He fell from his roof trying to repair a leak. He died instantly. According to him, he saw his body and all his family crying and everything around him etc. Then he saw the light and he went through that tunnel . On his arrival in heaven he felt a sense of peace and happiness he never experienced before. He never want to leave. Then he saw a bearded man in white and a very beautiful lady dressed in white and blue besides the man. They were smiling at him. He asked them who they are. He told him he is Jesus and the lady is his mother. He was asked to go back because its not his time to die. On his way back he was chased by strange animals and then he felt very heavy. His family was scared to death when he woke up to the point according to him his mother screamed and fainted. After his recovery he became interested about who this Jesus and Mary are and to make the long story short he was converted to Catholicism and then after a year his entie family was accepted to the Catholic faith.
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Lapell
Guest
I don’t think it had to do with converting to the Catholic Church… I would tend to believe that a person like that was not really converting, she was trying to escape from what she considered to be a curse. So it’s “conversion” for a wrong reason. It just happened to be to a Catholic Church. But it’s more about her personally. Some of the Jews who remained Jews (not a great number, I guess) also came to curse their Jewishness and even in a few cases to work against the Jewish people.It’s a certain number of people, and very far from the majority, I’m sure! Maybe there are cases among the Evangelical Protestants, but you just happened to have not met any of them as of yet! The woman you met was an exception, that’s all! How she came to hate the Judaism and everything that makes a Jew is certainly a mystery, and a sad one at that. I hope that she will one day recover from such hatred, because it not sane at all!
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Lapell
Guest
So? She still converted to Christianity at the age of 32, and in my view, whether she went elsewhere before becoming a Catholic is not really so important. Are you saying this because you are afraid you yourself would convert to Catholicism? Whether you remain a Jew or become a Christian is not important to me. As long as you are seeking God with your whole heart, with your whole soul and with all your strength, and you wish to follow Him whereever he leads you to, and if He wants to take you by the hand you are ready to take His hand, then how should I not be happy for you?
Now, Rosalind Moss’ experience seems to bother you a lot, does it not? Otherwise, you would not react the way you do about her!
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Lapell
Guest
Was it Roy Schoeman?I think that was on a website I was looking at. One thing also that bothered me, as an Orthodox Jew, about the “testimony” of one of the men in there…
he claimed he was raised as a “strict Orthodox Jew”, but then goes on to say he attended “Hebrew school five days a week for 5 years, from 3 PM to 6 PM, and sometimes on Sundays”.
Unh, uh. TRULY Orthodox Jews send their children FULLTIME to DAY SCHOOLS, or yeshivas. A day school is like parochial school is for Catholics.
From what that guy described, his family were either secular or non-Orthodox Jews, because those are the only ones who send their kids to what is called “afternoon Hebrew school” (5 days a week, AFTER public school is over for the day.) They send their kids to public school during the day, and THEN send them to the afternoon “Hebrew school”.
Its amusing to me how people like that think they will get away with claiming to have been “Orthodox”, but those of us who truly are, know how to see the giveaway clues.
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Lapell
Guest
I take it you’re not referring only to the areas where you happened to have lied. You probably haven’t visited EVERY place where there are Orthodox Jewish communities, though?
(I am intrigued at your mentioning “truly” Orthodox Jewish communities. Are there any “phoney” sort of Orthodox Jewish communities? I would have thought that the saying “Two Jews, three opinions” would have applied to Orthodox Jewish communities also?)
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HashemEchad
Guest
Did you know that MANY people have very similar experiences, called NDEs? And most are not Catholic, or even Christian?
I have known Jews and Buddhists who had almost identical experiences (dying, going through a tunnel, seeing a light at the end, and meeting God who told them that it was not their time yet, but that when it was their time, they would die and be happy, in heaven, etc) Almost the same!
Maybe you should read up on NDEs. Its an experience COMMON to people of ALL backgrounds. In fact the Zohar (Jewish mysticism) teaches that when a person is truly righteous, his relatives who died come to help lead him to the other side. This is consistent with what science now knows of the 3 days preceding someone’s death, and after death experiences.
A good book is “At The Hour of Death” by Karlis Osis. He conducted a scientific study in both the USA and India, which showed that people from two different cultures had very similar experiences when they had NDEs.
Your friend’s experience is the very kind of thing warned about by God in Exodus, when Pharoah’s magicians were able to duplicate the same miracle Aaron did when he cast down his staff and it turned into a snake.
We believe this story was put into Torah to teach Jews that even false religions can work miracles. This is why we know never to rely on a miracle alone as proof of something being from God.
If your friend had been more knowledgeable of this teaching of Judaism, he would have seen that experience for what it was…and if he had been aware of NDEs that are common to all peoples, he would have understood also.
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HashemEchad
Guest
Its very important, the path she took before becoming Catholic…because she converted to Catholicism as a Protestant, who by now had a Protestant and not a Jewish mindset anymore. Her Protestantism seems to have informed her conversion decision more than any Jewish past she had left behind 18 years earlier.
BTW I used to know her brother David, when he still lived in NY. I never met her, but I did see her on a TV show on EWTN. She struck me as a very uninteresting person, frankly. Many Jewish converts to Christianity do…its as if they lost something when they stopped being authentically Jewish. They seem to lose the classic Jewish sense of vibrancy, humor and life that I have always seen in Jews I know. Its how I can always tell a Jew is a convert, even before they tell me. Just one of those weird things. Just my personal opinion.
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