The antagonism between members of Judaism and Christianity

[Robert_Sock]

A classic demonstration in psychology involves placing two friendly cats into a cage, and then shocking the cats with electrical current from the floor of the cage. When first placed in the cage the cats are friendly towards each other, but when shocked, the cats immediately begin to attack each other. It does not, of course, take a college degree to have guessed this outcome. But what is remarkable are the ways in which this demonstration applies to humans as well. When “shocked,” we too usually misattribute the cause of our discomfort to others, usually those within closer proximity.

The antagonism between members of Judaism and Christianity is not directly caused by differences in beliefs, but rather to the “electrical shock” that has been continually applied to each of these religious groups throughout the ages. Most tenderhearted people would feel relief if they could somehow let the cats know who was really causing their distress – perhaps then the cats would scratch and claw the “evil” experimenter instead of each other. Similarly, it would be great if the members of Judaism and Christianity recognized that, although within the will of God, it was the diabolical plan of Satan that caused them to be adversaries for so many years.

 

[JDaniel]

A classic demonstration in psychology involves placing two friendly cats into a cage, and then shocking the cats with electrical current from the floor of the cage. When first placed in the cage the cats are friendly towards each other, but when shocked, the cats immediately begin to attack each other. It does not, of course, take a college degree to have guessed this outcome. But what is remarkable are the ways in which this demonstration applies to humans as well. When “shocked,” we too usually misattribute the cause of our discomfort to others, usually those within closer proximity.

The antagonism between members of Judaism and Christianity is not directly caused by differences in beliefs, but rather to the “electrical shock” that has been continually applied to each of these religious groups throughout the ages. Most tenderhearted people would feel relief if they could somehow let the cats know who was really causing their distress – perhaps then the cats would scratch and claw the “evil” experimenter instead of each other. Similarly, it would be great if the members of Judaism and Christianity recognized that, although within the will of God, it was the diabolical plan of Satan that caused them to be adversaries for so many years.

Robert,

That was very well said and quite interesting. Did you want to roll into a question from it? Overall I think Jews and Catholics get along fairly well. I would hope Protestants would fair well on that score, too.

god bless,
jd

 

[nickybr38]

This will sound odd but I honestly wasn’t aware there was antagonism between Judaism and Christianity anymore. I’m aware, of course, that there was quite a bit initially but I had thought that was sorted out.

NOW, I’ve heard some pretty scary stories about fights between Protestants and Catholics in Europe but not having been witness to it firsthand I don’t know if that still goes on either.

 

[Robert_Sock]

This will sound odd but I honestly wasn’t aware there was antagonism between Judaism and Christianity anymore. I’m aware, of course, that there was quite a bit initially but I had thought that was sorted out.

NOW, I’ve heard some pretty scary stories about fights between Protestants and Catholics in Europe but not having been witness to it firsthand I don’t know if that still goes on either.

I should not have said “The antagonism between members of Judaism and Christianity.” I should have made it more general to help explain certain conflicts amongst people.