Of course, there’s absolutely no reason to think that Erdosain was using the word in this sense, speaking as he was about a purported migration of the ancient Israelites and not about extortionate merchants.
It is such a typical diversionary tactic to avoid answering a question
*“I find it amazing that because you think you are possibly being called an Anti-Semite you almost have an apoplexy but that believing you are called an Anti-Mormon bigot bothers you not at all?” *
by attacking and asking another question instead. Is the standard then that anyone who disagrees with you (and therefore with the opponent) must be therefore related to the opponent. :dubious:
I had hoped that honest intellectual exchanges could be conducted (such as the validity of Jeff Lindsay’s writings or the strength of archaeological evidence) but unfortunately, like too many other message boards there is a descent into judgmental non-intellectual personal attacks.
I have to say that my foray into a Straight Dope forum is a bit of disappointment. The Roman Catholic forums such as http://forums.catholic.com/
are a tremendous improvement and have very vigorous debate about a wide variety of religious topics without degenerating into name calling- this surprises to me…I guess I’ll have to go back there for true intellectual stimulation
Zedd, Erdosain or any other person who feels qualified to explain the nuances of Mormon theology:
Can you please answer the question I asked?
If the “Israelites” who came to the Americas in 600BCE weren’t theologically Jewish, what, exactly did they believe?
How (and, if you can manage it when) are they supposed to have begun believing whatever it is that they are supposed to have believed that makes them something other than Jews?
Whatever. All you desert cultists are off your fucking rockers. Whether you believe a burning bush talked to some guy, some other guy was killed and rose from the dead, or that Native Americans were contacted by your magical space dude, well really, they’re all just different flavors of irrational impossibility.
Irishgirl-- No, Mormons don’t believe there was any theological differences between the tribes of Israel. Zedd seized upon it because presumably he feels that the Tribe of Judah (Jewish people) are ethnically distinct from the “Lost Tribes of Israel,” a portion of whom Joseph Smith said colonized and populated the Americas. I’m not a biblical scholar, so I can’t comment on the validity of that position, but I am skeptical (but open to being corrected, if it’s true).
Velosue, I’m sorry your brother dragged you into this. No harm, no foul.
Fr the record, Jews consider themselves to be the descendants of all of the Tribes of Israel, not just Judah. It’s not as if the the Ten Tribes were ever “lost”, anyway - a portion of the population was transported, but most of them just blended into the surrounding nations, particularly Judea to the south.
Ok, so it’s just stupidity then, rather than a deep religious belief that the “Israelites” weren’t actually Jews.
In the sense of being people who belong to the Jewish religion, rather than as an ethnic or cultural identifier, Jewish/Jew is perfectly applicable to those “Israelites”, and in no way derogatory, inaccurate or offensive.
In short- Zedd- you’re seeing antisemitism where none is intended, or could possibly be construed, unless you’re the sort of person who feels that being identifed as Jewish is a negative, which is, in itself, antisemitic.
Thank you for the clarification, Alessan. I did not know that. Mormons have some weird notions about the 12 tribes, including the belief that they will literally be reunited in the future. (It’s one of the 13 central tenets of Mormonism.) Also, each Mormon is informally adopted into one of the 12 tribes; I am part of the tribe of Ephraim, if I remember correctly.
As wacky as all this Mormon culture is, at least it eventually led to the creation of Battlestar Galactica!
