You may want to go back and re-read the section about cutting off part of your dick.
:dubious:
If your only experience is as a Reform Jew, then you are hardly in a position to claim it is any better or worse than the other two kinds of Judaism.
If you feel insulted because I believe Reform Judaism is little more than a joke, then
Also said not everything makes perfect sense. I admit that circumcision is something that I very much am unsure about. It might cause unnecessary pain to a newborn baby. It also might have some minimal health benefits as far as infections.
I never said my only experience was as a Reform Jew . . . or any kind of Jew for that matter.
That’s very telling.
Well, it was founded by a Wise guy.
Love that signature.
Technically, I’m not Jewish but I find your belief to be highly offensive. I will defend your right to hold it, but I will also state that I believe you are mistaken about a lot of things Jewish.
Other than that - Judaism does not encourage converts. They only want people who are truly interested in joining up. That said, once someone demonstrates they are serious about becoming a Jew and following the requirement most Jews are happy to welcome them (Jews being human there are, of course, exceptions to any generalization).
Even if, in the end, you decide not to convert Jews are always happy to find another sympathetic and understanding Gentile.
In other words, it’s all good either way.
It pretty much says all we need to know about your knowledge of Judaism.
Is this little sectarian spat being carried out ironically in order to give the OP pause for thought?
Personally I think “Gourd or Shoe” would be a better illustration.
You seem to be getting things backwards. Religion is not like picking out a new car in that you decide what features you want and then do a bunch of test drives. You are trying to enter into a relationship with God and the only relevant question is what religion does God want you to follow. If you diligently seek God, he will reveal to you the path to a relationship with him. Some people follow a intellectual path, others an emotional one, as long as both ways lead to God there is no reason to say one is inferior to another. People are different and no two ways to God are exactly alike, some people encounter God by listening to music, others by studying the Bible, others by praying. Just because the way your father converted does not make sense to you does not mean it does not make sense to him.
I am shocked the thread has made it this far without the old “if you want to convert and get circumcised thats no skin off my nose” joke.
What sectarian spat? Charlie Wayne has no idea what he’s talking about and we’re trying to make sure the OP isn’t influenced by his profound ignorance and ill-formed opinions.
This thread includes opinions from the ultra-orthodox, the reform/non-practicing, non-ignorant gentiles. I don’t see any sectarian spatting. Just some discussion of the differences in an effort to assist the OP.
Are adult males required to get circumcised upon conversion? I’ve never heard of that, at least amongst the reform and conservative set. I have heard of men who have chosen to do so, however.
Not all Jewish males are circumcised anyway. Including ones who are born to 2 Jewish parents. It’s unusual, but it doesn’t invalidate your being Jewish.* Nobody’s going to examine your schwanz before they let you into the minyan.
- I’m speaking from a reform perspective. I’d love to get an Orthodox viewpoint on the matter.
There is a lot of stuff I’m curious about.
How old is the OP? What kinda of religious background have you had? What you relationship with your parents has been?
Now, while your parents may have taken it to an extreme, I don’t consider K-LOVE radio content to be hardcore fundamentalist Christian. Evangelical, certainly. For those here who might not be familiar with it, it focuses mostly on Christian pop music with occasional chatter from the on-air personalities & Gospel-equivalent PSAs. Not a lot of fire & brimstone. Basically Billy Graham level stuff.
What is your view on Jesus? And how much exposure have you had to Judaism? Actual attending services, discussion with Jewish friends, discussion with a rabbi, or mainly reading about it?
You are reinforcing my point. For someone standing outside of religion your discussions are pretty much indistinguishable from the Monty Python scene I linked to.
Doesn’t this apply to any religion, or for that matter, an art or science? I’ve been in the database world for more than twenty years and have witnessed the worst religious debates over SQL Server vs. Oracle vs. DB/2.
We are simply trying to correct Charlie Wayne’s erroneous opinion that you can get your Reform Jewish Member Card by sending in $5 and promising to take a pair of sewing scissors to your schmeckle.
Correcting someone who is factually wrong is part of the goal of this site. Someone with no knowledge of Judaism can still see several people correcting one person who is making broad unsupported declarations. Some of the folks correcting him aren’t Jewish.
Charlie Wayne isn’t Jewish.
Also, why are you even in this thread, NoveltyBobble? You’ve already been chastised for threadshitting once. Now you’re just doing it more subtly. If you don’t like the discussion, go away.
Besides, sectarian spats are part of the fun of being Jewish. Gentiles are more than welcome to join in, but only if they’re not ignoramuses. The reason why we’re not spatting here is that we’re discussing the larger question of the OP’s conversion to Judaism. Whether he should be a black hat or eat bacon cheeseburgers on Yom Kippur is secondary.
The idea of a seeking a religion is strange, to me. Believing in a faith simply “because you do” is one thing, but deciding to believe in an unspecified, unverifiable supernatural doctrine before researching which particular unverifiable supernatural belief you’re interested in makes little sense, in my opinion.
I wonder if someone searching for a faith is missing something else in their life. rolandftw, do you think it’s really a set of outdated rules that is missing from yours? Maybe it’s worth thinking about.
There are genuine sectarian differences between the branches of Judaism, but I haven’t seen any of that come out in this thread. Only a rejection of belittling language.
In terms of conversion, pretty well all Jews have in common the same attitude - it isn’t something they, in general, go out and encourage (indeed, I’d be wary of any Jewish sect that did!). They will welcome converts, if people feel a genuine desire to convert - but it really is not necessary for living a good life, according to Jewish belief.
Being Jewish isn’t necessarily “about” belief. Some Jews are not literal believers in the existence of a god.
Indeed, the notion that “faith” is central to something like Judaism is, if you will, a trifle Christian-centric - because “faith” is central to Christianity, we as a culture tend to use “faith” as a descriptor for all religions. It is not a good ‘fit’ with Judaism, which is as much a tribal identity and set of rules for living as it is a “faith”, depending once again on the sect (the Orthodox would probably contest this description, for example) - maybe moreso.