From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxa!mhb5b!smb Newsgroups: net.religion Title: Re: points to ponder - (nf) Article-I.D.: mhb5b.202 Posted: Tue Mar 15 12:18:46 1983 Received: Tue Mar 22 08:42:52 1983 References: <41@inmet.UUCP> Don Porges has misstated the attitude of Judaism towards non-Jews. While it's true that orthodox Jewish theology sets different standards of behavior for Jews and non-Jews (Jews are bound by the full set of rules; non-Jews are only required to observe seven "self-evident" laws, such as not killing, not stealing, not tearing flesh off of living animals, and not worshipping idols (this latter being a fair chunk less self-evident than the others...)), it's not a matter of "Jews are better". Rather, it's a case of "if you want to play my game, you have to follow my rules". You can win games of chess and you can win games of tennis, but the rules and the strategies are quite different. Judaism does not claim that non-believers are denied salvation; rather, the belief is that whichever path you choose to follow, you must follow its rules. --Steve Bellovin