[continued from previous message]   
      
   First of all, we should note that the Jews had always expected to grow into a   
   vast nation, this dream being presented in the Bible as an integral part of   
   God's covenant with Abraham. [377] But the growth anticipated by the Jews was   
   meant to come through    
   the natural process of procreation, not through proselytization; for, in the   
   final analysis, Judaism was and still is largely a clan religion. In the days   
   of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, there seems to have been absolutely no interest   
   in finding converts, [   
   378] and even after Moses and Joshua and the conquest of Israel, there would   
   appear to have been little concern for any kind of communion with non-Hebrews.   
   Indeed, the Jews were given extensive instructions regarding the nations with   
   which they could    
   have some limited association. [379]   
      
   In the beginning, the Jews would appear to have had almost no interest to   
   proselytize, but quite naturally, the Jewish elders and priests gradually did   
   start to concern themselves with seeking converts to their particular   
   viewpoints and practices. Thus,    
   we find in the Gospel of Matthew that Jesus criticized the Scribes and   
   Pharisees on this specific activity, [380] although it is unclear whether the   
   Scribes and Pharisees were seeking their converts from among the Gentiles, or   
   from the other Jewish sects.   
    In any event, even assuming that they sought their converts from among the   
   Gentiles, there were considerable hurdles to be overcome before the Jews could   
   really be effective at proselytization. First and foremost was the gargantuan   
   superiority complex    
   of the Jewish people as a whole, which inclined them to remain aloof from many   
   people who might have been potential converts. Secondly, wherever the Jews did   
   become active in proselytization, they had to contend with a pervasive   
   anti-Jewish sentiment    
   encouraged by other religions, particularly by Christianity and Islam, as well   
   as by the State. Moreover, that anti-Semitic atmosphere was usually coupled   
   with a wide range of secular laws which discriminated against the Jews, and   
   often specifically    
   prohibited them from seeking converts.   
      
   In contrast, the Christians were concerned right from the very beginning to   
   increase their numbers. Jesus himself always had an eye out to see how many   
   new followers were behind him. [381] Perhaps this was due to the   
   insurrectionary nature of his mission;   
    but, for whatever reason, the apostles knew well that their work was to bring   
   new followers to the fold. It may be that Jesus intended his mission to   
   benefit only the Jews; but, once the Church elders had taken their decision to   
   convert the gentiles as    
   well, they were careful to add the necessary instructions to the Gospels, so   
   that both Matthew and Mark end with the resurrected Jesus giving instructions   
   to his remaining eleven disciples to go out and convert anyone and everyone.   
   [382] Where the Jews    
   felt that anyone who was not born a Jew was automatically of inferior familial   
   descent, the Christians' concept of family was more subtle and provided   
   greater scope for expansion. According to Christianity, in order to belong to   
   the family of God, one    
   need only be baptized into the faith in Jesus. [383]   
      
   Several other important factors contributed to the widespread growth of   
   Christianity and hampered the expansion of Judaism. With the exception of   
   conversion through the new (20th Century) Reform Movement in Judaism, it has   
   been extremely difficult for    
   anyone, but especially for a man, to convert to the Jewish religion. All   
   converts had to study, learn and accept the complex Mosaic law; women had to   
   experience the ritual mikva bath; and men had to undergo the uncomfortable,   
   though generally quite    
   healthy, operation of circumcision. [384] Not only that, in ancient times, and   
   even today in some orthodox communities, it was virtually impossible for some   
   persons to become Jewish due to their ancestry. For example, someone from the   
   inimical Ammonite    
   or Moabite tribes could not enter the Jewish congregation until their tenth   
   generation of descendents, while even a person of the friendly Edomite tribe,   
   whom the Jews considered as brothers, could not enter the congregation, nor   
   could her or his    
   grandchildren. [385]   
      
   On the other hand, it has always been relatively simple to convert to   
   Christianity, and the trend has been for conversion to become more and more   
   easy. In the first years, a person had to be or become Jewish, with all that   
   that change entailed, in order    
   to be accepted into the Church of Jesus. However, by the year 49 A.D., the   
   rule for conversion of gentiles had already been relaxed, so that circumcision   
   and all the rigors of Mosaic law were no longer compulsory prerequisites.   
   Gentiles then had only to    
   refrain from fornication, and from eating any food which was offered to idols,   
   or any meat which still contained blood or was from an animal which had been   
   strangled. [386] But Paul was not satisfied, even with these rather mild   
   restrictions; rather he    
   would have withdrawn the three injunctions on the subject of food, leaving   
   only the problem of fornication to contend with. [387] Eventually, as is   
   obvious, these ordinances concerning food were indeed discarded, and so also   
   was the point concerning    
   fornication. [388] Martin Luther later eliminated the requirement of good   
   deeds for attaining salvation, reducing Christianity to a religion demanding   
   nothing but faith alone. Thus, in the attraction of new members, this   
   simplicity of conversion has    
   always been a great advantage which Christianity has had over Judaism.   
      
   As a natural corollary to the previous point, the flexibility of the Church in   
   its treatment of converts, and in its interpretation of Christian doctrine   
   made Christianity one of the easiest religions in the world to belong to. As   
   we have mentioned, the    
   Church was so accommodating that it even matched all of the pagan holidays,   
   pagan rituals and popular fantasies with its own versions of the same. The   
   Church also found little or no difficulty in adjusting to any number of   
   socio-economic and political    
   ideologies, or to any kind of corrupt political regime. In fact, the Church   
   has even been quite flexible with respect to its own structural solidarity.   
   Today, if one doesn't like Roman Catholicism, there remains a vast array of   
   differing Christian sects    
   from which one can choose. But, if one wishes to be Jewish, Judaism, even   
   today, is so rigid that a person has only one of three options. [389] These   
   options vary only in terms of the strictness with which Mosaic law and Jewish   
   traditions are upheld – a    
   reflection, perhaps, more of the loss of relevance of Judaism than of any   
   particular reinterpretation or revision of dogma.   
      
      
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