Dear Logic, if I may... Rabbi Hillel was a great man it appears. No argument there.

I don't have any issue with his understanding of the law except... I'll bet he also mentioned that the expression he used was in the context of placing God first in one's life. No Rabbi would ever do otherwise because they are the representives of and teachers about G-D and His Law..am I right?

Great as Hillel may have been, I draw your attention to 2 things.
Jesus was once asked by John the Baptist "Are you who is to come or should we look for another" ?

Jesus response was:

Luke 9:22
And he said to them in reply, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.
23 And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me."

I hardly think Rabbi Hillel did such things ? correct me if I'm wrong.

Then..the 2nd point is Jesus death and resurrection. Hillel is still in the Tomb I believe. While you may disbelieve in the resurrection of Christ, I can only point to it myself, and leave it to G-d to persuade you of its reality.

blessings.

There always seems to come to a point in every conversation where those of one religion or another, or those with no religion or no faith, blame one religion or another for what man does. Religion does in itself no thing with out the participation of man. Man is the reason for the existence of religion. Man is the reason for religious wars. Buddhist, Muslim, Christians, all the faiths and dare I even include atheist, are part of Gods greater plan. The diversity of nature. We are not all of one colour, or one race, and we are not all of one thought. We should rejoice in our commonality and provide community equally diverse as man with out our disagreements becoming so entrenched that the death of one so that the other may dominate becomes mans historic rule perpetuated by the following generation. I don't think war will ever leave us as human beings. It is one of our extremes but, shouldn't our goal as good men and women be that we have control over the issuance of our extremes. This is not a fault aimed just for Islam today. But all religions and all thesis of human behavior. There is no excuse. We manufacture excuses and then look for justifications after the fact. We are all mankind culpable and must need to come together in this ownership of history and of any progressive future we may have. It is in our hands and always has been. God gave us free will. I'm sure the acceptance of diversity will be our saving grace as human beings and of this singular planet of LIFE. Peace to you all.

instead of looking at differences in religion and its beliefs and how successful its to revealing the truth about god...assisting soulgod relationship...how about looking at what is common...

Your last few heart beats used energy...same energy form I used...and your pet...and bat that just flew...and nearest kangaroo...and shark...and all with beating heart...keeping this thought in all acts in life will definitely act to bond us...

getting more fundamental...all earths living uses same energy...the same energy plant used to grow a new leaf today is used to make your heart beat...agree so far?

...and its interchangeable...eat the plant or by worms that feed on us after our body is no more...so all life seek same energy to live...within reason its seen there is limitation to it...for one to have more of it...another has to loose it...so balance becomes important to keep this self sustaining...

spirituality steps in when those with conscious/questioning/intelligence feel/need to know if same energy has an organized intelligence about it...yep...god...and how it flows creates life and happenings we see/know around us...ie is it haphazard or intended...ie if its fact god created all this-ie...genesis...and could be as no firm evidence to say its absolutely not...so this energy is the fact and truth but build on it...each to his own...follow the path to its end...this is important...

while others just accept what they know/see without asking said question or asked and decided no god exists...thats ok too...as long as its reasoned out to satisfaction...

looking at energy on earth from space be seen as whole...its one form...get into finer details and difference is there...always keeping this in mind helps seeing useless time wasting differentiation to useful...does one look at the tree to see its a tree or get a microscope starting at each vein of the leaf to put it all together to see the tree?...

Sam
Ps~questioning mind also asks if there is a force at work that fights god...ie acts to deceive souls from knowing/seeking truth...if so then how much effect does it have on you in your assessment/relationship with god, from none to healthily growing...

Christianity is one of the world’s great religion because of its founder Jesus Christ. When the woman taken in adultery was about to be stoned to death, Jesus put it across to her accusers “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” (John 8:7)

When Jesus left his eleven motley and lowly educated disciples he gave them an impossible task; to convert the ‘world’ claiming that all power has been given to him (Matt 28:18-20). The absurdity of it all was that they had no resources and, they were to do it by teaching and preaching. Yet within about 300 years, the mighty Roman empire adopted Christianity as its official religion. This event must go on record as one of the most remarkable in the history of humankind.

Unfortunately, this event also spelt the beginning of the end of true Christianity. Christianity had been politicized.

Today, the politicizing of Christianity is very much alive in the beliefs and practices of the Christian Zionists and extremist Christian fundamentalist (especially in the USA) propagating dispensationalism. These zealots are equal to the Islamist on a jihad. They support the more than 800,000 Palestinians (Muslims and Christians) driven from their home by the Zionists in 1948.
http://www.elca.org/jle/article.asp?k=717

Supporting gross injustice to the Palestinians, and unnecessary provocation of the Muslims all in the name of religion by Christian Zionists have contributed to the rise of Islamic extremism seen in recent times.
http://www.christianzionism.org/

Therefore, all religions should address the issues of the soul and should be a private matter, between you and God.

Aqvarivs, Sam and Philip: I largely agree with you. In order to bring about peace, talk of Truth (whatever) might best be put aside. That is, when it comes to the exercise of power.

However, I still think the Truth matters, and not just privately. It's the link to power that is the problem. If people could consider and discuss Truth ("mine is better than yours" etc), so that each freely makes a private decision about it, that need not disturb the peace.

I don't think conversations like the ones we have here will stop. Nor should they, when we address each other with respect.

Pax,

TR,

Your comment makes sense to an extent.
My view is what we should all aim for is a ‘framework of co-existence’ which can only be based on a level acceptance of each other rights. I am neither a supporter of militant monotheism or militant atheism. The secular model seems to be, in some cases, hi-jacked by anti-religion groups.
No one have all the answers. This is where I think the likes of Wafaa Sultan got it wrong: while I respect people freedom to chose their faith, by attacking other people’s faith she is doing the same thing as those she criticises. If we all dig each other scriptures out that’s a definite scenario for wars to come. All we can do is to set a framework of dialogue and actions on how we can all live together and share this exhausted and ailing planet.

Boaz,

Accepting each other does not mean we 'approve' the contents of each other system of belief.

Peace,