I would agree. I have never considered an Italian wise guy who claims to be a Catholic to be a real Catholic.
To me Jewish is an identity. Judaism is religion.
That's what I was trying to say.
And I beg to differ I’ve seen Israeli wise guys with kippahs and tallits
Given that their actions pretty much violate every commandment in the OT, I have a hard time believing that they are sincere believers, regardless of their attire. Isn't possible that their attire is more an affiliation with their culture rather than the belief structure?
Spiritual conflict is an issue for any criminal either innately or because of upbringing
Even Pol Pot and Stalin and Himmler had that inner voice to respect humanity but failed to listen
Your average Jewish or Catholic OC guy I’ve known is not near that far gone
They certainly still believe
Funny thing about sin, when one is sinful, one is out of fellowship with God.
Lust is a type of sin. When it is first born as a temptation, it isn’t sinful, but when the believer chooses to sin, and it runs its course, the sinner becomes temporarily satiated with their lust. This behavior and thinking also scars the soul, our memory, and thinking processes. When we encounter a similar situation in the future, again the temptation arises and we have formed a habit in our thinking to again turn away from God and solve our problems independently of His Plan.
By His grace, we are able to turn away from sin and confess those sins to Him through faith in Christ and what He performed on the Cross. This simply allows us back into fellowship with Him. While in fellowship with Him, we also have the opportunity to sanctify our thinking and follow His Plan, by studying His Word, and applying it to our lives when we face problems, including those of temptation.
When we fail to us His Plan by following His Word, we simply fall back into a sinful state and degenerate from our sinfulness.
The situation is observable in many worldly and fleshly lusts.
We all have the ability to discern good from evil, ever since Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. We too often confuse that knowledge in our problem solving to think that if we attack an evil or perform a good work, we remain in fellowship with God. This is why we fall out of fellowship when we try to solve problems independently of God’s Plan.
Watch the Godfather series. The mafiosi might be very good people when not tempted, and when tempted to provide a good work to some people, implies the murder of others, they feel justified in their behavior.
The same occurs in other worldly endeavors. Many of the best workers we encounter, may be great family men and friendly fellows, quick to help their fellow man when they seek to perform good works, but they also very often hate those who simply remain in fellowship with God through faith in Christ. They are tempted to harm their fellow man out of a perception they can help their brethren in worldly organizations and ignore the consequences to others.
They might even be elders or members of high worldly position in the their respective churches, but their thinking is known spiritually to those who remain in fellowship with God when it fits into His Plan.
IMHO, there must be something within NAZI-ism which identifies with the demonic. There isn’t any sane reason for it to reappear in worldly power structures by soulish or physical standards. It must be a testing of a appeal by fallen angels in their appeals trial of God’s Judgment for it to be continually entertained. We see many of the same symptoms of national socialism and tyrannical power structures observed in the 1930s arising today, when they were ostracized worldwide for several generations.