Posts Tagged Torah Study
The Target
Posted by James in Uncategorized on January 11th, 2010
This is not our first foray into the battle for faith. In 2007, First Fruits of Zion offered a conference dedicated to answering anti-missionary arguments. The conference was a response to an alarming trend we observed among many Messianic Gentile believers who were falling in love with Judaism and abandoning faith in Messiah. Without exception, such apostates warmly (and gullibly) accepted the arguments of anti-missionaries without question, while at the same time they treated the New Testament and anything they perceived as Christian with cold suspicion and cynical criticism.
From vineofdavid.org
Answering Anti-Missionaries
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” -John 6:66-69
Vine of David is the publishing subsidiary of First Fruits of Zion (FFOZ). I read their article about Anti-Missionaries and it reminded me of a couple of things. One has to do with the Jewish people and the other has to do with Gentiles in the Messianic movement…at least some Gentiles.
I don’t want to belabor the point regarding anti-missionaries in Judaism, but to understand this article, you have to understand something about anti-missionaries:
Obligated or Encouraged?
Posted by James in Uncategorized on October 1st, 2009
Update: Tim Hegg has published a detailed response to FFOZ’s theological shift on his site, torahresource.com. Look for the article “An Assessment of the “Divine Invitation” Teaching.” It’s available for download in PDF format.
For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell. -Acts 15:28-29
Traditionally, the Messianic or “One Law” movement has stated in rather strong terms, that except for certain minor portions of Torah, the Law of Moses and the Grace of Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus), are not mutually exclusive concepts in the lives of both Jewish and Gentile believers. The net result of such a theology, is a collection of Messianic congregations where both Jews and Gentiles wear a tallit in prayer, read from the Torah, keep the Leviticus 11 kosher laws (what would be considered “kosher-style” by Rabbinic Judaism), and celebrate (to the best of our ability without the Temple in Jerusalem) the Biblical festivals.
We tend to butt heads, both with Rabbinic Judaism, and with the traditional Christian church regarding our practices. Christianity states that the Law was almost completely replaced by Grace, and that in Jesus, all believers are free from Torah obligations, Jew (converted to Christianity) and Gentile alike. Judaism states that not only are Gentiles not obligated to conform to the Torah requirements, but in certain cases, they (we) are actually forbidden to observe the Law.
Goy she-shavat hayav mita” – “a gentile who rests [on the Sabbath] incurs the death penalty. -Sanhedrin 58b
I recently posted two articles regarding Gentile observance of the Torah on this blog, Reading the Jerusalem Letter and Galatia, both loosely referencing the book The Mystery of the Gospel, written by First Fruits of Zion (FFOZ) author D. Thomas Lancaster. Imagine my surprise at discovering FFOZ has reversed course, now stating that only Jews (including Jewish believers in Yeshua) are obligated to keep the Torah commandments; not Gentiles!
Am I a Christian or a Messianic?
Posted by James in Uncategorized on April 15th, 2009
Am I a Christian or a Messianic…or does it matter? Someone at my congregation was recently remarking on the things she’s learned while worshiping with us. One of the things she said was, “I’m having a hard time calling myself a Christian anymore”. What could she have meant by that? After all, we Messianics at our core, believe many of the same things as our Evangelical Christian brothers and sisters. We believe that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Son of God, born of a virgin, sacrificed for many, who rose on the third day after burial, and sits on the right hand of God the Father. That certainly sounds Christian to me. Then why do we even call ourselves “Messianics” at all? What’s the difference?
The issue can be rather hotly debated in both Messianic and traditionally Christian circles. Despite what I just said, many Messianics refuse to call themselves Christians and become deeply insulted if you don’t draw the distinction. Others see the term Messianic as either completely interchangeable with the term Christian or merely describing a subset of Christianity that holds to certain additional beliefs (such as keeping the Kosher laws and a Saturday Sabbath).
To understand the situation, it’s necessary to conduct a brief history and language lesson. As most people in the church realize, what is called the “New Testament” was originally written in Koine Greek. This is also known as “common Greek” or the form of the Greek language employed in the 1st Century of the Common Era (CE), and that was used by the “common man”. It was the lingua franca of the world of Paul and the rest of the Apostles, much in the same way we think of English today. Even if Greek wasn’t your native language (and it wasn’t for the Israeli disciples of Yeshua), the use of Koine Greek would allow you to communicate with the widest possible audience in the then civilized world. This is why the Apostolic scriptures were written in that language (and not because it had some spiritual meaning of its own…the choice was purely a pragmatic one).
Who Really Goes to Hell? The Gospel You’ve Never Heard
Posted by James in Uncategorized on March 29th, 2009
Author: David I Rudel
Format: Paperback, 204 pages
Publisher: Biblical Heresy Press (February 15, 2009)
ISBN-10: 0981826601
ISBN-13: 978-0981826608
I first heard about this book on the blog of a fellow named Aaron called Honest Uncertainty. Well, actually I started following Aaron on twitter, but that’s beside the point right now. After reading Aaron’s review, it seemed like the book really needed a deeper going over and, long story short, I requested and received a review copy from the author David Rudel (thanks, David). Here’s what I found out.
Although there are a few websites and a blog that support the book, I wanted the text to speak for itself first, and so bookmarking the relevant URLs, I pressed on. The first thing about the book that I (and practically anyone, I imagine) noticed was that it has the world’s longest title: “Who Really Goes to Hell? The Gospel You’ve Never Heard: What a Protestant Bible written by Jews says about God’s work through Christ (A book for those in the church and those offended by it)”. Egad. Why not just put the entire text of the book (it’s only 204 pages) on the cover and be done with it? I can only guess that the author and the publisher felt that the long title was needed to “hook” the reader, but then I’m guessing.
Speaking of the publisher, they have a rather unusual name: Biblical Heresy Press. Usually the word heresy isn’t taken in a very positive light in Christian circles, so I thought the explanation from the publisher as to how they made such a name choice would be interesting, but that wasn’t the focus of my review or this blog post. Under the publisher’s logo were the words, “The Bible is best read with your own eyes…preferably open”. I couldn’t agree more, but in what spirit were those words written? I continued turning pages.
Speaking of URLs I decided not to visit until after reading the book, the footer on each page of the book contained a URL not listed elsewhere. I’ll talk about it more at the end of this article. I really wanted the book to be my first presentation to the author’s and publisher’s content.
A Quick Tour of Philippians
Posted by James in Uncategorized on March 22nd, 2009
You’re going to need a Bible when your read this. I’m not going to put down the exact text for each Bible verse I’m referencing as well as my commentary about it. Actually, I think that looking up the information in your Bible really helps in learning.
I can almost never read the Bible any more as a narrative. I opened the Book of Philippians last Saturday morning to center my mind and spirit while preparing for Shabbat services later that morning. As I started reading, connections and ideas started popping up in my head. I opened up a text editor on my computer and started taking the notes that ultimately resulted in this blog post.
This article is a text representation of how I teach and to some degree, how I think. If you follow the list of verses I present, you can almost see me reading through Philippians and then connecting to some other part of the Bible that seems to illustrate a point or speak to Paul’s theme. On the Shabbat I wrote these notes, I already had my teaching prepared and I knew I wouldn’t have the opportunity to also present this material. Not wanting a Bible study to go to waste, I saved the notes and turned them into what you’re reading now.
The church or faith community in Phillipi was primarily Gentile and Paul knew how to speak to specific audiences. I started wondering if the metaphors he used would be different than those he employs when talking to either a mixed (Jewish and Gentile) congregation or a completely Jewish audience. What I found was interesting.
Open up your Bibles and follow along. Let’s see what we can discover together by exploring these notes.