Posted on 01/11/2018 12:53:40 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
I won’t make any assumptions about how many readers noticed I took a three-month break from column writing.
Nevertheless, I want to explain why.
I needed the time to finish the first volume of the biggest project of my life as a writer, a commentary on the first five books of the Bible, or what are called the Torah in Hebrew.
The commentary is addressed to people of every faith and, especially, to people of no faith.
I have believed all my life that the primary crisis in America and the West is the abandonment of Judeo-Christian values, or, one might say, the dismissal of the Bible.
Virtually everyone on the left thinks America would be better off as a secular nation. And virtually all conservative intellectuals don’t think it matters. How many intellectuals study the Bible and teach it to their children?
And yet, from the time long before the United States became a country until well into the 1950s, the Bible was not only the most widely read book in America—it was the primary vehicle by which each generation passed on morality and wisdom to the next generation.
Since that time, we have gone from a Bible-based society to a Bible-ignorant one—from the Bible being the Greatest Book to the Bible being an irrelevant book.
Ask your college-age child, niece, nephew, or grandchild to identify Cain and Abel, the Tower of Babel, or the ten plagues. Get ready for some blank stares.
I recently asked some college graduates (none of whom were Jewish) to name the four Gospels. None could.
But what we have today is worse than ignorance of the Bible. It is contempt for it. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at dailysignal.com ...
Many if not all arguments against Christianity or claiming God doesn’t exist are dependent on realities predicted by the Bible.
One the replies at the source bothered me. They wrote that to understand the New Testament you needed to know the Old Testament.
Does that apply to salvation? I can learn about God’s grace in the NT as a gentile and don’t really need to know all of the Torah to live righteously.
Although God’s response to nationally legalized child sacrifice is in the Old Testament but not the new.
It would help if you actually believed it, Dennis.
Christians are eager to quote from the Old Testament, but does their actions prove they believe ALL that is written that they have quoted by actually doing what is written? For it is written, “For the LORD gives wisdom, out of His mouth knowledge and understanding” Prov. 2:6
Or, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” Joshua 24:15
Those words were spoken by those who believed and then did what they said they believed. Jesus said His Scriptures were Moses, the Prophets & the Psalms, so if that was His “Scriptural Bible” so to speak, then should not it also be ours as believers of Christ for even the demons believe who He is, yet they do not do what is written.
The “New Testament” as we have come to know it is but a canon of written works ordained by men of the flesh. Jesus uttered not one knew word that the “Word of the LORD” had not already spoken through Moses, the Prophets & the Psalms. He said so Himself.
2) Salvation never came by keeping God's commands, the commands were set forth for our well-being, physically & spiritually. They were also given for blessing, and for reward. Grace began in the garden of Eden, from the first moment man sinned, God has been faithfully pouring out His grace to all mankind who believes Him and repents (turns away) from their sin so to do it no more. Notice I said believes Him as believing in and actually believing are not the same. One produces action and the other is simply a confession without action.
3) God never legalized child sacrifice, He abhors it and He repeated spoke against it.
These are the facts of the matter, nothing but the facts according to the Word of God.
For example, the moral argument.
In the Bible God tells us there is evil in the world, and that the innocent will suffer from the effects of evil. God tells us that he is a God of wrath, and that wrongdoing will be punished in the way he determines.
Any and all reasoning of the opponents of Christianity is rationally defeated by what we learn in the Bible.
You just presented the false, “Judeo-Christian” theology which denigrates Christianity and places it in an inferior position to Judaism, which is a totally different religion with different values. You are not a Christian if you think there is nothing new in the New Testament or that the New Testament is somehow inferior or less reliable than the Old Testament. The New Testament replaces the Old Testament. That is the core of Christianity. If you don’t believe that, you are not a Christian.
Then quit quoting the Old Testament since it has nothing to do with your Christ. Go and take your marker and black out every quote in your NT that was ripped off from the Old Testament, because, as you said it, if everything in your new testament is brand new, then your Jesus can not be the Messiah spoken of by Moses, the Prophets & the Psalms. Therefore, it is hypocritical of you to quote from that which was spoken by the Word of God who is the true Messiah of Israel. Oh, and BTW, Hebrews 8:8-11 new covenant, rip it out, because according to your reasoning, that part was ripped off from the true Messiah of Israel as it is a direct quote taken from the Word of God that was spoken through Moses & Jeremiah.
Do you see how illogical & unbiblical your response now stands?
As Paul wrote, we are grafted into Israel, not the other way around, therefore, he also reminded us that ALL those covenants of promise spoken of in the Old Testament, through Messiah we become partakes and heirs of those covenants of promise that you say your Christ has replaced. Now what did Paul say about those who come preaching another Christ? I think you need to take some time and reflect because that page in your bible that separates and calls one old & one new, well that is a man made doctrine. And we know this because John 1:1 starts of "In the beginning" ... and ... "He was in the world and the world knew Him not" ... and ... "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him" ... "AND THEN THIS SAME MESSIAH put on flesh and tabernacled with men."
And this ignorant confusion comes from one not having the wisdom & understanding to discern between the oral laws of Judaism, aka, the Talmud that Jesus & His Apostles were constantly rebuking & the Law (Torah) of the Word of God, the Messiah of Israel, who delivered Israel out of Egypt. That same Word of God who is the Messiah of Israel who died for the sins of the whole world so that all who come to believe the Messiah of Israel will be saved. Shalom
It is a mistake to take the words of Jesus, the Christ of God, as being somehow more inspired than what others spoke and recorded in the Scriptures. Paul, and Jesus, shared the same Holy Spirit, and uttered exactly what God wanted to have known. Holy Spirit is not subject to men, but inspires them to write His own words.
The New Covenant is Jewish, and is the fulfillment of Jeremiah 31. The Lord sealed that covenant with His people while on earth. It is not for the Gentile nations, and does not include us.
Jer 31:33 For this [is] the covenant that I make, With the house of Israel, after those days, An affirmation of Yahweh, I have given My law in their inward part, And on their heart I do write it, And I have been to them for Elohim, And they are to me for a people.
The house of Israel, after those days, which have not come yet. It is prophetic, future, and yet to obtain.
In every way I agree that the so-called New Testament is Hebrew in scope, and a continuation of God’s dealings with His people. But the Apostle Paul was not commissioned for the Jews only, his ministry was for the Gentile nations, apart from Israel and during this era of their Stubbornness. Remove all of Paul’s letters and the Scriptures become wholly Hebrew from front to back, and mention nothing of the Gentiles other than their subservient place in the plan of God.
The words that Jesus spoke are truth and life, yet, if you believe God, then Paul’s words are no less important and true.
Jesus is Lord, and Paul is His slave.
Maybe if more Christians would come to the knowledge of the truth of their inheritance through Christ & start obeying the true Gospel of Christ that Paul preached, more Jews like Prager would come to accept & know their Messiah. Think about that!
Shalom
No where does it say we are grafted into Israel.
Ro 11:17 Now if some of the boughs are broken out, yet you, being a wild olive, are grafted among them, and became joint participant of the root and*fatness of the olive.
The olive tree has its roots, but are not Israel alone. The root is Christ, the Log of Life. They grew from that root, they are not the roots themselves. They flourish as we do when we remain in Him. They have been cut off, except for a remnant.
The book of Hebrews was written to a particular people, not Gentiles:
Hb 1:1 By many portions and many modes, of old, God, speaking to the fathers in the prophets, in the last of these days speaks to us in a Son,
The Fathers,
The Prophets,
To us (Jewish believers who alone have fathers, prophets and had the Lord’s presence among them)
If you try to insert the Gentile nations into this letter as being part of the audience, you unhinge the testimony of the truth of God through Paul, His only appointed apostle to the Gentiles.
Israel will inherit the earth, along with the royal, kingly priesthood over the nations of the earth according to promise. But no believer today will be a part of that covenant. It is on earth, ours is among the celestial host in heaven. Our allotment is in heaven, theirs is upon the earth.
This you should know.
Are you suggesting Hebrews is not applicable to Christians??
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts,and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
First of all, the covenant is NOT made with gentiles, it is made with the house of Israel(Ephraim) & the house of Judah & NO ONE else.
Second, when this covenant is fulfilled, ALL Israel, both the house of Israel(Ephraim) & the house of Judah know their Messiah, ALL of them. THIS HAS NOT YET HAPPENED!
And third, the writer specifically says the new covenant that is made with the children of those whom were brought out of Egypt, it is the location of the covenant that has changed, not the terms of the covenant. It is written on hearts, never again to be written in stone. The Law of God once written on stone, now written on our hearts that we may know it & have the heart of the Word of God in us to do it. You know, "I can do all through Him who is in me"? Well, who is that Him in us, He is the living Word of God of Israel writing His Law upon our hearts that we may become imitators of Him as Paul imitated Him. (Eph 5:1, 1Cor 11:1) As Jesus said, He did nothing except what He saw His Father doing, and thus when we imitate Christ as Paul imitated Christ, then we too are imitating & pleasing our Father in Heaven.(Rm 8)
Shalom
“Judeo-Christian” is a term that dates from the 1920’s or 30’s. It was first used by theologically liberal Protestant clergy in America. It’s really one of the first expressions of political correctness. The acceptance and usage of this absurd term by conservatives is a sign of how far we have fallen.
WOW
Biblically, olive trees simply refer to mankind, there are natural born Israelites and then there are those born of the nations who are grafted into Israel know as wild olive trees. Therefore, when we are grafted into(adopted) the natural tree of Israel through Messiah, as that has been the case from the beginning since Christ is Israel (Isa 49:1-3), we become members of the same household of God. Do parents have separate rules for natural born children and adopted children who live in their homes based on their birth heritage?
So your statement that Israel remains on earth while gentile Christians are whisked away to live on some cloud playing the violin for eternity, well, that doctrine is not supported by the bible or any words spoken by Jesus. That doctrine is dispensationalism that began in the apostate catholic church of the 2nd century and made famous by Scofield's Talmudic reference bible, and it all comes straight out of the playbook of the anti-Christ. The biblical fact of the matter is, there is neither Jew or Gentile, but all are one and that one is Messiah who is the true Israel. Shalom
I was taught growing up that wrath was equivalent to eternal death, however, when I walked away from religion and began reading & studying His Word independently of the influences of men, He showed me His word that says the 2nd resurrection is not necessarily fatal for all raised during that time because there is going to be many who find themselves awakened at that 2nd resurrection whose names are indeed written in the Book of Life, it is just that they missed out on the reward of Christ when He returns to rule for 1000 yrs.
Therefore, to say that there are two different outcomes when Christ returns, one for Jews & one for Christians who ignorantly still claim to be gentiles, this is the kind of unbiblical fodder that is destroying God's house from within rather than bringing it together as one as it was at the base of Mt Sinai,, when the mixed multitude, both natural born & foreigner, were brought together as one through Christ, the living Word of God who is the same today as he was when He delivered Israel & the gentiles who chose to join Israel through Christ from the bondage of Egypt. Shalom
One the replies at the source bothered me. They wrote that to understand the New Testament you needed to know the Old Testament.
Does that apply to salvation? I can learn about God’s grace in the NT as a gentile and don’t really need to know all of the Torah to live righteously.
..........................
The apostles preached in Acts that Jesus fulfills the expectation of the Hebrew Scripture. Paul used Genesis 15 and Habakkuk 2 to establish the pillar statements of the gospel. The writer of Hebrews spent the entire book referring to the Torah.
Sure, you can be reconciled to God via the NT. But the OT explains why it’s needed, reveals a kind/dangerous/holy God, and brings to life the marvel of imputed righteousness. The Hebrew Scripture is the answer to the silliness of the contemporary church.
The words of Christ John recorded disagree with you.
16“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
18“He who believes in Him
is not judged;
he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:16-18 NASB
Well you know what they say: "If it's new, it ain't true!"
The New Testament replaces the Old Testament.
Hmm . . . something "new" replacing something that had previously always been universally accepted, but now suddenly we all "know better" and have to "update" our entire worldview.
I don't know . . . that doesn't sound very "conservative" to me. In fact, it sounds downright . . . progressive.
I found a good description here:
The Ashkenazi-hasidic movement thus gave new relevance and new spiritual meaning even to the simplest and most practical of the religious and moral commandments. A more radical principle which also directly affected a whole pattern of behavior was the distinction made between din Torah (the "earthly law") and din shamayim (the "heavenly law"). Strict observance of the Torah precepts does not necessarily lead to the highest religious fulfillment; for this a higher moral law – din shamayim, the law of conscience – is necessary.
According to the Torah, a thief is a thief; but according to din shamayim a clear distinction must be made between a man who steals bread out of hunger and a rich man who steals in order to further enrich himself. This does not mean that the laws of the Torah should be abandoned; a pious man however should try to transcend them and follow a higher spiritual and moral law.
Here's a NT example:
Matthew 5:27-28 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
din shamayim, here it is in colorful Hebrew:
דין שמים
It's truly the Law within the Law. On a related note:
647. THE MESSIANIC TORAH
The Torah of the mundane world is worthless compared to the Messianic Torah of the World to Come. This Torah will be taught by the Messiah, or, some say, even by God Himself. This is the Torah that God delights in, which is studied by the righteous in the World to Come. It begins with aleph, the first letter of the alphabet, while the earthly Torah begins with bet, the second letter.
It begins with aleph.
It has three letters: alef-hei-bet. Ehav! (אהב) It's the command to love*. Simple. It's not any work at all if it is love. It's how the Messiah manages to work night and day at the same time that he doesn't do any work at all. There's the Master Teacher with the lesson plan, if anyone cares to pay attention to what he's doing, and then go *do that*, instead of tearing down another.
*Actually, what it should be is "Hitahev!"(התאהב), the commandment to fall in love [with each other]. Well, you've gotta start somewhere.
Everybody who catches on is going to draw near and kiss and make up and start fresh. Too many cranky people out there.
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