Posted on 03/24/2005 5:47:34 PM PST by Crackingham
Here is a great Web site for you if you haven't seen it (Hebrew for Christians):
http://www.hebrew4christians.com/
"He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." John 1:11-13 (Note that the Apostle John, who wrote this, was a Jew.)
"I am the resurrection and the life." John 11.25
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6
I know Jewish people who are Christians. They accept that Jesus is the Messiah promised in the scriptures, and that He has risen from the dead. The one who puts his trust in Jesus will know Him, and will have an inner assurance that He is who He says He is. "Taste and see, the Lord is good."
Thanks for the book review. As a student of the Hebrew Roots of the Christian faith I am always interested in new books. One of the most eye opening books I have ever read was Our Father Abraham by Marvin Wilson. It traces the history of the church and how it evolved from a Biblical faith to a man made religion institued by Constantine and the Nicean Council in the 4th Century. It changed the Sabbath day to Sunday. Further it adopted the church's two holy days Christmas and Easter from the pagan worship of the sun god Mithra's birthday Dec. 25 and the worship of Ishtar the goddess of fertility as Easter.
So Christmas and Easter were substituted for God's holy days which He said should be kept throughout all generations in Lev. 23. In fact this year it is if God has written on a large billboard, Easter is in March Passover is April. Does anybody have "eyes to see?" Does anybody care...
Jews are much closer to Christians than most believe...they are certainly not enemies.
Martin Luther, the father of Protestantism, went so far to remove anything of Judaism from the church as to endorse burning down synoguges and called Jews rats. These teachings were utilized by the Nazis to rationalize their extermination of the Jews. This is pretty much common knowledge amongst the Jewish people but most Christians are not aware of this part of our heritage. It does help to know our church history to put the Jewish reaction to the Christian "far" right in the proper perspective.
Yahshua celebrated Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Firstfruits, Shavout, Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and the Feast of Dedication (Chaunnukah).
At the same time He was celebrating these feasts pagans were celebrating the sun god Mirthra's birthday on Dec.25 and the goddess Istar's day during the Spring Equinox which Constantine 300 years later renamed Easter.
Jesus was aware of these pagan holidays(actually called them an abomination) as they were going on while He was here, but chose to celebrate His Father's holy days which His Father said should be celebrated throughout all generations. In fact in Zach 14 we are told ALL THE NATIONS will come to Jerusalem to celebrate Sukkot during the Millenium. Oh darn, I guess the church will have to give up All Saints Day and Halloween to go to Jerusalem. Can you imagine we are going to have to celebrate God's holy days and not our own
MAN MADE TRADITIONS.
Hyam Macoby, Reovlution In Judaea."
Except John the Disciple wrote the book of John, before Paul got going good.
The Last Supper was not a Seder as it was eaten on "our". Tuesday night which was erev Passover or the night of Passover. Remember Hebrew nights started a New day. The next day, Wednesday was Nissan 14/Passover when the lambs were slain in the Temple. These were the lambs to be roasted and eaten that night at the Passover Seder. Jesus was crucified ON PASSOVER just as the lambs were slain in the Temple therefore the meal he ate the night before, the Last Supper, could not have been the Passover Seder.
Nope. Paul's epistles are actually the earliest canonical Christian writings, dating to the 50's C.E. The gospel of John is generally dated around 90-100 C.E.
Another great website which will really enlighten is
www.hebroots.org. The articles and links are incredible.
Thanks a lot for the Hebrew link! I've long had an interest in learning the basics.
One of the reasons for the contrasting American support for Israel and Europe's at best tepid support has to do with the fact that large numbers of American Christians very much see Jesus and the disciples and the early church as profoundly Jewish in character. Millions of American Christians see themselves as morally, culturally and spiritually very connected with the Jews. Consequently they feel and think differently about the Jews than the Europeans who in their theologies tend to look at the Jews as a dead end.
I'm hesitant to throw this in, because it can be highly flammable with the wrong people, but religious hatred cut both ways in those early days. NOT that Christian anti-semitism is thereby justified. But it is also true that very early on the Jewish Christians were villified and cursed by the rabbinic establishment.
The adoption of pagan practices into the church happened over centuries of time, as the Jewish component of the church shriveled in comparison to the huge influx of Gentiles. At the Council of Nicea, the Christian Jews were finally squeezed out, forbidden to celebrate Passover.
It is well worth noting, that at the first Jerusalem Council (sometime after Paul's ministry was well underway) the main controversey was over the issue of whether it was possible for a GENTILE to be a Christian, or whether only Jews could be Christians.
Many used to, prior to the Council of Nicea which separated Easter from Passover, to which it was previously closely linked. Also, prior to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, many early Christians thought of themselves as a Jewish sect and often worshiped in the same synagogues. After the destruction of Jerusalem, many early Christians went east to Petra, in Jordan.
Agreed. The rabbis came up with the Birkat haMinim around 90 AD, and of course the Apostle Paul was always being chased out of town or a synagogue by some angry crowd.
If your background is Christian:
I started by first reading the King James version very thoroughly while comparing with other Christian translations. Quite a few questions remained, especially because the religion of my past (one of the Christian fundamentalist churches) is getting to be more mysticist, anti-family and spiritualist each year.
If you've read much from any of the Christian bibles, read about the early history of Christianity, which is the history of the early Roman Catholic Church. Find the best and most authoritative objective sources you can find on the true authors of the New Testament. Know while you're doing it, though, that the study will take a long time.
Josephus (_Antiquities_, Book XVIII, IV, 1 and 2. [and] _Wars of the Jews_, Book II, Chapter IX.) and Philo on Pontius Pilate are very interesting and surprising--a must-read.
Here are some keywords for index searches to find the earliest/best sources you can find.
Marcion, Essenes, Bishop Eusebius, ratified, Augustine, Paul, Tarsus, Cilicia, Asia Minor, Hellenism, Mithraism.
Find all that you can about Paul. My study continues.
If you want to read Jewish text, read about the history of the Torah for background information on that, first. The methods used to keep it the same for so long are remarkable. Then read the Torah in English and Hebrew.
Yes they were. As to the rest, we will all know relatively shortly..
Horribly sad but true, However, lack of awareness cuts both ways. Here's something very few Jews are aware of:
The majority of the people on the "religious right" trace their spiritual lineage back to the "left-wing" of the reformation, the anabaptists and dissenters, who were murdered right along with the Jews by Luther, Calvin and the Catholic church. So when Jews attempt to lay a guilt trip on the Baptists and Evangelicals over State Church persecution of the Jews, there is a certain disconnect that is going on that needs to be understood.
Accusations of historical "Christian anti-semitism" placed before Baptists and Evangelicals are often ignored. And there are some reasons for that.
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