Ancesthntr,
I wanted to thank you for the well thought out and written response concerning G-d’s covenant. It tells me how important these things are to you that you took the time to revisit this and express your beliefs. You communicate your beliefs very well and I hope to be able to articulate a thoughtful reply in response.
I want to thank you in particular for helping me to understand Judaism a bit better. I will be reading the links you included, and especially thank you for the scripture references.
You are most correct in stating that the “NT stands on the shoulders of the Hebrew Scriptures”. All of its’ writers (with the exception of possibly Luke) were completely Jewish. One of the great tragedies that has occurred in the Christian church is the ignorance and misunderstanding of Jewish tradition and belief as it relates to our inheritance through Israel of our Jewish Messiah and the context and relevance thereof. Apart from Messianic fellowships it is difficult to define the Jewishness that undergirds ALL of our faith as believers in Yah’shua.
All that being said, I believe that Yah’shua was and is the promised Messiah and Redeemer of Israel, fullfilling the Torah (not cancelling it) and correctly interpreting its teachings (Matthew 5:17-20) and fulfilling the OT prophecies regarding Messiah and Redeemer: http://biblia.com/jesusbible/prophecies.htm#Prophecies
It is from my heart and not of duty that I feel a passion, connection with and love for Israel and her people. There is an irrevocable promise of ownership the L-rd has given to the Jewish people over the land.
Ancesthntr, please know that my prayers and support are ever with the Jewish people and Israel which are precious to me. I pray that I might be one of the “Watchman on the Wall” for her to the world during these very difficult times.
Thank you again for your eloquence.
Again, peace be with you and yours,
Flyer
I very much appreciate your kind words. Religiously, we shall have to disagree on the identity of the Redeemer. That’s fine, as long as it is done in a civil and congenial manner, as we have done and will, I trust, continue to do.
As a side note, I watched part of the 3-part CNN special on religion a couple of months back (that part which I could stomach), and watched Pastor Hagee with interest. He is, in case you don’t know, very kindly disposed toward Jews and Israel. He mentioned that he’s got a good friend who is a rabbi in San Antonio, and that one day they were discussing the Messiah. They decided that there was only one thing that was certain - one of them would be correct, and the other both wrong and very surprised at the Messiah’s identity. I think that the same holds for us.
Peace also be with you and yours.