Posted on 08/20/2010 9:55:43 PM PDT by Ladycalif
Some 15,000 Messianic Jews currently live in Israel, but if you saw one on the street you would almost certainly fail to recognize any difference. They honor Jewish circumcision, bar-mitzvah, and wedding ceremonies, but believe Jesus is the messiah.
The small community of Yad Hashmona, near Jerusalem, is home to a number of Messianic-Jewish families. They believe in Jesus – or Yeshua, as they call him – and in the teachings of the New Testament as well as the old. They are Jews in every sense, but for the most part keep this side of their faith to themselves. When these families gather for the Shabbat meal, however, Jesus is the guest star at their table.
(Excerpt) Read more at ynetnews.com ...
There are LOTS of Jewish Christians in the world today...
ping
You want to get a lot of religious Jews mad today, start talking about the Christian Jews. Seems the grudge is still there that existed in New Testament times.
Keep in mind that nobody but the Holy Spirit can turn a Jewish person ( or anyone else for that matter) into a Christian...
ping
Exactly and, unless the Holy Spirit prompts you, it is best to tread lightly.
Suddenly I don’t feel so alone, from Jews To Jesus to the awakening, may the Lord bless them and keep thema nd may His light always shine upon them forever, amen and amen. I hope a huge revival happens prior to harpozo.
>> Keep in mind that nobody but the Holy Spirit can turn a Jewish person ( or anyone else for that matter) into a Christian...
The ultimate blessing.
Oh, this is quite expected. No Christian, whether gentile or Jewish, should be surprised.
I'm extremely happy that many Jews are finally realizing Jesus is not the enemy to Jewishness...and they know the freedom and joy faith in Him brings, eternally.
However, as a student of the bible, I know a MAJOR theme in the New Testament is breaking down the walls between "Jew and Greek" (Jew and Gentile) in that there is ONE Covenant people of God, not two, and Jews who now believe are part of the greater universal (or call it small "c" catholic) Church. Requiring continuance of Jewish religious customs (such as, specifically, circumcision) is counter to the direct instruction of St. Paul and the Acts era Church, as found in the bible.
Probably the biggest single challenge that almost killed the 1st Century Church were the "Judiazers" those who believed in Jesus--but who also believed in keeping Kosher and circumcision, and tried to require Gentiles to follow their ways. Jesus Himself though, called all foods clean--and Paul specifically said circumcision makes no difference (religiously). More than one of Paul's letters were specifically addressed to counter Jews who tried to make Jews out of Gentile followers of Jesus.
I have an old friend, a guy from India, whom I knew from my evangelical church. He had some Jewish ancestry (as some do in a certain part of India) and a Jewish last name. He was a born-again Christian, as far as I could tell. Then he went to a Messianic Jewish congregation--and got ALL wrapped up in his (apparent) ethnic Jewish background and basically turned his back on all his Gentile friends....and very much seemed to think himself superior (religiously) because of his Jewishness. Last I talked to him, he was sending his children to Orthodox Jewish schools, and seemed somewhat wavering on his belief in Jesus....as his Jewishness just seemed so important to him.
There really is nothing as exciting (and excited) as a Jewish person who believes in Jesus--however, I just hope they will not see themselves as somehow separate from the rest of the followers of Jesus--and the Church which has been following Him for 2000 years.
Thanks for the ping!
but not that keep to all the other Jewish practices. This is a good article.
More fuel for the fire of the Roman Catholic Church claiming they are the only church on earth and all others are heretics.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of G-d...
A lot of the Jewish-Jesus lore which would have surrounded the early Jewish Christians has been lost to the mists of time, and any analogous practice today would have to be reverse engineered, so to speak. When a valid temple worship system still existed in Jerusalem, the Jewish members of the Christian congregation went to the temple in Jerusalem and followed Jewish temple rites there. Jesus had even told these Jewish members to cooperate with the temple religious authorities (refusing only to deny Jesus as savior and Lord). Once the temple and priests were overrun, this became moot.
I’d agree, that if a biblically educated Christian can’t recognize Christ in a given instance of Jewish Christian worship, or it seems to be relying on Christ “plus” something else, then it has gone astray.
If a Christian believes that an overt institution of worship has been literally made to survive from the gospel days, then he would be hard pressed not to point to either the Roman Catholic church or the Orthodox. The “invisible church” crowd who recognize the church as “all believers” will be more in sympathy with the Protestant reformation, while still recognizing certain flaws in the historical form it took.
Excellent. I would only modify your characterization, “overt institution of worship”, to be something more of a conduit to Christ’s teachings.
Thank God it was written (to quote Quinn).
Well said.
Jeshua was the fulfillment of the “old testament” prophesies. To a “T” , not one jot or tittle that isn’t fulfilled, saving the end times events that haven’t occurred yet.
One problem seems to be that the Jews were looking for the conquering messiah, and missed the suffering one from Isaiah, etc. When you look at future events ( like looking thru a riflescope downrange) you could miss the fact that Jesus’ appearances on earth and His different roles were separated by 2000 years or so.
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