Posted on 07/01/2003 10:22:12 AM PDT by ksen
RECOVERING THE TRUTH & A COMING TO A CORRECT UNDERSTANDING OF JESUS
Jesus and all his followers were Jews who were faithful to Biblical Judaism and never intended to separate from or start a new religion; after their deaths the Gentile Christian church will condemn the Jewish Christians as heretics...in time fruit of the Jewish Church (Gentile Christianity) will destroy it's mother
We have a unique paradox in Biblical history; one which touches every follower of Jesus yet today and which reaches to the very core of our own culture and time. It is impossible to understand Jesus or his message until we come to a correct understanding of the events that fashioned such persecution of the Jews by the Gentile believers and which contributed to the alteration of the faith of Jesus as can be found to have existed in the first century of Second Temple Judaism. As stated earlier the first and greatest division in the early church concerned the relationship of the followers of Jesus to Judaism; it shaped everything that was to follow. One of the greatest problems facing Christianity today is how to reconcile what it has become with G-d's intended vision for the Gentile nations of the world whereby they become part of the Israel of G-d and not "replace" it with a religion of their own creation. The answers for such a problem come only when one personally acquaints himself with an unbiased presentation of the facts of the tragic events of this part of Biblical history and traces the repercussions of such events down through the corridors of history and ultimately seeing the shock waves from them that are present in our own religious beliefs systems and cultures of today.
Today many scholars tell us the truth today about the early church and courageously break from "church traditions" and "mind control" to present the facts concerning these "events" and the corruption of the early faith of the historical Jesus by the Gentile "converts" who would later steer the direction of this "faith" throughout recorded history. It is so simple today to find this information, but sadly few look or even know the need to see if "they be in the faith." That being the case, we accept the "spin" of religious leaders down through history and the real message of Jesus is never heard, or at best, is overlooked for more "orthodox teachings" espoused which have taken it's place. Keith Akers, in his The Lost Religion of Jesus, states the case as well as any. Jewish Christianity consisted of those early Christians who followed the teachings of Jesus, as they understood him, and also remained loyal to the Jewish law of Moses as they understood it. Messianic Judaism was not to replace Judaism with a new faith; it was the goal and zenith for which the prophets wrote and hoped. This simple statement is of profound importance, because the Jewish Christians were eventually rejected both by orthodox Judaism and by orthodox Gentile Christianity. The understanding of the Jewish follower of Jesus was not that of orthodox Christianity (as it came to be where Jesus is seen more like the sun-g-dmen of the Gentile nations than a human messiah). Likewise the Jewish follower of Jesus possessed an understanding of the law of Moses that was the same as orthodox Judaism, but yet this view would later be rejected under the influence of Paul and his churches. Jerome's celebrated comment in the fourth century summarizes this dual rejection: "As long as they seek to be both Jews and Christians, they are neither Jews nor Christians" [Letter 112] (Akers, The Lost Religion of Jesus, p. 7).
The Jewish Christians considered Jesus to be the "true prophet" who would lead the people back to the eternal law that commanded simple living and nonviolence. They saw in Jesus their hopes for physical redemption and the fulfillment of the prophets. It was their hope that the Law would go forth from Zion with Jesus at its head as the long awaited Messiah and King of Israel. It was their hope that the enemies of Israel would be vanquished by the word of this anointed one of the LORD as taught in the Psalms of Solomon (no not the psalms you are familiar with but a separate Jewish books that was recognized by Jews as authoritative in the first century). The law, which was cherished by all G-dfearing Jews, had been given to Moses; indeed, it had existed from the beginning of the world, and was intended to be cherished and observed by both Jew and non-Jew alike because in the Commandments one finds the unique Covenant stipulations of his Covenant before G-d. In sharp contrast with the gentile Christian movement, which emerged in the wake of Paul's teaching, Jewish Christianity strove to make the Jewish law stricter than the Jewish tradition seemed to teach ("you have heard it said but I say unto you...'much more'"). Such was the Jesus' love for G-d and His Word. But this cannot be said for the Gentile churches which strove to find ways to lay aside the law for the laxity that was taught under the disguise of "grace." In other words, the non-Jews loved the large "gray areas" that came from the teaching of Paul and others who negated the Law through their own personal "revelations" and their own personal "gospels" (Paul is found saying in Rom 2:16 16: In the day when G-d shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel and again in 2 Tim 2:8 8: Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel). It is a little early in this article to address this concept but if you study continues you will reach a point in your understanding and knowledge where you will see beyond any doubt that the "gospel of Paul" replaced the "gospel of Jesus and Judaism."
Jewish Christianity is the blind spot in virtually all accounts of Jesus. Everyone agrees that Jesus was a Jew and that his initial followers were Jews. Yet of the thousands of books written about Jesus, almost none acknowledge the central importance of Jewish Christianity; at least until the end of the previous century and the beginning of the present one. That was true up until the latter part of the last century when Jewish, as well as European scholars began to reevaluate the Jewish Jesus and contrast the Historical Jesus with the Christ of Faith. There are many who are eager to focus specifically on the Jewishness of Jesus, until they get to the point of examining those of his followers who, like their teacher, were also Jewish, and in doing so see for themselves that actually nothing really changed within this community of the closest followers of Jesus until the early fourth century when Rome would effectively destroy the Jewish "followers of Jesus" by declaring them official heretics. The power of Rome would propagate a Gentile understanding and not a Jewish understanding of Jesus (see Constantine's Easter letter if you have any doubts).
The "Jewishness" of these early Christians does not refer to their ethnic group or nationality, but rather to their beliefs. Paul was a convert to Judaism (H. Maccoby, The Mythmaker, Paul And The Invention Of Christianity) and only later converted to Judaism; first a Sadducee, and after rejection by the Chief Priest he turned to the Pharisees, again only to be rejected by them for his prior cruelty to them as an agent of the Temple police who routed them out and killed them (the Messianic believing strict branch of the Pharisees called Nazarenes/Essenes). Paul also preaches freedom from the law and therefore explicitly rejects Jewish beliefs. Paul, and some of the other Jews who became Christians, renounced the law of Moses and, therefore, were not part of Jewish Christianity. The churches of Paul today (vast majority of Christianity as it exists today) lay outside the true faith of Jesus and will continue to do so unless they encounter the truth about this man of Galilee and the truth about their own religious history.
Without understanding Jewish Messianic Judaism or "intended Christianity", we cannot understand the historical Jesus let alone the earliest church nor the corruption of it within the New Testament correctly. Lacking this knowledge we are doomed to misinterpret most of what we read in the New Testament and our worship let alone our conduct will be in error...much of which is defined as sin in the Torah.
TRANSLATION: When confronted by fact, deny without attempting to disprove.
REVISED TRANSLATION: I'm only three weeks into my new belief system - I have no idea what most of this stuff means! I don't even know how to read Greek or Hebrew. Look, I read it in an article written by other people. I have no idea if you've refuted their claims or not. And since I cannot find an article that refutes your argument, I will resort dismissing your argument ad hoc, and will quietly hope that you go away.
Translation. Your belief system is threatened. Why else would you act so ravenous?
Exactly which "symbols" are you having trouble understanding?
SD
You might as well be, you accept all the orthodoxy that convenient at the time.
And you will have a guest pass to the Torquemada drive through theological decontamination chamber. You'll come out with a Trinitarian glow!
Thank you doctor. Will I have to accept Papacy and the Perpetual Virginity of Mary to?
Afterwards Alex will apply the spray on baptism and you're good for eternity.
That's about all Alex is good for. Keep him out of the debates and give him those manual labor duties. Lol.
Oh nothing. He was just rambling on about his Greek Orthodox corruptions of scirpture. Not important. Did you read that article?
I believe they are extra biblical doctrines , what we are discussing here is the Christ of the Bible and the diety of Christ. On that the visible church speaks with one voice.
Now my turn for a question Is your wife still " entrenched in the babylonian system"? Or have you converted her from her Constantinian Christianity?
How does the Jewish law treat this problem?
SD
Just don't forget to apply the finishing sealer, or else it'll wash off in the shower.
I'll keep posting it until you answer it.
My wife is certainly none of your business Ms Busybody.
Thank you for the compliment, "left handed" though it may be. i am not an 'expert' by any sense of the word, just somebody who reads and writes New Testament Greek fluently, and has done so for 20 years. You have here conceeded that you have no idea of what you presume to speak. If you could read, you would notice that the Latin alphabetic equivalents were placed beside the Greek Text so that you could follow. i did this in anticipation that you might not have downloaded the particular Hebrew and Greek fonts necessary for the symbols to display properly. You must have missed that in your haste to dismiss legitimate argumentation that you were not capable of understanding.
And you're a product of the "Comfort of Calvinism". How loving and compassionate. LOL.
Bet your kids (assuming you are a parent) feel/felt the same way when they were 'spanked'. At any rate, if you want "diplomacy", go to the United Nations.
Condescending, without the love of Messiah, and a heart of stone is not way to fake a walk with the Messiah. You hypocrite.
Projecting something are we? Have you considered professional Psychiatric help? i have been told that they're doing wonderful things with Prozac these days.
God forbid you should act at home with as much forethought and care as you do here. Elsewise, she might stop being part of your business as well.
That's a very good possibility. Its disconcerting that you seem to take joy in that. Must be that comfort of Calvinism again.
Maybe instead of Prozac I'll employ your tactics. How many people can I send to hell today? lol. Must be theraputical.
I did answer it , you just did not like the answer. You are the one that calls tradition spirit led..as a protestant I would not agree with that .
It is kinda like the 600+ laws added to the torah . Tradition that saves no one .
Can we call it the "Chrism-atic 9000"? We'll make a gasoline-powered one for outdoor Masses.
SD
I take no joy in it. It's disconcerting to hear you confirm that your marraige is in this much trouble, and after only three short weeks in this new belief system. Are you so easily willing to forsake the wife of your youth?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.