MESSIANIC JUDAISM / CHRISTIANITY
Beliefs and Truths about Christianity
by John T. Webb
What is Christianity? We must start with the Bible. Religions all around the world are SEEKING for God. But the Bible is the record of God REVEALING HIMSELF to MAN. Jesus said, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (Rev. 3:20) We don't have to SEEK Him. He's WAITING for us, if we will only read his Instruction Book (Torah) for living!
The Bible is a unique book spiritually. Other writings of a spiritual nature, of man trying to find himself, of man looking for purpose, of man giving himself a reason for being, are not history books. They don't point out their writers' faults and shortcomings. They weren't written over a period of ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED YEARS with many authors and one continuous story from creation to oblivion. Most lack absolutes. THIS is RIGHT -- THIS is WRONG. They have no concept of SIN except concerning harming other persons (and some condemn harming animals because of their "oneness" with nature [See Gen. 1:28]). But the Creator of the universe is a HOLY God. He DOES condemn sin! And He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever!
God created man in perfection! (Everything he had created was "very good." "Man" as used here in the Hebrew means the race, not male as opposed to female.) In the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. He also gave man something that man almost immediately spoiled: his free will. By deciding that he would be selfish, that his way was better than God's way, he condemned himself and all his progeny to a life where he could not walk face to face with God. Because he defiled the image of God, he became susceptible to and worthy of death! Consider if you were God. Make something with the same spiritual attributes you have and tell it to do something or not to do something. You still have control over that thing, and you have the right to do with that thing whatever you want. Now, allow that thing to choose how it will act. It chooses to go against your will, and you allow it. Evil is in the world today because God allows it. It was not his plan to have man turn away from him, but He allows it. He wants us to be with Him, but He allows us to "do our own thing." So, man decides that his way is better than God's way. Do you realize that the center of SIN is "I" ?
Where does today's Christianity stand on this issue? Christians in the mainstream denominations from Catholics to Pentecostals will not like what I am going to say.
As it is practiced today, Christianity is an amalgamation of many religions. It started in Judaism. Along the way, it has had incorporated into it aspects of worship from Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and western European religions of over a thousand years ago, religions that did not and do not worship the One true God.
CHRISTMAS IS NOT CHRISTIAN! As Wiccans, who worship the creation rather than the creator, will point out, around that time of year, pagans worshipped the rebirth of the sun as the days started getting longer. If you're interested in celebrating the true time when Jesus was born, take a look at THIS to see when he was conceived, then go nine months ahead to the time of Sukkot (the Festival of Tabernacles/Booths) for the time of his birth. (Remember, the Truth shall set you free!)
EASTER IS NOT CHRISTIAN! The Catholic Church at the Council of Nicea early in the 4th century decided that no aspect of Judaism should be carried over into Christian worship, so they relegated God's Appointed Times [Heb. moedim, Strong's 4150], the first two of which were Passover [Pesach, 6453] and the Feast of Firstfruits [Chag ha-Bikkurim, 2282, 1061], to the ash heap (at least as far as Christianity was concerned). The Council determined that the resurrection of Jesus would be observed on the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring, following the practice of the worship of the Babylonian goddess Ashtarte, or Ishtar, which the pagan religions of western Europe called Eostre (ee-OHS-ter).
SUNDAY "SABBATH". NOW I'll REALLY step on some toes! For some quotes about why most Christian denominations worship on Sunday and pay homage to the Catholic Church in doing so, please see HERE for the Catholic point of view or HERE for protestant and evangelical points of view. There is a link to another site for similar quotes on that page. Remember: These are quotes from influential scholars, NOT MY OWN invention.
BIBLICAL INCONSISTENCIES
For those intent on finding presumed mistakes or so-called contradictions in the Bible, they usually show their own ignorance of the customs of the day in which the Bible was written, a lack of knowledge of Jewish customs, and neglect of recent archeological and other scientific studies that prove the Bible. There is nothing in the Bible that cannot be explained by knowing the milieu in which it was written.
For example, Mark 15:25 states that "it was the third hour, and they crucified him." And John 19:14 says it was the sixth hour. This is one instance of the necessity of knowing the period and the customs. The Gospel of John was written much later than the other three gospels, and John was expressing this point from a different custom and was writing for a different audience. For a more complete explanation of the systems of timekeeping, see THIS.
MORE CONTROVERSY
Now I'm going to say something else that will surprise you. I believe in the Big Bang!
Before you blow that out of proportion (please excuse the pun), let me first ask you CREATIONISTS something. If the Big Bang didn't really happen beginning with whatever the latest "scientific speculation" (oxymoron) is, from anything from an infinitesimal speck to a mass about the size of a basketball (though I personally think it had to be at least as big as a large beach ball), can you actually ignore the data supporting the "expanding universe" with galaxies continuing to move away from each other, but at a decreasing rate? God doesn't forbid scientific observation!
Now, for the EVOLUTIONISTS: At that "big bang," WHERE DID THAT FIRST MASS COME FROM? If you think it JUST HAPPENED, then you have greater FAITH than all the Christians in the world combined!
CREATIONISTS and EVOLUTIONISTS, for a better perspective from an astrophysicist (that's a space scientist) who just happens to be a Jew, try THIS for a complete and logical explanation of how 15 billion years can happen in 6 DAYS!
BUT -- Believing in the Big Bang does NOT equate to believing in EVOLUTION OF SPECIES! Evolution relies on CHANCE. THIS will give you an idea of what the odds are of evolution happening. At least read the section in it titled, "What about Random Evolution." Any true scientist knows that the second law of thermodynamics (entropy) absolutely precludes evolution from a lower species to a higher one. Evolution has NOT been proven!
Are men and women treated differently in the Bible? SOIT'n'ly! Because they ARE different! And anybody that thinks they are the same just hasn't been paying attention! In Judaism, in some ways women are placed on a pedestal. They are not required to meet all requirements of study and forms of work that men must meet. But are they mistreated simply because they are women? NO!
Okay, so what IS Christianity? (Or, perhaps, what should it be?) First, it is imperative to understand that Jesus was a JEW. His given name was Yeshua. When the angel Gabriel announced to Mary (Miryam) that she would give birth, he told her, "You shall call his name YESHUA (salvation), for he will YOSHIA (save) his people from their sins." And hereinafter, I shall refer to Him by his proper given name in the language in which it was given to Him, Hebrew.
Yeshua was a Jew. He spoke Hebrew. He taught NOTHING that was not JEWISH. His disciples were Jews. Every book in the Bible had a Jewish author (except possibly Luke, but he was probably a proselyte to Judaism). Possibly as much as 90 percent of the Bible, including portions of the New Testament which are quotations from the Old Testament (the Jewish Tanakh), was originally written in Hebrew. (For a brief explanation regarding the Gospels, please see THIS). Yeshua was a Rabbi, possibly even a Pharisee (that's a long story). The First Baptist-Methodist-Presbyterian-Lutheran-Apostolic-Church of Christ-Catholic-Nazarene-Pentecostal-Seventh Day Adventist All-in-One Church of Jerusalem was JEWISH, 100%. As can be seen in the 15th chapter of Acts, for years after Yeshua's departure, non-Jews were not even PERMITTED to become part of the church, until Peter spoke to the apostles and elders as told in Acts 15:7ff.
So, if it had not been acted on by outside forces such as anti-Semitism and power-hungry leaders in the centuries that followed, Christianity would be another sect of Judaism. So, since most Christians don't know that baptism was Jewish, that the "Lord's Supper," or Eucharist, was a Jewish part of the Jewish Passover, that the "last trumpet" mentioned by the Jew Paul is Jewish, that Pentecost is one of seven Appointed Times that God gave to US through the Jews, and that ALL SEVEN of God's Appointed Times have a spiritual significance to Christians, they are missing some great blessings! It's special!
Shalom
Messianic Judaism--What Is It? and A Messianic Gentile in a Messianic Jewish Congregation
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6/17/13
Last update 16 December 2023