Friday, September 30, 2016

Countering the comments of some counter-missionaries and their followers

Some things counter-missionaries have posted recently:



"This isn't xtianity folks, we don't get to cherry pick." "Torah commands us to follow the Rabbis."

"The Torah was given to Israel to make them a 'separate people unto G-d.' Having said that, if a person gravitates toward following G-d's ways more closely, that's fine. But he/she is not under the same obligation as a Jew is."

"Contextually Judaism is not just defined to just what is written in a book but how the Jewish people have over a period of time sought to practice what was revealed to them at Sinai and what we inherited from our forefathers. Our forefathers have placed us in a unique position as the reinstators/ practicers of monotheism in the context of surrounding paganism with their multiple gods etc.. In other words both historically and contextually we have had no other revelation of monotheism prior to ours which needed replacing with an allegedly better revelation." 



OUR RESPONSE:

Well, since Jews believe ONLY THEY are special to G-d, and they must not "cherry pick", then perhaps they could do the following for us:

• Provide the exact Torah scripture that tells us to follow the Rabbis. That is, provide the scripture that today's rabbis have replaced the Levite Cohen (Deuteronomy 17:8-13) who were appointed as authority.

• Sing “The Song of Moshe” for us” complete with the melody (Deuteronomy 32:1–43). The Jew is supposed to know these words and the song in order to pass them on to their children (Deuteronomy 32:46).

• Provide the scripture that tells us Jews were given an “Oral Torah”, the "Torah Sheba'al Peh", in addition to what Moshe wrote down and that YHWH’s people are to follow it.

• Tell us why the Jews believe they were the only ones standing before G-d on Mt. Sinai when the Ten Commandments were given. (Answer can be found on our blog: http://blog.therefinersfire.org/2016/09/torah-tells-us-that-gods-word-and.html)

• Tell us WHY apparently only "the Jews" are supposed to be holy and provide exact scriptures to back up their claim. (The answer can be found on our blog: http://blog.therefinersfire.org/2015/09/does-god-only-expect-jews-to-be-holy.html)

• Where in Torah are Rabbis told they should make their living being “counter missionaries” who spend all their waking hours sitting around bashing other religions and joining Facebook threads where people have gathered to hack around on those with different beliefs?

A few more random thoughts concerning their comments above:

It seems counter-missionaries (most of whom – judging from some of the comments we see on Facebook) are too busy reading through 2,711 pages of the Talmud trying to decipher the confusing and contradictory statements of the rabbis, whom they are taught they must listen to. "They" have splintered into Orthodox, Conservative, Progressive, Reform, and Reconstructionist Jews, not to mention Karaites and Samaritans.

What "they" inherited is so clear that they have a calendar that does not keep the moedim at the right times, they've lost the correct shemitah year, don't observe the Jubilee year, can't understand Isaiah, have added countless rules and regulations to Torah, etc., despite their forefathers teaching them not to do so!

So, it is truly ludicrous to suggest, "Our forefathers have placed us in a unique position as the reinstators/ practicers of monotheism!" If that were true, why are there so many Jewish factions and why the disagreements within Talmud?

Moshe knew modern Jews would stray! (Deuteronomy 31:30). Are these counter-missionaries REALLY following G-d’s Divine Rules….or are they following their own? YOU decide!