On the other side of the endless Jewish "counter-missionary" arguments, our website receives myriad attacks from Christians who write to challenge our assertions about following Torah. Why is that? Because most have NO concept of what Torah is, that's why. Most simply cannot grasp that we serve the same God - and that this same God has some Divine Rules for ALL people to follow. Their consistent argument is: "That Old Testament stuff was just for the Jews!"
The truth us, Scripture, when read in context, reveals that His "forever" commands are meant for ALL! Why would YHWH's Divine Instructions in Righteousness be "only for the Jews?" Are only JEWS supposed to be holy?
"But, we're under grace! Jesus paid it all."
Yes, but the thing is, "grace" is nothing new! We've ALWAYS been "under grace" - otherwise Adam and Eve would have been killed on the spot instead being allowed to live to experience the difference between "good and evil." But God also gave mankind some rules to follow. Jesus didn't abolish them! He abolished our need to sacrifice innocent animals as "sin sacrifices." Please contemplate that when you remember he willingly shed his blood for you - and then ask yourself why he would have, at the same time, abolished your need to obey His Father's Divine Instructions. Did the blood of Jesus in any way ever suggest you're now free to make up your own rules? HOW do you know what holiness is, unless you receive your instructions from the Holy One of Israel?
Many Christians become irate over the idea of keeping the COMMANDED Seventh Day Sabbath and the Feasts. "You've put yourself back under the law!" they scream, with murder in their eyes. (Yes, some have actually sent us death threats!) And the thought of having to give up their pork and shellfish because God commands us to eat only "clean" animals? Well, that one sends them straight through the roof! DOING something for God in return for a chance of eternal life is apparently too much to ask..
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So who is right and why are there all these divisions? We always like to ask: Which of the 40,000 different Christian "denominations" is the one GOD approves of? Which one did "Jesus" bring? Do you really believe He approves of those who can't even be bothered with His Seventh Day Sabbath, which is a SIGN between Him and His people?
Exodus 31:16 The people of Isra'el are to keep the Shabbat, to observe Shabbat through all their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between me and the people of Isra'el forever; for in six days ADONAI made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and rested.'" (CJB)
Aren't YOU a part of Israel once you accept the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?
Ezekiel 20: 11 I gave them my laws and showed them my rulings; if a person obeys them, he will have life through them. 12 I gave them my shabbats as a sign between me and them, so that they would know that I, ADONAI, am the one who makes them holy. (CJB)
When Israel and the Egyptians who had followed Moses out of Egypt were gathered on Mount Sinai, YHWH made it clear that ALL who accepted Him were to do exactly as His Chosen. He said it FOUR times in a row in the following passage:
Numbers 15: 13 "'Every citizen is to do these things in this way when presenting an offering made by fire as a fragrant aroma for ADONAI. 14 If a foreigner stays with you - or whoever may be with you, through all your generations - and he wants to bring an offering made by fire as a fragrant aroma for ADONAI, he is to do the same as you. 15 For this community there will be the same law for you as for the foreigner living with you; this is a permanent regulation through all your generations; the foreigner is to be treated the same way before ADONAI as yourselves. 16 The same Torah and standard of judgment will apply to both you and the foreigner living with you.'" (CJB)
Please re-read the above in case you missed it: Any Torah-less non-Jew/Hebrew/Israelite who does not yet believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is an "alien"/foreigner. However, if they do wish to accept Him, then they are to do exactly as those who already belong to Him! (NOTE: Once you've "crossed over" like Abraham the pagan Chaldean did in Genesis 12, you're no longer a "Gentile"; you are a "Hebrew" - for the word "hebrew" means "to cross over.")
One last thing: Many Christians will immediately point to Jeremiah 31:32 to show that THEY are under a "New Covenant." They seem to forget that YHWH didn't make that particular covenant (or any other covenant) with the Gentiles, He made it with the Torah observant Houses of Israel and Judah. See for yourself:
Jeremiah 31: 31 "Here, the days are coming," says ADONAI, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Isra'el and with the house of Y'hudah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took them by their hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt; because they, for their part, violated my covenant, even though I, for my part, was a husband to them," says ADONAI. 33 "For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Isra'el after those days," says ADONAI: "I will put my Torah within them and write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will any of them teach his fellow community member or his brother, 'Know ADONAI'; for all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest; because I will forgive their wickednesses and remember their sins no more." (CJB)
QUESTION: Do YOU have "Torah written on your heart?" Not unless you've studied it and obey Torah commands to the best of your ability. Those who outright reject Torah don't belong to YHWH, simple as that. You cannot adhere to just the last THIRD of the Bible, using as excuses your misunderstood concepts about the writings of Paul which you feel NEGATED everything YHWH ever commanded and everything Jesus ever said, and then honestly believe yourself to be a child of God!
Paul reiterates this fact:
Romans 10: 12. And in this, it discriminates neither Jews nor Gentiles. For there is one, Master YHWH, over them all, who is abundantly generous towards every one that calls on him. 13. For everyone that will call on the name of Master YHWH, will have life. (AENT)
Carmen, when I view the writings of Paul in a Hebraic context, he stresses that YHWH doesn't discriminate between Jew and Gentile (Romans 10:12, Galatians 3:28, Colossians 3:11 and 3:25).
ReplyDeleteExactly, Kevin! :)
DeletePork and shellfish? What about Peter's dream in which he was told to kill and eat? And Paul's epistles in which he encourages us to follow our consciences lest we cause a brother to stumble? That which is unclean for you may not be unclean to me.
ReplyDeleteGreat question, Tim! Thanks for writing. The thing about Peter's vision is this:
ReplyDeleteYAHWEH (God, the Father) never said pork, shellfish, etc. were food. People called these animals food in rebellion against God….
The passages in Romans are dealing with animals YAHWEH gave us to eat and whether they are ceremonially clean and can be eaten at that time. Even in Peter’s vision (Acts 11), Peter would never have eaten the kosher animals that had been in contact with treif (non-kosher) animals.
The vision was to show that, as Peter knew which animals were clean and which were not because as God had shown him, Peter was to accept the Gentiles as God had now shown him they were “clean”. The rest of the passage in Acts 11 shows that this is the correct interpretation and what the vision was all about (see Acts 11:18).