Remedial vs Willful Ignorance

There are two sides of ignorance:

Someone defined the two sides of ignorance as "The first is blindly believing and doing what other people say without properly investigating the truth of it, and the second is not believing and doing what is rightfully correct because you refuse to accept the the truth. Either way, both are dangerous and leads to corruption of the mind."

My take on this:

There are only two ways to express knowledge of a subject on the Internet: Truth or lies. In my short time on Facebook (cesspool that it is, I am happily no longer on Facebook), I observed that most have no idea how to distinguish the difference. Truth is backed by facts and sound conclusions, while lies are simply false conclusions based on opinion, hearsay, and ignorance. Sadly, since absolutely anyone can write anything they want and post it on the Internet as "truth", it is up to the reader to assess a post or article as truth or lies. I observed that the quite necessary "assessment" step most often fails to happen. Worse, I observed that most are not qualified themselves to carry out that assessment! 

Which leads me to:

There are two forms of ignorance: Remedial and Willful. One can be "ignorant" of a subject and that is not actually a problem because ignorance is remediated through study and education.  But when one chooses not to study and educate themselves they have willfully chosen to remain ignorant.

A Quick Biblical Concussion!

A bit of advice to those who think there are "two Gods" ("God" & "Jesus"), and "two rules" ("Torah", aka "the Law", for the Jews & "Grace" for the Gentiles):

Open your Bible to the dividing page between the "Old Testament" and the "New Testament" and TEAR OUT THAT PAGE!

Then start at the beginning, Gen 1:1, and read, without stopping, to Revelation 22:21.  You will find there is only ONE God and ONE Torah - one set of rules for ALL.  Pay special attention to what the Messiah (Jesus) says, and you will find that the Messiah only came to show the way to the Kingdom of God.  That's all.  He didn't "change" anything God said.  He didn't "nail" anything to the cross.  He didn't "bring grace".

Some of your predisposition is that you have read poor English versions of New Testament scriptures and concluded that "Paul" says Gentiles are exempt from Torah.  This is absolutely not true, so rule #1 while you read the Bible cover to cover is to set aside what you THINK Paul said, and read it all with an uncluttered mind - this time seeking first to understand Torah and the Messiah, rather than looking for justification to deny Torah.  For example:

When cornered by the Pharisees, Jesus was asked "Which is the greatest commandment?"  Jesus answered: "You should love Master YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and with all your mind. This is the first and the greatest Commandment."  Then He goes on: "And the second is like it.  That ‘You should love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang Torah and the prophets." (Matt 22:37-40)

Most Christians see this as "Jesus gave only two commandments".  But when you have read the Bible, cover-to-cover (having ripped out that dividing page), you will come to realize that Jesus TAUGHT NOTHING NEW! In His answer to the question "Which is the greatest commandment?", Jesus quoted only Torah!  He did not give "new" commandments! For the first, and greatest commandment He quoted Deuteronomy 6:5, and for the second, He quoted Leviticus 19:18!

And note that Jesus did NOT say "there are only 'two' commandments", rather, He said "On these two commandments hang [all] Torah"! All commandments remain valid - some just don't apply to you! And He did not bring "Grace" to "replace" Torah, rather He came to spread the good news of the Kingdom of God! (See Luke 4:43) So what is the "good news of the Kingdom of God"?  Well, it's not "all you have to do is believe"!  No!  It is found in John, chapter 17! Read it!  

(Okay, I hear the outcry already!  Some are clearly yelling: "But John 3:16 says: 'so that everyone who believes in him won't perish but will have eternal life.' - so all we have to do is believe!"  ....Err, I suggest you keep reading John! Pay special attention to John 16:3 "And they will do these things because they know neither my Father nor myself."  Then go read John 17:3 again!  What is "eternal life"?  Hint: It is NOT "just believe"!)

Then ask yourself "How do I 'know' the Father?"

Female rabbi attempts to “queer the text”

It’s mind-boggling how deceitful man can be.  Take this female rabbi, for instance, who insists that God never said homosexuality was “an abomination” -  but rather, the Hebrew word for “abomination” was mistranslated. 

How convenient!  But, hey – isn’t that what ALL “religious” folks are doing?  Traditional Jews employ the “it don’t really mean that” and the “you’re in error unless you are able to read the Hebrew Bible in HEBREW and have accepted Talmud as your guide” cards to debunk “Jesus” and the whole New Testament.  Christians twist the entire Torah into being irrelevant because it was “just for the Jews” (never mind that all 12 tribes AND the pagan gentiles who had accompanied Moses out of Egypt and had accepted the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, stood at Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments – which HANG ON TORAH (Matthew 22:40)).  And Messianic/Hebrew Roots types will twist words and concepts to force them to fit into their myriad respective theologies.

And now we have Rabbi Debra Kolodny, Executive Director of Nehirim, the national LGBTQI group, trying to “queer the text.”

Well, why not, right?  Everyone else is doing it!

The thing is, we WILL stand before our Maker on Judgment Day (Revelation 20:11-15) to come face-to-face with Him, trembling as we begin to explain our behavior on earth.  At that point myriads will surely rue the fact that they refused to “come before the Lord as children” (Mark 10:15) who have put aside their limited, human mindsets and simply looked at Scripture with “pure” eyes, so they could see the “whole picture” clearly….

No matter how one attempts to twist the words, the CONTEXT reveals that homosexual acts and any other SIN is NOT acceptable:

Leviticus 18: 22 "You are not to go to bed with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.

Leviticus 20: 13 If a man goes to bed with a man as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they must be put to death; their blood is on them.

Leviticus 18: 22 - You are not to go to bed with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.

Deuteronomy 22: 5 "A woman is not to wear men's clothing, and a man is not to put on women's clothing, for whoever does these things is detestable to ADONAI your God.

Ecclesiates 12: 14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.

Revelation 22: 14 How blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they have the right to eat from the Tree of Life and go through the gates into the city! 15 Outside are the homosexuals, those who misuse drugs in connection with the occult, the sexually immoral, murderers, idol-worshippers, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

Regardless as to how one tries to color it, sin is sin and - according to the above - homosexual acts are SIN!

My prayer is that ALL Believers would begin to humble themselves enough to realize that our human thoughts and deeds are totally irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, and that EVERYTHING hinges on YHWH and His Word -  and our obedience to Him.  He gave us the choice to accept or reject Him. 

Does Hebrews 8 show that “the Old Covenant” was abolished at the cross?

Many Christians will point to Hebrews 8 to show that “the Old Covenant” was abolished at the cross.

Hebrews 8:7. For, if the first (covenant) had been faultless, there would have been no place for this second (one).[1]  8. For he rebukes them and says: Behold the days come, says Master YHWH, when I will complete with the family of the house of Israel and with the family of the house of Yehuda, a renewed covenant;[2]  9. not like the covenant which I gave to their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt; (and) because they continued not in my covenant, I also rejected them, says Master YHWH. 

10. But this is the covenant which I will give to the family of the house of Israel after those days, says Master YHWH: I will put my Torah in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts; and I will be to them a Elohim, and they will be to me a people.  11. And one will not teach his son of the city[3] nor his brother, nor say: You shall know your Master YHWH: because they will all know me, from the youngest of them to the oldest.  12. And I will forgive them their iniquity; and their sins will I remember no more.  13. In that he said a Renewed (Covenant), he made the first old; and that which is old and decaying, is near to disappearing.[4]

Employing a Hebraic mindset (rather than a "Greek" one) let’s take a look at this passage using footnotes from the Aramaic English New Testament by Andrew Gabriel Roth:

[1]  Most Christians seem to forget that without the first covenant, the second one is impossible!  In very short order Rav Shaul will quote Jeremiah 31:31-34, indicating that the Renewed Covenant is a contingency triggered by, and deriving authority from, the first covenant.  YHWH declared that the Ancient Covenant He made with Israel was good; it was to bring life, but the people of Israel chose to willfully break this Covenant and treat it as a vain thing.  See Deuteronomy 32:46, 47.

[2]   Paul makes reference to the Renewed Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34) nine times in this letter.

[3]  The phrase in Aramaic is 'bar medintheh', which literally means “son of his city” but idiomatically carries the meaning of “fellow citizen, neighbor” and most definitely a metaphor Greek does not have. This fact puts Peshitta well before the end of the Second Century when the mistranslated Greek texts were done. It is also important to note that this is the last book of the Eastern canon. As a result, the entire collection must have circulated prior to this very early date.

[4]  The context is Jeremiah 31:31-34, what is “near to disappearing” is the sinful nature of man that breaks Torah, not the standard of Torah. Remember that we broke Torah, not YHWH.  YHWH did not drop the standard of Torah because Israel chose disobedience; rather, He installed a Renewed Covenant to write Torah upon the heart through the work of the Ruach haKodesh, according to Mashiyach.  The fact of the matter is that in Mashiyach, YHWH raised the bar; He magnified Torah; see Isaiah 42:21.  Because mankind broke Covenant, YHWH requires complete renovation on our part, not YHWH’s part of the Covenant.  This verse in its twisted form, became one of the “crown jewels” of Torahless Christianity which teaches that Torah is decaying and is near to disappearing, but nothing could be farther from the truth.  See 2 Peter 3:16.

How a “religion” is born

(NOTE:  The source in this article for the information about the history of “Rivers of Babylon” is Wikipedia.)

One of my favorite songs of all time (since I first heard it in the late Seventies) has been "Rivers of Babylon" by a group called “Boney M.”  Unfortunately, I didn’t understand the gravity of the words until I became a Torah observant believer in the late Nineties … and my guess is, until then I was representative of most people who have ever heard the song and never bothered to discover what the lyrics were truly about....

"Rivers of Babylon" is based on the Biblical Psalm 137:1-4, a hymn expressing the lamentations of the YHWH’s people in exile following the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 586 BC: Previously the Kingdom of Israel, after being united under Kings David and Solomon, was split in two, with the Kingdom Of Israel in the north, conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BC which caused the dispersion of 11 of the 12 tribes of Israel. The southern Kingdom of Judah (hence the name Jews), home of the tribe of Judah and part of the Tribe of Levi, was free from foreign domination until the Babylonian conquest to which Rivers Of Babylon refers.
 

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion... They carried us away in captivity requiring of us a song... Now how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?

The namesake rivers of Babylon are the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The song also has words from Psalm 19.

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight...

It is one of a few pop songs whose lyrics come directly from the Bible. But here’s the thing:  Originally Rivers of Babylon was a rastafarian song written and recorded by Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of the Jamaican reggae group The Melodians in 1970. The lyrics were adapted from the texts of Psalms 19 and 137 in the Bible.

However, The Melodians' original version of the song twisted it to mean something else!

In the Rastafarian faith, the term "Babylon" is used for any governmental system which is either oppressive or unjust. In Jamaica, Rastafarians also use "Babylon" to refer to the police, often seen as a source of oppression because they arrest members for the use of marijuana (which is sacramental for Rastafarians). Therefore, "By the rivers of Babylon" refers to living in a repressive society and the longing for freedom, just like the Israelites in captivity. Rastafarians also identify themselves as belonging to the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

The original version specifically refers to Rastafarian belief in Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I, considered by Rastas to be Christ, by changing references to "the Lord" in the Biblical text to "Far-I" and "King Alpha".   In addition, the term "the wicked" replaces the neutral "they" of Psalm 137 in the line "they that carried us away captive required of us a song…".

According to David Stowe, Brent Dowe, the lead singer of the Melodians, had adapted Psalm 137 to the new reggae style because he wanted to increase the public's consciousness of the growing Rastafarian movement and its calls for black liberation and social justice. Like the Afro-Protestant Revival services, traditional Rastafarian worship often included psalm singing and hymn singing, and Rastas typically modified the words to fit their own spiritual conceptions; Psalm 137 was among their sacred chants.

So there you have an inkling as to how “religions” get started!  We humans have the tendency to not only misunderstand Scripture (depending on many things, including our level of intelligence, our comprehension ability and our backgrounds, etc.); but also, our tendency to force the idea of God to fit into our own respective lifestyles and ideas as to “who” God should be.  It’s the rare person who is willing to move aside their limited human understanding and take a head-first plunge into the Bible, to read and digest it all, from cover to cover, with the help of the Holy Spirit - and without over-analyzing those things that are simply too hard to understand.

What I find most interesting is that Rastafaria and many other religions (including the world’s “biggies” – Judaism, Catholicism, Christianity and Islam) all have their roots in Torah!  And all have twisted YHWH’s Word to include their own, personal ideas and opinions….(Hmmm, care to guess why that is?)

Anyway, “Rivers of Babylon” was popularized in Europe by the 1978 Boney M. cover version, which was awarded a platinum disc and is one of the top ten all-time best-selling singles in the UK.  The Rastafarian language was excised from the Boney M. version of the lyrics, who performed an early mix of the song in a German TV show singing "How can we sing King Alpha's song", as in the Melodians version, although it was changed to "the Lord's song", restoring the original biblical words in the released versions.

So, in the end, the BIBLICAL version won out – Halleluyah!  Please check it out sometime.  It will give you chills!
Unfortunately, just because "Rivers of Babylon" was restored to its original intent, I know for a fact (judging by the horrific cussing - especially his preferred use of the "F" word - during his interviews) that the creator of "Boney M" had NO clue about God and the Bible! (He is dead now, BTW, and during his funeral his daughter stood on stage and every other word out of her mouth started with the "F" word, too.) I don't know about those who actually sang the song, though, but I pray they are all believers.

It kind of ruins this beautiful song for me, but at least I know the truth behind that's what makes listening to it worthwhile!

The fight about "Christmas" continues....

Having been Torah observant for nearly 20 years now, I continue to remain baffled as to why so many Christians cannot understand that Torah consists of YHWH’s Divine Instructions in Righteousness, without which, we would have NO blueprint for moral, holy living.  It’s truly an enigma, and my prayer is that people would stop wasting so much energy on fighting to keep their opinions and, instead, begin to focus on discovering what the Bible says.  What I espouse, or what some “denomination” espouses is irrelevant.  What we must come to realize is what GOD has commanded.

It hurts my spirit to see so many endless arguments all over the internet where people are beating each other up verbally to prove “the other side” wrong.  I’m seeing Christians rabidly going after those of us who have chosen to be Torah observant, poking fun at us, viciously attacking us  for keeping the commanded Seventh Day Sabbath and the Feasts. (Apparently it’s BAD to want to obey God?  Must be, because they keep condemning us to hell for it!)

But the lengths to which they will go is truly baffling sometimes.  For instance, they cannot seem to grasp that, just because the Bible doesn’t prohibit, by name, certain activities, that God would NOT necessarily be happy with their deliberate disobedience by going ahead and doing them.  Case in point, Christmas.  At this time of year many Christians knock themselves out to make Christmas sound like God is happy with this man-made tradition.  They go to great lengths to make it “okay” just because it’s done “in the name of Jesus.”

Matthew 15:3. Then Y’shua answered and said to them, Why also do you transgress against the Commandments of Elohim because of your traditions?

Clear scripture is intentionally overlooked as the man-made tradition proponents scramble to find passages that support their desires to ignore His warnings against human desires and transgressions.  Please take a moment to read this article on GotQuestions.org that attempts to justify the Christian tradition of Christmas trees.

As I mentioned in a previous article A quick note about Christmas and Thanksgiving, while Christmas is supposedly the “birth of Christ” and the celebration of His birth, the bottom line is:  “Christmas” is NOT one of the Biblical Feasts, and December 25th is NOT Messiah’s birthday.  (See our article, Proof that Yeshua was NOT born in December!)  YHWH told us exactly which mo’edim (festivals) He wanted us to annually observe!

Nowhere in Scripture are we told to celebrate the Messiah's birthday.  To be fair, it doesn’t say you can’t, either, so if you wish to put up a tree and celebrate Christmas, GO for it!   We are to be thankful to our God every day of the year, and if you want to do enjoy “Christmas” activities, that’s your choice.  Just don’t be guilty of trying to pass Christmas off as a God-condoned "holy day" or insisting our Savior was born on December 25th, or telling your children the lie about “flying reindeer” and “Santa Claus” who magically comes down the chimney to bring them presents – because deception is NOT condoned in Scripture, and there is NO WAY to force it to be so! Same thing with “Easter bunnies that lay eggs.”  Deliberate deception!

And yes, Jeremiah 10 is not about “Christmas trees” – but come on! – let's read that passage IN CONTEXT!

Jeremiah 10: 1 Hear the word Adonai speaks to you, house of Isra'el! 2 Here is what Adonai says: "Don't learn the way of the Goyim, don't be frightened by astrological signs, even if the Goyim are afraid of them; 3 for the customs of the peoples are nothing. They cut down a tree in the forest; a craftsman works it with his axe; 4 they deck it with silver and gold. They fix it with hammer and nails, so that it won't move. 5 Like a scarecrow in a cucumber patch, it cannot speak. It has to be carried, because it cannot walk. Do not be afraid of it - it can do nothing bad; likewise, it is unable to do anything good!"

While the above Scripture isn't talking about "Christmas trees" per se (it's in reference to carving idols from trees....gilding them with gold and silver and fixing them to the ground and worshiping them), we can certainly see the resemblance! We also need to remember that God used to put people to death for gross disobedience, or worshipping Him with "strange fire":

Leviticus 10: 1 But Nadav and Avihu, sons of Aharon, each took his censer, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and offered unauthorized fire before Adonai, something he had not ordered them to do. 2 At this, fire came forth from the presence of Adonai and consumed them, so that they died in the presence of Adonai.

The Prophet Daniel gave us an end time prophecy which reveals the seriousness of changing God's Word. Here he is speaking of what the "Antichrist" will do:

Daniel 7: He will speak words against the Most High and try to exhaust the holy ones of the Most High. He will attempt to alter the seasons and the law....

What are the "seasons and the law" that Daniel talking about? God's Torah, our Divine Instructions in Righteousness, and His Appointed Times: The Seventh Day Sabbath and the Feasts! And who is speaking words against the Most High today? Those who insist His Torah is a curse!

YHWH amply warned us against the incorporation of pagan concepts:

Deuteronomy 12: 28 Obey and pay attention to everything I am ordering you to do, so that things will go well with you and with your descendants after you forever, as you do what ADONAI sees as good and right. 29 "When ADONAI your God has cut off ahead of you the nations you are entering in order to dispossess, and when you have dispossessed them and are living in their land; 30 be careful, after they have been destroyed ahead of you, not to be trapped into following them; so that you inquire after their gods and ask, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I want to do the same.' 31 You must not do this to ADONAI your God! For they have done to their gods all the abominations that ADONAI hates! They even burn up their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods! 32 "Everything I am commanding you, you are to take care to do. Do not add to it or subtract from it. (CJB)

As to the idea of what Romans 14:5 supposedly says, here is an excerpt  from the book, “Should Christians be Torah Observant?” that responds to this annual argument.

Romans 14: 5. One man discriminates between days; and another judges all days alike. But let every one be sure in regard to his knowledge.  6. He that esteems a day, esteems (it) for his Master: and he that esteems not a day for his Master, he does not esteem (it). And he that eats, eats to his Master and gives thanks to Elohim: and he that eats not to his Master he eats not and gives thanks to Elohim.

Does the above suggest that Paul said it is up to each of us to decide what we should eat and what day we should keep?

Absolutely not! The context of this passage was a dispute over whether one can eat food that may or may not have been offered to idols.  In those days food that may or may not have been offered to idols was usually put out for sale to people on a certain day of the week – and some believers refused to purchase or eat food on those days, just to be on the safe side. On the other hand, some did because they figured, since they didn’t know for sure whether or not it had been offered, it wouldn’t be wrong to eat it.

In the previous Scripture (Romans 14:5-6) Paul was not addressing kosher foods or Sabbath day observance at all; he was referring to the disagreement over whether market place food, because of idolatry, should be bought and eaten on a certain day of the week. 

Please check out David H. Stern’s explanation in the preface of his Complete Jewish Bible, wherein he demonstrates the difference between “kosher” and “ceremonially clean.” Stern says YAHWEH 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).

Brethren, I implore you to try to understand that if we wish to PLEASE our ELOHIM, we need to start laying aside our personal opinions and stupid human traditions and begin to do it HIS way.  Here’s why:

1 Corinthians 10: 21. You cannot drink the cup of our Master (Y’shua) and the cup of demons; and you cannot be partakers at the table of our Master, and at the table of demons.  22. Or, would we provoke our Master (Y’shua’s) jealousy?  Are we stronger than he?  23. Everything is in my power; but everything is not profitable. Everything is in my power; but everything does not build up.  24. Let no one seek his own things, but also the things of his fellow-man.  (AENT)

How Much Time Do You Spend with God?

Consider yourself "typical", if you are a "Church goer" who goes to Church on Sunday then return home to resume their "weekend" activities.  I'm thinking about the "typical Christian" here, anyone in one of the approximate 338,000 Christian congregations in the US (http://hirr.hartsem.edu/research/fastfacts/fast_facts.html) Now, I'm not picking on people who go to Church on Sunday, or picking on Christians, so please don't get me wrong!  I want to assess how much time that typical "Church goer" spends with God, that's all, and hopefully make a point.

The typical "Sunday Service" is 1 hour, let's say 2 if you count the adult Bible Studies which are often before the main service.  But I'm going to be realistic here and instead of saying that is "2 hours with God", I'm going to call it 1.5 hours since much of that 2 hour block is getting coffee, talking with others about "this and that" and general "mixing".  That counts as good fellowship, of course, but it's not really spending time with God if the mixing includes discussing the "big game" that afternoon, or how nice one looks, etc.

There are 168 hours in each week, so that 1.5 hours with God on Sunday is therefore just a hair under 1%.  One percent of the week is "spent with God" in this example.

When asked “Teacher, which Commandment in Torah is the greatest?” (Matthew 22:36, AENT), the Messiah Yeshua answered: “You should love Master YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and with all your mind.” This is the first and the greatest Commandment. And the second is like it.  That ‘You should love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang Torah and the prophets.” (Verses 37-40, AENT) (Many who read these verses conclude the Messiah therefore gave us only "two" commandments - which would be wrong because, as the Messiah Himself said "On these two commandments hang Torah and the prophets".  Yeshua only answered the question "Which is the greatest", He did not say "The only commandments are these....")  So the Messiah identified the "greatest" commandment is to "love Master YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and with all your mind."

Yeshua was not giving a "new" commandment, for He was quoting the commandments which already existed! In this case He quoted Deuteronomy 6:5.  In fact, Yeshua knew the Tanach well, and taught from it constantly.  This part of Deuteronomy is rich in the instructions YHWH gave us on how to live!  Let's look at verses 2-7:

"...so that you will fear ADONAI your God and observe all his regulations and mitzvot that I am giving you - you, your child and your grandchild - as long as you live, and so that you will have long life.  Therefore listen, Isra'el, and take care to obey, so that things will go well with you, and so that you will increase greatly, as ADONAI, the God of your ancestors, promised you by giving you a land flowing with milk and honey. "Sh'ma, Yisra'el! ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI echad [Hear, Isra'el! ADONAI our God, ADONAI is one];  and you are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart, all your being and all your resources. These words, which I am ordering you today, are to be on your heart;  and you are to teach them carefully to your children. You are to talk about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up." (CJB)

This is YHWH's expectation of His people! Note the word "Sh'ma" which was translated as "Hear" in the CJB.  The word actually means "hear and do".  So the commandment was to "Hear the commandments and DO them!"

One the commandments is the observance and keeping of the Sabbath - the "Shabbat" - the "7th day".  Now many Christian denominations like to call Sunday "the Sabbath", which is not correct, but this article is not about why Sunday is not the Sabbath.  But if Sunday were the Sabbath, the keeping of the Sabbath day would still be the same; that is, the instructions for observing the Sabbath, as the Messiah did, would still be the same.  We find the instruction for the Sabbath in Exodus 20:8-11:

"Remember the day, Shabbat, to set it apart for God. You have six days to labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Shabbat for ADONAI your God. On it, you are not to do any kind of work - not you, your son or your daughter, not your male or female slave, not your livestock, and not the foreigner staying with you inside the gates to your property. For in six days, ADONAI made heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. This is why ADONAI blessed the day, Shabbat, and separated it for himself." (CJB)

So if you obeyed this simple commandment, since the Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday, and ends at sunset on Saturday, there are at least 10-12 hours out of the 24-hour period in which you could spend time with God and rest! Indeed, this is the purpose of the Shabbat!  Reread the verses above! 

10 hours of the 168 hour week is 5.9% - 6% if we are not picky.  So simply obeying the Sabbath is almost 7 times more than you spend by "Church going" on Sunday! 

Then, guess what!  There is a way to spend even more time with God without any effort!  Let's read Numbers 15:38-40:

"Speak to the people of Isra'el, instructing them to make, through all their generations, tzitziyot on the corners of their garments, and to put with the tzitzit on each corner a blue thread. It is to be a tzitzit for you to look at and thereby remember all of ADONAI's mitzvot and obey them, so that you won't go around wherever your own heart and eyes lead you to prostitute yourselves; but it will help you remember and obey all my mitzvot and be holy for your God." (CJB)

This commandment provides a way for us to always have God on our minds!  YHWH gave us a way to help us stay holy and honorable by simply wearing a "fringe" (the "tzitzit" in Hebrew)!  Wow!

Now before you say "Well - those commandments don't apply to me...", think about what you are saying!  You would be saying "That commandment to not go around wherever my own heart and eyes lead to prostitute myself doesn't apply to me, and that commandment to 'be holy for my God' doesn't apply to me"!  Would you really think that the instructions from GOD, taught by the Messiah, would not apply to you?  Really?

So there you have it! A couple of astoundingly easy ways to actually "hear and do" the commandment which the Messiah identified as the greatest!  Turns out, keeping the Sabbath is a blessing!  Here is what Isaiah says about it, revealed by God:

"If you hold back your foot on Shabbat from pursuing your own interests on My holy day; if you call Shabbat a delight, ADONAI's holy day, worth honoring; then honor it by not doing your usual things or pursuing your interests or speaking about them.  If you do, you will find delight in ADONAI - I will make you ride on the heights of the land and feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Ya'akov, for the mouth of ADONAI has spoken."  (Isaiah 58:13-14, CJB)

And finally, if you think the commandments don't apply to you, if you think keeping the Shabbat and wearing tzitzit is too much for you, how do you obey the greatest commandment?