This is going to be entered out of order with how I had originally hoped to keep things in this blog. However, after listening to a dramatic reading of the book of Jeremiah from Inspired By's "The Bible Experience", I found myself emotionally and intellectually challenged in a way that really surprised me.
Since my departure from Christianity more than a decade ago, much of my focus concerning faith, Jesus and the Bible has come more from the intellectual side and less so from the emotional. I should say that my Christian experience had a better balance of intellect & emotion. This is understandable, as I had grown up in the Church, and the intellectual and emotional parts of me were allowed to coexist quite safely, each giving context to the other
(Studying to learn why we believed what we believed meant our emotions were contextualized accordingly. Thus, as a pentecostal, I would attribute certain feelings to the "work" or "gifts" of the "Holy Spirit". My experience, and their accompanied emotions, were interpreted through the various pentecostal doctrines I had accepted. Or meditating on a Bible verse, or reading a Christian book, ones which usually affirmed deeply held beliefs would lead to certain feelings of confidence or security.)
Since leaving the Church, however, I have found myself without a comfortable place in which to permit the kind of emotional experiences I enjoyed before. Perhaps this won't make sense to those who have not undergone such a dramatic change in their world view, but reconstructing ones spiritual foundation, particularly after several decades of intentional spiritual construction, often leaves you with as many questions as answers along the way. I suppose it isn't much different from someone growing up without any religious influence and then becomes a Christian. Jokes which they may have found funny before are no longer funny (an intellectual and emotional event). I'm not going to argue whether they came to find the jokes not funny anymore because of an inherent change (due to conversion) or that they had learned "coarse joking" and "foolish talk" are condemned in the New Testament (which means that the writer didn't think that such a behavioral change was so much inherent, but needed to be taught). The point is, when a paradigm shift takes place in one's life, there is a reconstruction of many assumed beliefs. And while on a certain level, there is much in common with Judaism and Christianity, those ideas which set them apart, place them worlds apart. Like an immigrant entering a new land, while I may have 2 eyes, ears, hands and feet, like everyone else, doesn't mean that one can just comfortably settle there. There may be differences of language, tradition, food, religion, etc., which require a lot of time to understand and feel comfortable with. Cliches, proverbs, slang, euphemisms and sarcasm, which the native born interweave within their daily conversations, are lost to the new-comer, who will only be able to make use after they have acquired the necessary knowledge and understanding to employ them in such a way as to feel these cultural expressions in an emotional way.
I guess this is what I experienced. In the beginning of my conclusion that Judaism was the true revelation of God to all mankind (without Jesus and the New Testament), it was a conclusion based on the sum of my study, experience and investigation. But until now, I had not become so intimate with that embrace as to "feel" it inside me, as I had been accustomed to in Christianity. But, as I listened to this "Christian" production of the Jewish Prophet, Jeremiah, immersed in a way that is often missed using "themed" or "word" based bible studies, I was able to move quickly from verse to verse, chapter to chapter, different characters speaking their parts like a play. This is quite unlike picking up the Bible and opening a page and you read a verse without regard to what comes before it or what comes after it. How do you interpret that single verse? Or several? You interpret them within the context of what you understand and believe. As a Christian, you may replace references to Israel and Judah for the Church, if necessary, and Messianic themes are already assumed to be about Jesus. But when you begin at the beginning and let the prophecy unfold as God spoke to Jeremiah, you cannot turn it upside down and find Christian theology nor does it naturally "point" to Jesus. You find God warning repeatedly that each one of us will be judged according to our conduct, not according to some Lutheran "faith in Christ" construct, or the easy believe-ism of much of the modern church. This conduct you will be judged for is based on one unchanging truth: Torah, not the teaching of a Messiah figure or those who would come after him, such as Paul. The Covenant (Torah) will be an everlasting Covenant with the descendants of Jacob, and while God will punish those who break the Covenant, even as He warned He would in the Covenant, there will ALWAYS be a remnant who will be faithful to God and His Torah, and those who repent He promises to return to the land he promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Certain conditions would be necessary for the "Branch of David" to come. These were NOT fulfilled in the time of the New Testament, regardless of Daniel's Weeks of Years calculations. And you hear it pounding out consistently, verse after verse, chapter after chapter. And when you arrive at the great promise of the "NEW COVENANT" in Jeremiah 31, there is no way you can fit this into Christian theology. It is about Israel's physical descendants, NOT Gentiles. The "New" Covenant would be God's Law written on their minds and hearts, and they would all have knowledge of God from the least to the greatest. This, too, did not happen in the New Testament. Certainly not in anyway where one could look and say "Hey, you don't need to teach me about God, I know God, and you know God. I know His ways and you know His ways." This has NOT happened, although I swear, there are a few Christians who think they know God and His ways, but nobody else does. And that's the point:
"No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD." Jeremiah 31:34
This has not happened. When it does, there won't be any question as to whether it did or not, as we clearly see was the case in the New Testament where there was no certainty as to who Jesus was claiming to be, leaving the question, "Is he the messiah?" going unanswered. If no one needing to be taught is supposed to happen WHEN the New Covenant is establish (and it will) and if the New Covenant was supposed to be established with Jesus and his blood, we have a problem. A problem of such magnitude that the only way a Christian could not see it is if he was blinded by false doctrine and therefore does not want to see it because he has been taught to call:
Is. 5:20 ...evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Torah is good. (Psalm 119:39)
Torah is light. (Psalm 119:105,130)
Torah is sweet.(Psalm 119:103)
Christianity says Jesus if good, Torah is bad.
Christianity says Jesus is the light, Torah is darkness.
Christianity says Jesus is sweet but the Torah is bitter.
From Genesis to Malachi (in the Christian version of the Hebrew Bible), that is the theme. God will judge you NOT on what you believe, but on whether your conduct is good or evil. Good and evil are defined by Torah, not what you personally believe or feel about someone's divinity, trinity or his mother's virginity. Torah was given to Israel, Israel is the Nation of Priests to the Nations. And in spite of Israel's failure to obey, God has ALWAYS promised that although they would be flung to the farthest ends of the earth, He would gather them back to the Land of Israel because Israel is the firstborn of God, NOT Christ, and NOT the Christian church.
I would challenge anyone... any Christian... find a quiet spot. Take out your Bible, even your Christian Bible. Go to Audible.com and buy the book of Jeremiah and Lamentations for $4 (5 hours of listening). Listen to (and read) this whole prophecy and imagine if God had in His mind a future religion called Christianity. Imagine that God had to be thinking about Jesus, the cross, resurrection, ascension, eucharist (communion) and the second coming, as this is how Christianity interprets the "Old Testament"... through the Christological prism. Imagine that God had in mind that
"...he (Jesus) himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace." Ephesians 2:14-15
If you immerse yourself in Jeremiah, you will NOT discover a God who was imagining any of these things! In fact, you will find none of Jeremiah "pointing" to Jesus, the New Testament or Christianity.
I read it. I studied it. I understood it.
NOW, I FEEL IT.
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6 comments:
This is an interesting post. I agree with you that many Christians appropriate (in inappropriate ways) the apocalyptic and prophetic writings. But I think there is one thing are making too simple. Christianity is really a Jewish sect. It is also quite a diverse reality. One case in point is that the baptism rites evolved, not from John's baptism of Jesus, but from naturalization rites by which gentiles became part of the Jewish community.
So your simplification of:
Christianity says Jesus if good, Torah is bad.
Christianity says Jesus is the light, Torah is darkness.
Christianity says Jesus is sweet but the Torah is bitter.
Simply does not work. First off what 'Christianity'? Second Torah (Law) is obviously not considered bad, even by the worst Christian traditions as evidenced by their love of legalisms. Be that as it may, it does speak of a deeply human desire that there be an intelligibility to life which a law or code offers.
The other disconnect in your statements is that not all Christians directly correlate Jesus as Logos with being Jesus as a living bible. There are definitely idolatrous theologies like that within Christian traditions, but for the most part, and I think more historically, Jesus is Word by virtue of proceeding from the Father. Hence, Jesus has a better relationship with the Torah than even many Christians give him credit (at least as far as the gospels indicate).
But I wonder about adopting such an oppositional language as you do in this piece. I get that you don't believe Christianity is the correct extension or continuance of Judaism, but isn't it just another form of fundamentalism that develops a polemic against other expressions to which they disagree? At the same time I think I understand the tension here - having come out of similar Pentecostal roots there is much that I'd like to decry about in those forms of Christianity. But at the same time I've learned to honour the good foundations I gained through such movements (your discipleship is one of those good foundations BTW).
Since when do Christians say Torah is bad, Torah is darkness, Torah is bitter?
Part 1 of my response... really wanted it shorter, honest.
Danielle,
I saw your comment and thought I would take a moment this morning to answer it. I do appreciate the time you took to read this, as I seem incapable to write short and pithy commentary, therefore, I feel I pose a challenge to folks who arrive here... so I am always grateful to those who take the time.
When you ask, "Since when..." I must ask myself who you are? That I have heard such sentiments myself from Christians, both when and after leaving Christianity. That I had foolishly made such comments, when a Christian. That many of the Christian leaders throughout history, whose ideas still influence the Christian world, held to such ideas, makes me wonder about the extent of your own Christian experience. PLEASE do not misunderstand. I am not suggesting that your experience is faulty. I am glad that my statements strike you as strange. I am glad that, apparently, you do not hold to such a view of the Torah. I honestly wish there were more of you. But, unfortunately, most Christians would not debate my comments, except to say that perhaps, like you, they may not have heard these direct comments made, however, they would not object because the sentiment clearly exists, whether said as plainly as I have said them.
So to answer your question, I will use the same method as I would have used and have heard other Christians use.
Romans 10:4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
This text trails a rather long and rambling summation of Paul explanation of God's historic relationship with man (Romans), where he at one moment says the law is "holy, right, and good" but then says it's only purpose was to make us conscious of sin. And while "the law" does do that, it does so much more, which in Paul's silence about the so much more it does, misleads the reader. Christians are not taught Hebrew, let alone Greek. They are not even given any instruction in the english version of the Torah, apart from it's events (flood, creation,etc). Read it if you want, but after reading the "new" testament, what view of the Torah are you left with? Do you read the n.t. and say, "wow, I really need to know the Torah!"? No, you read Paul and you conclude "I do not need to obey the Torah, so why read it, why study it? I just need to put my faith and trust in Jesus, the sin-sacrifice substitute".
1Corinthians 15:55-57 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The contrast: The power of sin IS THE LAW, victory over sin is NOT the law, it is Jesus. And it's not the entire discourse that leads up to this, which folks use to get context. After the discourse, the law is coupled with sin, while it is Jesus who is coupled with righteousness.
Now, there are many more verses that continue this "concept" of separation between Torah and Jesus, which is anthemic throughout Christianity. But lets get to the specifics of my comments.
2Corinthians 3:14-17 But (the Jews') minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because ONLY in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses (Torah) is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Part 2 of my response:
Now, IF Christians interpreted this to mean that the veil was "unbelief" and that once "belief" occurs, they then read Torah and keep Torah without the veil of unbelief, then I would be fine with that. But instead, it is commonly interpreted that the Torah itself is the problem, the "veil", the "old" covenant which has been replaced by a better and lasting covenant which is ever increasing in it's glory (Jesus is the greater light), whereas the "old" covenant is fading (thus, in comparison to the greater light, it becomes darkness). Understand. When you say Torah is good, but Jesus is better, than you are creating an irresolvable conflict. If the Torah is perfect, holy, and good, there is no way to be more perfect than perfect, more holy than holy, or more good than good. The minute that something becomes better (such as Jesus, for the sake of argument), than that which "the better" is being compared to is no longer perfect, in comparison to what now exists. So if the Torah was previously light in darkness, than it is no longer light if a brighter light exists, such as what Christianity claims to have in Jesus. The contrast then, makes the Torah OTHER than holy, OTHER than right, OTHER than good. In fact, we could argue that Paul is fine with Torah without Jesus, under one condition: perfect observance, being sinless. But since no one can keep the Torah perfectly, it fails to produce righteousness. So it's really pointless, given that no one has perfectly obeyed, therefore, the only path to righteousness must be Jesus. Not Jesus AND keeping Torah, but trusting in Jesus' righteousness (that he perfectly kept the law when all others failed) and that he did so, so we don't have to.
Please remember. I am not claiming "Jesus says so" or "the Christian Bible says so" I'm saying that Christianity has not embraced or endorsed Torah, but has presented the Torah to have only served a specific historic purpose toward a greater purpose: the revealing of Jesus. Now that Jesus has come, the Torah does not need to be learned, taught or practiced. In fact, practicing Torah, or believing that one should poses a real problem for Paul:
Galatians 3:10 ¶ All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
So anyone who looks only to Torah is under a curse. But anyone who looks to Jesus is not in need of the law, period.
Galatians 3:23-25 ¶ Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
In fact, accordingly, Paul continues to describe those who observe the Torah as those who are sons of the slave woman, Hagar, whereas, those who have faith in Jesus are the sons of the freed woman. These verses paint a rather bold picture. The Jewish people, with their Torah are in bondage. Whereas, the "believer" (subsequently, understood to be "the Christian") is a product of the free woman. After, Paul makes this statement:
Galatians 4:30 But what does the Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”
Part 3 of my response:
While historically, this is about Isaac and Ishmael, Paul does not interpret this in it's plain meaning, but interprets this through his christological glasses. To Paul, this is about "the law" and "grace" which are characterized as enemies. The law imposes a burden, it condemns, it is represented by slavery. It's purpose was only to point to Jesus. So put away the Jews and their Torah, embrace faith in Jesus, become the son of the free woman!! (And I will avoid using abusive language on this matter, as Paul's interpretation is so ridiculous, as his conclusion should be the exact opposite: the son of the free woman was chosen by God to have the freedom that comes through the Torah, but the son of the slave woman remains in bondage.)
Galatians 4:31-5:4 Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (the Torah). Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the WHOLE law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.
So those who see the Torah as a means to salvation are alienated from the freedom that can only come from Jesus. They are not free, they are a slaves to keeping the whole Torah!
While there is much more that could be written, these ideas, taken directly from the "new" testament, are the basis for the teaching that has been part of Christianity, practically from it's beginning (wherever you might believe that beginning to be). The Torah has been the object of ridicule by the church fathers in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and thus, the cross had not removed the hostility, as Paul claims, but has rather made the separation between Gentiles and Jews much more distinct, contributing to the fuel that culminated in Jewish persecution by "good" Christians down through the ages. Not "all" Christians. But certainly by those who were "leaders" and "teachers" in the church. But even those who did not participate in anti-Semiticism, nonetheless, held that Torah was something to be abandoned in favor of Jesus.
Hope this helps
Reply to the comment by “One of Freedom”:
Christianity a Jewish sect?
[The numbers corresponds to notes following the post.]
A analysis according to a formal logical methodology [1] of all extant source documents of “the gospel of Matthew” [2] and archaeology proves that the historical first century Ribi Yehosuha [3] – the Messiah - from Nazareth and his apprentice-students, called the Netzarim, taught and lived Torah all of their lives; and that Netzarim and Christianity were always antithetical.
Christanity teaches selective “observance” of Torah. According to Torah, in “Deuteronomy” 13:1-6, that makes Christianity a false prophet, since it is both adding directives to Torah and subtracting directives from Torah. This implies that Christianity is the antithesis to Torah. This implies that the term "Jewish Christians" is an oxymoron.
Prescott Johnson: I see that you are interested in the Noachide-movement. I recommend you to read this post proving from Tan’’kh that humankind are obligated to keep much more than only seven categories of directives: Post
Notes:
1. Found in the above Netzarim-website (including the scientific premises the analysis is based on) (it is the website of the only legitimate Netzarim-group (including the logical implications of the research by Ben-Gurion Univ. Prof. of Linguistics Elisha Qimron of Dead Sea Scroll 4Q MMT)).
2. Which is a redaction of Netzarim Hebrew Matityahu (which was perfectly in harmony with Torah) and anti-Torah.
3. About Ribi Yehoshua: He was born in Betlehem 7 b.c.e. His father was named Yoseiph (anglicised to Josef ) and his mother was named Miriam. He grew up in Nazareth. He had twelve close apprentice-students. He taught in the Pharisaic “synagogues”. He was crucified by the Romans year 30 c.e. His name was redacted by hellenists into “Jesus”.
His authentic teachings were in Hebrew and were in perfect accordance with the “books of Moses”. They were later redacted into the “gospel of Matthew”.” His followers were called the Netzarim and they did the best to keep the directives of “the books of Moses”. They were in good standing all of their existence in the Jewish Pharisaic community, which proves that their teachings were in harmony with Torah. To follow Ribi Yehoshua – the Messiah – today also requires one do ones best to keep the directives in the “books of Moses”. [4]
4.All of the statements in this posts are well proved in the website of Netzarim<
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