Life

Migrant Crisis in the USA

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The migrant crisis has been dominating news media for many days now.  Everyone is hollering that children should not be separated from their parents, or locked up with their parents.  This ‘crisis’ brings many hot issues together, and this posting is too short to address more then one issue.  So, does the Bible give any guidance at all about the issue of separating children of illegal migrants from their parents? 

In answering this question, two scriptures (among others) are considered.  They are:

You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them. Numbers 15:29 (ESV)

and

…But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by law as transgressors.  James 2:9 (ESV)

The discussion is in the forum (click here to see the discussion; click here to sign up).

Check out the discussion and give your opinion.  Mostly, think about how a follower of God and Yeshua (Jesus) should respond to this issue.

  • Yosef

Knowledge vs Thankfulness

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This is the first posting after the “official” launch of the blog, so I thought I’d keep it upbeat.

In our world we are inundated with all the woes of life and our society.  It is often so much that we simply want to retreat and block it all out.  But what should our response be?  God’s answer is for us to be thankful.   Take a look at Psalm 100 or 1 Chronicles 16 or 1 Thessalonians 5:18, which are a small sampling of the places we are encouraged to give thanks.

I often run into people who are down or overwhelmed.  Actually, it happens to me quite a bit.  I remind them (and myself) to remember the things God has done and thank Him for them.  Remembering God’s deeds is even in the “10 commandments” (see Deuteronomy 4:15).  By the way, did you know that the “10 commandments” are not called “commandments” in the Bible, and that they are listed in two places with some very seemingly minor, but important differences?  (See this posting, or the blog tag, “commandments”).

But what about knowledge?  The author of the blog “Help Me Believe” makes an interesting point about knowledge (see his posting about apologetics).  Knowledge is important and of great benefit.  But knowledge alone doesn’t bridge the gap to faith.  Consider the apostle Peter and the others when they were in the boat crossing the lake and a storm came up (see Mark chapter 6).  The disciples of Yeshua (Jesus) ‘knew’ about the recent miracle of the loaves and the fish but they didn’t remember about it or, apparently, give thanks about it.  If they had, perhaps more of them would have “stepped out of the boat!”).

This blog is about knowledge and faith.  The two go together.

To sum up, here is what Jeremiah 9:23-24 says, “Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth.  For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”  (ESV – English Standard Version – emphasis mine).

  • Yosef

Registration

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My apologies to anyone that has registered in the last month.  Due to a high volume of spam registrations, I have had to delete most registrations.  If your registration got deleted, I apologize.  Registration will be back online, with appropriate filters, when the site is officially started in June.   Sorry for any inconvenience.

  • Yosef

New Format / Restart

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Hi, after being away for about a year, I am back.   I am revamping the site!  Its appearance is, hopefully, pleasant and easy to use (and is still under construction at this time).  I hope to have the site fully up and running by the end of the 2nd quarter of 2018.  If you like the site, join in the discussions and tell your friends!

The scope of the site is being broadened.  It will no longer be just me posting my ideas, but it will be a meeting place of people of varying viewpoints, where questions and discussion can take place ‘safely.’

To that end, I am adding a ‘forums’ section where any topic can be discussed.  Multiple authors will be adding posts to the blog!  If you have any suggestions, just comment to this post!

Thanks, – Yosef

Christianity and “The Law”

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Christians have a variety of responses to the “Law of God.”  Almost all of which come down to saying that the Law, either in its entirety or parts of it, do not apply to Christians.  But what exactly is being rejected.

These past weeks, according to the Jewish scripture reading schedule, the first chapters in the book of Leviticus have been read.  These chapters deal with the sacrificial system and various other laws.  These chapters, though, are what most Christians think of as “The Law”, and so are most often ignored, including by those returning to the “Hebrew Roots of their Faith.”  Is there anything in these chapters worth looking at?

These chapters reveal a great deal about God’s character and how he wants us to live.  But you need to look closely.   In these chapters we see several principles come to light.  One is the idea of “Holiness.”   The definition of “holy” is “set apart”.  It does not mean what we typically envision, which is something with some sort of mystical power or some specially pious person.  It means something set apart for service to God.

Law of Christ

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In the book of Matthew, chapter 7 verse 23 (see last post), Jesus is declaring, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”  The problem is that he was address this comment to people who Christianity today would call strong Christians!  So what does “workers of lawlessness” mean?

First, many will try to explain, with hands waving, that the people to whom Jesus is talking weren’t real Christians.  They did not have the “law of Christ” in their hearts.  Or some sort of similar explanation.  Of course, this leaves open the question, “what, then, is the law of Christ?”  To this one will get a more nebulous answer.

Yet the answer is in black and white in the Tanakh (called the “old Testament.”)  God gave us his law (see the book of Exodus, especially chapters 19 and 20).  He gave it to all the people there, which weren’t just Israelites (Exodus chapter 12 verse 38).  It shall be put on our heart (Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 6).  And these words are for all of those who chose to follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (See Deuteronomy chapter 29, especially verses 14 and 15).  There are many, many more verses where God makes it clear that his law if for both Israel and the foreigner among them.  He makes it clear that it is meant to be followed, and not hard (Deuteronomy 11:11 to 14) and (Matthew 11:29 to 30).

Freedom is not being without laws.  True freedom is being able to follow the law of God and rejoice in it.  One of the problems that most Christians will run into with this is the view that the law is something negative, and when one doesn’t keep some part of it, one is almost doomed.  Read the next post to see what the Hebrew viewpoint of the law and keeping the commandments is.

Shalom!  -YTL

Truth! Does it exist anymore?

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After this recent presidential election the news media is buzzing with the idea that we are now in a ‘post truth’ era.  Social media is making the idea of truth nebulous.   According to Stephan Lewandowsky (via BBC Future) of the University of Bristol, “There is a large proportion of the population in the US living in what we would regard as an alternative reality.  They share things with each other that are completely false.  Any attempt to break through these bubbles is fraught with difficulty…”

This attitude started several decades ago in the Christian church, and has spread throughout society.  Christianity, in the western cultures such as in the USA, decided that the Word of God was subject to individual interpretation and truth could be redefined.  Now we not only do not know what truth is, but there is opposition to the idea that there is a truth.

On the flip side, there is a movement within Christianity to return to God’s word, and a movement in society to figure out what is true (fact checking is becoming more known).

It is written that God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Yeshua (called Jesus), is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  His word is as true today as it has ever been, and it does not change.  We need to repent and return to God’s ways.  Turn from all the traditions and interpretations that have been built up around God’s words, obscuring and even nullifying His word.

God has said that we are neither to add to nor subtract from His word (Deuteronomy 4:2).  Judaism loves to add to His word.  Christianity loves to subtract from His word.  Repentance is needed.

-Yosef

 

If It Feels Right, Do It

/ Yosef (ytl) / 1 Comment

“I feel that God is okay with me considering Sunday as the Sabbath.”

I hear this type of comment many times.  The question is, is it true?

It is written that God wrote the 10 commandments in stone.   It is also written that His laws shall be written upon our hearts.  (Deuteronomy 9:10;   Deuteronomy 6:6; and other verses).  Throughout the Tanakh (“Old Testament”) God shows (and says) that we need to do things His way.  (See the story of Aaron’s sons offering unauthorized fire before God, Leviticus 10:1, or the story of Ananias and Sapphira in the Apostolic Writings (“New Testament”), Acts 5:1 to 5).

Is there anywhere in scripture where God says that we can decide whether one of His laws applies or not, and if it does, if we can apply it in our own way.  This is the same error that Adam and Eve made.  God made it very clear that they were not to eat of the fruit of the one tree, but they self justified themselves and changed, be it ever so slightly, what God said.

“Be holy for I am holy,” says the Lord God.  Be set apart.  Follow His ways and not our reinterpretations and traditions that go against Him.

If we hold to our feelings as to whether or not we need to do something His Word states, we are setting ourselves to judge God.  We are saying that we know better then He.  The excuses that I hear when this is done are amazing and varied.  But they come down to saying, “I want to do it my way.  No one should tell me otherwise.”

And the funny part is that one person will say he feels it is okay to do something one way, and another says it is okay another way.  In other words, they have a schizophrenic god!

Quit!  Return to the ways of God.  Lay down our own ways and follow Him.  His ways are not a burden.

-Yosef

 

The U.N. and Hanukkah

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The U.N. passed a resolution recently condemning Israel and the settlements.  For the first time, the U.S.A. did not veto the resolution.  Here are a couple thoughts.

In the time of the Hanukkah story, there was a ‘peace for land’ deal.  (Read the history – fairly recent discoveries).  A king told the leader of the fledgling nation, “Give us land or there will be war.”  Land was given.  Did it work?  Of course not – that king shortly thereafter invaded.

Now the U.N. is saying, “give land or they can be no peace.”  Will it work?  What land is wanted?

It is said that Israel should go back to the 1967 boundaries.  Okay.  What happened in 1967 that the boundaries changed?  There was a war – the ‘6 day war.’  Israel’s neighbors, including countries such as Egypt and Syria, we planning on invading Israel, and were amassing troops and weapons.  Egypt even convinced the U.N. to pull out of the zone it was monitoring so that Egypt could invade.

So, the U.N. is saying to Israel, go back to the way things were where your neighbors were planning and executing invasions to wipe you out.  This is supposed to be reasonable?

-Yosef