Justice and Mercy

Does judgement make sense to you?
Is it fair in your mind, or crazy?
Do you think that sin can be overlooked?
Do you think that sin is that bad?

If you ever wondered these questions, here are the answers I discovered.
Listen to the two topmost speeches on this page http://www.wayofthemaster.com/audiolessons.shtml,
this short video blog http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPUP6pRCJyg,
Paul Washer and others in my playlists short video | long video,
and anything else on this blog post.

Here is another foundational speech from a Messianic Jewish Christian pastor – which is related to my previous post as well as being about the uncompromised Good News message having been foreshadowed in the Passover event and Seder: http://www.graftedin.com/sermons/120331.mp3


Many more GREAT program installments and articles that I recommend are linked in this public Google Doc (clustered mostly in the middle and tail end of everything I typed):
http://www.bit.ly/news2urears_descrip

Also now collected on the Cool Links page.


Including stuff on...

Where the Bible came from: http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=28131723551
["Show me a miracle" you say? It seems like plenty were written about in scrolls and books. You can study the history of those Hebrew and Greek texts yourself with the help of textual criticism.]

and Jewish Festivals (Firstfruits/Bikkurim, Pentecost/Shavuot, Day of Atonement/Yom Kippur) – how they in stark detail foreshadowed the anointed one (the Messiah):
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/firstfruits-and-pentecost/
http://christianity.about.com/od/biblefeastsandholidays/p/dayofatonement.htm

Just Like a Sitcom

I think that most of the frustration-filled debate between Torah Observance proponents and non-Torah Observance proponents comes from a short-circuiting of two doctrines within conversation. Not differing core theologies – just a short-circuiting of two doctrines which both groups of believers hold dear.

Maybe I should back up a little bit for the people not familiar with this subject or debate.

God's Holy Days

Ever since I don't know when, some people have been teaching that Sabbath-day worship (Friday evening to Saturday evening), observing the prophetic biblical feasts (Passover, Shavuot/Pentecost, and Sukkot/Tabernacles), wearing tzitzit, and even growing a beard (for the men, of course) and keeping a biblical kosher diet – all as Jesus and the ancient Israelites did – is important for modern-day believers (Christians) to do as well.

Dr. Terry Harman dressed
as an ancient Israelite,
teaching on the meaning of
the tzitzit and how it pointed to Jesus.

This teaching is espoused by many in what is called the Hebrew Roots Movement. It is also a big drive in Messianic Judaism – a sort of denomination for Jews and Gentiles who profess faith in Jesus (Yeshua) and believe that Torah Observance is important.
Many of their opponents see them as legalists and Judaizers (people following the Law in order to be accepted and saved by God) and point to Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 3:28, Galatians, and Isaiah 64:6 to prove their point; they correctly state that salvation is solely through Jesus' atonement on the cross – Jesus taking our sin punishment in our place on the cross to completely satisfy God's justice. But is this segment of the Hebrew Roots Movement trying to deny that all-important teaching?



Justification by faith is one of the biggest pillars in the Bible, and anyone who believes that their good deeds and religious observances earn them forgiveness is in essence committing bribery; a judge and jury cannot let a rapist go free just because he donated a thousand dollars to his victim's recovery fund. But one good point is that this error is pervasive in so-called mainstream "Christendom." Just as Zion, a senior member on carm.org's forums, said:

"...believing that one can attain justification by themselves or by any law for that matter, is [sic] a error that can be made, in Christianity, Messianic Judaism, Judaism, Atheism, Agnosticism, etc, etc... it is not [sic] dependant on a movement or a religion, but an erroneous understanding of Salvation, it is best known as legalism, and it can be found all over Christianity (in various forms), without "Torah observance" ever being mentioned..."

In response to another poster, Zion later stated:

"...you trade one extreme for another, and you have now confused obedience with legalism, when they are in fact, two different things."

This thought has to do with a few other huge pillars of the Bible: repentance, obedience, and sanctification. The clear teaching of the Bible is that all people who place their trust in Jesus and in what he's done for them are justified: declared once and for all NOT GUILTY, and God gets all the credit. And at that moment of conversion they are given God's spirit which enables them to live an obedient life. Of course gratitude for this merciful gift of forgiveness also plays a role in a gospel-believer's new-found love for God, hatred toward sin, and desire to be more like Jesus. This joyful state of learning and growing, slipping and falling but never diving into sin (never lusting after sin unceasingly), and repenting (flinging off sin and turning to God) is called sanctification. It lasts from the "second birth" until either death or the resurrection.

There is as much heresy in the Protestant world as there is in the Messianic Movement. Protestantism arose in the 1500s to confront the errors of Catholicism and assert what the Bible says about total forgiveness at justification – through Jesus and not by us. But nowadays you can find thousands of claimed Protestants who place sanctification before justification – thereby mixing the two and attempting to earn forgiveness.

If a Torah Observance adherent believes Ephesians 2:8-10, Romans 3:28,31 and Titus 3:5-6 accurately, then there is no heresy. As with ALL believers, Jesus gets all the credit for their salvation and a life of obedience naturally follows. Just as with all other professing believers and professing teachers of the truth, you have to evaluate them on an individual basis.

Out of peoples' desire to defend the truth, things get pretty ugly online. The T.O. people are labeled as legalists and the non-T.O. people are labeled as unregenerate – seeing as they are speaking against obedience. Seriously, all the banter on forums and in "comment sections" reminds me of those old TV sitcoms: one little misunderstanding and chaos ensues. For example, there was one show where a restaurant chef was overheard wanting to buy a special cooking pot from Mexico; since he left one word out, the police got involved quickly. Ha...double entendre...

So if a T.O. adherent has the gospel down, what is their difference with other believers? They simply believe that God's list of commands for all of His people is exactly the same before and after the time of Jesus. While the apostles clearly said that the Torah/Law was all types and shadows – Jesus being the true form – I don't as of yet see any prohibitions against using those types and shadows as a memorial. In fact Jesus is memorialized yearly at Good Friday which points to the Passover seder meal. The only prohibition is against being prideful and thinking your obedience makes you right with God.

Therefore, the conversation or calm debate between obedient gospel believers should be about this:

"Who is closer to the truth about what our life of sanctification should include? Does it include only moral laws or the applicable ceremonial laws as well? What does the full analogy of Scripture teach?"

Discuss.

My conclusion
Don't presume someone is a legalist or an out-and-out unregenerate sinner if they hold the position opposite from yours regarding Torah Observance. Hear their theology and listen for biblical faith and repentance. Both sides believe in justification by faith alone and in a life of sanctification characterized by repentance and obedience. Splicing those two lines of doctrine causes a blow-up, and the correct point of discussion in the debate is never discussed.

"What must be obeyed? What is God's will for believers today?"

The Law IS a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:24). The point is that we don't obey. (We just won't apart from God's enabling.) And because we broke the law, Jesus paid our fine. But in the obedience that follows, what should be included?

Usually non-T.O. people will point to Mark 7:15-20 to say that Jesus did away with the kosher food laws. Regardless if He ever did that, He sure didn't do it in that passage. With the full context of Mark 7:1-23 (along with Luke 11:37-42) you can see that Jesus' point was about the Pharisees' man-made requirement of ceremonially washing hands before eating. The problem was that they were adding to the law (prohibited in Deuteronomy 4:2) and hypocritically breaking God's commandments – which is why Luke categorically places Matthew 23's "Seven Woes" in this chronologically earlier section.

The T.O. people say that if Jesus came and preached changes to the Law, declared it invalid (did away with it), and/or broke the commandments Himself, that would discount, discredit, and disqualify him from being the true Messiah. I think that's a biblical statement. Matthew 5 and the Sermon on the Mount was all about correcting the people's understanding of the Law (God's good instructions which many Pharisees and rulers misapplied and twisted) and not about throwing it away.

Matthew 23:23 & More

Matthew 5:17-18 "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished."

And if Jesus had taught his disciples directly that keeping kosher didn't matter in Mark 7 and Luke 11, then why did Peter react this way in Acts 10?

But he became hungry and was desiring to eat; but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance; and he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. A voice came to him, "Get up, Peter, kill and eat!" But Peter said, "By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean." Again a voice came to him a second time, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy." This happened three times, and immediately the object was taken up into the sky. Now while Peter was greatly perplexed in mind as to what the vision which he had seen might be, behold, the men who had been sent by Cornelius, having asked directions for Simon's house, appeared at the gate; and calling out, they were asking whether Simon, who was also called Peter, was staying there. While Peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Behold, three men are looking for you. But get up, go downstairs and accompany them without misgivings, for I have sent them Myself." ...On the following day [Peter] entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends...And [Peter] said to them, "You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him*; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean..."...Opening his mouth, Peter said: "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality...The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all) — you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed...They also put Him to death by hanging Him on wood/a cross... God raised Him up on the third day...and He ordered us to preach to the people...Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes/trusts in Him receives forgiveness of sins." While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message..."Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?" And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days...
*[Those were probably Pharisaical additions, like carrying anything heavy or doing good on the Sabbath, that were rooted in pride and sinful feelings of superiority]

So we can see that anything about a division of the daily-life ceremonial laws from the moral laws, and a throwing away of the former, was not taught by Jesus during his ministry. But that is not to definitively say that certain rituals are for Gentiles or all modern day believers to follow. There may have been new revelation to the Apostles on this post-ascension. Something nuanced like a difference in the terms of the Covenants.* One has to get deep into the text to know for sure.

Acts 15 contains the Jerusalem Council where a huge decision was made. Obviously it condemned legalism and held up the Gospel. But was Torah Observance looked down on? No. But was it suggested or implied? It's not clear right away...

Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue. ...Some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses." ...Peter stood up and said to them, "Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. ...He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are." ...James answered, saying, "Brethren, listen...it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood. For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath."

If the T.O. people are right, the Council passage condemns works-righteousness and confirms the all-sufficiency of Christ, but also infers that the Gentiles will learn more of the Law as they go on in life. Same thing when it comes to books like Galatians; they see it as about not keeping the Law for self-justification purposes but not as anti-keeping-the-whole-Law-with-God's-help-after-salvation. Obviously keeping the whole Law is impossible, and that's why they glorify Jesus.

If the non-T.O. people are right, then Torah Observance is a very minor issue. They simply believe that following the more "Jewish" commandments is settled merely by the preference of the individual, since they are not in the terms of the New Covenant (which was inaugurated with the atonement coming to pass). That they were given to keep the Israelites distinct from the surrounding nations in the past, and can be part of a modern day Jewish expression of faith in the Messiah – as long as no individual is making it obligatory practice for any others.

Anyway, neither side in this debate should feel superiority. Jesus saves and fruit follows. As long as a believer obeys what they believe they're supposed to obey (LOL), that's good evidence of their salvation. Any obedience is only by the grace of God, and no type of fruit should be held higher than another. There's no room for boasting or bragging about having a better understanding of what does or doesn't belong in a life of sanctification.

No one forget:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.)"

www.youtube.com/News2urEars
www.bit.ly/News2urEars_descrip

 
Sermons: Grafted In - Passover | More Passover | Gentiles?
Michael Brown weighs in: 7.18.13 Broadcast
Rosebrough's awesome citations: F4F

* http://www.gotquestions.org/ceremonial-law.html

Facts vs Feelings




Information From http://carm.org/religion-cause-war

What people need to do is divorce themselves from false "truisms" that they happily embrace to support their opinions/feelings. There is tons of information out there to access and research, and any conclusions should come from facts and not feelings. Sentimentality doesn't determine what's true or not, either. Objectivity all around.

When it comes to study, learn what you're arguing for and what you're arguing against.

So, yes, religion does cause battles and war and genocide – but less than 7%. Dogma in general causes those things, and it doesn't have to be religious dogma; just look at Stalin and Hitler. According to the Bible, the gospel (what Jesus did for murders and all kinds of sinners) causes less violence in the world not more; that's in terms of changing people and making them sin less – the persecutors who aren't changed are gonna ramp up the violence toward believers.

Hitler was a syncretist who imprisoned gospel-preaching pastors and had not the slightest problem with racial extermination.

So try to find a real Christian. See how they're like and find out why. Their profession should be considered "likely true" based on their theology, and it is because of their theology that they are peculiar – that they are the way they are.

[Read the posts above and below to learn what the gospel is – to study that theology.]

THE END

Another edit/addition:
This illustration popped in my mind today regarding the objection "People have Murdered in the name of God!" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_69VqyTIgzA)

Ronald Reagan was shot in the name of Jodie Foster.
Hinckley is the one who sent him to the hospital – a deranged man wanting to get her attention.
Did she call for that attempted murder? No.
Was she in cahoots with Hinckley? No.
Were they even involved with each other in any way? No.

P.S. Here's a lecture on violence in the Bible and Church History: Part 1 - Part 2
A letter to Dr. James White from a fair deist or atheist: http://www.aomin.org/aoblog/index.php/2008/10/25/you-never-know-who-is-listening-and-watching/
A lecture on not mixing opposing worldviews: here  
And a lecture on defining tolerance rightly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyTa5r4GG4M&list=PL5D2071851931F4FF

Skepticism should lead to Study

"God will go a long way in revealing himself to an honest skeptic. If you've got questions, don't sit passively by. Go get the answers! The walls of Christianity are not so thin that an honest questioner is gonna poke his hand and go, 'Oh Gosh, I sure wish I didn't ask that question; the whole thing's a farce.' No no no no no. Listen. The truths of Christianity have satisfied [some of] the greatest minds in human history; and most of us are not even capable of framing a question for which there's not a phenomenal answer. Don't hide behind your duds. Go get answers. Don't withdraw."

-Pastor James MacDonald

Lecture Clips

http://www.youtube.com/News2urEars
http://www.bit.ly/News2urEars_descrip
Lecture 1: Existence | Lecture 2 part 1 - pt. 2 | Follow the Logic

My post on Facts vs Feelings & Violence in the Bible:
http://news2urears.blogspot.com/2012/12/facts-vs-feelings.html
And a letter to Dr. James White from a fair deist or atheist:
http://www.aomin.org/aoblog/index.php/2008/10/25/you-never-know-who-is-listening-and-watching/

Never take their word for it...

2 Important Points:

never take their word for it &
start with the beginning / context matters

 

1) When people wanna spread what they've learned (including me) you can never know for sure if they might have made a mistake in their research, were slipped tainted information, or are deliberately spreading misinformation until you check up on the information.

So, back up whatever you hear with your own research. Even sources that you, after time, realize are reliable will sometimes tell you to be their check and balance; and if you correctly analyze a mistake in their teaching and bring it up, they will change.

Trustworthy sources can err,
Tons of bad sources are out there,
So have a good filter under your hair... :\
(Use your noggin. Activate those precious critical thinking skills and don't let your own prejudices or emotions let you reject and push away something without objectively analyzing it.)

2) And when it comes to confirming spoken and written teachings through your own reading of the Bible, you've got to remember this one word: CONTEXT. For example, when given references (such as Hebrews 9:22 or Isaiah 53:5), reading the surrounding verses helps to get a clearer and more accurate picture of what's being conveyed in the original text. The author isn't trying to say multiple opposing things with the same statement. 

You can go the light route with the “20/20 Rule” (reading the 20 preceding verses and the 20 following ones), or go even further and deeper into your study.

The subject of context has a lot to do with Jesus as well. Some people don't realize it, but He didn't just pop up out of nowhere into a random land with a random message of "follow me!" There was 2000 years of Hebrew History behind Him. And that's why it's important to start at the beginning of the story. Without prophetical passages and events such as Exodus 12, Jeremiah 31:31, the Levitical Sacrificial System, and the Jewish/Israelite Holidays, Jesus' appearance and death don't mean anything at all.

There is continuity through it all...

The Meaning of Christmas, The Symbolism of Passover: www.youtube.com/watch?v=csAt90woBXI

I thought I knew what it was all about... I DIDN'T

I heard about God, Jesus, and the Bible for almost 20 years and thought I knew what it was all about.

I DIDN'T.

I never looked into the information, but just assumed I already knew.

But this is either the most valuable information you can ever hear, or knowing it will just help you to understand people (by actually understanding what they believe). No longer will you scratch your head saying "What's the Big Deal Anyway?" or "How the heck could someone dedicate their life to a religion?”

This YouTube video playlist will teach you what the Bible says its premise or Main Point is. If this information is as valuable as it claims to be, you owe it to yourself and your loved ones (friends, family) to look into it. It will put you on the start of a path of research: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5D2071851931F4FF

Go ahead and view the videos in the playlist. If you want a text summary of the same information, continue reading the posts being added to this blog (taken from my Google Doc www.bit.ly/News2urEars_descrip).
The speeches, lectures, and sermons here hold a terrific summary, too:

The two topmost sermons here: http://www.wayofthemaster.com/audiolessons.shtml *
and this: Grafted In - Passover

[3 hours]

* No Adobe Flash on your computer or device? Use these two links instead:
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=517121529420
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=517121549270

Supplementary lectures: 

Existence* | Lecture 2 pt.1 and pt. 2 | Apologetics | Paradox vs. Contradiction | Follow the Logic | "Saved"? | A Wretch - Like Me | More Passover | Gentiles? | Hucksters (with slides) - pt. 2a | Usurping
*(the referenced pictures)