L-Is This Really Judaism?
Is This Really Judaism?
Judaism should not be determined by what mortal man says, but ONLY by The Holy Word of HaShem. Since a careful reading of The Tanakh reveals that ALL mortal men have sinned, (including the Jewish leadership), we cannot rely on mortal man to tell us what Judaism is. Rather, ONLY G-d determines this in His Holy Scriptures. Literally, Judaism broken-down is Judea-ism--practice of the people of The Land of Yehudah (Judea). Yehowshua and His Talmidim went all over the Region of Judea, Proclaiming Yehowshua as The Messiah, and The Torah.
We are certainly taught in Scripture to love and respect other people. However, there is ONLY ONE Judaism according to Scripture. One MUST believe in Yehowshua to have eternal life. We can see this PRINCIPLE in Devarim 18:15,18,19. Here, these Scriptures directly applied to Yohowshua the son of Nun. However, this passage should be taken as a general principle that ANY true prophet or leader whom G-d would raise up must be heeded for all-time. Therefore, one must believe in Yehowshua HaMoshiach to have eternal life. Also, on the homepage, note my comments about what Judaism is and is not. In addition, I have already proven that the messianic prophecies in The Tanakh match Him. Yet one more of these qualifications is that He must be a Master of Torah. Yehowshua Promoted and Taught Torah to Yisra’el:
Mattityahu 5:
Matthew 5:17Think not that I am come to destroy the Torah, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Matthew 5:18For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one yud or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Torah, till all be fulfilled.
Matthew 5:19Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Mitzvot, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of heaven.
These definately do not sound like the words of a man who wants to "destroy Judaism" On the contrary! Concerning the desputes He had with the Jewish leadership, those were pertaining to three key issues: 1) The leadership were behaving hypocritically. 2) These leaders added their own traditions to the Torah, which violated Torah itself, (Devarim 4:2). 3) Disagreements on interpreting the specific Mitzvot and how to apply them.
Concering Paul: Paul remained a Torah-Observant Jew his entire life,(Acts 21:24-26),as did the first Messianic Jewish Congregations,(Acts 21:20). Paul taught that the Gentiles outside of ’Aretz Yisra’el did not have to enslave themselves in legalism. They did not have to legally get circumcised and become Jewish physically to become part of the Jewish people SPIRITUALLY, (Romans 11:1-36,Galatians 3:28-29,Ephesians 2:1-22). The New Testament is totally Jewish, and the fact that it has been terribly abused and twisted by anti-Semites with anti-Jewish bias for centuries by-no-means means that The New Testament should be evaluated by what these people have done. Rather, it must be evaluated by what it Says, along with the prophecies in The Tanakh. In-fact, a large amount of The New Testament cannot be fully understood without realizing its Jewish contexts and settings. This is especially true of the 4 Gospels, Acts, and probably Revelation. Concerning Bible versions, I have found that there is no such thing as a perfect Bible translation. However, some are better than others. Here are my reccommendations: The Complete Jewish Bible (An Excellent Paraphrase of The Entire Bible). See the link "Other Recommended Resources" on the homepage to get it. The Jewish New Testament (Just The NT Part of the above Bible). The NKJV--New King James Version This is probably the best translation out in print that is on the literal side.
I would stay away from the KJV. It distorts the Judaism of The New Testament. THE USE OF JEWISH SYMBOLS
There are those in the mainstream Jewish community who say it is "deception" for us to use Jewish symbols. However, the exact opposite is true! Those who attempt to deny The True Jewishness of our faith are the ones deceiving if anyone is! No one can truly deny that Yehowshu`a is a Jew, and that He Proclaimed His message in Judea! No one can seriously claim that He did not teach The Torah! So, I say that as long as we are genuine to what those Jewish symbols truly stand for, then we have every right to use them! But for Christians to use them artificially to try to win Jews to The Messianic Jewish faith, I think that would be wrong. For those who use Jewish symbols should truly believe in what they stand for in their hearts. If and when they do, then and only then do I feel it is appropriate for Christians and Messianic Jews to use them in any effort to win Jews to the Messianic belief. Also, I believe that there is a danger of Messianic Jews overdoing it with Jewish symbols, in order to prove their Jewishness artificially. Again, if they use Jewish symbols because of their inner-conviction first, then that is the most important thing.