WHAT I BELIEVE AND WHAT I REJECT
PART 4
I am displeased by the attitude of those within the Messianic Jewish Movement who are overly critical of the Church. There are too many within the movement who seem to delight in fault-finding with the Church and Christianity at every opportunity. They rarely have a nice word to say about the great things that God has accomplished through the Church. Given the fact that most Messianic Jews have Gentile believers to thank for their own salvation experience, I consider such prideful and disdainful attitudes inexcusable. Despite its imperfections (as though we ourselves had none!), there is so much about the Church that is good, and for which we should be thankful. We need to love, support and identify with the
I am increasingly upset by those who accuse the Church of being pagan. I don't for one moment believe that those who celebrate Christmas or Easter, or who make Sunday their day of assembly and worship, are guilty of engaging in paganism. Did you know that a book of the Bible is named after Ishtar, a goddess of sexuality? But now the name "Esther" is used by Jewish people and Christians with the highest regard. Did you know that one of the Jewish Biblical months is named Tammuz, after an ancient Babylonian god? Did you know that the name of another Jewish hero of the Faith, Mordecai, most likely comes from another pagan deity, Marduk? But Mordecai is now a name that is used by the Jewish people with the greatest respect. Do you really suppose that by using the names Esther, Mordecai and Tammuz, that the Jewish people are pagans? No? The Jewish people have taken pagan names, and over time removed the original pagan connotation. Should it bother us that a Christian holiday (Easter) is also called by this name? I don't think so.
I do not believe that a good evangelical Protestant church, worshiping on Sunday, and celebrating Christmas and Easter, is pagan. The early Christian leaders understood that they were not required to live like Jews. They understood the decision of the First Jerusalem Council, and that the demands placed on them were kept to a minimum. What they tried to do was to remove paganism from their culture by replacing false gods with the true God. They tried to bring Christ into their culture. Instead of Sunday being the day of the Sun, they made it a day for the Son of God, who is like the Sun of Righteousness. Instead of a holiday dedicated to Saturn near the winter solstice, they replaced Saturn with Messiah, the Light. Instead of a day devoted to Ishtar, they focused on the resurrection of Messiah. I don’t believe these early leaders sinned. I believe they did well! I believe that Christmas, Easter, and Sunday worship are legitimate traditions, and that people have a right to observe traditions that are meaningful to them, without being derided for it - as long as the traditions don’t contradict the Word of God. Messiah Yeshua Himself observed some extra-biblical Jewish traditions - like drinking more than one cup of wine at the Last Supper, which was a Passover Seder, and like His celebrating Chanukah (see John 10).
There are some pagan practices that do stand in contradiction to the Word of God and should not be used at all. For example, many pagans had shrines with idols in which they prayed to their gods, including a mother-goddess figure. Instead of giving up this idolatry, some nominal Christians simply renamed them Mary and the saints. Praying to fellow human beings who have died, or using statues and icons as part of worship, are practices that are incompatible with Biblical worship. I also find the "Sacrifice of the Mass" and the doctrine of Transubstantiation to be pagan if it is taught that the literal body and blood of the Messiah are being eaten and drunk, since the Torah forbids cannibalism and the consumption of blood.
I don’t believe that Messianic Synagogues are any purer or better than any good Evangelical Church. In fact, I would far prefer people attend a healthy
posted by DavidBrickner at 4:18 AM
8 Comments:
I appreciate what Loren has to say. What to you think?.....
I am displeased by the attitude of those within the Messianic Jewish Movement who are overly critical of the Church<<<<<<<<
David:
You asked for our opinion. I think that Loren is painting with a broad brush. I ask for specifics. Who is he referring to and what in particular are they saying ?
I think that the issue of Sunday worship, Christmas and Easter are red herrings. If Christians are devoted to these fine traditions I say that is a good thing. Who says otherwise? I have always felt that the world would be poorer without Christmas carols and that wonderful cautionary tale of Ebineezer Scrooge.
Christianity has a long history of fine ethical monotheism that we can all learn from and be inspired by. And yes many Jews first come to know Yeshua through the agency of the Church. It is the church and not the Jewish people who have disseminated the word of Hashem to the "ends of the earth". ( Thus fulling one of Maimonides messianic "job descriptions")
The question is 1) Are Christian traditions Jewish and appropriate for Jews. ( No ) 2) Are there things to criticize in the Church? (Yes)
With regard to the latter. It is the tradition of Jew hatred and persecution which we believe the church must account for. Some branches ( Catholic ) have made an effort. Others especially among evangelicals have not. This especially includes those Jews involved in "Jewish ministry" who somehow think that their ethnic background enables them to make malicious remarks about Judaism and its institution that other Christians would be ashamed to make. On the contrary they should be especially careful of Lashan Hara and desecration of the name of Hashem as their words have weight with non Jews.
Now the whole world watches as Israel is engaged in a fight for its existance.
And in the middle of this fight, Mr Mel Gibson is caught with his antisemitism showing.
JFJ in particular was very vigorous in defending this man not just in his movie but in his and his followers attacks on the integrity of the Jewish community.It was said that the Jews were against any "biblically accurate" depiction of the gospel. ( not true) . And this man was defended to the hilt in his holocaust denying Jew baiting responses to legitimate questions about his views vis a vis his father.
The question I now ask is: Where is the Church? Where are the Christian "friends of Israel"? Will they see Mr Gibsons critics as part of an anti gospel conspiracy or will they "belly up" admit a mistake and apologize to the Jewish community?
There is a lot at stake here. If you truly are concerned about eternal souls then you cannot keep silent while your credibilty erodes further.
Menachem
I strongly agree with the heart of these comments. I personally know of very few Messianic Jews who are anti-Church, but I see these views in print and on the internet. In the circles in which I travel (Tikkun Ministries and Hashivenu), we deeply appreciate the churches, recognizing a depth of heritage to be found in the diverse branches of the Body of Messiah.
"It is the tradition of Jew hatred and persecution which we believe the church must account for."
And how exactly should the evangelicals go about doing that? They are staunchly pro-Israel for the most part. I generally don't find anti-Semitism within them. And they don't look too kindly to the anti-Semitic aspects of church history. But then again I don't look too kindly to Rome persecuting Martin Luther. In other words, church history and recognizing sin in the past is a complex thing. Especially when people are long dead. Besides lamenting the distant past and moving ahead, I'm not sure what else there is to do.
The Roman Catholic Church has apologized and has withheld the gospel from Jewish people, although I won't get into their works-based problems with the gospel.
I would also add there is a lot of things between the 1st century and the 20th century that all of us should identify with and be proud of in the predominantly Gentile church. Athanasius taking a stand against the Arians, contra mundum. Augustine standing up to Pelagius. The Reformers defending the authority of Scripture and the gospel of free grace. Anselm clarifying aspects of the atonement.
As for Christian traditons...if you are a follower of the Messiah and they don't contradict Scripture, what would be the problem exactly? Jesus celebrated Channukah, which isn't exactly in the Tanakh.
Although I had sworn off commenting here, I am afraid the cause of truth trumps my resolve. I am saddened that in a posting ostensiby aimed at commending the Church, Loren felt obliged, and you passed on, a calumny against Roman Catholicism, and by implication high Church Episcop;alians, MIssouri Synod Lutherans and WIsconsin Synod Lutherans, and the Orthodox Churches, which all believe in the Real Presence of Christ in Communiion, And the Orthodox of course also pray using icons which fall under Loren's censure as well. The fact is, the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Churches kept the gospel alive and suffered martyrdom for approximataly fifteen hundred years until Protestantism came along. which is your writer's Christianity of choice. Some gratitude and recognition is in order here, don't you think? And martyrdom for the sake of Christ has continued in these circles to the present day.
Secondly, it is one thing to find some wing of the Body of Christ not your style; it is another thing to write off their convictions and sacraments as "pagan." Loren's posting does exactly what Loren prides himself on NOT doing--it attacks the Body of Messiah from assumed higher ground. This is tragic and ironic in the extreme.
Just for the record, as the President of Hashivenu, and a well-known voice for Torah observant Messianic Jewish communities, I love the Church of Jesus Christ, all of it--including those whom Loren writes off as engaged in pagan worship. This is, after all, the community built on the foundation of Christ, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail. I think it important for the sake of truth to disabuse any of your readers of the misimpression that we would think or teach otherwise.
Are there Messianic Jews who down-rap the Church? Obviously. But it is not us.
Shalom.
Just to clarify -- my agreement was with the thoughts in blue type. I assumed that the rest was David's commentary, with which I cannot fully agree, and which, IMO, does not reflect Catholic self-understanding but anti-Catholic prejudice.
Stuart,
What do you make of Rome condeming justification by faith alone at the Council of Trent?
In response to Geoff Robinson's question directed to me, "What do you make of Rome condeming justification by faith alone at the Council of Trent?," I would say that people are part of the Body of Christ not because they believe only the right things, but because of the saving work of Yeshua and the grace of the Holy Spirit on their behalf.
To illustrate my point: there are plenty of people who believe that Mother Theresa was not "a real Christian" because they decry her faith views on the Virgin Mary. It is one thing to say that Mother Theresa is no Protestant, or even that she is wrong in what she believes about the Blessed Virgin Mary. But to say that she is no Christian betokens the same kind of unseemly sectarianism as those pre-Vatican II Roman Catholics who held that Protestants are not Christians, and as Loren's posting which, while seeking to take a stand with the Church, felt obliged to write out of the equation Roman Catholics and their ilk.
Again, it was such Roman Catholics as you question who send their blood and lost their heads for the name of Christ centuries before Martin Luther drank his first beer. This must count for something, don't you think?
I guess I find it simplistic to call everything pre-dating the Reformation "Roman Catholic." Calvin and Luther were trying to reform and stay within the church. But from whenever the papacy developed to the Reformation I'll accept the usage.
Were there believers in the Roman church prior to the Reformation? Of course. There still are now.
But when Rome officially added faith to works Paul's condemnation of such activity in Galatians would take affect. (which in addition to Romans 10 shows the importance of right beliefs) I don't consider Rome a true church. But there are still some believers in it? Yes. But they would be believers in spite of Roman teaching not because of it.
I guess what I'm trying to get across is that there was a point in time (Trent) when Rome officially went off the rails in a major way. I am connected to Anselm, Augustine, Athanasius, etc. But Rome officially left the gospel.
And if natural branches weren't spared due to unbelief, appealing to Rome's heritage isn't going to work either.
But, again, I'm not saying everyone in the Roman church is gone. But I would tell any genuine believer in it to leave.
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