Interesting Messianic Site to Check Out

Here's an interesting Messianic organization:  LINK.

[DISCLAIMER:  I'm just saying check it out.  I'm not saying I endorse them]

"Yeshua" or "Yeshu"? (I'm hoping that Dan, as a native speaker, will chime in)

Here's an interesting article about using Yeshua vs. Yeshu:  LINK.

Why Did G-d Respond to Solomon at the "High Place"?

Billy Graham Organization Removes Mormonism from List of Cults

See article here.

What Do You Say When They Ask What Religion You Practice?

Judah has a new and interesting post which you can find here.

I asked him a question which I'd now like to ask you:  how do you identify your religion to others?  Do you say "Hebrew Roots"?  Or "Messianic Judaism"?  I'm just curious what you all say.

At church, people will ask if I'm a Messianic Jew.  I tell them that I practice Messianic Judaism.  Now, the church where I go happens to be closely networked with a local Messianic synagogue so when I say this people understand what I'm talking about.   They even understand the difference between someone who is Messianic Jewish by religion and someone who is Messianic Jewish by ethnicity.  However, in other churches they'd probably just look at me with a puzzled expression.

When I'm out in public, I also tell people that I believe in Messianic Judaism.  And I'll ask if they've heard of it before.  Just today a man said that he hadn't heard of it.  So I explained it to him and we spoke for a very long time.

So what do you all say?  What are your experiences?

Church Update

Quick Update:

Trying to set up a meeting with the guy from Grove Ave who runs the Israel ministries.  Looking forward to that and feel it's going to be a blessed encounter.

Met the pastor at Grove and was impressed to be in the presence of true man of G-d.  He's got the ingredients of a great leader:  humility and boldness.

Met a One Law lady that my wife already knew.  She goes to a Messianic shul in addition to attending Grove.  We talked about how it's unfortunate the route that some in the Messianic organizations are taking.  When gentiles and Jews are worshipping in different bodies then it really hurts cohesiveness.  She mentioned that there was a ministry a couple of hours away that might be the new form of our movement:

Supposedly there's a Messianic ministry that is meeting on Shabbat AT A CHURCH (believe it or not) and they're integrating and fellowshipping with the gentiles.  So both spheres are in the process of coalescing.  I'll tell you the name of the ministry after I check it out.

It certainly sounds interesting though.  Perhaps an antidote to bilateral ecclesiology?  A first step in moving toward a more unified body?

But G-d is going to unify the Body whether anyone likes it or not.  May His will be done!

Shalom,

Peter

Citizenship vs. Nationality

I keep hearing people say the references in the Prophets to the "nations" means that these goyim are distinct from Israel.  People who make this assertion fail to understand that citizenship defines nationality.  Here's a comment I wrote earlier today to someone in an attempt to explain this concept:

"Nationality is a political concept referring to citizenry. You would say a man carrying Irish citizenship is of the Irish nation, yes? Likewise, you’d agree that a man carrying American citizenship is of the American nation, yes? So if you agree that citizenship determines nationality then you’d have to agree that there’s no such thing as plural “nations” in the eschatological sense. There is but one citizenship (Eph 2)—and only one level of citizenship–and therefore only one nation."

Did the Apostle Paul Cause Messianic Jewish Assimilation? [UPDATED]

Wyschogrod vs. Acquinas: The Battle Royale for the Unity of Mosaic Torah and Jewish Distinctiveness

Why You'll Never Be Accepted by Orthodox Judaism or an Orthodox Shul

I've taken the trouble of typing up some excerpts from a wonderful book by Attridge entitled "Eusebius, Christianity, and Judaism" that explains the history behind the fact that if you're an Orthodox Messianic Jew, you will ALWAYS be excluded from modern Orthodox shuls (if you're open about your beliefs).

A Better Definition of Judaism to Contrast with Carl Kinbar's Definition

Carl offered a definition of Judaism here.  He essentially devised a specialized definition that, in his view, would exclude One Law as a valid expression of Judaism.  I happened to come across a better definition today in a book by Shaye Cohen.  If you're in a hurry, skip to the last paragraph.  And, if you are in such a hurry, shame on you!  (I kid).

If the UnCovenanted G-d-Fearers Kept Torah, How Much More Should Covenanted Gentiles Keep Torah?

So Gene posted today about some One Law individuals who rejected One Law after having an intense tete-a-tete with Gene and Boaz Michael (you remember him, right?).  It's an interesting post and I encourage you to check it out.  As per usual, I couldn't read something like that and not comment.  Anyway here's the link to Gene's post:

Link

When is Discrimination Wrong? When is it Right?

All laws discriminate.  So there are good types of discrimination and bad types of discrimination.  But how do we tell the difference between the good types and the bad types?  Deborah Hellman has written a book that attempts to answer this oft-neglected question.  See the following link for a discussion of Hellman's groundbreaking new book:

Link

Here's How to Respond to People Who Say That Their View of Acts 15 is "Clear"

On Gene's blog, a commenter said that Acts 15 "clearly" proves that Jews and gentiles have different obligations under the Mosaic Torah.  Here's my response:

Links Section Has Been Updated

[Added a few more to the "Reference" section]