Picking on the church

[Guest]

How can you say that we don't have to follow all 613 mitzvot and then constantly nitpick the Church?

[admin]

Shalom...

First there is a distinction between the idea of Torah and the idea of Covenant. We have Torah as followers of Yeshua, but the terms of the covenant are changed. Jesus didn't come and die to renew the covenant at Sinai; He came to give a NEW covenant... I do not advocate Torah Observance in the sense of adhering to detailed mitzvot stipulated at Sinai. My "argument" with the Church, however, is that they ignore BOTH of these ideas. They tend to regard Jesus as the "Cosmic Christ" who descended, almost magically, from the heavens instead of understanding Him in context. You simply can't meaningfully use the term "New Testament" without first understanding (truly taking the time to understand) the "Old Testament." In fact, I doubt you can understand much of the idea of salvation itself apart from the doctrines clearly revealed in the Tanakh. The Church -- i.e., the predominantly Gentile Church -- essentially disregards all this and treats the Old Testament as non-applicable and therefore of no real value. That's the hidden assumption at work....and that's the "argument" I have with many Gentile church leaders today.

Most churches today advocate either "Covenant Theology" or "Dispensationalism" as their overarching interpretative framework. Churches that teach "Covenant Theology" really advocate for "replacement theology," claiming that Israel should really be identified with the gentile "church." Churches that teach "dispensationalism" consider the "Old Testament" to be worthy of instruction but really applicable only to the Jewish people (the Pauline epistles and perhaps the Gospel of John, on the other hand, are intended for the predominantly Gentile church). I believe that both approaches misread the Scriptures....

For more on this, see:
http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Articl ... srael.html

I hope that helps....

Shalom