|
| Pages on this level »» |
|
|
||||||
| Ms. Nero’s Article Continues |  |
My Response | ||||
|
Messianic Jewish Movement And Its Mandates
Are Messianic Jews “Completed Jews” or are they really just
Hebrew Christians? The name Jew is short for Jehudi meaning people of Judah
(praises |
|
Messianic Judaism’s Only Mandate is Obedience [26] Again Ms. Nero’s ignorance of just about everything is abysmal. She obviously knows absolutely nothing about Messianic Judaism, yet she feels that she can authoritatively state what its “mandates” are. She insists on writing her own dictionary with her own definitions, and ignoring the historical and linguistic facts and the existing common definitions of words. An ethnic group is defined by what they call themselves, not what others call them. That's why “African-Americans” have been called by so many different terms over the past 50 years. A polite person in a polite society attempts to refer to an ethnic group by the term they choose to apply to themselves.
First of all, the name “Jew” is not short for Jehudi, but for
Yehudi, and the patriarchs’ names were Ya'akov and Yehudah, not Jacob and
Judah, respectively (there is no letter “J” or “jay” sound in either
the Hebrew or Aramaic languages). The word Hebrew is a poor transliteration
of the Hebrew word for “one who crosses over” and was first applied to
Avraham when he “crossed over” from Ur to Ca'anan. The term “Israelite”
refers to the ethnic group who are the physical descendants of Ya'akov, whom
ADONAI later renamed Yisra'el.
When the kingdom that had been united under David was divided under his
grandson Rechav`am (Rehoboam),
the northern kingdom was called Yisra'el, and the southern kingdom was called
Yehudah. After the Babylonian and Assyrian “captivities,” those few
Israelites who came back from Assyria were absorbed into Yehudah, and the
entire ethnic group of the descendants of Avraham, Yitzhak, and
Ya'akov have referred to themselves as Yehudim, or “Jews” ever since.
[27] The word “Judaism” no longer refers to
only their form of worship, but to their entire ethnic identity (as
discussed above at note
[9]), and [28] the
simple fact that Messianic Judaism exists is proof that not all
Judaism rejects Yeshua HaMashiach. |
||||
|
Messianic Judaism is a misnomer with regard to a Jew believing that Jesus is the Messiah.[29]
|
|
[29] Obviously part of Ms. Nero’s personal anti-Semitic dictionary; her private definitions are not a part of any recognized grammatical usage. [30] A “Rabbinical Jew” is actually a Jew who follows both the Torah and the Oral Tradition (to a greater or lesser degree, depending upon which “branch” or “denomination” of Judaism is involved). Many, but not all, “Rabbinical Jews” believe in a coming Mashiach (Messiah). Many, but not all, believe that there are actually two Mashiachs to come: Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David. There are four primary “branches” or “denominations” of Rabbinical Judaism: Orthodox, Conservative, Reformed, and Reconstruction- ist. A Gentile may “convert” to any of the four forms of Rabbinical Judaism by accepting circumcision and mikvah, by adopting a Jewish/Hebrew name, and by demonstrating an earnest desire to live a Jewish lifestyle, as long as he/she does not believe that Yeshua ben Yosef (the “historical Jesus”) is Israel’s Mashiach.
A “Secular Jew” is one who is a physical descendant of
Avraham, Yitzhak, and Ya'akov, and who can believe anything he/she wants to — including a total
rejection of the In the broadest possible application of the definition, a “Messianic Jew” could be considered any physical descendant of Avraham, Yitzhak, and Ya'akov who who simply believes in “a Mashiach” — either one who has already come or one who is yet to come. However, that is not how the term is used in common practice. [31] Ms. Nero again refers to her personal anti-Semitic dictionary for the definition of the term “Messianic Jew.” She has changed the common and accepted definition of the term to serve her own warped agenda. The common and accepted definition of the term “Messianic Jew” as used by those who first “coined” the term and who presently use it to refer to themselves is “a physical descendant of Avraham, Yitzhak, and Ya'akov who has received and accepted Yeshua HaMashiach as Israel’s Messiah and as his/her personal Redeemer and Savior, and who continues to live a Jewish lifestyle.” Most Messianic Jews would probably (I certainly can't speak for everyone) consider a Jew who comes to faith in the Messiah, and then abandons his/her Jewish lifestyle to live as a Gentile, a “Hebrew Christian.” |
||||
|
Messianic Judaism promoting the “completed Jew”[34] is not Biblically decreed in its separatist format, and neither are its tenets New Covenantally [sic] sound [35]. In fact, this movement is just another schism in the Body of Christ – The Church that is already apostate in its doctrines.[36] MJM walks according to the tradition of Judaism[37] including several Messianic Yeshivas set up to teach and ordain candidates to be Messianic Rabbis.[38] |
|
[32] [34] A “Completed Jew” is a physical descendant of Avraham, Yitzhak, and Ya'akov who has entered into the B'rit Chadasha (God's Renewed or Amended Covenant with Israel) through a personal relationship with Yeshua HaMashiach. He or she may choose either to worship and identify himself or herself as a Jew or as a fully-assimilated Gentile Christian. That cannot alter his or her DNA, which alone determines his or her Jewishness. [33] If Ms. Nero knew anything at all about Jews and Judaism, she would know that the term “assimilated” refers to a Jew who has dropped all pretense of living a Jewish lifestyle and who has completely adopted the lifestyle of the Gentile community in which he/she lives. To say that an “assimilated” Jew continues traditional Jewish practices is utter nonsense. [35] Part of Ms. Nero’s personal dictionary; not a real word. [36] Exactly the point of the Messianic Jewish Movement: to repair the “wall of separation” between Jewish and non-Jewish Believers in Israel’s Messiah and to correct the errors of apostate “Christianity.’ [37] As I either have or will have explained thoroughly in this response, Messianic Judaism rejects the Oral Tradition of Judaism (the Talmud) as neither divinely inspired nor authoritative, and accepts only the authority of the completed cannon of Scripture—both the Tanakh and its divinely inspired commentary, the B'rit Chadasha. All Messianic Jews are totally free to decide for themselves, with the guidance of Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit), how much or how little of the Oral Tradition they choose to follow, and which parts of that Tradition are either in agreement with or contrary to Scripture.
[38] Messianic Yeshivas
absolutely necessary to adequately train congregational leaders to “rightly
divide the Word of Truth” and avoid the anti-Semitic dogma and Replacement
Theology now being taught by nearly all Gentile seminaries. (I used to
be an administrator and Professor of Theology in an extremely good
evangelical Christian seminary—I know precisely what I used to teach
and what they continue to teach!) Besides Messianic Yeshivas there is nowhere
else to receive training in how to adequately present the Good News of the
Jewish Messiah to the children of Israel who have been persecuted in the name
of the “Gentile
CLICK HERE for a short chronological list of only some of the atrocities that
have perpetrated against the Jews, nearly always in the name of the Gentile
CLICK HERE for an excellent discussion of the Jewish roots of Christianity, anti-Semitic roots that invaded the early Church and have remained, and the need for repentance and reconciliation. [Return to 45] |
||||
Continue on to Page 6
|
||||||
![[EFC Blue Ribbon - Free Speech Online]](http://www.efc.ca/images/efcfreet.gif)
