Hi Gena!
As I said, there are some very strong differences among them. If you will look up "Messanic Jews" you will see this.
Hi Doctor Walter! Hope things are going well for you.
It's so true that there are many differences, just as there are many differences among Baptists or other groups that claim Christ. I feel extremely blessed to have found a congregation with no theological differences thus far from my home church, despite Messianic groups being few and far between, with decent ones being quite rare - at least in my area.
Our "heritiage" as "Christians" is not rooted in Judaism but in New Testament Christianity. For example there is no example of New Testament congregations meeting for worship services on Saturday but there is plenty of New Testament example for Sunday worship (Acts 2:1; 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:1-2; Rev. 1:7). No "Saturday" heritage. Paul met in the Jewish Synogogue on Saturday to evangelize the Jews but no congregation met on Saturdays.
Their heritage is within the family, both by blood and belief. Unfortunately, most of those who still practiced were Orthodox and didn't believe in Jesus. I remember going to the Rabbi as a child to question why the NT wasn't believed. I don't remember the answer, but it made no sense to me. Later in life I understood but still disagreed. My speaking of "heritage" has to do with this, not the arguable day of the week one chooses, which I personally don't find any reason for. We could all meet on Tuesdays for that matter, so long as we observe a day of meeting together to encourage one another, worship together, and be away from work and the world. Three of my children are half-Chinese and we also do some things such as a small observance of Chinese New Years and those types of things, although we live in the United States. However, I find the Jewish traditions much more meaningful and I'll point out why in reply to your next statement.
Why practice something that is antithetical to grace in order to magnify grace? Is not that the same practice that Paul objects to in Romans 6:1 - Shall we sin that grace may abound??? His answer is God forbid! Isn't practicing such going backwards rather than forward??
I can't remember where I read it, but I once read a book in which the author stated that if we want to see where we're going, we need to look back and see where we've been. I see no sin in remembering the roots of Christianity, so long as one realizes they were pictures/symbols of what was and was to come and what has been fulfilled. Not changed, fulfilled.
There is no Christian "heritage" in observing the "Feasts days" as there are no examples of New Testament congregations observing the Feasts of Levitius 23. Indeed, Paul rebukes the congregations of Galatia for observing such things:
9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
The feasts of Leviticus 23 have been SUPERSEDED by the Lord's Supper and baptism under the New Covenant and to practice those feasts is a rejection of the New Covenant as they are not parallel observances with the Lord's Supper and baptism under the NEW covenant as the NEW covenant does not incoporate OLD covenant practices.
So true. They were doing this under bondage, which tells us they felt grace wasn't enough to save them. Paul says they were SERVING the law and the law was their master. That is wrong. The law no longer is in effect, yet they were depending on it for themselves and not only that, it sounds as if they were compelling Gentiles to follow the law. There were people who came in secretly in the hope of pulling away those who believed in grace and bringing them under bondage to the law again. This is NOT what is going on in my congregation. Immersion and the Lord's supper continue to be observed as is required. Whenever there is a Holy Day, what it symbolized in the past is fully explained. Unlike immersion and the wine and the cup, nobody looks to these as helpers to grace or in any way a requirement.
Also, why identify themselves under "Jewish" terms when the New Covenant congregations did no such thing? Such a practice would not only be divisive but actually an attack upon the neutrality of Christ's congregations when it comes to ethnic identification:
"There is NEITHER Jew or Gentile" the Apostle says so why make that ETHNIC distinction in the way the congregation is named or classified?
Funny you should say that. The Rabbi said the same thing this morning...there is neither Jew nor Gentile. In fact, I can't recall a Saturday that went by thus far where the service hasn't opened with mention of ALL being equal, one in Christ, with no differences. It is even part of one of the songs, Jew and Gentile united together, one in unity and one in Christ. It appears to me that he takes special precautions in pointing out that there is no difference between those who are Jewish by blood and Christian by faith and those who are Gentile by blood and Christian by faith.
I'm going to throw in a tiny little testimony here to show how looking back has helped me look forward. Do you know how difficult it is to make amends with people you feel have done you wrong and to swallow your pride and take blame for it in order to restore a relationship with a fellow believer? If not, then I'm very happy for you, but for me, this can be very difficult when I really think I'm in the right.
Point is, I was angry with a couple people from my church and one from outside of it. I was uncomfortable around them and it was affecting me spiritually. It needed to be made right. I WANTED to be blameless but I kept being angry and kept trying to screw up my courage to go do the right thing. In the past, this has been a process that takes far too long with me. It happens, but it takes so much longer than it should. I kept thinking "I'm in the right, I shouldn't have to be the one to go apologize, they should apologize to me AND do it in front of the church!" I was so angry. It's very difficult to go worship with other believers when you are angry with even one of them, let alone more. And being how I am, I'd have struggled with this for a long long time before breaking. My husband and I even considered leaving the church over the issue.
It just happens that historically, this is the month of "elul" and a time for reflection and making things right. Should we do this all the time? Definitely! Do I? I try. I fail. However, the words of the Rabbi kept ringing in my head as he focused last week's lesson on how this should be part of daily lives all the time. Would he have focused on this otherwise? I don't know, but the point is, it is that time of the year historically and he did and I needed it. It gave me that final push I needed to swallow my pride and go do what I needed to make things right in my Baptist church and I did it the next day.
Am I going to wait another year for the traditional time for this to come around before I do this again? I sure hope not. It's not my intention. It's a sin to not do it this time of year and just as much to not do it in, say, March. It just happened to come at the time in my life when I needed it and he just happened to word it in a way that was easy to grasp and the meaning got into my heart. I hear it over and over in the Baptist church. So much that it doesn't mean much because nobody does it very often. Splits, grudges, they're so constant and there's always something unresolved between members. Perhaps if there was more of a focus on looking backward to see where we've been in the past in how God formed the shape of salvation, we'd have a clearer view of where we are and what we should do in the future.
What this did for me was show me what happened in the past. I used it to look at my life and what the grace of Jesus did for me, took a deep breath and grabbed God's hand, and let the Holy Spirit lead me to the people I needed to go to, where strength was given to me to carry through which what needed to be done, which cleared me of any wrong-doing, freed me spiritually, and took out obstacles for the future.
Just sayin'!
However, I can't say that extreme caution isn't needed on this topic. Then again, it's needed when one is seeking out a Baptist church too. There are many errors and falsehoods floating about this world. Names don't mean much anymore. You gotta look at the doctrines and beliefs of each one and make sure they follow the scripture and run if they don't!
And while I agree that holding onto the past for any means of salvation is nothing but heresy, I can't agree that remembering the past as relates to the fulfillment of prophecy is anything but beautiful and brings about a deeper understanding of the promises God gave humankind.
