Redemption in a Postmodern Era
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Every once in a while I click into this music video program called Steel Roots on Inspiration TV. Basically, it's a Christian version of MTV circa 1990-- you know, when they aired music videos and not gag-inspiring low-budget reality TV of their own making. Young VeeJays intermingle music videos with commentary and interviews with different Christian bands. Decent idea in theory, right?
The other day my mother walked into the room, took one look at the screen and said, "What are you watching? That looks sick!"
A group of men wearing black eyeliner, their tattoo-covered skin layered in black leather, were screaming into a microphone while graphics on the screen depicted what appeared to be some kind of tornado followed by a girl locking herself into a bathroom and rolling around on the floor.
"It's Christian music videos," I replied.
"What's Christian about that?" she asked, aghast.
The next video that came on was of a band in a dark warehouse. Again, all wearing black, some with tattoos, banging hardcore on drums and electric guitars/bass. The lead singer, a girl with more eyeliner than most raccoons I've seen wandering in the woods, kept slamming her head to the side in a freakish sort of way that made her look, well, dead. Seriously, every three words and slam her head would pop off to one side and she'd roll her eyes a bit as if she was a doll whose head just got ripped off by some nasty little kid. Again, I couldn't quite tell what they were singing about, but the vision of her eyes half rolled into the back of her head stuck with me. (I just had an involuntary shiver.)
Then, a third band came on. A group of young guys-- definitely no older than mid-20s-- were dressed as soldiers wandering through a field and camping out. The lyric that kept repeating was "You're my favorite disease". One kid-- the lead singer I guess-- ended the video by running away from his buddies and kneeling on a hill. The most I got out of the song was that they were equating Messiah with a disease.
Huh?
Just to make sure I heard them right, I Googled "Christian music" and "My Favorite Disease" and found out that the song was written by a band called THOUSAND FOOT KRUTCH and the lyrics to the last verse go like this:
Sometimes I feel like a monster
And times I feel like a saint
I'm on my knees
You're my favorite disease
And I love to way you kill me
Love the way you heal me
I love the way you kill me
I love the way you heal me
I love the way you kill me
I love the way you heal me
I love the way you kill me
I love the way you heal me
I love the way you kill me
I still don't get it. Why is Messiah a disease?
Aren't diseases bad things?
Is Jesus a cancer to your system now?
Suddenly, cancer can be a good thing?
What?
I don't get it.
What I did get out of a half-hour of Christian MTV was that these bands are trying awfully hard to worship G-d while looking like every other secular rock band you see marketed today. Eyeliner? Tattoos? Bobble-heads? Comparing Jesus to death-causing agents?
Simply put, none of that makes sense.
"Oh, but you're being judgemental." I can hear the complaints now. "Are you going to judge a fellow brother or sister in Christ because they don't worship the way you do?"
No. If they want to scream into a microphone and render their worship unintelligible to all but G-d's ears, that is their choice. If they want to carve images and names all over their skin in total lack of respect for G-d's commandment not to, that is their choice. And if they want to parade around looking like death, acting like death, and comparing "the Light that gives Life" to death, that is their choice.
I am not the judge of the universe. The power of condemnation is not in my hands. Nor is the power of redemption.
I can't condemn someone for comparing Messiah to disease. But I can't redeem them and say it's a good comparison, either. Too often the "non-judgmental" wing of the Christian community is quick to condemn anyone who voices an opinion of disdain when it comes to radical decision making, especially among youth. To borrow a phrase from another era, the people who respond negatively to bobble-headed, mascara-laden disease praisers are often labeled as "The Man trying to get you down." They're tossed off as "traditional", "old", and worst of all, "opinionated" and "judgmental." "All truth is G-d's truth" many modern Christian writers, like Rob Bell and Mike Erre, like to say.
Yeshua is Truth. In fact, He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. But in repeating this axiom, many believers often interpret Yeshua as the Way to the Truth of Eternal Life-- and they stop there. Eternity is enough for them, which implies that once you've used your chance in this life to pick up your free pass, everything else you do and how you do it doesn't matter.
That doesn't make sense.
How many believers understand that Yeshua, their Messiah, also teaches the Truthful Way to live Life?
Actions speak louder than words.
If actions didn't matter, Yeshua never would have had to hang, bleeding in agony on a tree in a rainstorm.
If actions didn't matter, Yeshua never would have had to spend three years criticizing His own people for their unrighteous behavior and teaching His followers the way to eat, the way to pray, and the way to live their lives on this planet.
Yeshua's sacrifice is not a blank check you've been given to pay off the consequences of every bad action you take. Yeshua's sacrifice is the number one example of taking responsibility for the purpose G-d has for your life: To walk with Him in righteousness, even unto death, with full trust in the unseen fact of eternal life given through the grace of the only begotten Son of G-d.
In other words, your bad choices have been forgiven but you and you alone have been redeemed. Now, how you walk the walk is up to you, but G-d's forgiveness doesn't imply that you are suddenly held unaccountable for your actions. Yeshua didn't die on the execution stake to make everything okay. He didn't walk this earth as a rebel and leave His followers with a great commission to be like everyone else.
In fact, understanding and putting full faith in His forgiveness and grace implies acknowledging not only that you have done something wrong, but that you have dishonored G-d by doing so. So, why is it that so many believers hold onto the notion that since they've been forgiven, they can do whatever they please and Messiah makes it all okay?
Since when did the Son of G-d become a band-aid for your un-G-dly behavior?
There is such incredible zeal among young believers to live out their faith in Messiah in total and complete honesty. But they can't go around claiming everything is redeemed for Christ and call it kosher.
I once attended a worship service where the leader decided to follow a good hour and a half of praise music with "All You Need is Love" by the Beatles. My dad and I, the big Beatles fans we are, stared at one another with a mutual expression of, "What are they doing?"
"Yes! Love!" the leader proclaimed, "All we need is the love of Messiah!"
Yeah, but that's not what the Beatles were talking about when they penned the tune in 1967. They were talking about "free love," a love rooted in drugs, promiscuous sex, music, and the teachings of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. I know. I saw the Anthology. So did everyone else who stood there, more than a little aghast.
As believers, we are so enamored with the truth that Yeshua's sacrifice has allowed G-d to forgive our past wrongs, to redeem us from our sins, that we tend to not only claim that redemptive power over our own lives, but over everyone and everything that we love.
But, we can't redeem.
We can't make it better.
We can't render the actions and work of others as just in G-d's eyes.
We can pray for people and we can pray that the truth we hear in music, in movies, and in all work produced is more powerful and pervasive than the lies that often accompany those truths, but we can't go around calling everything good.
It's a great thing to look for the good in this world, because Scripture states that, "Every good thing is from above." But, condemnation and redemption go hand-in-hand. You can't have one without the other and both belong to G-d. It's good that you don't want an attitude of condemnation pervading your believing community, but just as you recognize that you don't have the power to condemn everything as bad, you have to recognize that you don't have the power to redeem everything as good, either.
When the Beatles sang "All You Need is Love" they were singing an anthem of the Hippie movement. They were four guys with torrid private lives who openly used illegal drugs and participated in pagan religious activities. You may understand that G-d is love, but their love god was someone or something completely and utterly different.
When a rock band cakes on eyeliner, clads themselves in tattoos and black leather, and stares at a camera with eyes rolled to the back of their head, they might be singing about G-d (although that's even left to question) but they look like pagans.
When musicians talk about Messiah in terms of disease and death they use the antithesis to characterize the thesis of their professed faith.
Paul writes to the Corinthians, "'Everything is permitted,' you say? Maybe, but not everything is helpful. 'Everything is permitted?' Maybe, but not everything is edifying." How does looking, sounding, and analogizing like the secular world translate into being an effective witness for the truth of Messiah?
Paul goes on to write, "Well, whatever you do, whether it's eating or drinking or anything else, do it all so as to bring glory to G-d." In other words, Paul isn't saying that your actions will glorify G-d no matter what you do, he says that what you do should be motivated by the goal of glorifying G-d.
Does dressing, acting, or talking like you're dead glorify G-d?
No.
Does espousing a secular nature while professing Biblical belief glorify G-d?
Better yet, let me ask you this: Is our G-d the G-d of confusion?
Then why do you portray your faith in Him in such confusion?
Labels: Christianity, condemnation, Jesus, Messiah, redemption, rob bell, Steel Roots, Yeshua
posted by Shoshana @ 8:38 AM
Conversations with Christians on Barack Obama [Excerpts]
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Background: A couple, married for a long time; he is going to be 80, she is probably in her late 50s. White, middle class. Educated professionals. No children. Very active in a rather large church (membership near 1,000-- 3 Sunday services, one Saturday night service, multiple Bible studies/groups meeting weekly) and with the children in the neighborhood where they live.
She: "So, your parents are probably voting for John McCain, aren't they?"
Me: "All of us are."
He: "All of you? You mean your parents."
Me: "All of us."
He: "Even you? Someone of your age is voting for John McCain?"
Me: "Yes."
He: "Why?" (He is clearly aghast.) Everyone your age is voting for Barack Obama!
Me: I don't trust him.
He: Why?
Me: I don't trust his background.
He: Because of all that Muslim stuff?
Me: Yes.
He: Oh, that's just.... (trails off without responding) I think he's an educated man. We need that!
Me: He's a very good speaker.
He: We need education! He wants everyone to get a free education; that's what the government should do. We need educated people!
Me: I agree. But before the government sponsors free education, we need to reform the system.
He: I think a lot of people are denied an education based on economic reasons that are really, (he leans forward) more racially based than anything else.
Me: So, you're talking about white males, like my brother, who are denied scholarships that are then given to African Americans solely based on their race, right?
He: (Blinks. No response.)
Friend 1 (White American male, mid-50s): That's right.
Friend 2 (Hispanic Immigrant, mid-40s): That's right. White American males get nothing.
He: What do you mean, "reform"?
Me: I taught white male students who walked out of classes on feminist film theory feeling guilty of being rapists, colonizers, and murderers-- just because they happened to be white males.
He: That's ridiculous! What are you talking about?
Me: Feminist film theory-- a branch of literary and cultural criticism.
He: What is that? That's just one teacher, not an entire school.
Me: It is an entire school of thought that is taught on every college campus in this country.
He: What do you mean "every campus"? What college was this?
Me: A public, state-funded university.
He: Well, where does this come from? What is this theory?
Me: Literary and cultural studies, a branch of study that teaches you how to interpret the world around you and the media being produced by and for that world. It came out of English departments in the 1930s and expanded further in the 60s and into today. It is the basis of Liberal Arts education.
He: (Says nothing. A while later in the conversation, he returns to the topic.) Government should educate the citizens!
Me: That's all well and good, but we need to reform the system before we begin giving free educations to students.
He: Well, why is that the government's responsibility?
Me: (Laughing to myself.) Well, if you want the government to send every student to school for free, but they send them to an institution that is so drastically biased in its teaching, what kind of citizens are you getting? You're getting more people into the same work force that says (Friend 1) can't get a small business loan because he happens to be a white American male. So what good is a free education?
He: (Says nothing for a moment.) Well, why is the reform the government's responsibility?
[Ed. Note: I love how liberals like the government to take care of everything except when it comes to correcting their own shortcomings and faux ideologies. Then, suddenly, the libs aren't responsible.]
Later, in the conversation:
She: Well, I couldn't vote for any candidate who wasn't pro-choice. My sister got pregnant when she was 15, and she had no choice back then-- she didn't want to give the baby up for adoption, so she married the guy and had a miserable life. She was an alcoholic for 32 years. It was terrible.
Me: (Sometimes, saying nothing is the best response.)
She: I think the right has been horribly abused, but still, women should have the choice.
Me: (Again, I say nothing. But, I think to myself: My mother had a miscarriage and a blood disease, and was told that one of her options when she got pregnant with me was to have an abortion because of her medical history. Hm. She had a choice, and in exercising that choice, she respected her unborn daughter's right to choose life as well.
Later, it occurs to me that this woman's sister had a choice, too. She could have put the baby up for adoption; she chose not to. She could have raised the baby alone; she chose not to. She could have sought out refuge in positive things; she chose not to. And because her sister has sympathy for her, her sister chooses not to sympathize with every other woman, born and unborn, and their choice. Ironic, isn't it?)
Still, later in the conversation:
He: Hey, can you take a joke?
Me: Sure.
He: You know why I don't want to vote for McCain?
Me: No, why?
He: Because I don't want another Bush in the White House!
Me: (Shuddering at the lame vulgarity of the double-entendre, I choke out a polite chuckle.)
She: Oh, that's terrible.
Me: (Trying to change the topic.) One of my friends goes to your church.
She: Oh, really? What's her name?
Me: (I give her the name.)
She: Does she do music? Is she in the youth group? Is she active in the leadership?
Me: Oh, I don't know.
She: Well, it's such a large church... there's over 900 people. They do three services on Sunday, you know. And they're doing Saturday night services now!
Me: Really? Wow.
She: Yeah, it's great. I'm not a morning person, so this will be perfect.
Me: (I nod and wonder at the mercy of G-d, fitting Himself so politely into her schedule.)
He: You know, everyone in the world loves Barack Obama.
Me: I don't really care what the world thinks.
He: Why not? We have to deal with these people!
Me: The last thing I'm worried about are the opinions of overly socialized governments that coalesce to Islam.
He: (Says nothing.)
***
And that is faith impacting someone's political viewpoint. Well, faith, or a lack thereof. You know, Christians really need to get their heads on straight when it comes to what it means to live out faith. I think they're starting to, in drips, drabs, leaps and bounds. It's tough to verbalize and communicate, though, because expressing a faith lifestyle requires the equivalent of speaking a foreign language for most Christians.
Christianity's vocabulary is so diluted with pagan thought-processes that it is very hard to create and come to terms with the idea of living a life totally defined by Messiah. My heart goes out to these people who are trying so hard to do the right thing in everyone else's eyes that they've lost the vision G-d has for them. It's frustratingly pathetic on one hand, but seriously sad on the other.
I tend to be extremely critical on this blog because I have been trained, through education and experience, to view situations with a critical eye. Sometimes I come off as glib, and other times I come off as downright unforgiving. But, truly, as angry as I am with leadership that have let their flocks go astray, I have just as much, if not more compassion for the millions of sheep searching for the right path home, and I am just as easily able to laugh at the irony of G-d's truth in action. I hope everyone else is the same way because experiencing that depth and range of emotion draws us closer to knowing our G-d. And knowing our G-d is the only way to know and to be our true self.
Labels: American elections, Christianity, christians, Obama
posted by Shoshana @ 11:39 AM
Mind Games and Abuses of Power
Sunday, August 17, 2008
I'm taking a break from election commentary, although this discussion is just as pertinent to that topic as well.
Being a believer can be a huge mind game sometimes.
When I first struck out on my own, without the support of a congregation, Rabbi, or believing friends, it didn't take long for me to realize how we are trained and ingrained to be so incredibly reliant upon one another, especially upon leadership.
Christian/Messianic Jewish culture, and even Rabbinic Jewish culture, is a personality-based belief system. Think about it: Think about the way you perceive G-d, Messiah, and His servants. In essence, they're all people in your mind, right? G-d said "Don't make a graven image of Me" and, all of a sudden, the believing world has pictures of blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jesuses hanging on every wall.
Depending on the branch of service you're in (a.k.a. denomination) you even have some of His compatriots right up there with Him. Today, the Christian Church idolizes servants like Rav Shaul, Kefa, Miriam, etc. as heroes of the faith-- whether you're Catholic or Protestant or a Rabbinic Jew, you have a panoply of historical figures to call on any time you need a handy quote to back up what you're professing. And, guess what? The Evangelical church and Messianic community are no different. When's the last time you saw Joel Osteen putting a picture of Mt. Sinai on the cover of one of his books? Or T.D. Jakes telling ET to show some stock footage of average church goers instead of doing a feature on his daughter's wedding? Just check out Rabbi Bruce Cohen's letter to the editor in the latest edition of The Messianic Times if you want to find out how much of a personality-bash American Messianic Judaism has become.
How many Catholics pray to Saints? How many Rabbinic Jews quote ancient Rabbis? And why? Why is the Judeo-Christian community so consumed with people-worship? Because the Greco-Roman world decided to believe in Messiah-- on their own terms. Graven images, gods with personalities and all too human foibles, the beauty of the human form-- all of that is the direct influence of Greek culture on the gentile believing world. And that influence continues to seep into the Jewish world--believing and not--in steadily increasing amounts.
Rabbinic Judaism was a direct assimilatory reaction to the rejection of Messiah and the consequent loss of the Temple and Israeli/Jewish national sovereignty. Rabbinic Judaism began in Yavneh with the denial of sacrifice as the pathway to G-d's redemption and morphed into a personality-controlled, personality-fed faith. As a result, you have a growing minority of religious Jews who can quote Talmud backwards and forwards but have absolutely no knowledge of basic scriptural texts. This cultural shift has influenced a growing majority of those born Jewish to wind up living more like secular gentiles than not-- and to be completely justified in doing so!
But, Messianic Judaism is different, right? These are the Jews and gentiles who, having forgone human tradition, turned to the scriptures with open minds and hearts. The Bible is the foundation of their faith. Like the Puritans who sailed to the shores of America for religious freedom, their bedrock and justification is the Living Word of G-d. And, just like the Puritans, the Messianics are subject to the same human faults and fallacies that act as the doormen to disaster.
The letters of the talmidim, just like the words of the prophets, urge their readers and listeners to stop acting small and to think big about the way they act towards one another. Petty jealousies, lying, power-plays and the like plagued the believing community then as they do now. In fact, they are the reason Israel lost sovereignty in the first place: Bad behavior produces bad fruit. We all know that. What we so often neglect is the result of bad fruit in the stomach of the body. Bad fruit makes you sick-- so sick, in fact, that you have to spit it out. It's a pretty standard biological reaction: expel the cause, treat the sickness, so the body can heal.
Can you imagine what G-d would look like to you if you lived in the pre-Constantine era, with no photographs, no film, no Michaelangelo to paint your icons on the stone and brick walls? He wouldn't look like Charleton Heston, or Jim Caviezel, or Joel Osteen, or T.D. Jakes, or John Hagee, or any other "name" you can think of in your own circle. He wouldn't look like your Pastor, Priest, or Rabbi, either. Big shock there.
The thing is: We can think these things, but thinking, and even comprehending them isn't enough. The "personality preachers"--world-famous and not--tend to be the best at condemning the wrong within their own communities. Of course, this condemnation tends to be a very subjective one, but the opinions of the speaker are generally glossed over by the audience that is too busy being enamored with the pomp and circumstance of the performance to worry about what is actually being said, and to whom the condemnation is being directed.
Until the condemnation is directed at them.
Like many, I have been the subject of direct and indirect condemnation in a variety of Judeo-Christian circles and, without fail, my peers in each incident were oblivious to my personal persecution until they, too, came under leadership's scrutinous glare. We're the people who believe in forgiveness and redemption, yet we thrive on creating tsuris and placing the blame.
Rarely, and not until it is too late, do we actually acknowledge the damage that has been done by digesting the bad fruit. In this case, the bad fruit are the mind games produced by gross abuses of power committed by those who forget that their leadership roles are granted to them by the same authority on which they are ultimately dependent: G-d and the move of His Spirit in His people, the body. Sick things happen when leaders get out of control, and their congregants are the ones who pay the price. And, because we're all links in a chain, the entire body pays a heftier price than we could ever imagine-- because we're too busy living small to think big.
Do you know why the top 2 commandments are to "Love the L-rd your G-d with all of your heart, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself"? Because it is EASIER! It is TEN TIMES EASIER to love someone than to hate them, TEN TIMES EASIER to forgive someone than to hold a grudge, TEN TIMES EASIER to put your full heart in G-d and not man, and TEN TIMES EASIER to let the love you have for G-d guide you into loving relationships with one another.
Human beings don't know it all. Bodies are dust. Pictures can be erased, torn up, thrown out. But the spiritual damage of unjust condemnation, ridicule, hatred, those are wounds that can only be healed by G-d, but ones whose scars will never fully fade. Do you know why G-d commanded the Israelites to literally "cut off" members of the community who sinned? Because the act of cutting someone off, of condemning them, was a literal stripping of their identity, their very sense of self. That is not the job of any Rabbi, any Pastor, any Priest, any one. The next time you so much as utter a foul word about someone, think of that-- think of the fact that you are acting to strip that person of their identity. Then question if power and authority like that really belongs in your hands.
We live in destructive times. By our very choice to be a believer in and follower of Messiah we have made ourselves targets for the destroyer. The survivors, and the ones who will be used to ensure the nation's survival, will be the individuals who comprehend and live out the truth that G-d is the sole Creator and Authority over their identity. The individuals who refuse to submit to abuses of power will be the ones who triumph over the petty mind games by flying right past them and achieving the real Goal. And, here's a hint: It's not a front-page writeup, tickets to the "MegaChurch of the Moment" or a front row seat at the next "Famous Man's Revival Hour Broadcast LIVE!"
Keep your eyes and ears open, followers of Messiah. Maintain the integrity G-d has given you in the face of unjust condemnation--from enemies and "friends" alike.
"My sheep listen to my voice, I recognize them, they follow Me, and I give them eternal life. They will absolutely never be destroyed, and no one will snatch them from My hands. My Father, who gave them to Me, is greater than all; and no one can snatch them from the Father's hands. I and the Father are One." (Yochanan 10:27-30)
Labels: Christianity, Judaism, leadership, Messianic Judaism
posted by Shoshana @ 2:42 PM
Messianic Judaism in the Headlines
Friday, July 11, 2008
A new archaeological find, a stone tablet that is "said to bear Jewish
messianic messages from the first century B.C." has hit the press. Apparently owned by a private collector, the story of the tablet hit last Sunday's New York Times. The news wasn't so much the find in and of itself, but the issues it raises within the believing community, namely the origins of "Christianity" and the close ties between faith in a Messiah named Yeshua and Biblical Judaism. From the MSNBC article:
"...the front page of The New York Times on Sunday, in a story that quoted one professor as saying some Christians would "find it shocking" that Jewish scriptures prefigured Christian theology.It never ceases to amaze me that Rabbinic Jews are willing to believe in a Messiah figure akin to that of a military general, who would face a bloody death on a battlefield in order to achieve the salvation of His people, yet they cannot fathom a Messiah, whose sacrifice was seen by Avraham Avinu and is directly foreshadowed by the Pesach account, who willingly sacrificed His own life in a bloody, deathly fashion in the middle of an complex ideological & spiritual battlefield known as first century Jerusalem. What, because Yeshua's experience didn't have enough horses, chariots, and battle sequences it isn't good enough to count? Is that it? Has the Messiah's gift of salvation been boiled down to rate against the plot of a blockbuster film? "It doesn't sell enough tickets--it can't be right," the minyan said. The theory has always been that the Jews run Hollywood; now I'm starting to think that Hollywood runs the Jews.
But Hershel Shanks, founder of the Biblical Archaeology Society and editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review, said that such a linkage really isn't surprising, let alone shocking.
"The really unique thing about Christian theology is in the life of Jesus - but in the doctrines, when I was a kid, you had little stories about the Sermon on the Mount and the people listening to this saying, 'What is this man saying? I never heard anything like this! This is different,'" Shanks told me. "Today, this view is out. There are Jewish roots to almost everything in Christian experience."
...
"You have in Christian theology a very different kind of messiah, a messiah who's going to shed blood and atone for your sins," Shanks observed. "Where the hell did this come from, baby? Are there elements of this in Jewish messianism?"
The Dead Sea Scrolls have already shown that the idea of a suffering messiah was part of the cultural milieu back then. If the tablet's text and its three-day messianic interpretation are verified, it could shrink the theological gap between pre-Christian Judaism and early Christianity even further. But that shouldn't come as a shock, [Mark] Rose [Online Editor, Archaeology Magazine] said.
"Is this going to redefine the relationship between Judaism and Christianity? I don't think so," he said.
Despite the growing amount of evidence pointing to the fact that Christianity, as gentile and even secularized as it has become, is truly a Jewish faith, these "experts" are still unwilling to break down the walls between the faiths. Bizarre, yet understandable; much like the servants denying the fact that the Emporer has no clothes, these academics will walk around denying the facts placed before their eyes because if they dared to do any different, they'd be out of jobs. And so would the people who employ them. In fact, the entire cultural structure through which the Western world has been taught to view themselves and the world around them would literally crumble.
Want to test the theory? Try telling one Catholic you know that they hold a Jewish faith-- not practice a Jewish religion, mind you, but hold a Jewish faith--a belief system that is inherently Hebrew, inherently Torah, inherently Israelite. Then, step back and watch that person who has spent a good few decades of their life attending mass every Saturday night and saying Hail Marys until the cows come home that, while their heart may be in the right place, they've essentially been doing it wrong all these years. Yeah. That's going to go over well. Then, watch how quickly they make donations to their church, and support societies like the B.A.S. and subscribe to publications like Archaeology Magazine that reinforce the same traditions and theories with which they were raised. Lies are self-predicating. Why? Because it's easier for a human being to go with the flow.
The real joke of it is that most believers would respond with, "Well, at least that Catholic is still a good person." Right. Okay. What does "good" mean? And who ever said they weren't? And who ever says they're a "bad person" anyway? In Hebrew, the commandments are called "mitzvot"--good deeds. "Good" isn't just some value-judgement we place based on how we "feel" about something; "good" is measured in direct correlation with the actions you take. How "good" is it to face the fact that your Messiah is a Jew; that His followers were all Jews; that the lessons He preached were inherently Jewish, including the one where He said: "I did not come to abolish the Torah [the covenant between G-d and His people, Israel] but to fulfill it"; the lessons His followers preached were about practicing a life in Messiah, a life guided by the same covenant their Messiah fulfilled and upheld. Tell me, what sounds good to you? Someone repeating actions not sanctioned, sometimes unfavorable [i.e.; eating pigs to honor Messiah's sacrifice], and almost wholly foreign in order to honor the G-d they claim to worship, or someone seeking to honor the G-d they worship the way He, the omnipotent, all-powerful, one and only G-d commanded?
FYI: Biblical Archaeology Review has put the stone's Hebrew text as well as the English translation thereof online.
Messianic Judaism has hit the Associated Press: Messianic Jews say they are persecuted in Israel [Jun 21, 08] mainly focuses on the story of Ami Ortiz, a 15 year old Israeli native who opened a package left on his doorstep one morning before Purim and lost two toes, some of his hearing, and still has safety pins and screws lodged in his body. The package--a bomb--was most likely left on his family's doorstep by ultra-Orthodox Jews because the Ortiz family dare to proclaim faith in Yeshua as the Messiah. While no arrests have been made, the Israeli police informed the family that no way was this a Palestinian attack-- the plastic explosives were far too advanced for rugrat terrorists. Hm. Guess that should make the average Israeli think twice the next time an old Orthodox Rabbi starts shaking a tzedekah tin in their face at the Kotel. My guess is at least some of those funds aren't going for textbooks at the Yeshiva. I wonder if events like these make pro-Talmud Messianic scholars think twice about Rabbi-nizing faith in Messiah. In a related note, one op-ed by a Rabbi printed in the Jerusalem Post on July 2, How to reply when the doorbell rings smacks of Orthodox Jewish anti-Yeshuaism (because that's what it is-- "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first" John 15:18) in the same paranoid, presumptuous, and bizarre fashion common among palestinians who claim that the IDF uses nude women soldiers to lure and trap young shahids in the making.
In the meantime, the JPost reported on June 25, in an article titled Messianic Jews to protest 'discrimination' that, "A contingent of about 300 Messianic Jews from the US will protest this weekend against what they call Israel's discriminatory immigration policy against Jews who believe that Jesus is the messiah." The article highlights three recent incidents of attack on the Messianic Jewish community in Israel: the Ami Ortiz bombing; the burning of several New Testaments distributed by Messianics in the town of Or Akiva; the attempt to disqualify a young Messianic contestant from participating in the annual Bible Quiz. All three incidents were [most likely, and in two cases, definitely] perpetrated by ultra-Orthodox Jews. "We are planning to call on the Israeli government to address the problem of discrimination against Messianic Jews who wish to make aliya," said Rabbi Russ Resnik, executive director of the US-based Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations."
Yeah, well, good luck with that, Rabbi Russ. It is true that Calev Myers of the Jerusalem Institute for Justice has scored some incredible court rulings regarding Messianics and aliyah. However, appealing to a government already embroiled in corruption and plagued by serious issues of war and public safety seems rather, well, moot at this point. Besides, if we believe in the authority of G-d, why are we seeking defense from a government of men? Men [and women] who are, mind you, not believers in Messiah anyway. The only reason the government would come to the Messianics' defense is if they found it politically or economically to their benefit. If believers start making appeals and deals of that nature, what does that say about the Messianic community? That's a scintillating testimony to share the next time you're sent out to knock on doors: We put our faith in Yeshua...and Tzipi Livni.
Interestingly, the JPost article uses a picture of MJAA members marching in last year's 40th Jerusalem Day parade. They are careful to note, however, that those photographed have nothing to do with the organization written about in the article. Or, do they? Is the UMJC's call for Israeli government action really meant to get the Knesset's attention, or are they using the Holy Land card to one-up a rival organization? In any case, the greatest part of the story comes not from the JPost article, but from the UMJC press release about the event, which opens by stating: "Meeting in Israel for their annual business meeting, June 26, representatives of the member congregations of the UMJC overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling on the government of Israel to end discrimination against Messianic Jews under Israel's Law of Return." Right. A resolution. Was that passed before or after the resolution that Yeshua is the Messiah?
Are religious institutions modern day temples of worship, or are they just glorified social clubs, fraternities and sororities for grown men and women who need a retreat, a safe place to feel special and important in an increasily secularized world? "Business meetings"? "Resolutions"? Isn't the business of a group of believers to worship G-d in Spirit and in Truth? Shouldn't their resolve be focused on faithfully living out the calling given to us by our Messiah, a calling that established us as a nation on Mt. Sinai? Why do believers continually seek secular solutions to spiritual problems? In the case of Israeli believers, discrimination isn't the business; Yeshua is the business, the rest is just paperwork. Messianics love to tout that they've got an identity, a lifestyle--not a Sunday religion. But they don't-- not as long as they resolve to petition secular governments for protection.
I spent the first 20 years of my life in the believing world--Christian churches and Messianic synagogues alike--and the next 7 in the secular world. In the believing world there is this stigma associated with questioning authority and tradition; you just don't do it. In the secular world, especially the young, postmodern portion thereof, everything is under scrutiny. Every tradition, every idea, every thought, every person is held under a magnifying glass and virtually ripped apart. People like to argue that the reason Christians avoid the "Old Testament" is because they can't handle the idea of a harsh, punishing, warrior G-d of judgement. Yet believers, no matter how they culturally identify themselves, all manage to skip over the harsh judgements cast by Yeshua, especially when it came to the so-called religious and political authorities who surrounded Him. Yeshua was all about questioning human decision-making in all its forms because He operated on the Torah principle: "If you fear Me and My armies, you need fear nothing else." Believers are trained to think that if you question leadership, you're questioning the Leader-- when, in reality, you're only questioning the human government over your own head.
As believers in Messiah, we should always feel free to question the human authorities around us. We are equipped to do so-- "what is in Yeshua is truth" [Ephesians 4:21] therefore, if we know Yeshua, we know truth. If we fear G-d, we need fear nothing and no one else. Hold the tenents, the traditions, and the teachers and leaders up to the test. Use the discernment of the Ruach. If enough of us do, we will be operating in unity because we will no longer rely on the resolutions of others, but on the simple Truth of G-d.
Labels: Christianity, identity, Israel, Messianic Judaism
posted by Shoshana @ 6:21 PM
Freedom's Current Crisis (Or, Messianic Politics 101)
Sunday, March 16, 2008
I grew up with an intense desire to avoid political discussion at all costs. I was raised in a home that functioned on an intense undercurrent of conservative politics. However, certain things were not considered polite dinner table conversation. When I told a visiting professor, who happened to be a Communist non-practicing Jew, that our family did not discuss G-d, sex, or politics publicly, I had to scrape his jaw off the table. But, it was true. My grandfather ruled the larger roost and when it came to topics that could be perceived as divisive, we were quickly told to, "Cut it off." Outside of a few screaming memes from my mother, who anxiously shouted, "Liars! Anti-Semites!" at the occasional CNN reporter, or my father's random disparaging remarks about the Clintons, I was fairly unexposed to political dialogue. I preferred it that way. Politics were ugly and divisive, and besides, as a kid I was part of the disengaged non-electorate, anyway. I had better things to focus on-- like Torah, Judaism, and Israel.
I didn't truly begin to become aware of the tight-knit relationship between real life and politics until my first graduate seminar in the fall of 2002 when, in an introduction to film theory, my professor informed us that, "Everything is political." At first, I didn't believe him, but I came to see quite clearly that this was true: film theorists and academics in general would strive to attach political meaning to the most benign actions imaginable. Films about out of work actors doing summer stage became tomes rife with communist innuendo (at least, according to communist theorists). Suddenly, everything I encountered had a political platform. Everyone was trying to shove some ideology down my throat. And, nine times out of ten, that ideology ran completely against the moral foundation upon which I was raised.
My first year in graduate school was a nightmare. I couldn't make heads nor tails out of what my professors were trying to teach me. Fortunately, there was an "oddball" in my class, the avowed conservative libertarian among a bunch of unaffiliated liberals who had no problem speaking up and speaking sense into classroom discussions. I may not always have been able to follow him to the T, but thanks to his commentary, I could clearly see that the complex, nonsensical theories of my professors were based in dangerous ideological territory and, consequently, had far-reaching, disastrous implications. For that first year, I sat and listened-- a lot. I did what my grandfather had always taught us to do: I kept my eyes and ears open, and my mouth shut.
I still recall that night reality finally hit home. Walking up the steps to my apartment after class, it suddenly dawned on me: I'm not the one that's wrong-- they are. I realized that the moral foundation I was raised with was the right one. I also understood very clearly that, not only was I allowed to have my own opinion, I should be allowed to express it, openly and honestly. But, as I watched my conservative peer catch guff time and time again, I knew that if I wanted to complete my program successfully, it would be better for me to keep my opinions to myself. So, I did. I muddled along and became the only one in my class to graduate on time with honors.
When I arrived home, as exhausted as I was, I knew I had work to do. This time, I set my sights on studying everything I wasn't permitted to research as a student at a public university. I poured over books by conservatives, beginning with Slander by Ann Coulter, and working my way from there, first with media commentaries (authors like Bernard Goldberg) since that was my arena of study in school, and then expanding into government and history. Naturally, I gravitated towards political texts regarding Israel and the Jewish people-- books like The War Against the Jews and The Abandonment of the Jews that my mother had read in her Holocaust history course worked in naturally with books I had read for my thesis, like Hollywood: An Empire of their Own. Eventually, thanks to one of Coulter's references, I picked up Whittaker Chambers's Witness, which led me to John Loftus's The Secret War Against the Jews.
At the same time, I began to follow political news online, reading both mainstream sources as well as independent conservative blogs like Israpundit. Thanks to these blogs, I tuned into authors like Ken Timmerman (Preachers of Hate) and Ben Shapiro (Brainwashed). I also immersed myself in conservative talk radio, taking my summer off to listen to Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, and my personal favorite, WABC's Mark Levin. And, I made it a point to listen to Israeli talk radio via Arutz Sheva-- the conservative, religious-Zionist "renegade" station that broadcasted off the shores of the Promised Land.
In short, I became consumed with all I had sought to ignore in the world. In a matter of three months, I had read somewhere between 30 and 40 books and spent countless hours online or next to a radio. I studied what was going on in Israel and America, with a special focus on how the media portrayed conservatives, conservative issues, and everything related to Israel and the Jewish people. In doing so, it became very clear to me that the agenda marketed by the media was the same agenda shoved down my throat in graduate school: anti-Israel, anti-G-d, and anti-everything associated with Him. Comprehending this allowed me to understand one other thing very, very clearly: In possessing these attitudes, the media and the academy, the institutions I had believed I would devote my life's work to, were against me.
And that is when I got angry.
"If the world hates you, understand that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would have loved its own. But, because you do not belong to the world, on the contrary, I have picked you out of the world therefore the world hates you. Remember what I told you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they kept my word, they will keep yours too. But they will do all this to you on my account, because they don't know the One who sent me." (Yeshua, Yochanan 15:18-21)
I had always known Scripture to be true. But I had never experienced the hatred of this world, so until I did, I could not fully understand the Truth I had been given. I knew that the situation I was confronting-- this battle Ronald Reagan had so easily boiled down to the fight "between good and evil"-- was bigger than me, and had been going on longer than I had been around, longer than my parents or grandparents had been on this earth, for that matter. I wanted to go back down the line, to understand how we had arrived where we were at that point in time.
First, I went back to Chambers's book that detailed the infiltration and influence of communism on the American government in the 1930s. That, I knew, had resulted in the persecution of Jewish Americans in Hollywood, as well as a lack of American response to the Holocaust. Therefore, it was clear to see that communism was an anti-Israel ideology. The next step was to read Marx for myself, as well as to research the existence of Marxism in its various forms around the globe-- Cuba, Russia, China, all anti-Israel in nature. Cuba, in fact, was the first government to establish ties with Yasser Arafat and even open a "Palestinian Embassy" on their soil. Many of the communist terrorist organizations of the 60s and 70s had strong ties to the PFLP, the PLO, and the other muslim Arab terror organizations Israel fights today.
Learning this naturally led me to study the connection between Islam and Marx. Two years before it even started to become public via the blogosphere, I knew and understood that the relationship between communism and Islam went further back than Castro and Arafat, straight to Hitler and the Mufti. Hitler, it seems, wasn't so much about the promotion of the aryan race as he was about the destruction of the Jewish people, and he found an ally in a proponent of the oldest Israel-hating religion on the face of the earth: Islam. One night I found a Koran in an old book shop, and sat there copying verses about killing Jews onto scrap paper I found in my purse. I couldn't bear to buy the book and actually have it in my home, so I scrawled notes and proceeded to bury the text back on the shelf. My research was complete. I knew, then, for sure that the battle I was witnessing had been, and always would be about the existence of Israel.
In October of 2004, five months after I had graduated, I began writing down everything I had learned over the summer. I wanted the text to be brief and basic, but strong enough to substantiate the claims I was making. The original goal was to get down on paper everything I knew to be true for my own self, lest I forget all the wonderful knowledge I had just been given. In the end, however, I realized that my brief could be a great source for people like me-- the average, hard-working, middle class reader, who wanted to understand what was going on in the world, but who lacked the time to read 40 books and sit by a radio for six hours a day.
I completed the work in less than a month. After that, life changed. I entered the working world and set this particular work aside. A few weeks ago, I pulled it out and looked at it. Four years later, it was a dated, but not out-dated piece. So many things have happened since October of 2004. Bush was re-elected on a pro-Israel platform, only to turn around and force Israel to evict 9,000 citizens in the name of "peace." Ariel Sharon, the lion of the settlements, is now comatose while 75% of the residents of Gush Katif still wait for permanent housing.
A month after the eviction, Hurricane Katrina smacked into New Orleans and evangelical preachers proclaimed it a judgement of G-d. John Hagee formed Christians United for Israel, forcing liberals into hissyfits over neocon influence and the "power and control" of the "religious right". Condi Rice and the State Department have morphed into an anti-Israel cabal bent on the division of Jerusalem by the end of '08, something the Israeli government of Olmert and Livni are more than willing to do. Eight students from the ages of 16 to 28 studying Torah at the heart of religious Zionism in Jerusalem were murdered by a muslim terrorist. Now, the disenfranchised religious Zionists are ready to take justice into their own hands.
Jewish people from France are making aliyah in record numbers while conditions for Jews all over Europe continue to worsen. Jewish students at UC Berkeley and Temple University, among other schools, have been physically attacked and pro-Zionist students all over North America are facing growing anti-Israel, pro-muslim bias on campus. At the same time, the Christian Church is dividing into pro- and anti-Israel camps, with evangelicals touting Genesis 12:3 on one hand and various denominations divesting from Israel on the other. In the midst of it all, a growing number of gentile Christians are seeking to understand the history of their own faith and, in doing so, are acknowledging and embracing the fact that their Messiah is and their forefathers were all devout, practicing Jews.
Yes, many events have taken place since October, 2004. But the text of Freedom's Current Crisis still stands as a record of everything that led up to this point in time. Yeshua taught us, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light," and so it is, this truth of our history. What frustrated me so much about academia was that everything they taught as truth was, in reality, confusing, twisted, and non-sensical. Shortly after I returned home, I was given these verses from Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in Adonai with all your heart; do not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him; then He will level your paths." The world likes us to believe that truth is a hard thing and knowledge is impossible to achieve. The world likes us to believe that you have to possess a great deal of accredited education and associated wealth to be able to understand how life really works. This is a lie. Truth is free. G-d is free. And you cannot put a dollar value on trust. Anyone can understand, know, and live the truth. They just have to want it badly enough.
I pray that the frustration I was driven to will not be what leads you to seek out the truth for yourself. And I pray that, in its own humble way, Freedom's Current Crisis will pay honor to G-d's promise: "The truth will set you free."
Labels: America, Christianity, Islam, Israel, Judaism, Judeo-Christianity, Marxism, politics, religion
posted by Shoshana @ 12:37 PM
Yom Yerushalayim Sameach
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Today, we celebrated the re-unification of Jerusalem under Jewish leadership through the Providential hand of HaShem in 1967.
How did we celebrate it? The Israeli Air Force is busy bombing Hamas rocket launching stations in Gaza, in an attempt to ward off the latest round of barrages into Israeli towns including Sderot, which has basically been bombarded non-stop since the Jewish eviction from Gush Katif in August 2005. In the meantime, the Israeli government has passed legislation requiring a general referendum before future land withdrawals can be arranged, keeping Judea, Samaria, and the Golan safe--at least, for now.
And the Messianic community is still busy arguing over who's the better Jew, and, more importantly, which Jew is better at getting Jews to believe in Messiah. It really is as asinine as it is entertaining. Considering the fact that it is the Ruach that convicts, and as servants of Yeshua we are to be operating in tandem with the Ruach, the only thing we're scoring points at is giving ourselves too much credit while arguing over a moot point.
In the meantime, I recently attended an awesome Yeshiva hosted by one of the most educated Bible scholars I've ever met. In a private conversation regarding all things Israel, he can openly state that he is a Messianic Jew. However, when publicly addressing a room full of gentile Christians eager to know and understand the truth of their faith in Messiah, the most he can say is, "We're One New Man." Tell me where in scripture Yeshua is quoting as saying, "I came to establish One New Man"? Then again, I can't blame the guy: when one of the largest Messianic associations in the country refers to gentiles as "Associate Members," can you really expect any Christian to embrace, let alone believe, that they, too, have been made Jewish through their faith in Messiah Yeshua?
In the meantime, the United States continues to turn her back on Israel in bigger and bolder ways. The Evangelical Christian community feels free to voice their opinions about the matter and even train American Christian college students to advocate for Israel on campus. Yet, where is the Messianic Jewish community's Zionist voice? How many praise and worship songs do we sing about Zion-- yet how many of these passionate claims can we back up with truth and actions?
Sometimes, I get the feeling I should've titled this blog "The Disunified Body". The Ruach is no respecter of persons, but apparently the believing community can like and dislike, use and abuse anybody they want. They can pick and choose which causes suit their needs and fit their agendas based on which side of the argument they're currently on. And if it really doesn't suit them, they don't need to pay attention to reality at all. Now, if that doesn't bring glory to HaShem and edification to the nation of Israel, I don't know what does.
So many people argue that right after we regained the Temple Mount, we rescinded it back to the Arabs out of fear. Instead of joining the bandwagon, tell me, as a believer: What are you doing to get it back? You're a stone in the living temple, right? What are you going to do about finding yourself--and your fellow stones--a home?
Labels: Christianity, Israel, Messianic Judaism, Zionism
posted by Shoshana @ 9:37 PM
Zionism and Americanism
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
The more I embrace my Jewish identity, the more I realize how all-encompassing it is: Jewish identity translates into faith (Messianic Judaism), into nationalism (Zionism), and into a code for daily living (Torah). Judaism, when done the right way, is an all-encompassing essence, because HaShem is an all-encompassing G-d; He is El Shaddai.
As I reconnect with the Christian world, I am startled by the differences I see when it comes to the concept of "living out faith." Because of the cultural stripping of nation (Israel) and creed (Torah) the Christian world (at least in America) is often like a ship set adrift into the ocean with no real captain or land-goal. What I've really started to notice is this strain in American Christian thinking that prompts Christians to view America as some sort of Zion of the Christian world. Perhaps this is a notion subconsciously fed by replacement theology--but I doubt it. The motivation isn't so much about hating the Jews as it is about being envious of us. That is, to say, Christians are realizing how incredibly polarized they are as a community in America, therefore, as they dig more and more into scripture, and read all about how G-d gave the Israelites a land to call their own, the Christians realize that they want a land to call their own, too. They want that safe haven where they can worship G-d freely.
Now, to a Christian mind that is trained to believe in anything ranging from replacement theology to dual-covenant theology, Israel is not the land they have in mind to call their own. Besides, why would they want a strip of land the size of New Jersey that's riddled with terrorists, when they can stay right here in the "greatest country on the earth"? These Christians are also nostalgic for the America that was- the America that prayed in school and had good, solid, Biblical values. So, what do you see arising in Christian circles? Talk of reclaiming the nation for Jesus. This translates into both non-fiction speeches and writings by noted Christian figures, as well as a slew of historical fiction novels set on the American frontier line the Christian section in your local bookstore.
Ben Franklin originally wanted our national seal to depict Moses standing over a parted sea with the Israelites crossing to safety. That is how heartily he correlated the American revolutionary experience with the liberation of the Hebrews in Exodus. As heartwarming as that notion is, I can't help but think, as a Messianic Jew who understands the fullness of scriptures like Deuteronomy 29, Ezekiel 47, and Romans 9-11, that there is more to the future and hope of the Christian world than a reclamation of America. Not that seeing America return to her Biblical foundations would be a bad thing-- quite the opposite is the case! It's just that, well, why go for a slice of the pie when you can have the whole cake?
Labels: America, Christianity, identity, Israel, Messianic Judaism, Zionism
posted by Shoshana @ 9:24 PM
Being Desperate for Yeshua
Sunday, March 04, 2007
"Why are you surfing the Internet on Purim?"
Call it taking a break between the festivities. In my yen for online sermons, I stumbled across this gem from up-and-coming Messianic leader Joshua Brumbach, who argues for unity in the believing community, and concludes that:
G-d doesn't want the people who think that they can do it all; G-d wants the people who are just desperate enough to see it happen.Baruch haShem for the Mordecais in the community, and a double Baruch haShem to Mr. Brumbach's closing prayer.
Check it out. Be blessed.
Purim Sameach!
Labels: Christianity, Holy Spirit, Messianic Judaism, Ruach HaKodesh, unity, Yeshua
posted by Shoshana @ 2:45 PM
