The Conscience of the King

I'll have grounds
More relative than this—the play's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.
-Hamlet Act 2, scene 2, 603–605

My point today doesn't have much to do with Hamlet's scene to verify whether or not his uncle murdered his father (the former King) by inserting a few well placed lines in a play Claudius will be watching, just to see if he'll react, but I like the quote and it is the title of a Star Trek original series episode.

My real point is how people sometimes treat the King as a commoner. We don't see this sort of behavior in the Bible accounts of the life of Jesus (Yeshua) ever, yet in the church today, we see and hear many people refer to the Master, Lord, and Messiah as if he were a cuddly teddy bear. I won't quote what specific individuals have said, but I have heard people in casual conversation talk about climbing in Jesus's lap, as if they were a small child (these are adults we're talking about), cuddling with him when going to sleep, and I've heard people, when addressing God the Father in prayer, referring to Him as "Daddy."

Daddy?

This last bit comes from a misunderstanding of the Hebrew word "Abba", which is a less formal version of the word "Av" meaning "Father". "Abba" doesn't actually translate into "Daddy" and it's not that familiar a term. It is usually said by smaller children when addressing their fathers, but even if Jesus used the word when addressing God the Father, it doesn't mean we have the same license to treat the All-Powerful Creator of the Universe in such a fashion.

Fortunately, God is forgiving of our misunderstandings, but just how do you treat a King?

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” -Jude 1:14-15

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. -Revelation 1:17-18

Notice that John, when he saw the living Messiah, didn't run up to him and give him a great, big hug. He fell at the Master's feet "as though dead." Of course, Jesus did tell John not to be afraid, for John was given this vision for a reason, but it doesn't mean that the living Word of God is someone to be treated as if he were your favorite uncle, either. Look how a similar vision affected the Prophet Daniel:

In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me. -Daniel 7:13-15

God, the King of Eternity, is not some sort of "cosmic cuddle toy" nor is the Son of God, the Messiah, our High Priest in the Heavenly Court (Hebrews 4:14-16) someone upon whose shoulder we can rest our head as if he were a "boyfriend" or "lover".

I'm not naive nor completely insensitive. I know that many believers carry hurts and grief and need a personal comforter. Often, people in their lives have let them down and they don't have someone with whom they can rely, especially when, like most of us, they (we) "need a hug". Many Pastors and Sunday school teachers tell their listeners that Jesus is incredibly approachable, lovable, loving, fluffy, huggy, and every body's best friend. However, when he returns to us, he will be none of those things:

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. -Revelation 19:11-15

Frankly, I wouldn't want to get in his way.

This isn't to say that Jesus isn't reliable, compassionate, understanding, or that he's unwilling to give us a hand. After all, he died for us, suffered the punishment for all of our sins for us, and when we pray in his name, he intercedes for us with the Father...and a whole bunch of us pray a lot.

It does mean that he deserves proper honor and respect. We tend to forget how to treat a king, because, especially in the U.S., we have no real respect for authority, including our own President. In ancient times, one did not simply walk up to a king and say "Hi, bud. What's happening?" Esther (Hadassah) was married to a king and even she, as a queen, couldn't approach him with impunity:

Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.” -Esther 4:9-11

For the sake of her people, Esther fasts and prays for three days, summons her courage, and approaches her husband the king, risking certain death:

On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance. When he saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. -Esther 5:1-2

Fortunately King Xerxes (Ahasuerus) was pleased at the sight of Esther and extended his scepter, allowing her to approach. The Master is merciful and gracious to us, allowing us to approach the King whenever we need to, regardless of our circumstances:

“Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” -Matthew 18:19-20

"And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it" -John 14:13-14

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him" -1 John 5:14-15

My previous reference of Hebrews 4 establishes for us that our High Priest understands and empathizes with us because he too has lived a completely human life. He knows about our struggles, pains, and sorrows, for he experienced the same things we do now, with only one difference; he never sinned.

We can pray to Jesus and rely on him as our intercessor with the Father. He is our Savior and King; our protector and comforter. Yet, we need to remember always, that this isn't Uncle Buck we're "snuggling up to"; this is the living Word who became flesh for our sakes and who will return in all of his glory, in majesty and honor...and he will be fearsome!

By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear. -Isaiah 45:23

It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’” -Romans 14:11

Good Shabbos.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.

The Danger Zone

For most Christians, who don't have a conservative evangelical view like the one I had, these textual facts can be interesting, but there is nothing in them to challenge their faith, which is built on something other than having the very words that God inspired in the Bible. And I certainly never intended to lead anyone away from the Christian faith; critics who have suggested that I myself stopped being a Christian once I realized there were differences among our manuscripts are simply wrong and being ridiculous.

Bart D. Ehrman
Jesus Interrupted (2009)

I've got less than 100 pages of Ehrman's book left, but as his writing unfolds before me, I'm gaining a greater understanding of what he's trying to communicate. There is, indeed a danger of a Christian's faith taking a serious hit by reading Ehrman's scholarly opinion (which is based on lots of research) that the Bible is a far less than perfectly consistent document. Yet, in the footnote accompanying the above-quote, Ehrman states that the "textual variants in the manuscript tradition of the New Testament" did not lead to his loss of faith, but rather it was "the problem of suffering (in the world) "that eventually led me to become an agnostic."

I actually suspect that the issue of suffering for Ehrman was much more personal than simply a feeling of anguish over the suffering of the world wide population of humans, both in the present and throughout history. In his recorded debate with Dr. Michael Brown on whether or not the Bible provides an adequate explanation for human suffering, Ehrman states that his father's diagnosis of cancer and subsequent death had a significant impact. Ehrman further states during the debate, that a Christian "ministered" to his father, anointed him with oil and told him point blank that God would heal him. No, not that God might heal him, could heal him, or had the power to heal him but, according to Ehrman's account, the Christian said that God would (apparently without a shadow of a doubt) heal him.

Ehrman says his father was tormented for the rest of his days by this pronouncement and was not healed but instead died.

I can't possibly know everything that happened relative to these events and exactly how Ehrman's faith was deconstructed since I only have one book and one recording to go on. However, based on not only the words but the tone of both Ehrman's voice in the recording, and the "tone" of Ehrman's words in his book, he seems to be very angry.

Keep in mind, I can't know this, I can only infer some sort of meaning from the two sources I just mentioned.

What's this got to do with you and me? Plenty.

What is faith?

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. -Hebrews 11:1-2

That's the standard Christian response to my question but it doesn't even begin to touch on what faith really means. In the class I taught last night, as part of our discussion on what Jesus taught about humility and mercy, someone asked "How do you know that you've really been forgiven?"

Good question. There's no objective event that occurs when you are forgiven of your sins by God. Both Luke 5:20 and James 5:15 say that faith is the required ingredient for forgiveness. Mark 16:16 says that "he who believes and is baptized shall be saved." In other words, God doesn't give us a certificate of proof when he forgives us of our sins. We "know" we are forgiven, based on the relevant passages in the Bible and particularly by faith.

James, I am very concerned about the slippery slope you are on. You are reading the same books (Ehrman, etc.) that my formerly zealous intellectual Messianic friends read....and they ended up rabid atheists spewing the most horrid blasphemies against the God of the Bible all over the Internet. It breaks my heart to watch these train wrecks unfold before my eyes. The cognitive dissonance you are experiencing is dangerous. I have seen this confusion take its toll on others very close to me. Please be careful! Praying for you.....and all of us.

Tandi's comment on Judah Himango's blog post
Set Your Hope On Moses

I suppose just reading books by scholars like Bart Ehrman can be dangerous to one's faith, but on the other hand, if faith cannot survive close scrutiny, how much of a faith can it be? At the end of Jesus Interrupted (which I haven't read yet), Ehrman answers the question about whether or not he believes there can be a faith after understanding (and accepting) his perspective on the limited validity and internal inconsistencies of the Bible. At this point, I'm convinced there can be a faith. It wasn't the "evidence" or lack thereof contained in the Bible that resulted in Ehrman's decision to put aside his faith, but his experiences with suffering (and I'll be fair here), both of a personal nature and based on his compassion for humanity in general, that resulted in his walking away from God.

And yet, there are many, many believers across history who have suffered as much or more, have questioned the Bible severely, and who have undergone crises of faith, and still clung tightly to the living God. The answer to keeping your faith or losing it isn't based on external conditions alone. Faith is personal. No two people experience faith in exactly the same way, anymore than no two married couples experience their love and attachment to each other in an identical fashion.

Bart Ehrman and people like him (including my own brother) who once had a faith and then lost it, have decided to put it away (saying a person has "lost" their faith implies that it was accidentally misplaced, not that the person made a conscious and deliberate decision to not have that faith anymore) for individual and personal reasons. It's the difference (in general terms) between one married couple whose relationship survives a series of terrible problems and continues to exist and even perhaps becomes stronger, and another married couple who goes through the same problems and decides to divorce. The only difference for us is that God is always faithful in His relationships; it is we human beings who are the weak link in the relationship.

Ehrman made a decision to tell God that he wanted a "divorce". His decision doesn't have to affect anyone else and it certainly doesn't have to affect me. Does that mean my faith is blind and that I deny all objective evidence and cling to God in a superstitious manner? Not at all. It does mean that faith is more than examining the books of the Bible from a purely historical perspective, and viewing God's word from a strictly literalist, all-or-nothing, point of view.

I can't grow and strengthen my faith unless I challenge it. I can only challenge it by stepping outside my comfort area into the danger zone, and exposing myself to different perspectives on who Jesus is and what he means. Too many believers sit in church pews week after week as if they were in a warm, comfortable womb, and allow their Pastors to teach and preach only on how much Jesus loves us and how forgiveness is always available...and who completely ignore any responsibility we may have to God and to our fellow human beings as believers and disciples of the Jewish Messiah.

Hard questions and even questions that have no apparent answer don't mean that faith is lost. It means that faith is challenged. Some people's faith can survive the challenge, much as Jacob survived his struggle with the angel (Genesis 32:22-32). Faith can win the struggle against impossible odds and even if we are "injured" in the way Jacob was, we are also stronger.

While faith and a relationship with God is personal and unique and thus our challenges of faith are individual, we can't forget the world around us. God originally charged the Children of Israel to be a light to the world (Isaiah 42:6) and I recently mentioned that when we became disciples of the Jewish Messiah, we also inherited that responsibility (Matthew 5:14) and so, like Bart Ehrman, we must be concerned not just with our lives or the lives of those we love, but about everyone, everywhere. That's what "For God so loved the world" (John 3:16) means. But rather than let the "human condition" drive us from God, we need to respond to human suffering the way that God does; with compassion and a message of hope, even when we can't see how everything is going to turn out. That's the short definition of "faith".

500 years ago or so, someone said it this way:

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

John Donne
Meditation 17
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.

Could You Live Without the Internet for Just One Day?

I know that most of the people in the Messianic world "rest" on the Shabbat, from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, but the level of "rest" is most likely variable. In Judaism, and particularly within an Orthodox framework, the requirements that make up a Shabbat rest are numerous and specific. Chances are, most non-Jews who have adopted the Shabbat don't rest as "well" as they (we) could.

For instance, do you turn off your computer, your iPad, your smart phone, and all of your other electronic communications devices before Shabbat candlelighting and keep them off until after Havdalah the next evening?

I may be asking a lot of people, including myself. After all, most of us, including our Messianic Jewish brothers and sisters drive to shul and perform other acts that would be considered "breaking the Shabbat" in an Orthodox context. While "keeping the commandments" usually requires building up set of habits and behavioral patterns over the span of years or even decades, as human beings, we usually reach a "comfort zone" of Shabbat activities and then stay there. In other words, we don't try to get closer to the goals we originally set for ourselves when we first made a commitment to a Sabbath's rest.

I bring all this up because I received a prompt from the Sabbath Manifesto site announcing that the Shabbat starting at sundown on March 4, 2011 is the National Day of Unplugging.

Think of it as a challenge to help improve your Sabbath rest. Could you completely unplug from all of your electronic communication devices for over 24 hours? Could you sign out of your email, stop tweeting and Facebooking, turn off your cell, and log off your computer?

Are you getting the shakes? No Internet or electronic communications for approximately 25 hours. That's harder for some people than not eating for the same amount of time (remember Yom Kippur?).

The idea isn't to deprive you in any way, but to help you reclaim your lives and insert more friend and family face-to-face interactions. This allows you more time to "smell the roses", so to speak, to study the Word of God, to fellowship with like minded people of the faith, to do all of the things the Shabbat was designed for. This isn't restriction; it's freedom from a sort of tyranny what we allow to control us the other six days of the week.

If you keep the Sabbath but would like to keep it better, there's hope. If you are a Jew, a Christian, or anyone who'd like to live without phone calls, texting, tweeting, IMing, and emailing for just one day, in order to experience what the rest of your life is like, take the National Day of Unplugging 2011 challenge. If you keep the Shabbat, but not this deeply, you could experience greater rewards of rest and peace. If you don't typically take a rest day from your electronics, give it a try. You may find a freedom you never knew existed.

On the seventh day God finished the work that He had been doing, and He ceased on the seventh day from all the work that He had done. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because on it God ceased from all the work of creation that He had done. -Genesis 2:2-3

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.

Straightening the Path

While we have the responsibility of being "a light unto the nations" (Isaiah 42:6), we first have to be a light unto each other. As the saying goes, "charity begins at home." Still, we can't let this task overwhelm us to the point where we are either only good to Jews or only good to non-Jews. The more consistently we try treat other people well, the easier it will become to achieve both outcomes. Whether we're in shul on Friday night or out shopping during the week, we must always strive for top-notch behavior. Because of who we are, the world scrutinizes everything we do. At times, this is frustrating, but it isn't always a bad thing. It can also be a great opportunity to show people the kind of character God truly desires.

from The Chosen People
on the Lev Echad blog.

Does any of that sound familiar? As believers in the Jewish Messiah, we struggle to live a holy life that is pleasing to God (and I should know...I'm wrestling particularly hard with my "angel", just now). In the above example, Asher at Lev Echad is focusing on a life of righteousness based on God's requirement that the Jewish people are to be a "light to the world." In Judaism, obeying God is less what you believe or understand as an internal state, and more of a lifestyle. How you act and what you do counts for a whole lot more than how you conceptualize God (more "deed" than "creed", as I've heard said).

In Christianity, no one is chosen in the sense that Jews are chosen. If you're Jewish, you were chosen by virtue of being born to Jewish parents (or in less common situations, you choose to be a Jew by converting, thus you "choose to be chosen", as did Ruth). In Christianity (including Gentiles in the Messianic movement), such is not the case. While we may see ourselves as chosen "before the creation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4, 1 Peter 1:20), we, in fact, do have a choice to be a Christian or not. The responsibility isn't thrust upon us because we were born into a particular family, even if our parents are Christians.

Asher makes clear that being Jewish doesn't make a Jew better than anyone else; it simply defines the responsibilities of a Jew to God and to the world as different than the members of any other people group:

It has absolutely nothing to do with racial or ethnic superiority. It simply means we have a unique mission to make the world aware of God and his ethical demands. That's it. These demands are basic values of decency that everyone can understand and abide by, regardless of who they are or where they came from.

He makes it even clearer that Jewish behavior, as recorded in the Tanakh (Old Testament), is a very humbling example of why being chosen has nothing to do with individual or national merit:

We are not worthy of this title on our own merits. God only chose us because we are the descendants of the first ethical monotheist, Abraham (Genesis 18:19). That's the sole reason. In fact, to prevent ourselves from any arrogance that might be compelled by this title, one has to look no further than episodes throughout Tanach, where we have often failed to live up to God's standards. This is hardly a tradition based on inherent superiority. Instead, goodness is always based upon a person's overall behavior.

That last sentence is compelling because it seems to be extremely simple and straightforward. As I've been reading (currently from Bart Ehrman's Jesus Interrupted) and studying, the road that points toward holiness seems to be very complicated, with many twists and turns. It's like trying to untangle a knot in a string that was tied by Escher.

I think one of the attractions some people have toward Judaism is that it seems so much more "tangible" than Christianity. While the 613 commandments and their interpretations can be enormously complex, at the core, a Jew's behavior is well-defined and can be reduced down to a fairly plain statement:

That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn. -Shabbat 31a

Jesus (Yeshua) said something similar, but phrased it as a set of positive rather than negative commandments:

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” -Mark 12:28-31 (Deut. 6:4-5, Lev. 19:18)

Put that way, it seems as if the core of both Judaism and Christianity (and Messianic Judaism) is quite within our grasp. If we didn't know what else to do to live a life of righteousness, we could read those brief statements of Hillel and Jesus and then begin to implement them in our daily lives. Just realize what is "hateful" to you and then do not commit such acts toward others. Jesus expands on the concept and says that the source of our ability to do so resides in loving God with an intense love, and then to treat others in a way you would prefer to be treated.

That doesn't sound too hard, at least conceptually, but Hillel provides the clue as to what else is required: "That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn".

That's where I am now.

Those of us who call ourselves Christians have, in some sense, taken on board the original mandate of God to the Jews to be a "light to the world" (Matthew 5:14) and therefore, we are also responsible to live holy lives, not just for our own sakes and not just for God's, but for the sake of the people around us. In closing his blog spot, Asher describes Jewish "chosenness" and responsibility this way:

Due to the antagonism and responsibility this title brings, there's an old joke that most Jews would have preferred if God had chosen someone else. Nevertheless, spreading ethical monotheism to the world rests on our shoulders. The Chosen People idea is not dogma but historical fact. It's a powerful concept, but nothing to brag about. It's simply a calling we must try to live up to.

While Christians aren't Jews, if we call the Jewish Messiah our Lord and Master, then we also must try to live up to our calling. Not having been born into it, we have chosen to adopt that responsibility as our own and to transmit it to everyone we encounter, not so much by evangelism or proselytizing, but by treating everyone we meet respectfully and decently, just as we want to be treated.

Asher quotes the Reverend Edward H. Flannery as saying:

"It was Judaism that brought the concept of a God-given universal moral law into the world . . . the Jew carries the burden of God in history [and] for this has never been forgiven."

The Christian faith would not exist if not for the Jewish people, starting with Jesus, and continuing with the disciples who took the Good News to the pagan nations (the rest of us). While the process has seen many problems, and many difficulties exist in our understanding of who we are and what we must do, reading Hillel and Jesus also makes our mandate very clear. When in doubt (during the study of the Bible, for example), turn to God and out of an intense love for Him, love your neighbor (tangibly...not just "in your heart") just as you want God to love you.

For those of you who struggle with the concept of distinctions between people groups, I'd like to apply the words of Victor Frankl:

There are only two races of human beings: the decent and the indecent.

Jew or Christian, you can choose to obey God by loving God and by loving those around you, not just with your thoughts and feelings, but with your hands and your devotion.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.

Reading Lamp

Most people do not read the Bible this way. They assume that since all the books in the Bible are found between the same hard covers, every author is basically saying the same thing. They think that Matthew can be used to help understand John, John provides insights into Paul, Paul can help interpret the book of James, and so on. This harmonizing approach to the Bible, which is foundational to much devotional reading, has the advantage of helping readers see the unifying themes of the Bible, but it also has very serious drawbacks, often creating unity of thought and belief where originally there was none. The biblical authors did not agree on everything they discussed; sometimes they had deeply rooted and significant disagreements.

from Jesus, Interrupted
by Bart Ehrman

Does any of this sound or at least feel familiar? It should. Especially the part that says, sometimes they had deeply rooted and significant disagreements. That sounds like us. More accurately, that sounds like the many and varied expressions of what we call "Messianic Judaism" or even "Christianity" (and I suppose all of the mainstream Judaisms, as well). We don't agree. Sometimes that means, we don't get along. But could the cause of our "issues" go back as far as the writers of the New Testament itself?

That's quite a shock. Like many people, I'm used to reading the Bible as a book that, on an ultimate level, is completely internally consistent. However, this isn't the first time I've heard that not all of the NT writers agreed with each other.

I read another Christian scholar (whose name escapes me, but which is enshrined in one of my numerous, previous blog posts), who said that Paul and James disagreed on the fundamental relationship between Gentile and Jewish disciples in the Messianic community (church). Paul tended to grant the Gentile converts greater affinity and identity (according to this scholar, anyway) with the Jewish people than did James and the Jerusalem Council.

I'm currently only on page 64 of Erhman's book, so I don't know where he stands on many issues in detail, but assuming for the moment that it's true that the NT writers did not agree with each other on many theological issues, it makes it difficult for any of us to make a point "because the Bible says so".

For instance, both Messianic Jewish/Bilateral Ecclesiology (MJ/BE) and One Law (OL) groups defend their positions based on various Biblical passages, largely taken from the letters of Paul (and did Paul actually write all of the letters attributed to him?). Discovering the possibility that the Bible contains internally inconsistent and contradictory theologies, how can we make declarations of our various positions based on the Bible with any degree of certainty?

The short answer is "because we have to". Expanding on that a bit, I'll say that people don't do well existing within an extended period of ambiguity. We tend to like "closure", particularly in existential ("who am I?", "what is my purpose in life?") matters. We need to "know" the answer to the meaning of our lives and who we are in God (assuming we believe in God).

Hence we make decisions about what the Bible means and develop theologies, canons, codes, labels, and worship communities (churches, synagogues, whatever) based on those understandings.

But while they're all based on the same essential document (the Bible), all of our beliefs are different...sometimes really different from each other.

One of the points Ehrman goes on to make is that the Bible cannot simply be read, it must be "interpreted". The Bible, according to this book's author, cannot be read and taken at face value. Ironically, Judaism says the same thing about the Torah.

At least from a Chabad point of view, you cannot understand the Torah without an understanding and continual study of the Talmud. Further, the Bible not only requires interpretation (as opposed to a straight reading of the text), but it must be read through the specific lens of tradition. That is, not only must the Torah be interpreted using the Talmud, but there is only one, right way to interpret the Torah/Talmud based on established Rabbinic tradition.

I suppose the correct tradition varies depending on the particular branch of Judaism involved, which is why we see such variability in Jewish religious practice.

Recent write ups in the Messianic blogosphere, such as After Three Days? Third Day? Yeshua and Passover by Derek Leman and Set Your Hope on Moses by Judah Gabriel Himango have contributed to the examination of these issues in our little corner of the web, but my own missives The Deity Problem and An Old Dog Looking for a New Book have added to this discussion as well.

What does it all mean? I don't know.

But if I don't know, how can anyone else say that they do? We have Bible scholars all across the map disagreeing with each other on this bit of minutiae or that, so we can't point in any particular direction and say, the truth is there.

Did I say "truth"?

Wait a minute. Not long ago, I said that I believed (at least as it stands right now) that I see the Bible as God telling us the "truth" about Himself and His interactions with humanity, not the "facts" about Himself. There's a difference:

Archaeology is the search for fact... not truth. If it's truth you're looking for, Dr. Tyree's philosophy class is right down the hall.

-Professor Henry (Indiana) Jones Jr. (played by Harrison Ford)
from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Is the search for faith a search of facts, truth, or some combination of both?

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me. -John 14:6 (RSV)

It would have been a little ridiculous for Jesus (Yeshua) to say "I am the way, the fact, and the life...", but I hope you take my meaning. I'm not suggesting that we ignore the facts for the sake of our faith, but I am suggesting that we consider that the Bible is not primarily a book written by and for historians, but a document to be read though a "spiritual lens" in addition to the lens of history and fact.

As I continue with my reading and the exploration of the basis of my faith, I'll post more on these topics, but for now, I just want to say that when you make a declaration about what you believe, and what the Bible tells you about who you are and who others are in relation to you (of particular interest to Jews and Gentiles in the Messianic world), you are making declarations of faith...not necessarily fact.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. -Psalm 119:105

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark. But is the Word a light of fact or of truth?

Pursuing a Worthy Life

Jewish unity is possible - really! It begins with acting decently toward one another; it follows with tolerating others as they pursue lives of goodness; it culminates with many different Jews, but just one heart.
From Lev Echad

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. -Ephesians 4:1-6

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. -Ephesians 4:29-32

If the Apostle Paul was a Messianic Jewish blogger and his letter to the congregation in Galatia had been posted on his personal blog, how would it be received by those who read his post? Well, what follows are the comments from readers in response to Paul’s inspired post, ahem “epistle”.
Gene Shlomovich in his blog post:
If the Apostle Paul was a Messianic Jewish Blogger
on Daily Minyan

Paul seems to have a difference of presentation between what he said in Galatians and the advice he offers to the Gentile Messianic disciples in Ephesians. Paul said some pretty rough things to the churches in Galatia including admitting that he accused Peter of hypocrisy publicly (Galatians 2:11-13), calling the Galatians foolish (Galatians 3:1), and wishing the "Judaizers" would cut off their own genitals (Galatians 5:12). So what's all this business about not letting any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths? Is this a case of "do as I say and not as I do?"

It's almost as if Paul had received a personality transplant between these two letters, or could this be an example of what some New Testament scholars have found to be inconsistencies in the New Testament text?

Of course other scholars have suggested that the inconsistencies in the different Gospel accounts represent different theological points the Gospel writers were trying to make to different audiences, so I suppose we could consider Paul's change in attitudes between Galatians and Ephesians in that light. Paul may have been trying to make a point to the Galatians by using "rough talk" knowing they'd be more likely to respond to that language, while approaching the Ephesians using a different method, knowing that would work better with them.

But what about us and how we talk?

The Messianic blogosphere tends to justify its "rough talk" with each other based on Paul in Galatians, but is Paul's example in Ephesians ever used? I'd like to think that some of bloggers in our little corner of the web do so by example.

For instance, Michael Schiffman's blog is pretty much a very friendly place to visit. Even when he has a strong point to make, he doesn't do so by denigrating other people or allowing an abundance of such talk to inhabit the comments section of his blog. There are a number of others who behave similarly in the Messianic blogosphere...and a number of others who do not.

I try to maintain a kind of peace on my blog without succumbing to a sort of "Pollyanna" environment where only a peanut butter and jelly on Wonder Bread type of interaction is entertained. However, it's hard to strike a balance between encouragement and brotherly (and sisterly) support, and dealing with the hard questions of faith. I certainly am not going to hold myself up as an example of being completely humble and gentle; being patient, bearing with others in love (Ephesians 4:2), but I'd like to think I'm trying to head in that direction.

This is yet another "can't we get along" blog post in my long list of similar missives, but I was studying ahead to next Shabbat's readings, and what Paul was trying to say to the Ephesians sort of jumped out at me. I know, based on last Friday's blog post that there's no shame in focusing on my own spiritual and educational needs, but I can't easily separate my personal experiences from those of the community of faith. I'm not only a part of my immediate fellowship group, but of the larger Christian and Messianic community (since both Jews and Gentiles in those communities share a Messiah in common).

The light of the Messiah shines on the path of faith before us, but our own shadows obscure that path. I have experienced plenty of darkness as I've tried to proceed, and while I take responsibility for the shadow I cast, I urge anyone reading this to stop for a moment and check on the nature of your own lamp. How much of a light or a shadow are you?

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. -Revelation 20:12

It matters what we do or fail to do in the here and now. Please don't think it doesn't.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark. But there's always a light showing us the way. The Jewish Messiah called his disciples "a light to the world." Are we?

Walking

While it is important to assist in the welfare of others, developing one's own character is equally important. One must arrange individual priorities in order to accomplish this. As the sages put it, "Perfect yourself and afterwards, perfect others!" (Talmud Baba Batra 60b) Nothing is so incongruous to growth however, when the individual needs so much improvement him/herself and fails to take action. This should be one's focus first.
-from The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Talmud
by Rabbi Aaron Parry

If I gave you time to change my mind
I'd find a way just to leave the past behind
-from Reason to Believe (1965)
by Tim Hardin (as sung by Rod Stewart)

I finished Rabbi Parry's book last night and immediately launched into Bart Erhman's Jesus, Interrupted, but Rabbi Parry's book had something to say about my current journey of faith (and it's momentary interruption) and perhaps how I'm going to proceed.

While I'm sure I'll never become a "Talmud expert", I still enjoyed Rabbi Parry's book and thought it a good vehicle for communicating a very complex topic to "idiots" like me. For several years, I've been receiving a daily "Daf" (folio) from Daf Yomi Digest, and while there are periods of time when I neglect my daily studies, I've recently returned to reserving a time each day for their review.

I can't really say I'm "studying" Talmud, since that would require a context provided by a proper Talmud instructor and class environment, but I can at least glean small bits of wisdom from the illuminating "Stories off the Daf" (and I even occasionally blog on a topic inspired by a Daf).

In comparing my readings of Jewish vs. Christian sources, I continue to find myself more drawn to Jewish writing for some reason. It seems to resonate with me on a more emotional or spiritual level, and while Rav Ami says not to "give over words of the Torah to an outsider", Maimonidies and the Meiri (Rabbi Menachem ben Solomon, 1249-1316) support the position that "the only restriction for a non-Jew is to learn Torah or Talmud as if doing so is a divine commandment", however accessing "the knowledge and wisdom therein is fair game."

The latter statements seem to go along with other Rabbinic opinions I've read in the past few months, so there is a provision for a non-Jew to continue a daily review of Torah and Talmud topics as long as he (me) does not do so saying that it's a commandment from God. That said, it really is impossible for a Christian to gain a deeper meaning into the teachings of the Jewish Messiah and his Jewish disciples without studying Torah. Since it also seems impossible to understand the Torah without reading Talmud, continual exposure to all of these sources is a requirement.

However, the Talmudic opinions of the sages aren't going to cover all of the areas where I'm obviously lacking, hence my checking Jesus, Interrupted out of my local library.

I'm more calm now about the discovery of just how many holes exist in the Swiss cheese of my understanding of the Bible, God, and faith than I was just a day or two ago. I'm discovering that it's not necessarily unusual to have this sort of revelation somewhere along the journey. While I've said in the past that a life of faith isn't always a life of ease, I truly wasn't prepared for the detours and rough conditions along the path I've chosen (or the one God has chosen for me, I still can't figure out which is which).

Although I feel very unequipped to continue my teaching duties at my congregation as they are outlined for the next several months, I nevertheless must try to do my best given my current understanding. I probably have no business trying to teach others about something I struggle so much with myself, and I hope and pray that His wisdom will fill in the gaps where I am woefully lacking. As the Talmudic quote I placed at the beginning of this blog post states, before rescuing someone else from drowning in the ocean, you must first learn how to swim yourself. So far, all I've got going for me is a bit of dog paddling.

With what is the road to faith paved? I can't say it's paved just with the pages from the Bible, because that's only part of the story. True, the very famous Psalm 119:105 says, "Your Word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path", but that could mean both the Bible as a document and our "living Torah" the Jewish Messiah. I believe it also includes the wisdom and compassion of other people of faith as expressed both in their teachings and especially in their acts of lovingkindness.

All of the stones that pave the road are held together with an invisible, intangible cement which we call "spirituality". Intellect is not enough because it's far too easy to "think" our way out of the faith. While study, knowledge, and wisdom are vital elements in a life of faith, keeping it all in your head isn't the same as applying faith as a lived experience. That experience includes doing the Torah, so to speak, by using what you've learned and gained to help others in small and (if it be Hashem's will) great ways. But it also means cultivating a holy life, not just with your fellow human, but with God.

Yeshua's (Jesus's) two greatest commandments (Matthew 22:37-40, Mark 12:28-44) say that both are necessary, starting with loving God with everything that you are, and then, as a product of loving God, loving your neighbor as yourself. What Yeshua didn't say (but to which the Talmud alludes) is that, in order to have an effective love for your neighbor, the relationship with God is essential. Too many people go along hating or at least disliking themselves or feeling worthless or ineffectual in their lives. That's hardly a good model on which to base "loving your neighbor as yourself.".

At the risk of sounding sentimental, what we get out of a relationship with God is not just the experience of us loving Him but of Him loving us. "For God so loved the world..." (John 3:16) is just about the first Bible verse most Christians memorize and I think with very good reason. When we fail to apply it to our own flawed and damaged lives, it's also the first lesson many believers (including me) forget.

In pursuit of wisdom and knowledge, faith and particularly God's love, ends up taking a back seat and sometimes even gets kicked off the bus.

The road pointing to our goal can seem lonely and often I feel as I've always walked it alone. Sometimes the only way to feel the love of an intangible God is through what He's left here for me and for everyone. The Bible is imperfect because God's people are imperfect. Yes, God could have made a perfect Bible, but He also could have made perfect people. He chose not to do either of those things. When we complain that this Christian or that Jew isn't living up to the standards set by God, we are stating the obvious. Our imperfections are why we need Him. The Bible is the same thing. It's imperfect. That's why we need faith, perseverance, and a way to look through a "spiritual lens" to be able to keep walking on the road, even when our legs feel like lead weights, and even when all of the sign posts around say that the road leads to nowhere.

When the road is dark, the Word really does provide a "lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path". Even if you don't believe that, I'm going to proceed hopefully anyway. After every fall, there comes a time when you have to get up again. That's why we fell so much as children...so we could learn to pick ourselves up. What we don't always see, is that through faith, God is the One helping us to our feet, brushing us off, and pointing us in the right direction again.

Someone like you makes it easy to give
and never think about myself.

If I listened long enough to you
I'd find a way to believe that it's all true...

Still I look to find a reason
to believe.

-from Reason to Believe (1965)
by Tim Hardin (as sung by Rod Stewart)

Good Shabbos

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark. But there's always a light showing us the way. We just have to look for a reason to believe.