What In The World Is Going On Here?- 2 Shevat 5771

As a general rule, I hate computers. And I am not sure that Facebook is really helping it to win my affections. On the one hand, I am kind of isolated so it does give me connection to like-minded people. On the other hand, I read a lot of things that would have been better off unread. The majority of my “friends” are of the “Hebrew Roots, Torah based, believe the Bible as the Word of G-d” type people. There is a basic anti-church type sentiment, which goes along with being hurt by, let’s say, misguided truth, a fair dose of pagan phobia, and a lot of Bible only doers.

Being of the “Hebrew Roots, Torah based, believe the Bible as the Word of G-d” group is a good thing. Here we have people who have searched out the basis of their faith and found it to be Jewish in the beginning. They are returning to the only faith the Bible talks about in a good tone of voice.

The anti-church sentiment is something we need to get over. I had to come to the realization that the teachings I sat under were not a plot to deceive me. They were generally honest beliefs and understandings of the teachers. Like it or not, they are our brothers and sisters and the Torah and our Master said to love our brethren. Granted, this does not mean that we are going to get along with them. That is a different issue.

Pagan phobia is a whole monster in itself. This is where there is a highly intentional aversion to doing anything that might of at one time or another had some basis in paganism. Now, mind you, I am absolutely NOT advocating any form of paganism, but we have really got to get a grip on this. It is way out of hand. I don’t know if there is a single thing that one couldn’t find some kind of connection to paganism.

Bible only doers. This is a problem. There is not enough information in the Bible to make this a realistic faith. This admonition is pointed at those of us who belong to the “walking in the way of Torah” group. I have seen way too many conversations of the “Bible says this” and the “this is what this passage means” type arguments that it is very discouraging. We don’t need to start a new religion. This religion is thousands of years old. The problem is that most people don’t like, to put it mildly, the words ‘tradition, oral, sages, or rabbis’. It is like they are some kind of curse to be avoided at all cost.

Do we not see what is happening? How will we ever become a unified entity if everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes. We have people determining their own New Moons, people who think tzitzit on belt loops is acceptable, at the slightest inkling someone picks up a shofar and starts blowing it at the moon. We pitch around our variations of the Name of G-d against the commandment even arguing the correct pronunciations. Our Messiah never did this. Do we even care to try to find out what the correct observance of the things we are doing is? Do we really think we will provoke jealousy in anyone when we have such disregard for what they believe?

We are no different from the Christian assemblies that we have complained about. They chucked the ways of the Torah and the original faith. So have we. The Torah says to obey the decisions of the priests and judges. (Deut 17:8-13) Since they are not around, the last known decisions are in effect. When we stop making up our own rules and decide to humble ourselves and follow after the standards of normative Judaism maybe we will really become something to be envious over. G-d told us to be obedient to the authority He set up. That’s not you or me.  In Mat 23:2-3 Yeshua tells the people to obey the leaders even if they are not righteous in their actions. I don’t care what you do in your homes but we need to be careful teaching against tradition when we don’t know a thing about tradition.
Peace and blessing, Lemuel.