Weekly Bracha 19

This week in the Messianic blogosphere, plus related items:

• Are Messianics Commanded To Keep Kosher? (…or even keep shabbat?) – Joseph takes the usual Christian view: no, we don’t need to keep kosher or keep shabbat. 350 comments (!) later, we’re still debating. I will be posting my own thoughts on this matter later this week. One bright spot is I think most of us did particularly well in our treatment of each other. Wasn’t completely devoid of “whack you over the head”, but it was better than usual.
  
  
• The Church, the Law, and the Gospel – An outsider’s journey through Christianity into the Messianic movement, and his wrestling with the law and the church and all the questions that have been raised lately within the Messianic movement.
  
  
• Jesus Legitimized – Some have argued that if Yeshua was conceived out of wedlock, he would have been dismissed as a mamzer (illegitimate child). However, the author argues that a child conceived during betrothal may not have been considered as such.
  
  
• Did I Find King David’s Palace? – Biblical archaeologist Eilat Mazar discusses her discovery in the northern part of the city of David, where she looked after studying 2 Samuel 5:17, which suggested David’s palace was to the north of the Fortress of Zion.
  
  
• Why did Jesus write on the ground? – Many scholars have dismissed John 8’s famous story of Jesus and the adulterous woman (“he who is without sin…”) as inauthentic. While it may not originally be part of John, the story itself is paralleled in other early literature, and may be an authentic story inserted into John 8, argues this author.
  
  
• Conversion Day – Messianic rabbi Derek Leman and his family, after many years of working toward this goal, has converted to Judaism through a Messianic Jewish organization.
  
  
• Which branch of Judaism would Jesus belong to? – Daniel wonders what Judaism branc most closely aligns with Yeshua’s teachings.

JBOMs

• Gathering Sparks - Open House Jewish Style Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
  
  
• Derek4Messiah – Striving for the ethical life

Podcasts

• Does the Bible provide an adequate answer to the question of suffering? – Jewish Christian apologetic Dr. Michael Brown debates agnostic scholar Dr. Bart Ehrman at Ohio State University.
  
  
  
  
• Pastoral Epistles, part 4 – John McKee dissects 1 Timothy 1:1-7 and addresses some Christological issues raised through Timothy and Titus, in which both Father and Son are deemed ‘savior’. 
  
  He also suggests Messianic leaders today are undereducated, and suggests they ought to at least have a college education. 
  
  
  
• Beatitudes and Hope – Derek Leman on the essential message of Yeshua.

Hope these tasty bracha bits will keep you satisfied during the upcoming week. Enjoy!