- What did Jesus change? Sons of Abraham – James has a multi-part discussion on what Messiah changed: gentiles are now sons of Abraham.
- Bible Of Unknowing – Derek Leman starts a new blog on mysticism in the Bible and related ancient texts. Interesting read! And completely devoid of ugly theological battles…for now...muahahah
- Is meaningful dialog possible? You bet! – The notorious Dan Benzvi finds common ground with…Mormons? Yes. And then ends with an unthinkable statement:
Yes, I can have a civil, meaningful dialogue with Kinzer, Rudolph, Derek, and Yahnatan. Gene Shlomovitch? Ehh...Just kidding, you too Gene. All we need is to find the things that unite us and discuss them first.
- Smashed Tablets – Dr. Schiffman on Moses smashing the stone Torah tablets, and lets his thoughts meander onto Yeshua, a parallel between the redemption after the golden calf and Yeshua’s return, and our own living of the Torah:
God gave us his Torah to live by. To what extent do we order our lives by God’s commands? We may kiss it as it goes by, and read it every week, but when we go home, do we live according to the Torah, or are we worshiping at a golden calf of our own making? The majority of the commandments teach us how to live with those around us.
I knew a man who liked to rant and rave about people not following the rituals and Holy Days of the Torah in a proper manner, and one could say he was zealous for the Law. Yet he treated people like garbage. A person can not treat someone like crap and claim to love God. The way we treat one another is an indication of how we really feel about God.
- Simply Lewis – New Testament scholar N.T. Wright has a frank and from-the-heart post on C.S. Lewis and the great debt the Christian world owes him.
- UMJC Conference Report – Rabbi Brumbach reports first-hand info on the recent UMJC conference.
- Rabbi overturns
moneychangersgo-karts – Amusing post on the story of a rabbi who overturned the go-karts, due to tzniyus (modesty) issues with Jewish girls driving them. The author jokingly refers to the rabbi as a “modern-day Pinchas”:He stormed the course, forced the girls to get out, lifted the go-karts, and simply broke them,’ one eyewitness said. ‘He turned the cars over and slammed them on the floor while uttering quite a few curses.’
J-BOM (Jewish Book of the Month Club)
- Smooth Cookies – Chaim Potok’s The Promise Part 1 and Part 2
Podcasts
- Dr. Michael Brown debates Conservative Rabbi Silver – Some clips from the debate.
Silver’s opening question: If a righteous person who loves God with all his heart and does good deeds his whole life, and doesn’t believe in Jesus, isn’t that person going to burn in hell according to your theology?
Brown’s opening question: Since Messiah’s identity is, from your perspective, unknown, are you opened to the possibility that the Messiah will be Jesus?
