There was once a Jewish follower of Yeshua. He loved Torah. His love for Torah naturally grew into a love for the religion of Torah: Judaism.
His life was good.
But over time, he became distressed at seeing just how ostracized he was as a follower of Yeshua. “My God!”, he said, “they call me an idolator!”
Even voicing his convictions was grounds for getting the boot from the community.
This created a conflict in himself: without giving up – or keeping quiet about – his convictions, he would not be accepted in the only real Torah community in the world: the Jewish observant world.
He naturally desired to be part of that community. Yeshua-centered communities didn’t seem focused on Torah; their devotion to Yeshua inevitably led to assimilation into the church, it seemed.
It was during these turbulent times that the young man would repeatedly hear of the Christian problem. The church invented their own holy days, obsoleted the Torah, reimagined Yeshua as a commandment-destroying Roman, rendered meaningless Jewish identity, oh, and let’s not forget of the millions of Jews killed by Christians in the name of Christ. Maybe it’s like the anti-missionaries say, he thought, maybe the church is Edom, the eternal enemy of the Jewish people.
Whatever degree of truth in that, one thing was certain: The church was wrong, and there was no getting around it.
The turbulence in his mind worsened.
Despair set in. It persisted until something dawned on him. Something big.
“They say I’m an idolator”, he mused, “because I worship Yeshua.”
He confirmed this to himself.
“Isn’t it possible, then, that I shouldn’t be worshipping Yeshua?”
“After all”, he justified, “the church has been wrong about so much! Isn’t it plausible the church was wrong about Yeshua being God?”
Oh, but this couldn’t be. Yeshua was one with the Father…right? Yeshua was an emanation of God, the glory of HaShem.
“They called him, “Lord”! My God, they called him Lord.”
Was there any wiggle room here, any at all? He hoped there was; if he could only make this work, he would no longer despair, he would no longer be ostracized.
Looking for confirmation, he found no shortage of Jewish sources telling him it was so: the worship of anyone besides the creator was idolatry. He knew this to be true. Jesus should not be worshiped, because he was a man, and, as the Torah states, “God is not a man…”
“Christians are misinterpreting Yeshua’s words!”, he thought to himself. And it wouldn’t have been the first time, he noted.
This all started to make more sense to him: Jesus isn’t the creator, therefore Jesus should not be worshipped. Yeshua may be divine, but not the Creator himself. Therefore, Yeshua should not be worshipped.
This had to be true. He wanted to believe it. His acceptance in the only true Torah community depended on it.
But something nagged at him: what about all those times in the New Testament when Yeshua is worshipped? What about those claims Yeshua made about being the only way to God? What about the part where Yeshua says, “If you reject me, you reject my Father in heaven?” What about the clear, brazen claims Yeshua made, claiming to sit at the right hand of God, claiming to be the glorified Son of God? What about his claims that “anyone who believes my words will have eternal life”? What about that?
But the young man was too far down the road to turn back now.
Searching for validation of the things he wanted to believe, he surrounded himself with confirming voices. These voices whispered new revelations: now, he is told, Christians are actually editing the Tenakh to fit their prophecies about Jesus. Now, he is told, Christians redacted the New Testament. The New Testament isn’t reliable, because Christians changed it; Yeshua never really said those things.
And that settled it. If the New Testament was unreliable, his problem was solved.
At last, how happy he was: accepted by the only true Torah community, and…uhhh…a kind-of-follower-of-Yeshua-but-not-really. He realized it: though he still loved Yeshua, he had come to deny him.
Yes, he had to reject everything about Yeshua: every book written of his works. Every detail of his miracles. The accounts of the witnesses who gave their lives in upholding the record. That miraculous, sacrificial work, taking the sin of humanity as whip lashes on his back. That great work after which the Temple –and the world – was never the same. That act that sparked billions from the nations following the God of Israel.
Thrown out.
All of it.
To reach the goal, it had to be thrown out.
“But”, he justified, “at least now I am accepted.”
Though this account is entirely fictional and not based on any person, it is derived from bits and pieces of people's lives I've seen, having grown up in the Messianic movement over the last 20 years.
ReplyDeleteParts of this, I would bet, are things each person has struggled with.
It's my conviction that many folks who leave Yeshua for Judaism experience another eventual transformation: become either atheists or Jewish anti-missionaries, depending on their willingness to keep questioning.
If you apply the same standard to the Tenakh as was used to throw out the New Testament, you may become an atheist. If you are convinced that Judaism cannot be wrong, you may become an anti-missionary.
Some, after seeing Judaism is not a panacea, head to mainstream Christianity.
I think none of these options are right, and the problem is that Judaism and Yeshua ought not be at odds with one another. Right now they are. But as long as Yeshua is Lord, and short of some miracle taking place within Judaism, this is the future we must grapple with.
It's amazing the lengths we'll go through to be accepted by a particular community, but on the other hand, even people of faith have a tough time going it alone.
ReplyDeleteI didn't get much sleep last night so my ability to form a cohesive thought is waning, otherwise I might craft a more substantial response to your latest blog post. Let me just say for now, that I believe the issue of Yeshua's deity can stand some debate.
I'll try to get some sleep and put together a better comment later.
Judah,
ReplyDelete"If you apply the same standard to the Tenakh as was used to throw out the New Testament, you may become an atheist."
Or you can reject the dichotomy between inerrancy and atheism and choose to accept the Scriptures (both Hebrew and Christian) as part of the deposit of faith in spite of their contradictions, maculations, bumps, and bruises.
I think part of the problem is that most Messianics who deal with these issues do so with one foot in their evangelical Christian upbringings and another in the rosy-glasses picture of Judaism portrayed by Orthodox kiruv outfits. No wonder some become Karaites, some atheists, some Catholics, and some religious weirdos.
"I think none of these options are right, and the problem is that Judaism and Yeshua ought not be at odds with one another. Right now they are. But as long as Yeshua is Lord, and short of some miracle taking place within Judaism, this is the future we must grapple with."
Or, as sociological conditions change, religious life becomes more eclectic, and more and more Jewish people have Christian parents and family, we may or may not be accepted as a strange, quirky movement of Jewish people who drank too deeply from the wells of another religion (a la Jewish Renewal). Who knows? (Not saying we should plan for it) "Yeshua is Lord" is not usually the issue Jewish people raise with Messianic Judaism.
for sure, i recognize myself in this, at least in parts of it. and it is good to read.
ReplyDeleteit's not really a matter of being accepted - there are no Jews here, no community of which i could be part of. there is an orthodox synagogue, but i've heard it loud and clear that as a Reform Jew, anyway... and within a couple of years, that synagogue will close (no more minyan, even today...) and that will be it.
my problem is not Yeshua, either. i have too deep a love for him to throw him out - even when i tried once, i couldn't really, for more than a couple weeks. yes, i mull over and have trouble with the concept of Trinity - but then again, that's not all there is to being a disciple. i can accept Yeshua as divine, but i have trouble with saying that he is HaShem, that Yeshua=G-d. sometimes i tell myself that this is where faith begins because my mind won't ever be able to understand it all, though i'd like some more "logical" explanations that aren't evangelical.
what i struggle with is that i am alone. there is no messianic community here. i go to a christian church (a good one at that!); i like the people there, i appreciate the work they do and much of their theology - yet often i feel like for me, something is lacking. i feel hurt when certain things are said (church has replaced israel, jews are blind, jews cannot truly love G-d...) and when the stories and traditions i cherish are smiled upon, or more, wiped aside as far-fetched dead fairy tales and jewish fables. when finally i found another messianic, i got almost a rebuke from him: that i'm going too far (because i'm cleaning my house for Shabbat and bake Challot every friday, because i try to take on more mitzvot like netilat yadayim...) and maybe i should just take from judaism what "fits" into the christian paradigm.
this all leaves me torn apart and sometimes depressed; is there any place, any room? the choice seems between christianity and embracing something that i am not but having Yeshua, and between Judaism -what i am, but without Yeshua (hypothetically, or driving 3 hours to the reform synagogue...).
none of those options seems viable to me, yet it sometimes makes me wonder if i shouldn't "return" completely to Judaism in the end. but then not wanting to throw out Yeshua i ended somefriendships, because having been called a traitor to my people is not a "nice" thing to hear.
do you at least understand the struggle some of us might have, may be going through? when the only "messianics" you have more or less close by are completely evangelically assimilated (no, i don't think the church is evil. but it doesn't sit 100% well with me) and try to sell me evangelical/charismatic theology as being authentically jewish and when i ask if we wanna meet for Shabbat get told, 'yeah i have some time sunday evening'.
it often feels like living sitting on a fence. which is, if you imagine the picture, not always comfortable - sometimes one would like to get off on one or the other side.
for sure, i recognize myself in this, at least in parts of it. and it is good to read.
ReplyDeleteit's not really a matter of being accepted - there are no Jews here, no community of which i could be part of. there is an orthodox synagogue, but i've heard it loud and clear that as a Reform Jew, anyway... and within a couple of years, that synagogue will close (no more minyan, even today...) and that will be it.
my problem is not Yeshua, either. i have too deep a love for him to throw him out - even when i tried once, i couldn't really, for more than a couple weeks. yes, i mull over and have trouble with the concept of Trinity - but then again, that's not all there is to being a disciple. i can accept Yeshua as divine, but i have trouble with saying that he is HaShem, that Yeshua=G-d. sometimes i tell myself that this is where faith begins because my mind won't ever be able to understand it all, though i'd like some more "logical" explanations that aren't evangelical.
what i struggle with is that i am alone. there is no messianic community here. i go to a christian church (a good one at that!); i like the people there, i appreciate the work they do and much of their theology - yet often i feel like for me, something is lacking. i feel hurt when certain things are said (church has replaced israel, jews are blind, jews cannot truly love G-d...) and when the stories and traditions i cherish are smiled upon, or more, wiped aside as far-fetched dead fairy tales and jewish fables. when finally i found another messianic, i got almost a rebuke from him: that i'm going too far (because i'm cleaning my house for Shabbat and bake Challot every friday, because i try to take on more mitzvot like netilat yadayim...) and maybe i should just take from judaism what "fits" into the christian paradigm.
this all leaves me torn apart and sometimes depressed; is there any place, any room? the choice seems between christianity and embracing something that i am not but having Yeshua, and between Judaism -what i am, but without Yeshua (hypothetically, or driving 3 hours to the reform synagogue...).
ReplyDeletenone of those options seems viable to me, yet it sometimes makes me wonder if i shouldn't "return" completely to Judaism in the end. but then not wanting to throw out Yeshua i ended somefriendships, because having been called a traitor to my people is not a "nice" thing to hear.
do you at least understand the struggle some of us might have, may be going through? when the only "messianics" you have more or less close by are completely evangelically assimilated (no, i don't think the church is evil. but it doesn't sit 100% well with me) and try to sell me evangelical/charismatic theology as being authentically jewish and when i ask if we wanna meet for Shabbat get told, 'yeah i have some time sunday evening'.
it often feels like living sitting on a fence. which is, if you imagine the picture, not always comfortable - sometimes one would like to get off on one or the other side.
sorry for the double comment - it said after the first that it was too long and hadn't been processed...
ReplyDeleteyet often i feel like for me, something is lacking. i feel hurt when certain things are said (church has replaced israel, jews are blind, jews cannot truly love G-d...)
ReplyDeleteAs a Gentile, I've sometimes been "encouraged" by Messianic Jews to "return to the church" rather than worship within a framework that contains Jewish components, but the comments you make here Yasmeen, illustrate why that wouldn't be an option for me. My wife is Jewish (she worships at the Chabad synagogue) and hearing someone in a church denigrate her would probably send me over the edge. Certainly it wouldn't be a place where I could seek the Lord's presence.
I continue to try and reconcile all of this with the push on the Messianic blogosphere, to contain Gentiles within the church and, at least relative to "bilateral ecclesiology", to contain only Jews within Messianic Judaism. While I'm well accepted within the congregation I attend, which is mostly Gentile with some Jewish attendees and board members, I wonder if it's ultimately where I belong.
But that's not the topic up for discussion, is it?
Now that I've got my brain back, I keep turning this issue over and over in my mind. As I recall, I already posted on the trinity which is more or less the same issue.
ReplyDeleteI must admit that at this stage of my understanding, the jury is still out relative to the Deity of the Messiah. In many ways though, his actions and responses make a great deal more sense if he were the highly exalted, truly divine, and very human son of God. "The Father and I are one" could be an expression of "one in purpose" as opposed to "a unified identity".
Whatever one makes of the divine nature of Messiah, it is made plain in the New Testament that Yeshua is worshiped.
ReplyDeleteEither that's idolatry, or Yeshua is God.
I grant that Yeshua is not all of God, and Yeshua is not the Father, that Yeshua is the Word, and that there's vagaries and gray areas to who God is, and that God is one, God is not a man, and that we cannot fully comprehend his being. Nonetheless, worship of the Lamb is worship of God. Whatever view we take of his divinity, we cannot forget this reality of the New Testament.
Maybe in our Messianic zeal to get Christians to discontinue celebrating Chrsitianized pagan holidays and our zeal to get Chrsitians to see the Torah as His truth, we have opened a door that all of Christianity must be bad.
ReplyDeleteDebates on Trinity doctrine and books in the NT have added to this thought that Christians must have many errors in their belief. The truth be told however, Judaism also has many errors and man made beliefs also.
This is becuase Christianity and Judaism are both are religions. True believers in Yeshua should not practive religion but service to the Master by our doing, not only by our saying.
The text says that the only true religion is in taking care of the widows and orphans.
Men will always make mistakes and let us down, but He never will.
Let us put our trust in Him who is able to save and deliver us and is in the process of bringing us together again.
C.F.
Judah,
ReplyDeleteyou wrote in that other entry "he is explicitly worshiped along with God in Revelation", and something about, united with God.
the thing is, "alongside with God". i do not deny in any way that Yeshua is divine, however i have trouble equating him with HaShem, or, if you will, God the Father. in the different churches i've been to, worship of Jesus is big, worship of God is little, if existant - and i have trouble with that. the united with God, what does that mean? one in pupose, united as me and my husband are united, or united as in, equated, or the same essence?
and if even human kings have their praises sung, the Messiah even more so!
but yeah, i have trouble with the concept of trinity - there may be hints in the new testament, but nothing explicit. so whilst i cannot totally deny the possibility, i cannot totally affirm it either. maybe one day i will learn sufficiently about it and understand it a little better. but i'm hesitant to even ask someone to discuss it or talk about my questions and/or soometimes doubts because immediately, it'll make me a heretic pariah or something along those lines (or maybe that's just an irrational fear?).
Revelation says the lamb will be worshipped alongside God. that's in the future, in the end of days, or rather, the beginning of the new ones... but we're not yet there. so hopefully, that leaves me some time to figure that one out.
Yasher koach.
ReplyDeleteJudah
ReplyDeleteYou said
"I grant that Yeshua is not all of God, and Yeshua is not the Father, that Yeshua is the Word...Nonetheless, worship of the Lamb is worship of God. Whatever view we take of his divinity, we cannot forget this reality of the New Testament."
Yasmeen replied:
Judah,
"you wrote in that other entry "he is explicitly worshipped along with God in Revelation", and something about, united with God."
"the thing is, "alongside with God". i do not deny in any way that Yeshua is divine, however i have trouble equating him with HaShem, or, if you will, God the Father. in the different churches i've been to, worship of Jesus is big, worship of God is little, if existant - and i have trouble with that. the united with God, what does that mean? one in pupose, united as me and my husband are united, or united as in, equated, or the same essence?"
Judah, as you say, the only reason why Jesus was/is worshipped is because He claimed and people believed Him to be God. But then you say "Yeshua is not all of God." The problem here is a "category" problem. When a Jew says "Hashem" and a Christian says "God" they apply the pronoun "He." In the NT it is clear that Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit are three distinct persons. (Jesus says about the Ruach Hakodesh, "I will send HIM) and that Jesus is claiming divine attributes. There are two categories of "God" in the NT: 1. the GodHEAD and 2. three distinct Persons of the Godhead. It is, of course, not possible to get our heads round that one. But then, how is it possible for the same particle to be in different places at the same time, which is an observable fact (using laser beams)?
Of course, the Trinity is much harder to understand. The Godhead is one: the Father is God(head), the Son is God(head), and the Holy Spirit is God(head). Each person is fully God(head). Yeshua/Jesus is even more complicated - He is fully God and fully man - a perfect man (that is, fully human, containing within himself the best of the masculine and the feminine). All three persons share the same ESSENCE/SUBSTANCE; that is why all three Persons are divine/God(head).
So, Yeshua is indeed ALL of God(head) but is distinct from the Father (what Judaism calls "Hashem," which as we all know is not God's name but his "non-name."
If you prayerfully read the NT, the Person of Yeshua will fill you so that even if it does not become totally clear (for sure it won't), HE will become totally NEAR. And when he (be)comes near, so does the Father. And, of course, who is the self-effacing One behind the scenes doing all this for you - the Ruach Hakodesh.
It's wonderful.
And, it's hard out there, not only for a Jewish believer surrounded by non/anti-Jewish believers, but also for most people. Loneliness is the human condition. But, hey, look up, we have the words of eternal life; we have the WORD of eternal life.
Onedaringjew (BogRaphy)