10 Things I Wrote in 2011

An end-of-year review for the Kineti blog. These are the highlights from my posts this past year. Enjoy!

• Why I can no longer support FFOZ (221 comments over 3 posts) – After First Fruits of Zion’s leader, Boaz Michael, publicly argued that various Hebrew Roots communities are an attempt to diminish Israel and the Jewish people, and suggested that they are supersessionist enemies of Israel, I spoke up. And after phone calls and emails and chats with FFOZ folks, as well as receiving some 90 vicious remarks from FFOZ’s defenders, it became clear to me that I could no longer support FFOZ or stump for their materials as I had for 7 years prior.
  
  
• A warning to those who follow Yeshua (141 comments) – Having seen several examples of people who love Yeshua and Torah, only to dive wholly into Judaism and eventually reject Yeshua, myself and a Messianic-turned-Yeshua-denier-turned-back-to-Yeshua issue a warning to those who would love Judaism more than Messiah.
  
  
• The place of Judaism’s traditions in the lives of Yeshua’s disciples (32 comments) – After posting a warning to those who follow Yeshua to avoid loving Judaism more than Messiah, I summarized the 100+ previous comments into 2 succinct positions: halachically-informed (by the rabbis) Torah observance, and sola scriptura (Bible-only) observance. How these 2 positions lead to a major fork in the Messianic movement; taking one side determines your path and outlook within the movement.
  
  
• Why Messianic services should not be emulations of synagogue services (34 comments) – The Tenakh speaks of praising God with music, outbursts of joy, and exalting God with instruments, singing, rejoicing. The New Testament speaks of the congregation prophesying, ministering to one another, and edifying each other through tongues, interpretation of tongues, and through prophecy. The traditional synagogue service follows none of these. For these reasons, the Messianic Jewish service ought not be merely an emulation of synagogue services.
  
  
• Be honest about your theology: disclose your assumptions (49 comments) – Religious people who pitch some theological position to you almost invariably do not disclose assumptions about their theology. Why this is a bad practice for Yeshua’s disciples, and what to do about it.
  
  
• Forming your conscience correctly, Egyptian democracy, and why John Lennon’s lyrics sound good but really aren’t (11 comments) – Follow your dreams, right? Wrong. If your dreams include the invasion of Poland for the restoration of national socialist pride, then by all means don’t follow your dreams. Follow your dreams only if your dreams are for good. Or, never compromise on your ideals, right? Wrong. If your ideals include eradication of the Jewish “problem”, then by all means compromise on your ideals. Form your conscience correctly, then follow your dreams.
  
  
• Kosher Jello-O, and whether Messiah's disciples need our own ruling body (106 comments) – The Scriptures don’t specify every little thing to govern our lives. Instead, we’re left to make decisions for ourselves, be led by the Holy Spirit, and look to respected authorities to decide the matter. Why Yeshua’s disciples should have a respected authority to rule on unclear religious matters.
  
  
• Why religious people shouldn’t fear for their privacy online and in the real world (26 comments) – Deleted your Facebook profile? Use a faux name online? Hiding from the “the man”? All because you fear government oversight and privacy intrusion? Why these are silly practices for Yeshua’s disciples, who instead ought to be out in the world helping people and doing good works.
  
  
• What religious Jews think of the Lord’s Prayer (35 comments) – When Messiah’s disciples asked him how to pray, Messiah answered with a prayer that even the unbelieving Jewish world today can’t find fault with.
  
  
• Set your hope on Moses (42 comments) – How liberal scholarship’s JEDP hypothesis of Torah composition undermines the credibility of Scripture.

2011 has been a very busy year, fine blog readers!

Between work and a new software programming blog, technology talks, advancing my guitar skills via Messianic music, building Chavah Messianic Radio, building MessianicChords.com (stay tuned next week!), building Weekly Bracha Futures, working the Greatest Commandments Project, I have produced good for Messiah’s disciples. I hope to continue it in 2012.

2012 will be…interesting. Above all, I want to make progress on Weekly Bracha Futures project. I believe it will have more impact on the Messianic community than any project I’ve done thus far.

Here’s to a productive, God’s-blessings-filled, shalom-saturated 2012, fine blog readers. Cheers.