The other night I had a great conversation that has pervaded my thoughts since.
I am a proponent of the faith called Christianity being integrally rooted in Judaism. I see, as Edith Schaeffer's book was titled, "Christianity IS Jewish."
Jesus was a Jewish man, a follower of the Torah, raised and baptized in the Jewish faith. He was Christ, Messiah, for the Jewish nation; He is Christ, savior of the world.
There is a seamless progression from Genesis to Revelation, creation to the end of all time.
And after that: eternity.
My friend and I were hashing out the dichotomy of life within the faith and living in a broken and dark world. We always do this. Once in awhile we solve the world's problems. (jk)
My friend is a story-teller, and he has written a story about this idea. That is a palatable way to convey truth. I'm the elementary teacher, and I break things down, so I communicate things in bites.
Here are some bites from the conversation. (All credit to my friend Jeremy)
The words we discussed were synagogue and ecclesia and their differences. There is an interesting divide here, and both definitions apply to us children of the most High.
God established a covenant with Israel, Abraham. There are several covenants in the Bible. Some are eternal, everlasting (like the one with Abraham) and some are for a time or dispensation.
God gave Moses the 10 commandments and many other societal laws that were extremely helpful in keeping the nation of Israel called out from the rest of the world. The purpose in keeping Israel separate as the chosen people was the promise God made to Abraham about the coming savior of the world, stemming from the Hebrew people. God blessed the Jewish people and He continues to bless them. He has never ceased His promise to them. It's eternal.
God's societal laws are fantastic. They are the best: God is the holy judge, honor your parents, keep faithful in your heterosexual marriage, don't kill, don't steal, don't lie, don't covet.
This (much maligned by Satan) system really works, and psychiatrists and research, statistics and facts support it.
Children fare better with a Judeo-Christian society valuing them and training them, even if the society isn't spirit-filled the benefits trickle down.
The dreaded "theocracy" is really better, but you can't tell people that. You have to prove it, even if all the research already has.
SO, as followers of the way of Christ we can see that a family unit holding to the old covenant societal mores (More-ays) will fare better in life. We are the people of honesty and faithfulness, safety and peace.
We love. We understand hate only in the context of hating evil.
WE love as Christ loves.
We have standards for our families that abide by godly laws and Old Testament values, but we cannot impose those holy ideas on the culture. The culture is lost, dark, blind, and deaf to righteousness. How can we expect them to value life, marriage, and honesty?
Abortion, marriage, and gender issues----all issues of our age---are entirely confused compared to the ideology given by God for our existence.
We believers want to raise our families within the successful patterns of God's covenant laws. We know they work. Marriages that last for a lifetime give security to the children of those marriages. Those who value life will give birth to valued children always. Abuse is illegal in God's law.
We can't make the society follow our values, but we can do something better: WE CAN LIVE THEM, and we have the spiritual advantage of the Holy Spirit to draw anyone into the family of God and plant conviction in their hearts.
We have people looking in on us and pointing hatefully----yet they have no idea (no spiritual insight, nor power) how to understand what makes us hold to such a paradigm.
That power comes from God and it is there to attract each and every soul into His kingdom.
He is not willing that any perish.
So, live the values of the old covenant! Live them and succeed!
Jordan Peterson, a current philosophical favorite, acknowledges that Biblical values succeed. He's an agnostic, and can't humble himself before the Holy eternal God. He's still spiritually blind. He is just one of the many ideologues who confirm God's best for culture and society.
One must bend. One must bow to the Creator to understand Him. He's holy, almighty, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. He's beyond our understanding. One must gather in (synogogue: bring in together!) to His ways.
It takes a certain form of debasement to humble one's self before that Presence. We cease to know all, and become a servant of God instead of self.
On the other side of that divide there is the church, (Ecclesia: calling out!) beckoning with the irresistible attraction of Jesus Christ, lover of all, healer, helper! We meet the one in jail, the homosexual, the murderer, the thief and liar, the adulterer and the drug addict and LOVE them with the powerful love of Christ. We share the way of spiritual victory with these cultural failures, and love them into the kingdom of God. There's war. There's a battle going on, as the devil doesn't give in easily, but the winner is God and He offers victory to all who trust in Him.
God's ways work.
As for me and my house we will serve the LORD.
It is a division. One must follow Christ to enter the kingdom of God's society. The barrier is real, but God has most definitely provided a door.
I am a proponent of the faith called Christianity being integrally rooted in Judaism. I see, as Edith Schaeffer's book was titled, "Christianity IS Jewish."
Jesus was a Jewish man, a follower of the Torah, raised and baptized in the Jewish faith. He was Christ, Messiah, for the Jewish nation; He is Christ, savior of the world.
There is a seamless progression from Genesis to Revelation, creation to the end of all time.
And after that: eternity.
My friend and I were hashing out the dichotomy of life within the faith and living in a broken and dark world. We always do this. Once in awhile we solve the world's problems. (jk)
My friend is a story-teller, and he has written a story about this idea. That is a palatable way to convey truth. I'm the elementary teacher, and I break things down, so I communicate things in bites.
Here are some bites from the conversation. (All credit to my friend Jeremy)
The words we discussed were synagogue and ecclesia and their differences. There is an interesting divide here, and both definitions apply to us children of the most High.
God established a covenant with Israel, Abraham. There are several covenants in the Bible. Some are eternal, everlasting (like the one with Abraham) and some are for a time or dispensation.
God gave Moses the 10 commandments and many other societal laws that were extremely helpful in keeping the nation of Israel called out from the rest of the world. The purpose in keeping Israel separate as the chosen people was the promise God made to Abraham about the coming savior of the world, stemming from the Hebrew people. God blessed the Jewish people and He continues to bless them. He has never ceased His promise to them. It's eternal.
God's societal laws are fantastic. They are the best: God is the holy judge, honor your parents, keep faithful in your heterosexual marriage, don't kill, don't steal, don't lie, don't covet.
This (much maligned by Satan) system really works, and psychiatrists and research, statistics and facts support it.
Children fare better with a Judeo-Christian society valuing them and training them, even if the society isn't spirit-filled the benefits trickle down.
The dreaded "theocracy" is really better, but you can't tell people that. You have to prove it, even if all the research already has.
SO, as followers of the way of Christ we can see that a family unit holding to the old covenant societal mores (More-ays) will fare better in life. We are the people of honesty and faithfulness, safety and peace.
We love. We understand hate only in the context of hating evil.
WE love as Christ loves.
We have standards for our families that abide by godly laws and Old Testament values, but we cannot impose those holy ideas on the culture. The culture is lost, dark, blind, and deaf to righteousness. How can we expect them to value life, marriage, and honesty?
Abortion, marriage, and gender issues----all issues of our age---are entirely confused compared to the ideology given by God for our existence.
We believers want to raise our families within the successful patterns of God's covenant laws. We know they work. Marriages that last for a lifetime give security to the children of those marriages. Those who value life will give birth to valued children always. Abuse is illegal in God's law.
We can't make the society follow our values, but we can do something better: WE CAN LIVE THEM, and we have the spiritual advantage of the Holy Spirit to draw anyone into the family of God and plant conviction in their hearts.
We have people looking in on us and pointing hatefully----yet they have no idea (no spiritual insight, nor power) how to understand what makes us hold to such a paradigm.
That power comes from God and it is there to attract each and every soul into His kingdom.
He is not willing that any perish.
So, live the values of the old covenant! Live them and succeed!
Jordan Peterson, a current philosophical favorite, acknowledges that Biblical values succeed. He's an agnostic, and can't humble himself before the Holy eternal God. He's still spiritually blind. He is just one of the many ideologues who confirm God's best for culture and society.
One must bend. One must bow to the Creator to understand Him. He's holy, almighty, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. He's beyond our understanding. One must gather in (synogogue: bring in together!) to His ways.
It takes a certain form of debasement to humble one's self before that Presence. We cease to know all, and become a servant of God instead of self.
On the other side of that divide there is the church, (Ecclesia: calling out!) beckoning with the irresistible attraction of Jesus Christ, lover of all, healer, helper! We meet the one in jail, the homosexual, the murderer, the thief and liar, the adulterer and the drug addict and LOVE them with the powerful love of Christ. We share the way of spiritual victory with these cultural failures, and love them into the kingdom of God. There's war. There's a battle going on, as the devil doesn't give in easily, but the winner is God and He offers victory to all who trust in Him.
God's ways work.
As for me and my house we will serve the LORD.
It is a division. One must follow Christ to enter the kingdom of God's society. The barrier is real, but God has most definitely provided a door.
No comments:
Post a Comment