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An Apology, and more thoughts...
Jul. 9th, 2014 08:08 amH, you're right - it's PETER, not Paul. Sorry - my brain is swiss cheese at the moment. :sigh:
However, the main point I was trying to make is still valid: Paul's writings are given too much weight by the modern church. Every church I've ever been to has said that Christians NEED to read Romans, because that IS the church....um, no.
The most important thing a Believer can EVER read is the Torah.
Let me ask you something (you in general, not you individually): Who is God? Does He change?
No. God is, and was, and will be, and He is NEVER-changing. Got that? NEVER. So...why do Christians think that they've replaced the Jews as God's chosen people? (And they DO.) Most of them have even tossed the OT out, because Jesus changed everything.
No, He didn't. IF you're familiar with Torah, you KNOW this. You know exactly what He did, and Why. Without that foundation, you really don't KNOW Yeshua and/or God. Seriously. It's why the Jewish leaders were so against Yeshua's teachings - they knew EXACTLY what he was talking about, and what it would mean to their power.
Let me take you back to basics: Before Yeshua, everybody was on a "purity ladder". See, you have to be ritually pure to have any sort of contact with God - His holiness demands it. That's what the sacrificial system is all about - moving people up the rungs of the purity ladder so that they could maintain that connection with God. Women had it doubly hard - for 1 week out of every 4 they were knocked off the ladder thru no fault of their own. :shrug: Didn't say I like it, but there it is...and it's ALL spelled out in Leviticus. There were more than just sin offerings - some were just because you thought that maybe you'd done something wrong, but weren't sure what, so you'd go to the Priests and do a sacrifice to make sure you were covered. A lot of innocent animals died back then - because to be cut off from God was (and IS) a major problem.
Oh, and the "all sin is equal in the eyes of God" crap the church tosses out? Total BS. If all sin is equal, why were there levels of sacrificial animals? And why did some sin cost 2 doves while other sin cost a bull? Sin is sin, but it's not equal....and if you had the knowledge that Paul assumed you'd have, you'd KNOW this. :sigh:
Another question: What is the significance of the water that poured out of Messiah's side? It's pretty major.......you need both living water AND blood to cover sin.
Look, I'm not a Paul-hater, but I HATE that the emphasis has been moved from Torah, where it belongs, to personal letters that weren't meant to be elevated to Holy.
I'm still thinking on all this, but the bottom line is the same. Tanakh is Scripture. The NT is basically commentary on how to LIVE Torah in the current age. Christ Himself said Torah still stood - and why would anyone argue with Him?
However, the main point I was trying to make is still valid: Paul's writings are given too much weight by the modern church. Every church I've ever been to has said that Christians NEED to read Romans, because that IS the church....um, no.
The most important thing a Believer can EVER read is the Torah.
Let me ask you something (you in general, not you individually): Who is God? Does He change?
No. God is, and was, and will be, and He is NEVER-changing. Got that? NEVER. So...why do Christians think that they've replaced the Jews as God's chosen people? (And they DO.) Most of them have even tossed the OT out, because Jesus changed everything.
No, He didn't. IF you're familiar with Torah, you KNOW this. You know exactly what He did, and Why. Without that foundation, you really don't KNOW Yeshua and/or God. Seriously. It's why the Jewish leaders were so against Yeshua's teachings - they knew EXACTLY what he was talking about, and what it would mean to their power.
Let me take you back to basics: Before Yeshua, everybody was on a "purity ladder". See, you have to be ritually pure to have any sort of contact with God - His holiness demands it. That's what the sacrificial system is all about - moving people up the rungs of the purity ladder so that they could maintain that connection with God. Women had it doubly hard - for 1 week out of every 4 they were knocked off the ladder thru no fault of their own. :shrug: Didn't say I like it, but there it is...and it's ALL spelled out in Leviticus. There were more than just sin offerings - some were just because you thought that maybe you'd done something wrong, but weren't sure what, so you'd go to the Priests and do a sacrifice to make sure you were covered. A lot of innocent animals died back then - because to be cut off from God was (and IS) a major problem.
Oh, and the "all sin is equal in the eyes of God" crap the church tosses out? Total BS. If all sin is equal, why were there levels of sacrificial animals? And why did some sin cost 2 doves while other sin cost a bull? Sin is sin, but it's not equal....and if you had the knowledge that Paul assumed you'd have, you'd KNOW this. :sigh:
Another question: What is the significance of the water that poured out of Messiah's side? It's pretty major.......you need both living water AND blood to cover sin.
Look, I'm not a Paul-hater, but I HATE that the emphasis has been moved from Torah, where it belongs, to personal letters that weren't meant to be elevated to Holy.
I'm still thinking on all this, but the bottom line is the same. Tanakh is Scripture. The NT is basically commentary on how to LIVE Torah in the current age. Christ Himself said Torah still stood - and why would anyone argue with Him?
