[First posted 2013. Updated, since Sinaites have reached the ‘point of no return.’ What point is that? Read on.—Admin1]
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This is the introductory statement to the post:
The WAY of YHVH – 5 – TORAH FAITH for Non-Jews?
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Non-Jews . . . Gentiles like ourselves,
Sinaites,
who have discovered the TRUTH
that there is ONE GOD
whose Name is YHWH,
Creator,
Revelator on Sinai,
the God who chose the nation of Israel
to be His light to the gentiles—
what are we now to do about this discovery?
Each person has to make a decision:
stay where you are,
or change direction.
It is not an easy decision to make.
You go against a lifetime of Christian influence
[entrenched within yourself]
and a tidal wave of opposition from Christians.
But what little loss is that compared to the gain—
the One True God YHVH?
How can that be a “loss”?
It places you in the historical entry point into the promised land
at the end of the Israel’s wandering in the wilderness,
when Joshua challenges the second generation
who were born and survived those 40 years:
If it is evil in your eyes to serve YHVH,
choose today whom you will serve:
the gods your forefathers served across the River,
or the gods of the Amorite in whose land you dwell.
But as for me and my house, we will serve YHVH!
Joshua 24:15.
Update 2015:
Eversince we left our Christian faith in 2010, our Christian connections, i.e., those who have not dropped us from their ‘give-up-on’ list— (ministers, friends, co-workers in the fellowships/churches we belonged to)— continue to warn us, remind us, and some even strongly condemn us, that we are not only ‘unsaved’ but ‘hell-bound’ unless we change direction and return to their Christian Savior.
Indeed, New Testament teachings, particularly those of Paul, have turned against the original teachings of its proclaimed ‘roots’ —the Hebrew Scriptures . Councils of men have turned the universal relationship with the One True God into an exclusive belief in a Trinitarian Godhead, particularly the second person in whom is combined the inherent natures of Divinity and humanity into the God-Man Jesus.
Get under the Christian umbrella of different Christ-centred sects and you’re ‘safe’ or better yet and in effect, ‘saved’ by the shed blood of the Christian human sacrifice called the ‘Lamb of God’.
Saved from what and from whom?
One of the surprising things we learned from reading the Hebrew scriptures is that unless the translator is borrowing Christian terminology, there is actually no word in Hebrew for “salvation” the way Christians use it. ‘Redemption’ yes, but within the context of the Exodus narrative and ‘deliverance’ by the God of Israel on many occasions when Israel’s national life or existence was threatened.
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We have long since walked away from Christian teaching, having repeatedly said ‘no.’ You might say we have finally reached the ‘point of no return’ — no turning back, no way we can turn back, knowing what we know now.
It’s really about stepping out of one’s religious comfort zone, venturing out of the boundaries and limitations of man-made religion, and moving toward the ultimate source of one’s beliefs.
In our case, the shift was from New Testament claims back to . . . not ‘Old Testament’ but the Hebrew Scriptures, un-edited by Christian translators, just as the Jews have originally recorded according to their traditional hand-me-down transmission of what Israel and mediator Moses heard on Sinai.
Discover the Sinai Revelation in the five books of Moses, the Torah and— if read in its proper cultural/historical/literary context—you will awaken to the discrepancies in the Christian Bible of Old and New Testaments. With no basis of comparison, it is easy to swallow only one source of truth that one decides to base faith on.
Recall the Pharaoh who refused to believe in the warnings of YHWH, the God on Sinai who sent Moses to deliver His messages? Nine times Pharaoh hardened his heart, refused to heed what he heard, what he was told, what he was warned about . . . and the 10th time, Scripture says YHWH hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
Is this applicable to us, Sinaites?
Is moving toward YHWH’s original revelation and away from questionable sources of truth on which man-made religions are based a ‘hardening of the heart’? Condemnable?
Why do our Christian colleagues think we are unsaved and damned when we’re still believing in God, the one they consider ‘the Father’ in their Trinity? There are of course teachings that you can’t go to the Father directly except through the Son. Sigh. . . . how did simple faith in the self-revealing God on Sinai become so complicated?
Turn it around: have our Christian connections heard from us in defense of our stand and YHWH whom we now worship and serve? Some of us have had running discourses with them, posted on this website. Some of us have had many discussions face to face which never amount to anything but hard feelings and distance.
Religion is difficult to shake off from those who are convicted that only they are right and everyone else is wrong. Read the many discourses we have posted; the discussants are different but the Christians all sound the same in their attempt to convince that Jesus is Lord and Savior of all mankind. Admittedly, we too sound like a broken record, mouthing the same phrases we’ve repeatedly emphasized in our expression of our new-found faith, although faith in YHWH is as old as gentile Abraham and Hebrew Moses.
Yes, we have reached our point of no return, to us that IS good news! And here’s more ‘good news’ in a Sinaite’s version of the ‘gospel’ — for Christians, there is NO point of no return! They can still change their direction at any time they discover the One True God. YHWH’s truth is available for anyone even vaguely interested, just like we were at the beginning of our change of direction.
In the case of Pharaoh, he could have heeded what he heard, he was given 9 chances to do so. In fact Pharaoh might have been given more than 9 chances basing on what one commentator on Hebrew language has explained, that in antiquity there was a tendency to round off numbers and their counting was simplistic: ‘one, two, and many’. The number 9 in the Exodus context however was really 9, since it was related to the 9 plagues before the final 10th that does turn the Pharaoh around, his ‘turning point’ in his decision not to free the Hebrew slaves . . . though evidently he did not turn from his faith in the pantheon of Egypt’s gods toward the God of the Hebrews.
Looking back, we Sinaites also have had many opportunities to hear YHWH’s voice all through the decades we were Christians. Thankfully, we were given more than 9 chances, falling in that vague quantity “many.” Phew! And praise the One True God YHWH!
What about our Christian colleagues?
We’re no Moses, but we do deliver the same message:
Hear O Ysrael, hear [O Gentiles!] YHWH is Lord, He is One.
There is no point of no return while there is breath! We are not Pharaoh, being required to free Hebrew slaves; we’re simply being asked to free ourselves from whatever bondage we are in—call it ignorance, laziness, complacency, stubbornness, close-mindedness, self-imposed blindness, definitely self-chosen bondage to whatever and whomever! Some of our Christian colleagues are heads of huge churches, fellowships and congregations. They owe it to their flock to review the source and foundation of their long-held beliefs; there is no more reason in this age to be ignorant of any subject, but as we’ve been repeatedly told, “just have faith!” But faith must be based on truth. The New Testament claims its roots in the Old Testament; venture into reading the Hebrew Scriptures instead of the “Old Testament” . . . and read with an open mind, minus Christian theological interpretation of it.
Hear and heed, the Revelator on Sinai has spoken. His voice reverberates through the millennia, if we heard, so can you, so can anyone else. . . but only if you’re listening because you’re still seeking . . . but if you’re not . . . well . . . let’s leave that sentence hanging for speculation, but why speculate?
If it is evil in your eyes to serve YHVH,
choose today whom you will serve:
. . . .
But as for me and my house, we will serve YHVH!
Joshua 24:15.
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