Why bother with “Discourse” between opposing theologies?

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Image from 4 Disputes – WordPress.com

[This was first posted in 2012, it is now 2017.  The relevance?  The Great Divide.  What was the Sinaite position 5 years ago has not changed, despite continuing efforts of our Christian colleagues to convince us to change course, back to our roots:  Christianity.  To the credit of some of them, they continue to be concerned about our eternal destiny while we’re not; we simply hold on to YHWH’s promise of “blessings for obedience” and His teachings in His Torah.

 

Now why do Christian friends not give up on us? Because of their belief that no one is “saved” outside of the Christian faith, a sincere messianic zeal that dominates the Christian mind and heart, to spread their “saving faith” to all others they consider “lost”, if not destined for eternity in Christ-less hell.   As we keep answering them, “been there done that”—that is, Christianity, not non-existent hell.  Read on.—Admin1]

 

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Those who have followed the “Discourse: Sinaite/Christian”are probably wondering why we bother to continue this exchange when we are sure the Sinaite will never return to the faith she’s gotten out of, while the Christian will never leave the faith she’s in.  The discourse has reached its #24 post and will probably keep going until one gives up on the other should that ever happen. In short, they will never see eye-to-eye at least as far as the foundations of their beliefs are concerned. It is actually interesting to follow how long the warmth of their friendship can be sustained by email, and if the friendship survives as the exchange gets deeper into conflicts in interpretation of scripture. 

 

 

The purpose for carrying on such a discourse is not to convince the other to switch over to one’s convictions; in this case as it is in all other verbal and unposted exchanges, a Sinaite’s purpose is simply to explain to former colleagues why he/she has left the Christian faith. There is nothing more a Christian can teach those who have been in the same faith for decades, yet have chosen to leave; perhaps a Christian can come to understand the reasons why, whether or not he/she agrees.  

 

So let’s get one thing straight: there would be no discourse IF. . .  those in Christ-centered theology make claims that their theology is based purely on the canon of the 27 books of the New Testament.  We have no problem with Christianity’s whole theology of salvation,  interpretation of God as a trinity, not even the divinity it imposes upon the 2nd Person Son of God, Jesus Christ. Any historical religion such as Christianity has doctrines by which its flock live by. As long as their beliefs are based on their acknowledged source of truth, in this case the New Testament, they are free to believe what they want, it is their version of truth. Nothing wrong with that.

 

Judaism adheres to its beliefs based on its scriptures the TNK; Islam adheres to the teachings of Mohammed based on its sacred scriptures, the Koran.  Live and let live.  Believe and leave others in their belief, for each believer, Christian, Messianic, or Sinaite, is a work in progress. They differ in many ways though the one thing they do share in common is:  they love and zealously serve the God they know. Oh, and let’s not forget that each one believes his truth is THE TRUTH.  [Please scroll up to the prayer on our banner, regarding the problem with the thinking that one has a monopoly on truth.]

 

 

What we do have a big problem with is when Christianity makes claims that its theology is actually based and founded on yet another sacred scripture aside from its NT; sourcing itself to an earlier one, the Scriptures of another people with another belief system.  Even with that claim, there still is nothing wrong,  provided their later Scripture (NT) does not contradict the earlier foundational Scripture, in this case the “Old” which is a reworked version of the Hebrew Scriptures.

 

The Revelation on Sinai is the “T” of the TNK, the TORAH. The “N” for NEVI’IM are recorded declarations of YHWH’s chosen mouthpieces, the prophets of Israel, while the “K” for KETUVIM are inspired writings that the Jewish Sages saw fit to include in their canon of 24 books.  

 

If the Jews had nothing more than the TORAH, that is sufficient truth from the God of Israel, in fact they have books that contain only the TORAH.  The N and the K do not deviate in teaching from the basic TORAH. The Jews have many more inspired writings that they chose not to include in their canon; they have taken meticulous care to ensure that their Scriptures are consistent with the Sinai Revelation. Any writings that did not conform with the TORAH did not make it into their canon. 

 

When a later religion such as Christianity develops and chooses from among contemporary writings of its times to constitute its sacred canon on which to base its theology, and then resorts to a strange decision to attach another people’s scriptures and worse, tampers with those scriptures by changing its name, rearranging its order of books, , and worst of all,  misapplying verses by taking them out of their context to validate its contradictory NT theology, what reaction should the people of the Book, the Jews,  have toward such audacity?  Can the Jewish websites be blamed for counteracting missionary’s efforts to use the Hebrew Scriptures as a magician’s hat from which to pull out “messianic prooftexts” to validate the divinity of Jesus? That is an insult to YHWH who gave His special revelation for all humankind, through them. 

 

 

Which brings us to the point of this article:  the only reason we continue the ‘discourse series’ with Christians and Messianics is for the same reason that Jewish websites endeavor to disprove that there even exists a connection of YHWH’s original revelation recorded in the TORAH, with the two parts of the Christian Bible.  Certainly the NT disregards the relevance of the “Old” TORAH of YHWH to Christian life and applies a derogatory term “legalism” to those who live it; and certainly the Jews do not and will never recognize the NT as an extension or a continuation of their Hebrew Scriptures.  As for the Christian version of TNK, their OT, you have to start seriously comparing the two (TNK and OT) to notice the many differences between the original revelation of YHWH and the Christianized version of the OT.  There are articles posted here that have dealt with these differences, the latest of which is the “Lost in Translation” series.  

 

 

So, on with the discourse! And learn from each side, for indeed, the discourse has informative, educational, and spiritual value. Don’t just swallow the arguments of either side, always check these out for yourself and to your satisfaction. But don’t just stay on the sidelines, or be a fence-sitter; at some point you will have to make a decision for yourself. The issue boils down to WHO is the TRUE GOD, the CREATOR, and what is HIS NAME?

 

The discourse series help you make that decision.

 

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