Hi Neil
I hope you are doing well.
I enjoy reading your columns. You always have something worth reading.
In your column on the Pope and Hebdo, you made a statement that
is not true, though I am sure that statement has been used to make a point, but
the point has been muddled. I apologize
that my explanation of all this is a little long, and you probably heard all
this before, but your statement surprised me, so something was lost along the
way.
No church believes or teaches that all Jews go to hell, or
as you put it, “damned . . . for the unforgivable crime of being ourselves.”
Jesus was Jewish, and so were Peter, Paul, and all the other
apostles.
Christians believe that the religion of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob has been thoroughly revised and updated, such that instead of calling it
Judaism 2.0, it was given an entirely new name, Christianity.
The animal and grain sacrifices, practiced from before even
the time of Moses and greatly expanded at his time, were replaced by Jesus’ one
sacrifice and offering, his death and resurrection, Good Friday and Easter. That’s why they happened in conjunction with
Passover. He was the new Passover lamb.
Instead of a high priest and other priests, Jesus is the new
high priest and all believers become priests themselves.
Instead of a temple, a place where God was uniquely present
and where all these rites were to be performed by the priests, every believer’s
body has become a sanctuary where God’s Spirit would reside.
The ethical and dietary laws were simplified and even dropped
as legal requirements in many cases, though
the value of many of those laws in offering direction to one’s life even
today are still recognized. E.g. pork is
no longer forbidden, but there were reasons why it was prohibited in the first
place, and many believe those reasons are still valid today. A number of sexual practices like incest and
bestiality were called abominations, and the Church and most societies today still
consider them off limits, though some other practices are being challenged.
Oh, and the user name and password have both been changed to
J-E-S-U-S, not case sensitive. These
changes had been talked about for centuries prior to the changeover; and when
the time came, many Jews switched over, but many still preferred the analog, beta,
black and white, dial up, floppy disk version.
When the reception became spotty and muffled, they rewrote the
instruction manual to lower performance expectations and found meaning in the
fact that they were owners of the original product, though it became more like
a Victorian mansion that had been gutted and completely redone inside.
These upgrades are still available today at no cost to
anyone who asks for them, but Management will not be responsible for damages
for those who don’t make the switch.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob promised them that He
would make a great nation out of their descendants and give them a land as
their inheritance. But first they had to
live for 400 years in Egypt under Egyptian rule. He then sent Moses to bring them out of Egypt
and into this new land. Before they
entered the land, He made a covenant with them.
As part of this covenant, He gave them His laws for this new life that
included an elaborate sacrificial system involving priests and animal sacrifices
to make atonement for their sins.
He also warned them that if they didn’t keep His covenant,
He would scatter them throughout the world.
He also promised them a time when He would bring them back to the land
and restore their fortunes.
Twice in their history their nation and temple were
destroyed. The first time was in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians. He warned them this was coming and told them
they would be back in the land in a short time.
A small remnant returned under Ezra, a priest, in 536 B.C.
The second time they were destroyed was in 70 A.D. by the
Romans. Survivors were scattered
throughout the Roman Empire and again in 136 A.D.
Their entire Temple system had been destroyed including
their priesthood. This second destruction
of the Temple forced the Jewish leaders to rethink their whole religion. They got together somewhere around 94 A.D.
and essentially redefined the Jewish religion without the priesthood and
sacrifices.
Since then, many Jewish people have accepted Jesus, and many
of them no longer felt it necessary to marry only other Jews. But there are many Jewish people today who
identify themselves as Jewish believers or Messianic Jews. They celebrate all the Jewish feasts as well
as the Christian ones. They consider
themselves fully Jewish and fully Christian.
And Christian Bible is the Jewish Bible with an appendix describing all
the updates with a full explanation of why they were necessary and how to
implement all the changes.
Wish you well.
Larry
