The Great Divide...

I listened to a two hour YouTube video yesterday by this Rabbi in Israel. He lives there...but I believe he moved there from the US because he has an American accent. (I'll have to check on that). Anyway, his name won't come to me right now, but the mission of his teaching seems to be to prove that the Old Testament (as Jesus meant it) was not nearly as legalistic as it's generally portrayed to be.

I thought: "You have my attention."

See, that's the whole reason I'm on this journey. Now, I have never been taught that the Old Testament did not apply to scripture as a whole, of course it does, it accounts for more than half the Bible. But the thing is, when one reads the Old Covenant, and you get into, say, Leviticus or Numbers... You have, what seems to Western culture, like complete and total misery (and many many rules that would be just way too hard for anyone to keep up with.). There's adult circumcision (yikes!), there's instructions for dissecting animals as blood offerings. There's measurements...lots of them! Measurements for each part of the tabernacle, measurements that put perimeters around where the people could and could not go, measurements for ingredients, etc. etc. So, How do any of these things apply today?". This is what I"m trying to find cut. The rabbi gave a more outlandish example, and then explained it:

"You shall not boil a kid in it's mother's milk."

Again, Yikes! I think many people are quite insulted by instructions like this. Furthermore, why would anyone NEED to be instructed about such a thing? Also: Why would anyone want to worship such a God as this?? Now, God (Yahweh) is not saying that HE does these things...he's instructing his people not to do this. But I think most people (Whether saved or unsaved), absolutely cringe and wonder why in the world anyone would need such an instruction. The truth is this: Circumcision (whether adult or child), blood sacrifices, and instructions for offering them, dividing tribes into camps and having them wander in the wilderness, while eating a strange white...(something) that comes down from the sky, and some of it spoils and stinks. All of this SOUNDS incredibly twisted and demonic.

But this is God: God, whose love is perfect and everlasting. Right? God...whose perfect will is to redeem humanity. Right? This is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who promised Abraham that his descendants would be more than the stars in the sky. Right? Yes! Logical question: Who would want to worship a God like this? Right? I mean, seriously! I think, even a lot of born again CHRISTIANS want to ask this, though they may not EVER admit it. I heard pastor Andy Stanley once put it this way. He said:

"You don't want what's fair (because) fair is, you sin... You're out; because God is that holy."

Let's face it, we are taught that the GOD, the FATHER of the Old Testament...is untouchable. (Right)? For example, when Moses finally came down from the mountain, where he went to learn the Torah (in a sense) and brought back the SECOND set of stone tablets, YHWH, wanted to address the people as a whole, and they were so frightened of his thundering voice, saying: "Speak to Moses! Don't speak to us!". Wow. How CAN we worship such a God as this? Well, enter the born-again Christians who say that this is why the world needs Jesus. (!!!) :). He's the Answer. He has "bridged the gap," so to speak. He came to "save" the world from the sin that God could not tolerate. He has a name that people can pronounce. :) (YHWH is not pronounceable). I mean, when the very name of the God you worship is so holy that it's not to be uttered? (...). Anyway, back to the example the rabbi gave...

First, I hope you know that in this case, "kid" means a baby goat...it does not mean, one of our children. Yahweh warned the Israelites that in the land there would be people worshipping false gods and practicing things that Yahweh was absolutely against. Some of these were Babylonian fertility sacrifices that involved boiling the "kid" in it's Momma's milk. Now, this SHOULD make you cringe! The above instruction was God telling his children: This is one thing that you will see done when you enter the land I'm taking you to. Do not do it; it's not okay!

He knew that his people could and WOULD worship false gods because they had worshipped the golden calf. Now, as a child, I read this "Bible story" and thought that Moses was "called" (which he was), he went up the mountain, he grabbed the two tablets from God, he went back down the mountain and (GASP!!!). These people were suddenly worshiping this gold...cow! First of all, this seems absolutely ridiculous because wouldn't they have had enough sense not to worship an animal?? Secondly, Moses came right back, didn't he?? I mean, couldn't they have waited? No he didn't. Moses was on the mountain with God for over a month! Did you know that? For most of my short, Christian life, I did not know this. However, when I learned this (sometime in my twenties), I was shocked! For the first time, I said, no wonder they worshipped (something else)!

For the first time I was able to empathize with a group of people I had always considered stupid. I mean, what they did seemed stupid to me. Even after I became saved, I thought I had it goin' on because I "knew Jesus.". The Israelites didn't! Now he had not gone to the cross yet (let's be fair)...but, my next thought would always be: Well, if they had just LISTENED to God! I would read the account of Abram and Sarai the same way: "Well, if they had just listened to God! Why did they have to make all that trouble? Didn't they know God would do what he said?". Folks, you'll have to forgive me, I'm an amateur at this. But I think that's my whole point! What developed in me was (I know now) a sort of "conceit" that I did not even know was there (Hey, I was a 15 year old kid) but over the years, this belief that I had found the right answer (Jesus), really did turn into laziness...

The short version is, that I thought anything outside of "asking" Jesus into my heart was legalism, and therefore it wasn't necessary...in FACT...it was offensive to God (I thought)! There was NOTHING I could do for God! And this was GOOD, because who wanted to do all that work anyway?? Jesus's death was the key!: He made it possible so we wouldn't have to! Now, I went to a very well known, non-denominational church that taught all the way through the Bible, verse by verse. Yes, they did and do today; although, I've reached a point where it seems weird to say this because there is A LOT of the scriptures I know NOTHING about. But I've attended this church for 20 years, so if they teach through the Bible, verse by verse, and I've attended that long, then why were/are their so many "gaps" in what I believed? They were gaps that (for a long time) I did not even know were there.

Now, there have always been certain things about my faith that have been ALWAYS true:

1. There is one God, in three persons (father, son and Holy Spirit).
2. Salvation is by God's grace alone; I can do nothing to earn it.
3. If we accept Jesus Christ as our own personal savor, we will spend eternity wit Him in paradise.
4. If we do NOT accept him as savior, we will spend eternity separated from Him.

So basically, this is (I hate to say it), the "box" I put my savior in...in the name of knowing Him personally. I'd like to add that my (sort of) "mantra" became:
"It's about a relationship with Jesus!"

Hmmmm, so what sort of a "relationship" did I have with the SON of the Living God? Basically, it was those four points up there. These were the "ducks" I got in a "row" WHILE I was proclaiming with my mouth that nobody COULD get all their ducks in a row...that's WHY we need Jesus. Ummm, come again? Oh, yeah, and there's a couple more, maybe 3 "ducks" I'd like to add to the ones I've already "lined up" there...

1. Faith without works is "dead."
2. But NOW we WANT to do those works because Christ is in us,
rather than earning our way to Heaven.
3. We are saved by GRACE, and God works all things
together for the good of those who love Him.


Okay, now I won't say that there is no truth up there (in the 7 "ducks" I have in a row)...there is. But the thing is... SO WHAT?? AND?? What do I DO with that?? Wow. What WAS I doing with this TRUTH I claimed I had? I can tell you exactly... I started out high as a kite, sorta like you do when you're in a romantic relationship. And why not?? Something absolutely was CHANGED. I was NOT the same...and I knew it. Jesus HAD come in, and I was clean and forgiven...and I knew it. I felt it, I sensed it...I began to DESIRE to do things differently than I had before. I had sensitivities to things I had not had before. I began to be ATTRACTED to things which are/were attractive to Christ, or (you could say), the character of Christ. It was my joy now, to eliminate things from my life the were/are in contrast to what is pleasing to Christ. Yes, this ALL happened to me...just like people tell you when they "witness" to you, and they ask you if you want to "receive" Jesus. It's all real. It's all true. That's (part of) my story and I'm stickin' to it!

So, what happened? Well. Over time, I realized (first of all, that there ARE a lot of inconsistencies up there in those ducks I'd slowly put in a row...
First of all, "Faith without works is dead.". Now, this is TRUE. The Bible says this, but I've come to find that I as a Christian, became a pro at saying: "The Bible says" (whatever) and then applying it... Yes. But there's still something missing. Don't we tell people that there is nothing we can do to "earn" salvation? Of course we do. And this is also true. We cannot "earn" salvation, but once we are given that gift, what do we DO with our (now) changed hearts...walking it daily? See, the weird thing is, I understood these things...they were not foreign to me. Jesus Christ changes us day by day, and we grow and mature in him. I KNEW this. I could feel it in me. Still something seemed to just "fizzle out."

Wow, just what WAS missing? All I can say is, I started to "stagnate.". I could feel myself going "backwards, and it was like my "growth" was being stunted...even though, in my heart of hearts, I was doing what I needed to do to be "fed" and to "feed" his sheep. After a while, it seemed like I just heard the same thing over and over again: It's all about having a relationship with Jesus. Yes...AND?? In other words...(I know now), it seemed that the "angle" that I'd learned to place on my faith, was actually rather "crooked.". The lens, through which I was "magnifying" my faith, seemed to be "cracked" somehow.

I still have SO much to say about this, but I'm getting tired, so it will need to wait for another entry. But I will just say this: relationships are. WORK...are they not? Of course! So, speaking reasonably, a relationship with Jesus where there is true devotion...will be WORK...will it not? Of course! So let's get on to the work we are now required to do for Him. (yes, LET's...hurry!!). Wait...what'd ya say: that we're not REQUIRED TO do any work for him? All we need do is ask? Really? Well, how does that jive with the fact that we become bondservants, or "slaves" to Christ when we ARE saved?? Listen, SLAVES WORK...they WORK HARD...AND they often do it methodically and systematically because they are "bound" to the task at hand until it's finished. It's called "discipline" I believe...and we cannot carry out our master's instructions without it. Here's the thing: the only "methods" I find for actually DEVELOPING Biblical discipline...are written in the OLD Covenant. The OLD TESTAMENT...you know the longer, first half of the ENTIRE BIBLE...that most Evangelical churches use to "compliment" their New Covenant verses because (they say) these "legalistic" rules no longer apply to us TODAY? That's interesting because the first Covenant, or agreement has more books in it than the second one. And get this...the second Covenant, or agreement that we seem to lean so heavily on because, it's all about GRACE...it has more "Commands" in it than the Old Covenant! :). But wait, aren't we staying away from "legalism" here?? Yes, we are, and in doing so, I think we're wiping out most of our discipline...and we become lazy...at least, I know for a fact, this is what has happened to ME. Maybe it isn't about legalism. Maybe it's like we tell people (born gain Christians): It has nothing to do with work because we can't earn salvation. Correct. Maybe, because of everything our Savior has done for us, it ought to be our PLEASURE to work our butts off in return...because we LOVE him...because we ADORE what he's done for us. MAYBE, he wishes for us to work as though we COULD earn salvation DESPITE the fact that it is not NECESSARY, because love shows itself in action. Have you ever been in love with someone and could not WAIT to do everything you could to earn all the favor you could...even though you're perfectly aware that it's not necessary? It'a pleasure to do so, right? Well?...