Friends Pressuring Me to Go To Church

[John_Silver]

the majority of Christians believe in the great Commandment to go forth in Jesus’ name and convert the heathens.

I don't want to get to distracted here as I am typing up a rather lengthy reply to another thread. But I wanted to iterate that in Matthew 28:19 Jesus was telling them to make (mathetes; Greek) "learners" or better in the Aramaic (Talmida; the closest discernible word to the Aramaic) "one who is instructed". We can assume that Yeshua would have already regenerated those they were to disciple. In other words, Yeshua saves and regenerates and the apostles were to disciple them (make them Talmidim). Should not be about conversion.

John

[Mark L Holland]

To John

  I understand where you are coming from, the problem with Christians is that they do not obey Jesus' teachings before the Jews if they did they would actually be a decent religion.

Question, are you Jewish and believe that Jesus fulfilled the messonic role set forth in the Torah?  I know that there are some Jewish sect’s that acknowledge that Jesus was the prophesied messiah but do not believe his mission was to create a new religion but was simply to restore the Jewish religion to the status that Jehovah wants.
 

[John_Silver]

Question, are you Jewish and believe that Jesus fulfilled the messonic role set forth in the Torah?  I know that there are some Jewish sect’s that acknowledge that Jesus was the prophesied messiah but do not believe his mission was to create a new religion but was simply to restore the Jewish religion to the status that Jehovah wants.

I'm actually a mutt. Jewish through lineage on my father's side but not on my mothers which renders me...well...not Jewish. I am what some refer to as a "Hebrew Roots" Christian. I believe Yeshua is the Messiah of the prophecies. His intent wasn't to create a new religion but to "graft" others into Israel. It wasn't really a new concept though. There were gerim or sojourners who traveled with the Israelites out of Egypt and (once they were circumcised) that held the same status as Jews (see Rahab and Caleb). Most importantly though, I don't believe it is religion God is after now. It is a relationship where we can approach Him freely.

john

[Whitney]

I'm actually a mutt. Jewish through lineage on my father's side but not on my mothers which renders me...well...not Jewish.

Side question....why don't they have half-jewish?  Or is it just a religious thing where you have to be pure blood in order to be the chosen people or something like that?

[John_Silver]

I'm actually a mutt. Jewish through lineage on my father's side but not on my mothers which renders me...well...not Jewish.

Side question....why don't they have half-jewish?  Or is it just a religious thing where you have to be pure blood in order to be the chosen people or something like that?

Most recently, it has to do with the right to settle in Israel with automatic citizenship. It is a law strictly held by the rabbinate (responsible for marriages, ect) that the mother passes on the Jewish identity. It's based on the Halakha. You can read about the laws (both old and modern) here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_is_a_Jew%3F