Did Dr Michael Brown Misapply Malachi 3 & Haggai 2?

Posted on January 16, 2017 by yourphariseefriend

Posted in Response to Dr. Brown Line of Fire, Videos | 35 Comments

An Open Letter from Rabbi Eli Cohen

Posted on January 15, 2017 by yourphariseefriend

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Where do the Jews play a role in G-d’s plan?

“Israel has not fulfilled in any measure its role to be a priestly nation for over 2,000 years. That’s the charge against G-d’s people.” I would say that such a charge is saying that G-d made a mistake when choosing the Jewish people , no?  Oh No! is the reply, G-d HAS a purpose for the Jews……. yet to be seen in the future.

OK, so let me ask you, what was the purpose of the nation of Israel from 400 ce –  1500 ce in G-d’s plan? To prove that G-d can preserve a nation?  Is this a silly game where Israel is just a guinea pig so G-d can prove Satan wrong?  The Jews are butchered just to prove a point?  Were the people of G-d just put on earth so that they can reject Jesus so that…

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Jeremiah 10:23

Posted on January 11, 2017 by yourphariseefriend

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Jeremiah 10:23

Justice and kindness are prominent themes in the Jewish Scriptures. Jeremiah, Micah (6:8) and Moses (Genesis 18:19) all put these concepts at the center of our relationship with God.

Why?

Here is a thought.

The basis of our relationship with God is the fact that He created us (Psalm 100:3, Isaiah 42:5, 44:24). So what? Well, if He created us then we belong to him. When I say: “we belong to him” – I mean – everything – our lives our souls, our ability to love – everything. We owe every facet of our existence to the One Creator of all.

The concepts of: “belong” and “owe” only talk to us to the degree that justice is important to us. If justice is not important to us, then we cannot appreciate the idea that we “owe” everything to God and that we “belong” to God. It is only…

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The Pharisees

Posted on January 1, 2017 by yourphariseefriend

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The Pharisees

 

You would expect that the authors of the Christian Scriptures would attempt to teach the doctrines of Christianity. Indeed, the theology of Christianity can be found by reading the letters of Paul. But the writers of the Christian Scriptures did not stop at presenting their own theology; they also found it necessary to give their readers a perspective of Jewish theology. It seems that believing certain things about Jews and Judaism is part and parcel of Christianity.

The word “Pharisee” appears 100 times in the Christian Scriptures. Who were the Pharisees? The Pharisees were the leaders of those Jews who believed in the national testimony of the Jewish people. The Pharisees were the leaders of the Jewish people and their philosophy and teachings is known today as Orthodox Judaism.

A popular thesaurus equates the word “Pharisee” with: “hypocrite”, “fraud”, “deceiver” and “pretender”. A typical Christian study Bible…

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Messianic Discrimination – a response to James

Posted on December 28, 2016 by yourphariseefriend

yourphariseefriend's avatar1000 Verses - a project of Judaism Resources

“To them, all Jews are still Jews, whether they be  atheist, agnostic, Chassidic, Orthodox or Reformed- EXCEPT for those Jews who  believe that Yeshua is the Messiah!!!”

                                                                                                        James Ashmore January 2014

Dear James

It  seems that you are under the impression that the Jewish community singles out  believers in Jesus for unfair treatment. You seem to believe that the Jewish  community accepts a broad range of beliefs but blindly rejects belief in Jesus  as non-Jewish. You can see no reason for this treatment aside from a blind bias  against Jesus that we have inherited together with our mother’s milk.

You  are not the only one to believe this myth. So I will take the opportunity to  clarify and to bring some light to this discussion.

As  an Orthodox Jew I can say that my community has not engaged in this type of  discrimination. My community believes that the only…

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Unanswered: Did Dr. Brown Address Deuteronomy 30?

Posted on December 27, 2016 by yourphariseefriend

Posted in Response to Dr. Brown Line of Fire, Videos | 141 Comments

Names – Exodus 3:14

Posted on December 25, 2016 by yourphariseefriend

Names – Exodus 3:14
The Children of Israel were languishing under the whip of the Egyptian taskmasters and their outcry rose to the heavens. God appears to Moses in the burning bush and He tells Him that He has seen the pain of His people. God then commissions Moses with the task of bringing Israel out of Egypt. Moses asks the Lord; when the people will ask me “what is His name?” what shall I tell them? God responds “I will be who I will be” (Exodus 3:13,14).
What is the meaning of this enigmatic exchange? What does God mean when He calls Himself “I will be”? Isn’t God’s existence eternal? He was, He is and He will always be, so what is the significance of this focus on the future? The mystery is only compounded when we consider the fact that nowhere is it recorded that Moses actually used this appellation of God when he spoke to the children of Israel.
Another interesting feature of this Scriptural narrative concerns the children of Israel. Throughout Scripture, the most common name of our nation is “the children of Israel.” Indeed, this book opens by referring to our nation by this name. But once the nation became enslaved, they are no longer called “children of Israel,” instead they are called Hebrews (Exodus 1:15,16,19; 2:6,7). The Scripture goes out of its way to avoid mentioning the names of Moses’ parents (Exodus 2:1). It is only when Israel cries out to God that they get their name back (Exodus 2:23).
When Israel was enslaved by the Egyptians, their identity as the children of the patriarchs dimmed. They were overwhelmed and overcome by the culture of their captors. And it is for this reason that they are not named as children of Israel throughout this trying period.
When God revealed Himself to Moses on behalf of the children of Israel, Moses knew that the spiritual state of the children of Israel was far from ideal. These were not people whose association with Abraham. Isaac and Jacob was clear and obvious. His question to God was not a question about the nature of God, but about the nature of the people of Israel. When God allows Himself to be associated with a person or with a community it tells us something about that person or that community. The fact that God allows Himself to be called the God of Abraham tells us that Abraham lived a life that reflected Godliness. So Moses was asking God; how are you associating your holy name with these lowly people?
God’s response to Moses was a response about God’s mercy and compassion. God was telling Moses, I don’t need them to be Godly right now. I hear in their cry a yearning for something higher and holier. It is enough for me that they want to be and I associate Myself with them because “I will be.” With their cry to God they regained their national identity, not so much because of what they were but because of what they wanted to become. And God is not only the God of the righteous but He is also the God of those who yearn.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in General, Judaism, Scripture | 42 Comments

Birthday of the Sun

Posted on December 22, 2016 by yourphariseefriend

Birthday of the Sun

The fact that the most prominent holiday in the Christian yearly cycle is pagan in origin is relatively well known. Some Christian leaders argue for an abandonment of this pagan celebration while most observe this holiday and use the time as an opportunity to call attention to the message of Christianity.

Many churchmen justify the adoption of a pagan holiday with the argument that this was simply a historical circumstance. The expanding Church found that so many people were already celebrating this time, so instead of attempting to repress this celebration, the Church converted it from paganism to Christianity. The “conversion” of the holiday was achieved by artificially associating the Christian message with the observance of the holiday. This merger turned the commemoration of the birthday of the sun into a celebration that commemorates the birthday of the “son”.

Are these two celebrations really so different? If we look into the heart of the pagan celebration and worship we will see that no conversion was achieved. The Christian celebration is essentially just as idolatrous as the pagan celebration. The only change that was achieved was that the attention given to one idol is now turned to another.

The pagans chose their deities in the following manner. People would be inspired and overawed by various entities in the natural world. Be it the power and radiance of the sun, the mighty sound of thunder, the majestic beauty of a river or the magical appeal of the dark forces of the night. Instead of recognizing that these are but creations of the same Creator who granted us all the gift of existence the pagan would bend in submission towards the mysterious awe and majesty projected by these entities.

The heart of Christianity, in all of its manifestations, is the submission towards the aura projected by a certain human being. No one saw that this person create the world and no one saw this person standing as a second person in a triune godhead. These were theories developed by hearts that were already bent in submission to the aura associated with the personality of Jesus.

The worshippers of the sun and the worshippers of the “son” are both engaged in the same type of worship. They are both allowing themselves to be overwhelmed by the attributes inherent in a fellow citizen of this universe.

The witness of the Jew is that everything in this universe and all of the majesty, beauty, mystery, charisma and holiness that these entities may possess are all but gifts from the One Creator who stands above and beyond all of nature while at the same time sustaining and nurturing every detail of existence. It is to Him, and to Him alone, that our worship is due. Not only our own worship, but even those entities that overwhelm men with their majesty, beauty, holiness and mystery, they too, owe all worship to the One Creator.

The day will yet come when everyone and everything rejoices in the worship of the Creator (Psalm 98:7). May it happen soon and in our days.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

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Chanukah – Isaiah 2:5

Posted on December 18, 2016 by yourphariseefriend

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Chanukah – Isaiah 2:5

The celebration of Chanukah was instituted after prophecy had already ceased from the community of Israel. The religious leadership of the people established this holiday as an expression of thanksgiving to God that is to last through the generations.

This holiday brings to the forefront the question of the authority of the religious leadership of Israel. Who are they to decide on my behalf? Who are they to dictate my personal relationship with God?

In order to answer these questions we need to understand a basic Scriptural concept. The concept I speak of is the entity called “Israel”. This entity is not just a gathering of individuals. It is a community. A community that stands as one before God from the days of the exodus into the future.

This community is human. We have made mistakes and we will make mistakes but this doesn’t change the…

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The Ultimate Truth

Posted on December 15, 2016 by yourphariseefriend

yourphariseefriend's avatar1000 Verses - a project of Judaism Resources

The Ultimate Truth

The prophets of the Jewish Scriptures taught us to look forward to the Messianic age. These prophets described the Messianic age as a time in which the ultimate truth is revealed to all. What is that ultimate truth? What was the clarity that the prophets yearned to see instilled in the hearts and minds of all mankind?

We will shortly search the Jewish Scriptures, the books of these prophets, to find the answer to our question. But before we do that we will delineate the opposing views of Judaism and Christianity concerning this matter.

The Christian missionary is obsessed with the fact that the majority of mankind does not believe the Christian teachings about Jesus. The Christian yearns for the day when all of mankind will believe in Jesus. The Christian also looks forward to the day when all of mankind will believe that the worshipers of…

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