A History of Shame – Rewind
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16 NASB
To the Jew first – Paul was not ashamed, but don’t cut his sentence short. He was not ashamed of the good news. Nor was he ashamed that the good news came to the Jew first. Paul wasn’t ashamed but apparently the Church is. Since 150 AD the Church has done all it could to be ashamed of the Jew. Abraham Heschel sounds the warning:
“A Christian ought to ponder seriously the tremendous implications of a process begun in early Christian history. I mean the conscious or unconscious dejudaization of Christianity, affecting the Church’s way of thinking, its inner life as well as its relationship to the past and present reality of Israel – the father and mother of the very being of Christianity. The children did not arise to call the mother blessed; instead, they called this mother blind. Some theologians continue to act as if they did not know the meaning of ‘honor your father and mother’; others, anxious to prove the superiority of the church, speak as if they suffered from a spiritual Oedipus complex. A Christian ought to realize that a world without Israel will be a world without the God of Israel.”[1]
Heschel is just as critical of the decline of Jewish piety. “We have helped to extinguish the light that our fathers had kindled. We have bartered holiness for convenience, loyalty for success, wisdom for information, prayers for sermons, tradition for fashion.”[2]
Perhaps we who wish to re-establish the vital connection between the father and mother and our current devotion to YHWH Eloheynu must ask ourselves how we have participated in the dishonoring of our spiritual heritage. Perhaps we need to ask if our religious practice has not bartered with the purity of El Shaddai. Perhaps we aren’t quite as zealous as we imagine.
I should weep for my contribution to the degradation of God’s people. They paid so that I might receive this treasure. I would weep, but there are no more tears. There is only horror for the part I played without knowing it, for the years I taught doctrines of superiority, heresies of supersession. I would weep but it is too late. Hundreds were affected by my ignorance. I cannot recover them. I cannot call them back. What can I do now, Lord? Would that I could have trod the road to Babylon, could have hidden in caves with David, could have heard the cry of Amos when there was time to repent. But God had other plans. I was lifted up on the broken backs of the prophets, the devastation of the temple and the wailing of the captives. God spared me for something else, yet to be understood. But I know that I need to repay. To the Jew first.
Topical Index: Jew, first, Heschel, Romans 1:16, ashamed
All so true. We have, in years past, continued in the traditions taught to us by our fathers. We were held captive, blindfolded, slogging in ditches and mud pits alongside our teachers and spiritual leaders and believing the lie that we were walking on the highway to holiness, unable to see that we were not walking on the highway itself, but rather crawling through the mud in the ditches a few feet off of its side.
Now that we are beginning to see the actual road top and climbing up out the ditches that we are so familiar with, be very careful to follow Moses words , follow Torah, for it is the crown of the road top. Do not be mislead by all things that are merely “Jewish”, for they may traditions that come from the mud filled ditches on the other side of the road. Traditions that come from the pharisees and saduccees that resisted God’s Word made flesh.
Follow the Torah made flesh and thank Him and His people who have preserved it through the centuries and the horrors of persecution they endured, for without them, we would not have the privilege of walking on this road top.
Excellent word picture you paint here Lewis. So very helpful to me.
We have such a tendency to pick up the traditions of men without investigating the origins of such.
We must keep moving onward and not sit and stagnate. Run the race Paul says!
Shalom
I may not have many years left to help with the correcion to the Christian history, having squandered my first 77 years. but the energy thst I have left will hopefully contribute to the restoration of the Churches’ appreciation of our Jewish oots.
Lewis,
Your writing is so eloquent and gives me a perfect visual of what sort of slop we are offered on either side of the narrow road. “Do not be mislead by all things that are merely “Jewish”, for they may traditions that come from the mud filled ditches on the other side of the road. Traditions that come from the pharisees and saduccees that resisted God’s Word made flesh.” THANK YOU SO MUCH, Lewis.
Yesterday, I received a very interesting letter from a dear staunch catholic friend (a pseudo-mom in a way for me) who is actually pleased that I am investigating the Jewish ROOTS of Christianity! She quoted Scripture, Isaiah 11 talking about the root of Jesse and explained that Christ was a Jew!!! This is a highly intelligent, learned woman who venerates Mary, takes eucharist in her home (she is housebound) weekly or more often whenever possible, and, of course, believes the pope, whomever he may be at the time, to be infallible “in matters of the church.”
She made a very LARGE, clear statement that “we are all spiritual Semites and there is NOTHING, NOTHING AT ALL in the Catholic Church that is NOT Jewish!” She is a convert, as an adult, to catholicism and is one who does her “homework” before making any decisions. She knows history so this statement completely surprises me… for many reasons.
I am overjoyed that, in her mid 80’s, she is open to discussing what I consider to be a very hot topic without trying to “bring me back” to my catholic trappings (or maybe she is but YHVH is with me.) Any advice from anybody on where I should start with her?
Daria, Your elderly Catholic friend’s statement that” NOTHING, NOTHING AT ALL in the Catholic Church that is NOT Jewish!” is ….well, I’m stumped for a word that describes its …… breadth. And what of those crosses and idols that abound in their sanctuaries–how Jewish are they? And I suppose the Eucharist is manna? Oh, have her remind you again in what sect of Judaism that the Sabbath is on the first day of the week ? And there isn’t enough bandwidth to even note all the doctrinal differences-from Trinitarianism to Transubstantiation- between Catholicism and Judaism. Nothing that is not Jewish indeed. You might test the sincerity of her pro “Semitic” stance by asking her if she would be willing, from now on, to say 5 Hail Miryams and 2 Our Abba’s, instead of 5 Hail Mary’s and 2 Our Fathers for her penance? I doubt it-traditions trump truth-or kills it. The only thing I see that the Catholics practice that is Jewish is their ban on pronouncing the name YHWH. This anti -Scriptural denial has long been a Rabbinic practice and was outlawed in 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI. But one in a million similarities doesn’t make for a “NOTHING, NOTHING” in my book, but then again I don’t have a ring to kiss (and surmising from the speech from the supposedly first Catholic Pope -Peter – he didn’t either when he told the crippled man in Acts 3:6: ” …Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Yeshua Ha’Mashiach of Nazareth rise up and walk. ” The Pope and his merry men can no longer say they “have no silver and gold”, but sadly neither can they say “rise up and walk”. So, from a former Catholic to another former Catholic about a formal Catholic- my advise is pray and avoid contentious strivings. Shalom, Michael
Dear Stanleys,
Thanks so much for helping me wade through the toxic sludge of what’s wrong with the catholic cult, at least touching the surface of the depths. “The only thing I see that the Catholics practice that is Jewish is their ban on pronouncing the name YHWH.” They do try to mimic stuff (with sleight of hand)… think “antichrist” whenever we look at their garb, rituals, repetitions, apparitions, etc. That’s enough, right there, to RUN THE OTHER WAY!
Please pray for me as I find ways of gently but firmly discussing these things with my much-loved friend.
P.s. Have you guys ever heard of “Mission to Catholics?” Do you know anything about THEIR “christian” foundation?
Dear Brother, No matter what you did, YHWH Elohenu remembers no more and is standing with open arms saying, “I LOVE YOU and what I have always planned for you to do has not changed because of the past. You are Mine – then and now. Go forward. Am I not Adoni? Can I not reverse what you did for My own purpose? GO FORWARD!!”
“But I know that I need to repay”. “To the Jew first”. If we all vow to do this with gratitude and humility, I believe Abba will be very pleased!
Gary, Yes, I agree, but not to vow, just to do our best like what Skip is/has been doing and undoing all the errors and damage Christianity has done.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel,.. “-
is what most Christianity contends for, the “gospel of J Christ”, with no further understanding nor seeking what it means in context, nor embracing the roots of that Gospel.
‘My FATHER’s House is a House of prayer’, said Yahshua, so, Who is this Father Yahshua is referring to?
Surely HE is the Elohim of Israel, of Avraham, Yitzak and Yaccov, v’Eloheinu!
Thank You, ABBA, for opening our eyes and our understanding that we seek and not be deceived, Amein!
These TWs are a treasure!
Hi Ester,
“Vow” was another way of saying commit to. I have also been teaching for years in an attempt to undo what Christianity has done to the faith. Beyond teaching I’m also working in the Aliyah, helping the poorest of the poor Jewish people return to Israel.
Hi Gary,
ABBA with you in your ministry to undo damage done to the brethren through Christianity teachings/
doctrine, and in your helping out with aliyah to Israel. It is the safest place to be, especially for those poor, but life can be pretty difficult settling in Israel.
Our prayers for them and you. Shalom!
Thank you Ester, Shalom to you also!
Skip you remind me a lot of the apostle Paul,i cant help but think that youre last paragraph is something that he would have written or thought.The other day you comented on Galatians2:16, my translation from (The word of YAH)reads very differently I Qwote.(Know that a man is not cleansed from sin by his obedience to the oral law but through faith in the word of Yahuwah the eternal king of the family in Yah,for we believed in the word our Beloved king,that we might be cleansed from sin by faith in our beloved king and not by the works of any man made laws,because no flesh can be cleansed from sin by simply obeying man made laws.)