08-26-2013, 03:36 AM
Just a few minor notes, Joel:
Messianic Jews certainly don't see the Old Testament as superseded. In fact, Biblically, that notion isn't supported. When the Torah (1st 4 books of the Bible) speak, for instance, of keeping the Festivals (http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holiday...ction.html [note that, Hannukah isn't commanded in the Bible but is kept by most, if not all, Jews http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannukah ]), the Bible specifically mentions that they're to be kept forever. Jesus Himself said, "I have not come to do away with the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them".
Christians generally tend not to keep the Law because of: Constantine I (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine...ous_policy), whose mother separated the Jewish practices from the Christian practices. (Before that time, if you were a Christian, you were a Jew; Christianity was considered a sect of Judaism, much as the Pharisees or Essenes were. [Modern day "sects" of Judaim might be Orthodox Jews or Reformed Jews.]) Many Christians also interpret Paul's writings on the Law to indicate that Paul felt we shouldn't keep the Law; on the contrary, Paul himself kept the law and taught new non-Jewish converts to do so. Paul's main argument over the Law was that he was trying to convince people that they couldn't get to heaven without believing in Jesus and that the Law didn't cleanse one of sin. (The whole point of Jesus on the cross was to forgive sin, after all.) Note, btw, that Paul was a Pharisee. Pharisees took an oath that, if they broke the Law or stopped keeping it, they consented to be stoned by their fellow Pharisees. History suggests that Paul was never stoned, but rather was killed in Rome by the Emperor (who wasn't in favor of this new sect of Judaism).
Messianic Jews certainly don't see the Old Testament as superseded. In fact, Biblically, that notion isn't supported. When the Torah (1st 4 books of the Bible) speak, for instance, of keeping the Festivals (http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holiday...ction.html [note that, Hannukah isn't commanded in the Bible but is kept by most, if not all, Jews http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannukah ]), the Bible specifically mentions that they're to be kept forever. Jesus Himself said, "I have not come to do away with the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them".
Christians generally tend not to keep the Law because of: Constantine I (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine...ous_policy), whose mother separated the Jewish practices from the Christian practices. (Before that time, if you were a Christian, you were a Jew; Christianity was considered a sect of Judaism, much as the Pharisees or Essenes were. [Modern day "sects" of Judaim might be Orthodox Jews or Reformed Jews.]) Many Christians also interpret Paul's writings on the Law to indicate that Paul felt we shouldn't keep the Law; on the contrary, Paul himself kept the law and taught new non-Jewish converts to do so. Paul's main argument over the Law was that he was trying to convince people that they couldn't get to heaven without believing in Jesus and that the Law didn't cleanse one of sin. (The whole point of Jesus on the cross was to forgive sin, after all.) Note, btw, that Paul was a Pharisee. Pharisees took an oath that, if they broke the Law or stopped keeping it, they consented to be stoned by their fellow Pharisees. History suggests that Paul was never stoned, but rather was killed in Rome by the Emperor (who wasn't in favor of this new sect of Judaism).