Playing With Fire In the Name of Yeshua And In the Profession of Messianic Judaism

As a Messianic Jew, I am absolutely offended by this article. Firstly, we're not even to use titles like "Rabbi" or "Rav" but for Yeshua (cf. Matt 23:8-10). Secondly, we're under the New Covenant, no longer Torah (cf. Romans 7:4-25, Colossians 2:13-17). Yeshua came to fulfill the Torah, and Torah is mandatory only for non-believing Jews and gerim (cf. Matthew 5:17-19, Galatians 3, 4:21-31). Thirdly, in using "Rabbi" or "Rav" for Messianic pastors and requiring ourselves to be under Torah, we ourselves are falling away and agreeing with our very enemies (cf. Galatians 3:17, 5:7-12). We can't even keep Torah if we try, and good luck to those of us who try to burden ourselves with Torah (cf. Acts 15:10, Hebrews 6:4-6).

What Is Working On Shabbat? Does Driving Count?

Working on Shabbat is not any of the following, which needs to be addressed in order to understand what working on Shabbat is:

1. Playing on the computer or any other device.
2. Driving or walking to Shabbat services at your local synagogue or church (To the brats--and I address you later as well--, you ought to get some fresh air and realize that there are Jews and Israelophilic gentiles who observe Shabbat services in churches.).
3. Preparing your food (which is specifically in Tanakh).
4. Kindling fire for non-work purposes (which is implied in Tanakh).
5. Bathing (unless you're bathing after you've engaged in certain activities; which, under the Old Covenant, you're arguably not supposed to be doing on Shabbat).
6. Anything else that isn't intended as work (e.g., flushing a toilet).

Firstly, "[I]t is not as man seeth: for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart." If it is not intended as work, it is not work. Secondly, "no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you." The first day of Pesach is like Shabbat--you cannot work except for what you need to eat. Some will ask, "Well, what about as gathering the manna was or the Jubilee Year is? Shouldn't you prepare your food the day [or year] before, and double what you would prepare on every other day?" That may not work for everybody. For example, the composition of a food can change even in an hour depending on that which the food is exposed to; and that may not work for someone whose system is intolerant of even the slightest--v.g.--fermentation or temperature change in food, and they may need to eat only fresh foods. So, leaving out that challah for an hour or refrigerating that wine may be breaking piku'ach nefesh--saving a life (e.g., choosing life in the first place)--anyway, and piku'ach nefesh comes first. 

Besides (though this is another discussion), making Shabbat the Queen, the challah, the candle lighting, and the wine were all practices to Sikkut and Kiy'un (like the Star of David was a pagan symbol)--and Messianics can redeem those practices; Non Messianics (arguably) can not. That's part of why at least some Karaites don't follow those practices, and they look for "Rabbi"nical ways to be cleansed from Israel. 

As for the man who was gathering wood on Shabbat--since he needs to be addressed and was going to be brought up, anyway--was intending to work. Again, God looks at intent. As one woman stated (with my emphasis put on her words), "But what constitutes "for real" [Shabbatnikery]? Not using electricity? Not using money? Not watering the crops? Going to synagogue? I think it's clear that one can choose to observe a sabbath in many ways - from spending time with friends and family to not doing job-related work to having people over for a Friday night meal - any statistics will be self-reported and most likely not well-defined here." (Also, to be fair and for example, watering your gluten-free crops for your gluten-intolerant family member or your beloved flowers in your gadren is not work.).

Also, if you can't figure out why I'm linking to certain books in the JPS Tanakh, then you go look up the specific verses on BibleGateway yourself--I don't want to use the New King James Version and get accused of proselytizing by certain brats (and you know who you are; and that's the nicest way that I can describe you, since you are--and I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt by stating that you are--acting like petulant children). 

Staying Silent Is Yielding To the Apostates and Legalists, So...

Since Paul openly rebuked Peter for giving up on something "pagan", I am not afraid to do the same to some others regarding Christmas (cf. Galatians 2:5). I know that if Christmas were pagan, it would not be attacked as such. Because Christmas was deliberately designed to celebrate the birth of Yeshua (Jesus), and as a redemption of and counter to the Winter Solstice, it is attacked as pagan (cf. Galatians 1:6-2:4, 5:7-12 Romans 14, Acts 15, Colossians 2:16-17, Hebrews 6:4-6). If I have to name names of those who are attacking Christmas as pagan, I will start naming names. 

If I have to lose friends and "friends", so be it. If I make enemies, good: that means that I stood up for something, sometime in my life. I'll stand up for this:

In the early years of Christianity, Easter was the main holiday; the birth of Jesus was not celebrated. In the fourth century, church officials decided to institute the birth of Jesus as a holiday. Unfortunately, the Bible does not mention date for his birth (a fact Puritans later pointed out in order to deny the legitimacy of the celebration). Although some evidence suggests that his birth may have occurred in the spring (why would shepherds be herding in the middle of winter?), Pope Julius I chose December 25. It is commonly believed that the church chose this date in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival. First called the Feast of the Nativity, the custom spread to Egypt by 432 and to England by the end of the sixth century. By the end of the eighth century, the celebration of Christmas had spread all the way to Scandinavia. Today, in the Greek and Russian orthodox churches, Christmas is celebrated 13 days after the 25th, which is also referred to as the Epiphany or Three Kings Day. This is the day it is believed that the three wise men finally found Jesus in the manger.

And:

hy do we have a decorated Christmas Tree? In the 7th century a monk from Crediton, Devonshire, went to Germany to teach the Word of God. He did many good works there, and spent much time in Thuringia, an area which was to become the cradle of the Christmas Decoration Industry.

Legend has it that he used the triangular shape of the Fir Tree to describe the Holy Trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The converted people began to revere the Fir tree as God's Tree, as they had previously revered the Oak. By the 12th century it was being hung, upside-down, from ceilings at Christmastime in Central Europe, as a symbol of Christianity.

The first decorated tree was at Riga in Latvia, in 1510. In the early 16th century, Martin Luther is said to have decorated a small Christmas Tree with candles, to show his children how the stars twinkled through the dark night.

Don't you ever to my face again twist the meaning of this parsha, which is not a reference to Christmas trees:

 To whom will you liken Me, and make Me equal 
      And compare Me, that we should be alike? 
       ⁶ They lavish gold out of the bag, 
      And weigh silver on the scales; 
      They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god; 
      They prostrate themselves, yes, they worship. 
       ⁷ They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it 
      And set it in its place, and it stands; 
      From its place it shall not move. 
      Though one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer 
      Nor save him out of his trouble. 

And do not twist this, either. It is a reference to ba'alim, not Christmas trees:

 ¹ Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel.
² Thus says the LORD: 


      “ Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; 
      Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, 
      For the Gentiles are dismayed at them. 
       ³ For the customs of the peoples are futile; 
      For one cuts a tree from the forest, 
      The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. 
       ⁴ They decorate it with silver and gold; 
      They fasten it with nails and hammers 
      So that it will not topple. 
       ⁵ They are upright, like a palm tree, 
      And they cannot speak; 
      They must be carried, 
      Because they cannot go by themselves.
      Do not be afraid of them, 
      For they cannot do evil, 
      Nor can they do any good.” 

Sometimes, I Get Pretty Raucous Ideas...



Is this one of those "'Bawdy' has never been so funny" ideas?