Are the Jews still the chosen people?

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The law is indeed love, but even love must have some direction; otherwise, while intentions may be good, consequences of actions may result in harm. The Law teaches us how to administer love and even when to refrain from love, in ways which our human reason may not have thought of before. This is why Judaism does not completely trust natural law and believes that divine law supersedes it.
 
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Hodos said:
Israel has and will always be the chosen people. There are some in the comments above that have advanced a sort of replacement theology in which the Church has replaced Israel as the chosen people. That would be a false assumption. It was to Abraham’s descendants that God made the promise to Abraham, and to Israel that God revealed the law, and through Israel that God sent his Son to redeem us. This hasn’t changed. The Church has not supplanted Israel, rather, we have been grafted into the promises through Israel. Though there are many who descend from Israel who do not believe, God has maintained a remnant from Israel. There is actually a vibrant and active community of Messianic Jewish believers who are active within the body of Christ today. Rest assured that when God makes promises such as he did to Abraham, that all nations shall be blessed through him, God honors his promise.
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Thank you. I do not think the Church has
supplanted Israel either.
The Messianic Jewish believers follow more closely to the Protestant approach to Christianity.
However, there is also a group called Hebrew Catholics who believe fully that Jesus is the Messiah and follow the Catholic faith.
 
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7_Sorrows said:
The Messianic Jewish believers follow more closely to the Protestant approach to Christianity.
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I hear this a lot, not just from you. I don’t think Messianic Judaism resembles any Protestant sect at all. They celebrate the Jewish holidays,not the Protestant. They follow Jewish rules of law, with the exception of proclaiming Christ the Messiah.

Protestant sects arose after Martin Luther sought to change the Catholic Church. All major Protestant sects were founded by a mortal man or woman in response to Luther. Messianic Judaism was not.
 
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Do Messianic Jews celebrate the Mass or follow the Pope?

Yes, they celebrate Jewish holidays, but they are Christian and have both Protestants and Jewish people as members.
 
7_Sorrows said:
Yes, they celebrate Jewish holidays, but they are Christian and have both Protestants and Jewish people as members.
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Yes, they are Christian, but Jews who have accepted Christ. The do not “protest” against Catholicism at all, a requirement for any Protestant.

Buddhists, Muslims, and many others do not follow the Pope, but are not “Protestants.”
 
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No, they aren’t, but there is more to believing in Christ than Catholics and Protestants.
 
Do they have the Torah scrolls or do they use the Christian Bible?

I only attended one Messianic Jewish service and it was a relatively new group.
I also studied Judaism for 10 months at Reform and Conservative synagogues so I know how the Jewish people worship.
 
7_Sorrows said:
The Catholic Church is the new Israel.
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I want to clarify this post was a reply to another post that asked me to define
Replacement theology.

Standing alone, I do not believe this is the
teaching of the Cathokic Church. I don’t know if anyone has the answer.
 
7_Sorrows said:
Do they have the Torah scrolls or do they use the Christian Bible?
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I don’t know about all of them, of course, but the one I’ve attended had Torah scrolls. If they use the Christian bible, I would probably call them Protestant, too.
 
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Maybe someone who has more knowledge of Messianic Judaism can
help.
I don’t think the Messianic Jewish service I attended used Torah scrolls.
 
I live in LA. My family, who are Brazilian, are, for the most part, Catholic, but my mother was Jewish.

My older sister married a man from Ohio, and she lives in New Albany, Ohio.

This is the Messianic Jewish community I visit when I visit my older sister:

http://www.bethmessiah.org/whoweare

They use the Torah, but I have no experience of other Messianic Jewish communities. I suppose some do use the Christian bible.

Jewish living means Torah faithfulness. Torah faithfulness means participating in Jewish community life. Jewish community life means celebrating Jewish holidays, practicing Jewish worship, observing Jewish dietary practices, embracing Jewish values and much more.
 
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I notice they call their place of worship a
Synagogue.

I don’t even remember where the Messianic Jewish service was held that I
attended as they did not have their own building yet. I think they met at a school.

The one you attend where your sister lives seems more based in Judaism.

Like protestant denominations, they are probably all different.
 
I don’t know myself since I only go to this particular one, and only when in Ohio.

I do know that even though they believe Christ is the Messiah, they have no crosses, no other symbols of Christianity, celebrate only Jewish holidays, study Hebrew and the Torah, etc.

Shabbat at Beth Messiah is more than a service; it’s an opportunity. Those who attend experience traditional and creative forms of worship as well as covenant renewal. The service consists of liturgy and music in both Hebrew and English, as well as thoughtful engagement with the Torah. The service wraps up with Kiddush, but the delight of the day continues. We offer a light lunch, social togetherness and Torah study, as we strive to provide various forms of Shabbat nourishment and rest.

It was a very nice place to worship, I know that.
 
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This sounds to me rather like Nazarene Judaism. In this form of Judaism, Jesus is thought to be the Messiah; however, the people do not worship Him as Gd, nor do they believe in the Trinity. What they do believe is that Jesus wanted Jews to delve into the specifics of Torah teaching, both the letter and the spirit of the Law, and this they hold to be the central message of the Messiah.
 
Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut meltzerboy2. I have never heard of Nazarene Judaism before.
 
It’s not generally accepted by the mainstream Jewish community. But my feeling is that if you consider yourself Jewish, then who am I to judge?
 
meltzerboy2 said:
This sounds to me rather like Nazarene Judaism. In this form of Judaism, Jesus is thought to be the Messiah; however, the people do not worship Him as Gd, nor do they believe in the Trinity. What they do believe is that Jesus wanted Jews to delve into the specifics of Torah teaching, both the letter and the spirit of the Law, and this they hold to be the central message of the Messiah.
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Thank you for the explanation.
 
meltzerboy2 said:
It’s not generally accepted by the mainstream Jewish community. But my feeling is that if you consider yourself Jewish, then who am I to judge?
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I only go there when I visit my older sister because she belongs to that community. Although I was baptized in a Catholic church, I consider myself Jewish because my mother and all her ancestors were Jewish. I don’t think being Jewish is something one can discard, not that I want to, and even though Orthodox Jews may not consider me Jewish except ethnically. I realize mainstream Judaism does not recognize Messianic Jews. Theology school did not bring me any clarity regarding Christ. It brought confusion, instead. I’m still trying to figure out what I believe. I know I believe in God. I know I believe the most important thing is how we treat one another, animals, and the entire earth. That’s about it. 😦
 
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