Messianic Jews

[Bernard_Jones]

Hello all, I had an NCO working for me a few years back who was a wonderful Christian man. He described his denominational background as “Judaic Rich Christianity”. His congregation included only a few Jews-he was a goy, and so were most of the people there. The point was that they believed that Christianity was the natural outgrowth of Judaism, and that the great cultural divide between the two faiths was unfortunate. Theologically, he was pretty fundamentalist-but very generous towards other Christians. He eventually decided to become an Army chaplain, so he joined the Anglican Church; chaplains are drawn from certain denominations here in Australia.

 

[MYSTERIOUS_An-D]

I think thing that seperates most Messianic Jews from other denominations is their beliefs about Old Testiment law. I am personal friends with a Messianic Jew and his beliefs are tied very strongly to the teachings in the Tora. His arguement is that the Tora is the foundation on which Christianity builds itself upon and that the laws are not made irrelevant with Christs death. Christs death was a fufillment of the prophesies made and does not in any way abolish the laws laid out in the Tora. The salvation of a person is not tied to following the laws, however, by doing so a person can build a closer relationship with God.
Another distinction is that Messianic Jews feel uneasy about celebrating anything that might have been a Pagan holiday at one point. Their justification is that God calls us not to mix clean and unclean together. I personally feel that by changing Pagan holidays (Christmas and Easter are two examples) into Christ centered celebrations draws people away from destructive paths and allows Christians the opprotunity to reflect on the life of Christ.

 

[boppysbud]

There is no such thing as a Messianic “Jew” in reality. If one beleives in Jesus one ceases to be a Jew and becomes a Christian.

All the “messianic Jews” and their “temples” that I am aware of are just fundamentalist (usaully Baptist or Pentecostal/Charismatic) in Jewish drag.

They loveto use a few words and phrases in Hebrew, but do not know Hebrew at all.

Their worship services are like Baptist/Penetecostal services. complete with “praise bands” (real jews sing accapella), prayers made up on the spot (real Jews use a liturgy with written prayers) and LLLOOONNNGG sermons, just like fundamentalist Protestants, but completely unlike Jewish services.

I have been to Jewish Temple services, and have seen
“messianic jewish” services on television, (the local Christian TV station has been taken over by “mjs”), and there is no comparison.