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Tackling Tradition 73: Paul, the Food Laws, & the Jewish Liturgical Calendar

From time to time, Messianic Jews & Gentiles on the internet have been known to grow rather strident with respect to particular issues.  For example, there are those who argue that Paul was in the habit of teaching people to observe the Jewish liturgical calendar.    Is that true?  Paul visited Colassae in the 50’s AD.    At that time of Paul’s journey to Rome in either 52(ish) or 57(ish) AD, food sacrificed to idols & the Judaizer controversy was still an issue alongside the work of Greco-Roman pagans/philosophers.   Acts 21 records Paul’s report to James reads, “we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. (Acts 21:25, ESV) Paul was most certainly NOT teaching the Gentiles to observe & administer Jewish liturgical meal, festivals, & other activities.    He was reminding them of t...

A Prayer For All Nations

Solomon Blesses the People 6  Then Solomon said, “The  Lord  has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.   2  But I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.”   3  Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood.   4  And he said, “Blessed be the  Lord , the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying,   5  ‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there, and I chose no man as prince over my people Israel; 6  but I have chosen Jerusalem that my name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’   7  Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the  Lord , the God of Israel. ...

Tackling Tradition 72: Love Your Neighbor!

From time to time, members of the chattering class will accuse Christians of hypocrisy by taking in money for themselves first then others.   That’s because there are people in the pews who believe churches are to help the needy among their own members first & then themselves. The Bible itself teaches the exact opposite.   How so?  God’s moral law is both individual & corporate in application.  But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:34–40, ESV)  9 For the commandments, “You s...

Tackling Tradition 71: Be Fruitful & Multiply

There those in the TN legislature who believe that the nuclear family consists of one (heterosexual) husband & one (heterosexual) wife, and any biological, adopted, or fostered children & is God's design for familial structure and has been the bedrock of society since the creation of the world. That’s quite the assertion.   What does the Bible say?  From Genesis:  Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27   So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28  And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that mo...

The Jerusalem Council

  The Jerusalem Council 15  But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”   2  And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.   3  So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. [ a ]   4  When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them.   5  But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them t...