A challenge
Many, many people are using this forum and this guide to open their Bibles and actually read through it starting at the very beginning (some possibly for the first time ever).
I propose a challenge. Can we all, as we read these sections, attempt to take off our glasses? What I mean is that we try to read through the Word and see what it says without filtering it through whatever tradition or background that we come from.
Maybe this can be a place where we point out things that we have never seen before and discuss what they might mean.
Let me give you a simple example; We haven’t got to it you but did you know that not all the animals got onto Noah’s ark “two by two?” I have heard and read that story hundreds of times and never picked up on the fact that there were actually 14 of all of the clean animals (7 pairs) on the ark. That’s an easy one… maybe.
A deeper example would be; I come from a background that says that the “Law” has been fulfilled, done away with, “nailed to the cross” and was just for “the Jews.” I was very surprise at what I found… things like “And you shall guard this word as a law for you and your sons, forever” and “There is one Torah for the native-born and for the stranger who sojourns among you.” These are things that I never heard in my church growing up and even through I had read them before I never pick up on them because of the glasses of my tradition.
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January 29, 2019 at 1:23 pm /
I only wear my reading glasses anymore! I know we are supposed to stick to the “big Book” as Keith says, but I wanted to offer something to all of you who might have had struggles with the “nailed to the cross Law.” I have seen many artists renditions of this with a Torah scroll splayed out with all Hebrew on it. What shocked me was to find out that this verse in the NT doesn’t not have the word nomos or a transliteration of Torah, but choreagryphon in Greek. A choreagryphon is a Greek legal system term that refers to a specific circumstance in a court room. In a court, if you were being accused, the judge would hear a list of offenses by a prosecutor of where you had broken the law. That ‘list of offenses’ is the choreagryphon that was nailed to the cross, not the law. Knowing that helped me. i hope it helps you.
January 26, 2019 at 5:14 am /
Shalom,
Yes, this a fair request. We all must remember how blessed we are that YHWH picked us. YHWH drew us to him allowing us to understand and come into a covenant relationship with him. This humbles me every time I think about it. You brought up a teaching I wish we could sturdy deeper.
“There is one Torah for the native-born and for the stranger who sojourns among you.”
As we read through Exodus there are many teachings which lead me to believe not only descendants from the tribes of Yisrael were part of the nation of Yisrael, and to this day can become members.
January 22, 2019 at 10:32 pm /
Yes, reading through without our former biases is the best thing to do. But it is difficult as sometimes you do not realize that you are thinking along the lines of your past denomination! As for the animal 2 by 2. The clean ones by 7 for sacrifice and food. As for the other thing you mentioned. Well……standard stuff for the church to ignore!
January 22, 2019 at 8:00 pm /
My whole life has changed by doing this. It can be frightening letting go of long held beliefs but it can be so worth the freedom attained!
Awesome challenge and challenge accepted.
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