If your life is not in jeopardy
for what you believe, you’re probably on the wrong side!
If you don’t believe Genesis 1-11,
how can you possibly believe John 3:16?
“Indeed, all who want to live a godly
life united with the Messiah Yeshua will be persecuted.” (2Tim 3:12)
It is what you actually believe that determines how you walk out your faith,
“but avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, quarrels and fights
about the Torah; because they are worthless and futile.” (Titus 3:9)
Please Note: Absolutely nothing on this website should be taken as anti-Church or anti-Rabbinic. I am not anti-anything or anti-anyone. I am only pro-Torah and pro-Truth (see “Philosophy”), but sometimes the Truth upsets our long-held beliefs. I know it certainly upset mine! For example, see “Why Isn’t My Theology Consistent Throughout the Website?”
Developing a
Systematic Messianic Theology
“The purpose of careful theological formulations is not to put barriers in the way of people who are seeking salvation, but to define clearly the truths upon which genuine [Biblical] faith rests, so that people will not be misled by false doctrines.” [Bowman]
“It must be clearly and unequivocally stated that theology cannot save you. Only faith in Messiah Yeshua can save you. Theology can only give you sound doctrine.” [RLS]
Unless otherwise specified, throughout the Theology section of my website I use the term “Torah” in the wider sense of including the entire body of inspired Scripture: both the Tanakh and the Apostolic Writings. I personally do not consder any other so-called “sacred writings” either inspired by God or authoritative for the Believer’s walk of faith. Thus, I do not consider the Mishnah (the “Oral Torah”) as part of Torah. You should make up your own mind.
[Explanations of rabbinic citations are HERE]
This document
originated on the website of the Messianic Bureau International, which to the best of my
knowledge has totally ceased operation since about 2010. If I were personally compiling
this list I probably would have tried to couch it in somewhat “kinder and gentler”
vocabulary, but I believe that at the core it is relatively accurate from an historical
perspective and it serves to show how closely related the historical errors of both
groups are. I have added a few comments as notes at the bottom of the page.
It should be noted that at least a few of the “errors” on the “Christian”
side of this list apply only to the Roman Catholic Church, and since the Reformation no
longer apply to most of Protestant Christianity. However, since this is a list of
historical (not necessarily present) errors, it is appropriate for them
to be on the list, as the Roman Church was the sole “custodian” of Christianity from its
inception in 325 until the Reformation of 1517, and very few non-Catholic Christians have
separated themselves from the Roman traditions and returned to what the Messiah and His
Apostles actually practiced and taught.
If you are familiar with the content of this website, you will know that
I was a bivocational Christian pastor for over 35 years, and personally taught much
of the error that I now try to correct.
A Few of the Major Errors of
Historical Christianity and Judaism
Adapted from messianic.com/messianic-statement-of-faith/61-major-errors-of-historical-christianity-and-judaism.html (no longer on the Internet)
Written by Messianic Bureau International “Administrator”
Saturday, 28 March 2009 16:02
Last Updated by MBI on Saturday, 04 April 2009
15:23
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The following points out historical institutional errors, which have been followed unknowingly by many. |
|
| Errors of Christianity | Errors of Judaism |
|---|---|
| 1. Accepted the church councils as Divine Authority | 1. Accepted the sages/oral tradition as Divine Authority |
2. Changed dates of Scriptural Holy Days
|
2. Changed dates of Scriptural Holy Days |
| 3. Claimed Torah (God’s Law) was not valid anymore as a standard for Christians | 3. Claimed Talmud was equal with Torah in importance and authority |
| 4. Depicted Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) as effeminate, non-Jewish, and breaker of Torah[3] | 4. Depicted Messiah Yeshua as false, non-Jewish, and breaker of Torah |
| 5. Turned the glory of Messiah over to Popes; Mary as the “Queen of Heaven” | 5. Turned the glory of Messiah over to common men like Bar Kochba and Sabbatai; made the Sabbath the “Queen” |
| 6. Gave more importance to Paul’s words than Yeshua's words[4] | 6. Gave more importance to Maimondes words than Moses’ words |
| 7. Messianic Jews forced into Gentile assimilation | 7. Messianic Jews forced to leave the Jewish community |
| 8. Replaced Israel with non-biblical concept of church[5] | 8. Replaced the blood atonement with non-biblical reliance on prayers[6] |
| 9. Anti-Semitism: Called Jews “Christ-killers” and relegated them to a rejected people | 9. Anti-Messianism: Called Messianic Jews “self-haters” and relegated them to non-existence |
1. The Torah requires that Passover be celebrated “between the evenings” on Nissan 14 and the Feast of Unlevened Bread for seven days beginning on Nissan 15. Since there is currently no Temble and therefore no Passover sacrifice, what they have actually done is to eliminate Passover altogether and changed the name of the Feast of Unleavened Bread to “Passover.” [BACK]
2. My personal theory of why they stopped celebrating Barley First Fruits was because that was the day of Messiah’s resurrection, of which Barley First Fruits was the prophetic type. To continue to celebrate the holiday would give support to the fact of the Resurrection, which proves that Yeshua is the Messiah. [BACK]
3. The Greek “Jesus” of the Church is a gross caricature of the historical Hebrew Yeshua of Nazareth. According to the Church, “Jesus was a good Christian boy who went to church every Sunday.” [HERE] The Church teaches that He abandoned the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and started a new religion. He blatantly violated Torah and taught others to do so; He “nailed the Law (Torah) to His cross.” That presents Him to the Jewish community as a false prophet who must be rejected as Messiah! [BACK]
4. I once was having a discussion with a member of a church I was pastoring and was discussing a particular teaching in one of Kefa‘s (Peter’s) letters. That person told me that whatever Peter wrote was irrelevant because Paul, not Peter, was the “Apostle to the Gentiles” and therefore Gentile Christians should accept only Paul’s writings as authoritative. [BACK]
5. This is the heretical teaching known as “Replacement Theology.” [BACK]
6. Since sacrifices can only be offered in the Temple by the priesthood, and since the Temple and priesthood were destroyed in 70 CE, and since the Church-- the authority on “Jesus”-- clearly teaches that “Jesus” was an apostate false prophet and therefore cannot be the Jewish Messiah, they are left with no other alternative. [BACK]
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