Wednesday, 7 October 2020

High holy Days - and more

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I have written and published a number of articles recently and I want to share qwith you three that I think are particularly timely and important. Please do take the time to read them.

The High Holidays

It was not wrong for Israel to adopt the New Year date of the ancient Near East just as we in the West celebrate January 1st. However, the idea of that the date is really the anniversary of the creation of the world is speculative; while not actually unbiblical, it is certainly non-biblical.

Rightly, in Jewish tradition for this season, we are reminded of the last judgment and the Age to Come. The day is fraught with eschatological meanings. The trumpets are connected to Passover and the exodus as well as the trumpet was heard at Mt. Sinai.

On Passing the Trump Test

In Mike Brown's book on "Will Evangelicals Pass the Trump Test," he argues that one key to that test is how we treat both those who are for, and those who are against Trump (if they expose themselves and engage in debate). If we do not treat them with love and respect and credit that they have their reasons for their opinions, we err.

In Mike Brown's book, again, the key issue in passing the Trump test is how we treat those who don't agree with us among the believing community and how we go about trying to persuade others that our assessment/opinion is right. If we stoop to vilification and treating the other side as "a basket of deplorables," God help us.

The Exchanged Life

Sometimes in my devotions, I sing old hymns and meditate on them if they have depth. This seems strange to some of my Messianic Jewish friends. Yes, I enjoy the traditional prayers which are often very biblical in content but at best prophetic of Messiah and not able to convey the fullness of what is ours in Yeshua.