There are numerous different interpretations of Christianity, the Bible, who Jesus is and what being a “real Christian” actually means. Some people believe that the Bible is 100% historical and literal, while others view the scriptures as allegorical or mythological. Others still view it as a blend of history and mythology that conveys a divine message from God symbolically representing the spiritual, sociological and psychological laws of the universe. But most professing Christians believe that Jesus is God in human form and he paid the penalty for your sins by accepting God’s wrath or punishment on our behalf. That in and of itself is a good start!
Real Christian’s believe that it is faith, along with genuine “repentance,” which is a change of mind about or regret or remorse for one’s sins that results in a change in behavior that saves them. That is the only way to obtain salvation and for sinful man to come into fellowship with God. The entire premise of Christianity is that it's by grace through faith alone! It is grace through faith, not rituals or works or outside actions or anything that anyone can do, such as being a good person i.e., “Religion.” This is NOT to say that one’s good works mean nothing. James 2:14-26 clearly teaches us that faith without works is dead!
Real Christian’s, regardless of stripe, i.e., denominational affiliation, orthodox, evangelical, or radical believe that salvation by grace through faith is so no one can boast that they have more favorability with God than others and that this gift of salvation certainly isn't contingent on anyone's ancestry or what ethnic group they belong to. True faith in Jesus offers mankind fellowship with their creator and access to His Kingdom to all of mankind both Jew and Gentile alike.
On the other hand, Judaism is a very exclusive and ethnocentric religion. Most Jews today don't share their faith because to them, He is their God and they are his special people. Many Jews, not all, actually discourage people from converting to Judaism. And those who do still aren't considered Jews according to Jewish tradition. Essentially, if their mother wasn't a Jewess by birth, then they're not really Jews because they have no direct genetic lineage to the ancient Israelites.
The Talmud, the recorded oral teachings of Rabbinic Judaism, which, has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century not only says that Jesus was a false Messiah and a blasphemer who the Pharisees proudly put to death, but that his mother, Mary, was an adulteress who carried on a sexual relationship with a Roman soldier. The book “Jesus in the Talmud” by Peter Schaefer, a Jewish religious scholar at Princeton University is probably the best summary of the Jewish view on Jesus available in print today confirms this.
The Talmud consists of many many volumes and is considered by most Jews to be just as sacred as the “Torah,” or Hebrew Bible, a.k.a., the Old Testament. However, most Christians aren't even aware of the Talmud or that it is one of the most sacred religious texts of modern Judaism as well as one of the single most influential documents in the history of Judaism and are thus quite shocked to learn what it says about Jesus. But here’s the problem, arguably, elevating the Talmud to the same status of “The Torah” (the Law or the Instructions) violates the teaching from Deuteronomy 4:2 that no one can add or subtract from any of His commands.
Further, what most Jews fail to see, deliberately or otherwise, is that Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies regarding messiah. He came as a savior who essentially called out the false teachings of the Rabbi’s. You see, even at the time of Jesus, many “man-made traditions” had already entered into the Jewish religion. Here is where the point of real contention between Jesus and the Jewish leaders arose. You see, Jesus faithfully followed the Torah His whole life. It was these non-Torah traditions that were added by the jewish leadership that Jesus railed against and that is why they hated him. Why? That’s because every one of his miracles was a judgement on their extra-biblical teachings and traditions. (LINK)
Some like to compare Jesus’ work at his first coming with the Buddha who transformed Hinduism by preaching his formula for attaining enlightenment to all. In essence, he broke the monopoly on the Hindu “religion” held by the Brahman. It was the Hindu Brahman who, like the Pharisees, scribes and Sadducees, saw themselves as the ultimate authorities that others needed to rely on in order to gain knowledge of God. Regardless of your religion, being a leader of it is good work if you can get it! And it would appear as though the scribes and pharisees were a little upset with Jesus’ radical teachings because he was cutting in on their turf and detrimental to their bottom line.
Arguably, this same line of thinking regarding hierarchy and the function of pastors and ministers infects the institutional churches today. The “Doctrine of the Nicolaitans,” which, the scriptures clearly teach us Jesus hated (Rev 2:6), is disputed by scholars. Some relate it to gnosticism and licentiousness, but a simpler explanation comes from the name itself. The term “Nicolaitans” is derived from two Greek words. “Nicos” meaning to conquer and “Laity” meaning the people. This could imply that the doctrine is related to hierarchy in the church. The New Testament gives no less than 36 verses that indicate Christians should all consider themselves as brothers with no one more important or exalted than another. Ours is to be a priesthood of all believers with each believer exercising the gifts the Holy Spirit bestows on them in order to minister unto others
With the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, the gentiles were invited into God's Covenant. The same was also offered to the Jews so they could do away with the external rituals and other stringent practices i.e., the traditional “religion” they were practicing in hopes of becoming holy and pleasing to God. Instead of performing rituals, anyone who repented of their sins and believed by faith could receive God’s grace and be guided by faith through a spiritual transformation of their mind. This renewal of their minds naturally changed how they thought, how they behaved and brought them into harmony with God through the Holy Spirit who functions as a guide.
But the Gospel’s make it clear that the Jewish leaders were jealous of their “chosen” status which they held over their fellow Jews as well as all the gentiles. If non-jews were granted access to the God of Israel, who they exclusively saw as their God, this was seen as a threat to their position of power. Arguably, this is another reason why they sought to put Jesus to death.
But, thankfully, God became a man and came to Earth not only to reveal his teachings through parables that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, anyone can understand, but to set an example for how to think, how to behave and to be our ultimate role model. Whenever the Holy Spirit enters a person as a result of their faith in Christ, it's like downloading a new operating system for a computer and the old animalistic carnal human nature is sent to the trash bin.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new.”
~ 2 Corinthians 5:17
There are many metaphors that describe this process. Perhaps the most common is a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly. Christians like to use the term “born again” to signify this miraculous transformation and by being born again, Jesus enables all of us to interface with the awesome and inconceivable power of God in a way that our limited brains can comprehend.
Consequentially, anyone who rejects Christ as the Son of God also rejects God. Now some take this to mean that the Jews who don't believe in Jesus are no longer God's chosen people. This is called “supersessionism” because they believe that Christians superseded the Jews as God's covenanted people. It's often called “replacement theology” and it is a heresy. Nothing could be further from the truth. God still loves Israel and he will once again show them his loving kindness. What these “supersessionists” forget here is that God’s covenant with Israel is an Everlasting Covenant and that God always keeps his promises even when his people don’t!
In spite of what some of our friends might mistakenly believe, rather than having replaced the Jews as God’s chosen people, a better way to look at this is that the Messiah is the husbandman keeping God’s olive orchard. “Messianic Jews,” Jews who believe in and follow Jesus as their Messiah, (yes there is such a thing) are the natural olive tree i.e., physical Israel. Next, there are the believing Christians who are like wild olive branches that have been grafted into the tree. They are spiritual Israel! On the other hand, you have non-believing Jews who can be compared to natural branches that have been pruned off the tree. Next, we have people who are culturally Christian who mistakenly believe that they’re the olive tree but aren’t. Finally, we have the non-believing gentiles who have no connection to the olive tree and never did.
In a nutshell, Christian’s hating Jews is a big mistake. We should gladly support Messianic Jews and bless them. Why? Well, arguably because as the result of their faith and ours, we are brothers through the spirit of adoption. As for the apostate Jews, we need to remember that it was through their line that our Messiah came. We should bless them also and pray that God-Jesus would reveal himself to them that they might repent and be saved. As for the cultural Christian’s we need to remember that many of them are not at all unlike the pharisees at Christ’s first coming. We should remember that the time is short. We should pray that they, and any other non-believers, see the error of their ways and finds the truth before it’s too late.
So why did all this happen? Why do some professing “Christians” think that a tearful trip down the sawdust trail at a revival meeting followed by a “sinners prayer” is all it takes to earn you a “Get Out of Hell Free” card? Why do so many people think that Christians have replaced the Jews as God’s chosen people? Why do so many people think that if we’re in good with God, we’re gonna get raptured out of here and miss out on the Great Tribulation? Well, we were warned!
“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers who say what their itching ears want to hear.”
The truth about Christianity today is this: People are turning their ears away from truth and turning aside to myths. They will turn their backs on solid and sound Biblical teaching and trade it all in for something they want to hear to satisfy their desires. This is already prevalent today and it’s only getting worse. It is shocking as the numbers of “true believers” today are probably much lower than anyone can even imagine. If so many people are turning away from God and following the heretical teachings, what we have to ask is this: Is the beginning of the great apostasy that is spoken in the Bible?
What to do? The Apostle Paul said to “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” If the times are as short as it appears they are, it’s time for everyone to get right with Jesus. If you’re living a lie, the time to figure that out and come to the truth is now!
Just saying. . .
Very good evangelism.
From you article:
"Real Christian’s believe that it is faith, along with genuine “repentance,” which is a change of mind about or regret or remorse for one’s sins that results in a change in behavior that saves them. That is the only way to obtain salvation and for sinful man to come into fellowship with God. The entire premise of Christianity is that it's by grace through faith alone! It is grace through faith, not rituals or works or outside actions or anything that anyone can do, such as being a good person i.e., “Religion.” This is NOT to say that one’s good works mean nothing. James 2:14-26 clearly teaches us that faith without works is dead!"
Do you not see the contradiction here? Compare line #2 with line #5. "change of behavior" and "being a good person". One saves, the other doesn't. Hmmmm....