Can you follow Judaism’s lifestyle and Christ, too?

[RedTent]

Jesus lived the Jewish lifestyle. He honored feasts, worshiped on the Saturday Sabbath, spoke in the synagogues. To follow Jesus, the Jews could keep their lifestyle. In fact, their lifestyle could help them follow Jesus, unless they only did it to impress other Jews. We say we could not both follow Jesus and follow the lifestyle of the Jews, but Jesus did not think so. He used all of Judaism as a base for growing in the Kingdom.

Jesus would say “it has been said” and then he would take what was said further and say “but I tell you”. Never did Christ say to forget what had been said, but he added meaning to it.

Jesus also opened up the Kingdom of God to the gentile, for He pointed out how to follow Him in spirit and truth, even without the physical lifestyle ways to help with that.

When the Jews who were in power in the church made the ruling that to become a member of the church you must accept all Jewish lifestyle, God gave us scripture strongly denying that requirement. But even as he denied that only those following that lifestyle could be in the Kingdom, he never denied the Jews or ones following that the Kingdom.

Often Christians use this to deny themselves any learning of what God was teaching by teaching that lifestyle. That is cutting ourselves away from God’s teaching. We don't have to follow these to learn about what God was teaching through teaching this lifestyle.

Besides, if Jesus lived this way, who are we to say it was a wrong way for Jesus to live? Jesus was aware of His mission in our world, for Jesus also lived in eternal time and was above only perceiving using our understanding of time.

 

[BananaPie]

Well, there is no physical Temple in Jerusalem; therefore, the Law pertaining to activity at the Temple (which is most of Torah) cannot be observed (obeyed). Consequently, Judaism as in the times of our Lord Jesus is not the same Judaism practiced today because there is no Temple; thus, the synagog system was structured in lieu of Temple activity.

Furthermore, Judaism is a lifestyle more than it is a religion considering some "Jews" are actually atheists, yet they "observe" Jewish holidays, for example or attend Shabbat on occasion.

From a NT perspective, faith in Christ is simply that: "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Any adornment with Jewish flavor added to our anchor, which is Jesus Christ, is simply that: an adornment. As long as we understand together with Paul when he said, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew and also to the Greek" that there is nothing outside of Jesus Christ which can redeem our souls, then having a Jewish-type of activity in your life wouldn't be abrasive to you.

 

[kenisyes]

I know many Messianic Jews who do this. They consider the Jewish celebrations and various lifestyle choices to each be an extra blessing, like an extra contact point with messiah. But they all insist that one does not have to do so.

The Jews have a real love of life in the here and now. I think much Gentile Christianity overemphasizes the eventual eternity in heaven, and ignores the blessings God wants to give us today. You do not need to follow the Jewish customs and rules to change that balance.

 

[RedTent]

Well, there is no physical Temple in Jerusalem; therefore, the Law pertaining to activity at the Temple (which is most of Torah) cannot be observed (obeyed). Consequently, Judaism as in the times of our Lord Jesus is not the same Judaism practiced today because there is no Temple; thus, the synagog system was structured in lieu of Temple activity.

Furthermore, Judaism is a lifestyle more than it is a religion considering some "Jews" are actually atheists, yet they "observe" Jewish holidays, for example or attend Shabbat on occasion.

From a NT perspective, faith in Christ is simply that: "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Any adornment with Jewish flavor added to our anchor, which is Jesus Christ, is simply that: an adornment. As long as we understand together with Paul when he said, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew and also to the Greek" that there is nothing outside of Jesus Christ which can redeem our souls, then having a Jewish-type of activity in your life wouldn't be abrasive to you.

I don't think even joking about using the nonexistent temple for animal sacrifice is called for. Or doing the legalistic observance of Jewish custons. God made it very clear that we don't "have" to observe customs that Christ observed. That is not the point.

I found that when I studied the spiriual principles God was teaching as he gave instructions for each way for the Hebrews to live was God touching me with more knowledge of Him. Christ lived this way. I had hoped for more people who would consider what it would be like to incorporate some of these in their life.

I have heard many people brag about how they don't use any of them, and even how ttteeerrrrribbble it is to use them for you can't do it unless you rely on them for salvation instead of Christ. We know that isn't a requirement for following them. But I haven't heard from people about considering them to glorify Christ, to copy Christ, or to draw closer to God. Is that out of the question for everyone?