The Hebrew Scriptures reveal that the Creator of the Heavens and Earth created human life as the pinnacle of creation . He fashioned the first humans in His own image. The Torah teaches that human life has purpose and dignity because God is a moral being who alone created the entire universe . God expects that just as He is holy, so too humans will be holy. God’s moral nature is a guarantee that He will sustain and protect the world . In order to do so, God gave a moral law and judges humans by its strict standards, meting out reward and punishment accordingly . [i] This is clearly seen in the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, and Noah. The story of Noah adds a new lesson to what the previous stories taught – it was the judgment of the entire human population . “ The Day of the Vengeance of God ” in Isaiah and “ The Great Day of Judgment ” in Malachi are related to “ The Story of the Great Flood .” In my last email , that is why I said that Jesus used the “ The
My last email introduced many readers to the complexity of the Judaisms that existed in Judea and Galilee at the time of Jesus – Zadokite Judaism, Samaritans, Enochic Judaism, Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, Hasidim, Prophetic Messianic Movements, Zealots and the Sicarii. Each group viewed its vision for the future of Israel as “ God’s vision .” Their visions were the product of their interpretations of the sacred texts of the Jewish people , which included the books Christians call “ The Old Testament .” The two groups below represent the extreme views held by the above groups. ● The Essenes told people to separate themselves from the Temple and other Jews. ● The Sicarii told people to attack the Romans and force them into a war . Based on the words of Jesus, former members from both of those groups were among his followers, along with former members of other “ Judaisms ” too. His group also had its own vision, which was based on his interpretations of the same sacred texts