Skip to main content

America Without the Declaration of Independence and Constitution?


 

It always amazes me at how many wisdom lessons are embedded in the Hebrew text of the Jewish Scriptures. When the teachings of Jesus are reconstructed and viewed through the Hebrew language he spoke, we discover stories related to situations we face in our lives. For many Christians today that sounds strange because the main purpose of the Bible is to prove their religious beliefs are right. Why is that important? Only people with the right beliefs will go to Heaven. What could be more important than that? So, most Christians would probably answer -- “Nothing is more important!”

 

But there is another question I believe everyone with a Christian Biblical Heritage should ask – “What is most important to God?” I was taught that “believing in Jesus” was most important. However, after thirty-five years of using science based linguistic models to understand what Jesus did and said, I know that what I had been taught was wrong. Instead of “believing IN him,” he wanted people “to believe him and do what he taught. 

 

You do not have to learn to speak Hebrew or spend decades using science based linguistic models to understand what he taught. The most important thing you can do is become familiar with the sacred stories behind his actions and words. They are our Bibles. You will need some help to understand what they meant to Jesus and his Jewish followers, but you have “Google” and BHC to help you.   

 

The Loss of Two of Important Sacred Stories

 

The Romans executed Jesus (around 30 CE), destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem (70 CE), and the original Jewish apostles were executed or had died by 100 CE. Gentile converts became the majority in churches, and they filled the positions of bishops and leadership. The number of Jewish members decreased dramatically and the Jesus Movement became a Gentile religion. Gentile converts knew nothing about the Hebrew language, the Jewish culture and history, or the sacred stories Jesus and his Jewish followers had heard their entire lives at their synagogues. Understanding everything Jesus taught depended on being able to recognize the links between the sacred stories and his words.

 

Greek speakers were common in the cultures that made up the Roman Empire. Gentile converts were introduced to the Scriptures of the church be reading the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures called the “Septuagint.” They learned about Jesus and his teachings through Greek texts. Converts became Christians, but their meanings of Greek words came for before they became Christians. They didn’t understand anything about the Hebrew words behind the stories of the Septuagint or the teachings of Jesus. What else could they do? We do the same thing; except we use English words with American meanings. What else could any human do? And, unlike us, they didn’t have Google!

 

One very important sacred story of the Jewish people for the past 2,500 years has been “The Story of the Exodus.” It is retold every year during the Passover Ritual which begins on the 14th day of the Jewish month of Nisan. When the Second Temple stood, Jews from distant places traveled to Jerusalem to offer their Passover sacrifices. By the mid–2nd century CE, links to 14th of Nisan and the Passover began to be severed. Churches in and around Rome celebrated “Easter” on the Sunday following first Full Moon following the vernal equinox. They called it "the day of the resurrection of our Savior." This created a big controversy, and finally the 14th of Nisan date was condemned by bishops.[i]

 

Another important sacred story was “The Story of the Shabbat.” This story is found in “The Creation Story” (Genesis 1:1-2:5a). It was a story that was part of weekly rituals in their homes and synagogues. Jesus, the apostles, and their Jewish followers all kept the Shabbat (sundown Friday to sundown Saturday) – as did Gentile converts. They all attended synagogues on Shabbat. On March 7, 321 – almost 300 years after Jesus -- Roman Emperor Constantine the Great issued a civil decree making Sunday a day of rest from labor, stating: “All judges and city people and the craftsmen shall rest upon the venerable day of the sun.” Shabbat became the Sunday Sabbath and the Story of the Shabbat was lost.[ii]

 

With the loss of Passover and Shabbat, Gentile Christians no longer heard and practiced two of the most powerful stories that were the center of the lives of Jesus and his followers. They lost the link generations who came before them that had done the same things. Those stories were embedded with layers of wisdom that included instructions about God’s relationships with humans, instructions about human relationships with God, and instructions about human relationships with each other as individuals and as members of the Creator’s community (kingdom).

 

So, how important was the loss of just two sacred stories to Christianity? How important would the loss of The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States to Americans? That’s probably how important the loss of the sacred stories behind the words of Jesus was Christianity. Without knowledge of those stories, accurately understanding the teachings and movement of the Jesus who lived in first century is impossible. One of most important questions people with Christian Biblical Heritages should consider is this question – How important are the words of Jesus to me? I will introduce you some of those sacred stories in my next emails.

 

Shalom,

Jim Myers

 

Donate and to Help Fund These Emails -- Click Here.

 

Subscribe and Receive these Email (FREE) -- Click Here.

 

“Like” and Share our Facebook Page -- Click Here.

 

Visit the BHC Bookstore & Shop


[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartodecimanism

[ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbath_in_Christianity


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

It’s a Yod -- NOT a Jot and Tittle!

Not only did Yeshua read and speak Hebrew, so did his followers and disciples! Two very well known, but not accurately understood words in the Gospel of Matthew prove it – jot and tittle . For some reason jot and tittle stick in the minds of Christian Bible readers. But when you ask them what jot or tittle mean, you get a lot of conflicting and some really weird answers. Today, you are going to get the facts about what Yeshua originally said and how they ended up in English translations of the Bible as jot and tittle . Let’s begin by reading Matthew 5:18 from the King James translation: For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. If you have not read the article “ From Yeshua to Jesus ” in Yeshua’s Kingdom Handbook please take a moment to read it online by clicking here before you continue. In it you will see how we began with the name “ Jesus ” and traced it through Lati

Do Not Say RAQA! - Yeshua on Anger (Part 2)

In the last blog, we covered the first part of Yeshua’s lesson on Anger -- An Angry Person Should be Tried in Court like a Murderer – keep in mind that “anger” is the focus of Yeshua’s lesson. “Whoever says to a brother, ‘ RAKA ,’ shall be answerable to the Sanhedrin.” [i] Yeshua reveals that the seriousness of the offense has become greater by elevating the crime to the next highest court – the Sanhedrin . It is the highest court in the nation and would be the equivalent of our Supreme Court. What makes this offense more serious than murder, to keep things in the context established by Yeshua? It is because of what the angry person said out of anger – “ RAKA !” RAKA is the English transliteration of the Greek word found in the ancient manuscripts of Matthew. Interestingly, the Greek word is also a transliteration of a Hebrew word into Greek. Keep in mind that when a translator working on a translation of a Greek manuscript transliterates a Greek word, he only finds the

The Prayer Yeshua Prayed Twice Every Day

One of Jesus’s earliest memories was no doubt watching and listening to his family when they gathered to pray the Shema at sunrise before the day’s work began and after the working work day was over at sunset . He also heard and participated in praying the Shema at their synagogue. He was surrounded by neighbors who also prayed the same prayer in their homes every day. The Hebrew word for prayer is tefilah . It is derived from the root Pe-Lamed-Lamed and the word l'hitpalel, meaning “ to judge oneself .” This surprising word origin provides insight into the purpose of Jewish prayer. The most important part of any Jewish prayer, whether it be a prayer of petition, of thanksgiving, of praise of God, or of confession, is the introspection it provides, the moment that we spend looking inside ourselves, seeing our role in the universe and our relationship to God. [1] Most of Jewish prayers are expressed in the first person plural, "us" instead of "me," an