Tag: baptism

Tradition or Torah?

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Besides being fed up with their faithlessness and ignorance, Yeshua’s (Jesus) biggest complaint when He was ministering to the people was that they gave more importance to the Rabbinic traditions then they did to God’s word. It is clear throughout the Gospels how He felt, accusing the Pharisees of hypocrisy, and adding more to what God required (Matthew 23.)

We have known of Yeshua’s request to do what God has said we should do (and to beware of hypocrisy) for centuries, and after all these centuries what have we learned?

Nothing. In fact, back then it was just Jews following Yeshua and Jews not following Yeshua, but today we have so many different religions (all man-made) with so many different laws and canons and requirements and traditions that not only have we not learned, but we have exponentially made it worse!

Jews that didn’t want to follow Yeshua made it hard for the ones that did, then Rome made it worse, so the followers began to separate themselves from the Jews, which led to ignoring some of the Torah. Then they wanted to separate further, and the Council of Nicene developed their own religion, changing the Sabbath, creating their own holidays, and developing Canon, laws, commandments and rituals (all man-made) that took precedence over the Festivals of the Lord that God told us we should celebrate (Leviticus 23.) What they did was to totally ignore God’s commandments, just as Jeroboam did when God gave him the 10 Tribes of the Northern Kingdom (1 Kings 12:2.)

So Christians became Catholics, became Eastern Orthodox and Western Orthodox, became Lutherans, became Protestants, became, became, became, became….until today there are dozens of different Christian denominations; adding to the ones I mentioned above, there are Unitarians, 7th Day Adventists, Latter Day Saints, Methodists, Amish, Mennonites, AME, Baptists (Southern and others), Christian Scientists, Quakers, and the list goes on and on.

Let’s not forget the Jews: Chasidic (different groups within this), Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist and Messianic (yes, my Jewish readers, Messianic Judaism IS a sect of Judaism:Messianic Jews are not Christians.)

If everyone is worshiping the same God, then how can there be all these different ways of worshiping?  All agree this is the same God, the God that doesn’t change. So, if He doesn’t change, and He told us how to worship Him when he gave the teachings to Moses (which describe how we are to worship and provides penal and moral codes we are to live by), then how can there be so many different ways to live and worship? The Torah is a constitution, but unlike a political constitution which can be amended, God’s constitution is never to be amended. He told us that in Deuteronomy 4:2.

I got on this “kick” by reading Dear Abby, where she was asked by someone who’s Grandmother believed all children need to be baptized, and another granddaughter had a baby that was not being baptized. The writer asked if it would be OK to baptize the baby in secret just so the Grandmother feels better.  Good for Abby!- she told them no way. But here is what “gets” me about this- where did anyone ever get the idea that God would send an infant to hell because it wasn’t baptized? I know that Yeshua said we must all be reborn of spirit and water, but when we read about John (Yochanan) baptizing in the Jordan, it was adults who were coming. There is nothing in the bible that even implies children were there, let alone infants. To even imply God would send an innocent infant or child to hell because some Priest or Minister didn’t have someone else promise that the kid would be raised in that religion (remember- God has no religion, so that promise can’t really mean anything to God) is nothing short of ridiculous! Maybe even blasphemous. The only one who gains anything from the baptism ceremony is the church/priest. From what I have seen, $40 is the recommended “donation”, but then again, you have the textile industry (you need to buy the baby a Baptism dress), the card company, the food industry (“Come back to our place for refreshments afterwards”), and who knows who else makes money from this ceremony?

Baptism, as it is done in the church today, is absolutely wrong. The truth about the Jewish ceremony called Tevilah, which is the baptism Yochanan did in the Jordan, is a ceremony that represents an outward expression of an inner, spiritual cleansing.  It is something that one decides to do, and an infant cannot make that decision for itself. And, since this represents a communion and relationship between the baptized and the Lord, obviously no one else can make that decision for them.

To bring it all together, I believe the traditions that people have created in order to worship God in their own way only pollutes the true spiritual meaning of worship. God told us how to act, to worship, and to treat each other, His laws and regulations are not too hard to follow, they are not too difficult to understand, and they are not to be messed with.

If you really think that God is going to send an infant to hell because it hasn’t had someone pour water on it, you don’t understand anything about God. And because the infant hasn’t made it’s own decision to be baptized, the entire ceremony is really just pouring water on the kid.

I have nothing against traditions- they help to bind us, to remind us, and to keep us acting in a proper manner. It is a comfort zone, of a kind, and when the traditions we form are in keeping with and complementing God’s commandments, they are useful, practical and can be a blessing. But when they take on more importance than what God said to do, and we follow traditions that don’t complement but compete with God’s commandments, then we are blaspheming. We are ignoring God and idolizing ourselves and expanding our own importance.

The tagline for my ministry (this blog) is designed to honor God and get you on the right path: “God has no religion.” God has given us what He wants us to do- no more, no less. And when we add to it or subtract from it, we are telling God that what He says isn’t good enough.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to face God and tell Him He didn’t get it right.

Is It Me or Him?

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I was going to write about Baptism for babies because I find it ridiculous that anyone thinks God will send an infant to hell because they didn’t have a baptism, and because the idea that someone else can make statements of faith for another person, baby or not, is also not something I believe will fly with the Lord.

To get my facts straight I looked up baptism and saw a site that is about clarifying Christian thought. I figured I’d find a lot of good fodder there, but when I read it the statements were all in keeping with what I think.

Needless to say, I was surprised and disappointed, all at the same time. Here I was, ready to stand and defend God’s word and His love, show how baptism was a Jewish thing from the start (it’s called a Tevilah or a Mikvah) and rail against the anti-Semitic Church!

Now, here I am, stuck with nothing but my own preconceived (or, more correctly, ill-conceived) ideas that I can’t use because they are wrong.

That’s when it hit me- who am I really defending?  Am I doing what is right in God’s eyes or just spouting my own personal thoughts, in the name of the Lord?

OUCH! That’s a tough thing to figure: am I talking on behalf of God or on behalf of Steve? Am I feeling a righteous anger at the misuse of God’s word or am I really just exercising my influence to expound on my personal “peeves” and, as such, misusing God’s word myself?

I pray each day when I ‘blog’ that I am saying only what is right in His eyes, making points that lead people to salvation and understanding as God wants, and doing His work. Yet today I am finding myself wondering if that is what I was doing when I decided to bash baptism of babies.

BTW…for the record, baptism is important and it is a Jewish thing. The Tevilah is an outward expression of an inner change. It is a symbol of cleansing oneself, and is an important activity/ritual to go through when accepting Yeshua as your Messiah. It should be done when one has reached the age of understanding and can make one’s own decisions; as such, it cannot be done by proxy.

Back to my confession of pridefulness, which is exactly the right word to use if I am saying things I believe in order to teach people about God that may or may not be what God wants taught. Yeshua tells us that those who teach are held doubly responsible for what they do, and how influential we are and how important it is to do what is right. I don’t want to be one of the blind leading the blind, or one of those who sin and teach others to sin. Yeshua says that person will be least in the Kingdom of God. Teaching is an important responsibility. The Prophets were teachers, in a way, reminding the people of what God said they should do. And how often did God warn the prophets that if they did not tell the people what they need to do then the blood of the people would be on the Prophets own head?

I believe, and it has been confirmed often to me, that God has given me a gift of teaching, but that doesn’t mean I can’t screw things up by my pridefulness and ego. And, trust me on this, I have plenty of both. The only way I control it is by understanding that I have it and owning up to it, so I don’t forget to always be looking for it to rear it’s ugly head. It is sin crouching at my door.

So what lesson is there today from all this soul-searching? The lesson is to remember that old Greek aphorism: “Know Thyself.” When we do things in God’s name, make sure it is for His glory and in accordance with His word and what He stands for. When positive it is from God, preach it; when in doubt, don’t.  You may be doubting something that is from God, but better to not take the chance you are misusing His word or His gift. If God has a word He wants you to preach, He will make sure you get it out. Maybe the word is good but the expression is not, so just wait: if it is from God, I guarantee it will gnaw at you until you finally figure out how it should be taught.

I ask anyone reading these ministry blogs of mine, or my book, to reply and let me know if you think I am off topic, ever. I appreciate your input and ask for guidance. I always pray to God for guidance, and often He answers through the interaction of another person. So, nu… don’t be shy.

Thank you, Abba, for your gifts and your Word which You have provided, and please lead me with your Ruach to do and say only that which pleases You and gives You all the glory. Halleluyah.

The Flood was a short-term solution

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We all know the story of Noah and the Ark. Because the Earth was full of sin and treachery God regretted that He had made people. He decided to destroy all the evil there was, except for Noah, who was the only righteous one and who God allowed to be saved.

Have you ever wondered whether this meant that only Noah was righteous, but not those in his family? Could it be that they were saved for Noah’s sake?

I don’t mean to question God’s actions, and especially not to cast doubt on God’s ability to do whatever He wants to do, but I have to ask myself this one question: did God really think that the next generation would be any different? Let’s get real, people…the world was still a cursed place. With the flood the Earth did undergo a kind of T’vilah (baptism, or cleansing), but the new generation of people were still under the curse that Adam caused us to suffer, weren’t they? Noah was born with original sin, so were his sons and all the wives, and their children would be, too. No change there.

So, nu? What was the reason for the flood? If it was to destroy, once and for all, the sins of mankind, well, sorry- didn’t happen. Sin was evident as soon as Noah got fall-down drunk. That was a sin. Then Ham, of course, not doing anything respectful, such as covering up Dad’s exposed equipment when he saw him dead-to-the-world on the ground, also sinned. We haven’t even gotten past the generation that was saved and already we have sin.

As I have said, and will repeat often, when interpreting the Bible we cannot make an argument from nothing, but if I was to read between the lines (in Judaism we call that giving a midrash) is it possible that Ham didn’t just tell his brothers about his father? Is it possible that Ham went to them and, like a child, was laughing about it and left his father that way so he could bring them over to see, then they could all have a good laugh? Maybe? It seems that Noah’s curse on Ham is a little over the edge if all Ham did was let his brothers know that Dad was passed out. What do you think?

So, the flood has come and gone, all the baddies are dead, and Mr. and Mrs. Noah (already hundreds of years old) are going to repopulate the Earth, with his children’s help, of course. Big job, and I can just imagine how the women felt about this (“Oy…I’m gonna be pregnant for the next couple of centuries!”) Maybe they were happy that human mortality was about to see a significant change with regards to one’s expected lifetime.

Going back to my question, was it God’s plan to remove all sin? If it was, it didn’t work. If it wasn’t, then why would He do what He did? Why destroy so many people, and all those innocent animals (there’s a good discussion- can an animal be innocent? After all, to be innocent, don’t you need to have the potential to be evil, and animals act on instinct, so they can’t really be evil, so they can’t be innocent, but they are the ones to sacrifice because the shedding of innocent blood is the only way to absolve sin, but if they aren’t evil and they can’t be innocent can their blood really work?)

Maybe the animals had to be destroyed because they are innocent, if we define “innocent” as meaning devoid of evil intentions and desires. And by destroying the animals, i.e. shedding their blood (figuratively, since they drowned), each animal that died was a sacrifice to atone for the sins of each and every one of the people destroyed? Maybe not so much to cleanse the person, but to cleanse the land? I don’t know!

There were some significant changes after the flood; for instance, up until the flood there was no rain. The Earth was watered by a mist every morning and everyone, animals and humans alike, were herbivores (read the beginning of Genesis.) After the flood the animals and humans feared each other because now they were food to us, and we were food to some of them.  And the animals also would eat each other. Carnivores, herbivores, insectivores, and all the other -vores now inhabited the Earth.  There were going to be seasonal rains, which were absolutely necessary for the agricultural economy that existed.  We would have droughts and famines. What might have happened if there were no famines in the land? Would Abraham have gone to Egypt? Would Yitzchak have moved? Would Pharoah have had the dream that Joseph interpreted, fulfilling the prophecy God told Abraham about his descendants being slaves? If there hadn’t been a famine to cause Israel to send his sons to Egypt for grain, would we have had Moses? The Torah? If there had not been a drought, how would God have shown His glory and power to the Northern Kingdom inhabitants when Elijah called fire from heaven on Mt. Carmel?

Ya know? Maybe the flood was necessary not just to get rid of sin, which it didn’t, but to get a fresh start. To kick it up to the next level, allowing for this new generation of humans to take the next step in God’s plan of salvation.  Maybe, just maybe, the story we hear has more to it than just a flood to ged rid of the drek of society.

That is one of the many things I love about reading the Manual every day- you read something you have read many, many times before, and suddenly….WHAM!!! You get this revelation, this new view, on what you have been reading for years. You see something in there you never saw before and have ask yourself, “How could I not have seen this?”  It’s like the Bible is one of those optical illusions, except this is, maybe, more like a spiritual illusion, where you’ve seen one thing for years and then you see something different, in the same place. Like the picture below: is it two faces or is it a lamp?

The point to this whole thing is that we will never know, for certain, what God is up to all the time. Sometimes He makes it clear, sometimes He doesn’t. As He tells us in His Word, that which He wishes us to know we will know, and that which He wishes to remain secret will remain secret. God is no respecter of persons- He tells us that Himself. He will do what He wants to do, and when He wants to do it. He will tell us, or He won’t- it’s His game, His rules.

The best we can do is make sure that whatever He has told us, we study and learn. We will need to know it when the real spiritual battle begins. And what He wants to reveal to any one of us at any time, He will do through the Ruach.

In the meantime, keep reading, keep asking the Ruach to guide you, and stay faithful that just because we don’t know what’s happening or what’s going to happen, God does.

And faithfully believe that God is in control.