Life or Death - God is Life - do we want it? Do we follow it - how can we live for God and break away from traditions if need be?

Finnur
September 16, 2009 8:10 AM
"There's much that Jews and Christians can argue about, but not that. The New Testament seeks to place its own understanding on the nature of this relationship with God, but the Christian interpretation, originated by Paul, is simply tendentious and implausible. It only works if you read the Bible backward, starting with the Greek scriptures, absorbing their assumptions, and then reading the Hebrew Bible in that light. But this is of course not a natural way of understanding Scripture. That, to me, is the heart of the Jewish objection to Christianity. God gave us a particular relationship with him, a modality for approaching Him. Why that one and not another? An interesting question to contemplate but the fact remains. Christianity in all its forms cancels and abrogates that relationship. God is our life. For a Jew to accept Christianity -- I'm not speaking of Gentiles here -- is therefore a kind of suicide."(I read this among other paragraphs in a text of the blog of David Klinghoffer [http://blog.beliefnet.com/kingdomofpriests/2009/08/when-a-jew-threatens-to-commit-spiritual-suicide.html] and feelt a sudden need to post a comment which I did).

Dear reader,

I just wanted to throw in a point - as the thought came to me strongly when reading this.

It sorts of starts with a thought that is – = when where the scriptures finalized..?.. In them there is the voice “in the wilderness” the prophet that is often alone struggling to get the nation which is betrothed to the Lord to leave her regrettably often wicked ways. There are a few lessons to be drawn from that firstly that it is altogether too human to reduce God to a concept that fits ones own comfort zone (the Prophets = a lonely voice) and second that if we follow everybody else we may be in danger (perishing with this world). Implying that we constantly have to seek God on our own (even if we respect and participate in corporate worship) as when it comes down to it we are responsible in our relationship with Him. This responsibility is in a way what makes us understand that the only way to live is death to the self. Not to live as oneself might want to but to live the best one can as God wants one to. This makes the prophetic voice extremely important. We have the written word so that we can recognize Gods character and do our best to reflect Him, also because it absolutely humbles us to the dust – who can be righteous?? Who may enter the promised land? Who has called Gods judgment upon himself and may expect to be vaporized in any moment?? We remember that God’s mercy and loving-kindness lasts for ever, while is it a danger threatening our comfort for us to recognize that He is a judge also – judging kindly for thousands – also the maker who shapes the clay His way.

On which side of Gods judgment are we? Who was the last true prophet ? Has God become silent – is He maybe dead (forgive me this – I am pointing to popular philosophy and even the new age which totally impersonalizes God).

There are a few things which every Jew must consider – why is it tough to be? Who can help me?(As indeed any person may ponder - Is it specially tough to be a Jew; what about the people of Somalia? – are we[humans] victims – can we even require there be a God – and as He is aren’t we fortunate that He is good – and then …how can He be good if we suffer? ... then..What causes suffering) And from that the central question may be what is the solution and then Who is the Messiah? Other questions might be what happened to the temple? How is it possible to be a Jew without a temple? And for anyone… How does the unseen interact with the seen?

Now, given that God is alive we may recognize that He still communicates and interacts with humans – a central question then becomes how? How do you approach God? How does He approach you? I must state that when I first read the scriptures I started from the beginning – meaning that after reading every chapter it had a bearing on my understanding of the next one. For example when I read Hosea I was very glad when I reached the point which some refer to as Hosea 14:5 – before that I was more in some sort of a state of fear. And suddenly the dawn broke through! Numerous Words show us that we are to do good or to “love”: As the chapter some refer to as Isaiah 58 – So we know God cares about people – even the foreigner – and that we are to love to reflect His character. Can we think that such a God has forsaken His people or left them only to philosophical ponderings and impossibilities??!