Thoughts - Opening a can of worms

Shalom,

This post I write with personal sadness. When we have to challenge someone on their path, or beliefs; it is easy to feel so inadequate.

One of the most unfortunate side effects of any movement away from "traditional" church beliefs is that there are some who stumble along the way. It seems that some go "Messianic" and then lose their way. Once in awhile you will see someone even go to the extreme and convert to Orthodox Judaism.

We see people who, like previous posts, fall away, for whatever reason. It seems that some people once open to challenging traditions, lose all sense of direction. They become like Sha'ul warned, ships without rudders, tossed to & fro by every wind of Doctrine.

We need to consider every move away from tradition with care, question all changes; to make sure we are not "throwing the baby out with the bath water", so to speak.

Does "opening the can of worms" have to mean rejecting core beliefs? Does seeing the value of Torah mean Messiah is no longer needed?

While we do not believe in the yin & yang of eastern religion, we do need to seek balance in our faith. When making the transition to Messianic, we need to be very careful to not forget the baby, as we stop celebrating Christmas. We need to remember the resurrection, even if we don't celebrate Easter.

Messianics can become "anti-Christian" very easily. We need to learn to speak against false teachings, without forgetting we all worship the same G-d. We agree on most tenets of the faith, even if those tenets are expressed differently. We believe Messiah is G-d, though we stress He is part of G-d (Echad). We believe the Ruach HaKodesh is G-d, but He is not seperate from G-d. We value Torah as showing how to live a Holy Life, but keeping Torah does not save us, G-d did that, by sacrificing Yeshua in our place.

We should not be "anti-Christian" anymore than we should be "anti-Judaism". We should not define ourselves by negatives, but by positives. We share much with both groups, and should able to fellowship in love with both.

Consistancy, accountability, sound doctrine are keys to living lives pleasing to G-d, and staying on the straight & narrow road.

Sometimes we realize how narrow that road can become and fewer than ever seem to be finding it.

Blessings in Messiah