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Anyone who cannot preach 'gospel' from the Torah
just doesn't understand the Torah.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: August 21, 2004 00:04
Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] WHAT IS
SIN?
Pretty good for an old guy.
You made it into Smithson's "saved" file. Go ahead and tell
Vee. .............. ok, now with that done, I hesitate
to add anything to this thoughtful post. But, an additional
evidence for what Terry is saying is the very difference in style between much
of the Old Scripture and that of the New. After the Cross,
absolutely no hint of a legal system. Just read Gelatins or
whatever and compare to Exodus,
Leviticus.
Smithmeister
In a message dated 8/20/2004
5:53:25 PM Pacific Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
I have nothing but respect for Slade. I think that he is
serious about what he believes, and I think he probably tries to live a life
that is pleasing to the Lord. Yet I cannot respect what he is
teaching. Anytime anyone says that it is Jesus plus Torah, they are
teaching in error, what Paul calls false teachers, and false teaching hurts
the cause of Christ, whether or not it is done in good faith.
Can I prove
this? I believe I can, but of course I am biased, so you must decide
for yourself after considering what I offer.
Let's start with
something Slade and I recently discussed very briefly - the parables
of the wineskin and the new patch. I think it is obvious that Jesus
was speaking to people who were familiar with both wineskins and new wine,
as well as old and new cloth. He was not teaching a class on how to
age wine or how to repair garments. He was using these things because
people knew about them and could relate to them. He said, using my own
paraphrase, "You can't put new wine in an old stiff animal skin; one that is
dried and cracked, because the new wine, as it ferments, will give off gas
that will cause pressure that the old bag cannot withstand. It will
burst if you try it. You will lose everything - the wine skin
and the wine. If you have a new batch of wine, you put it in a new,
strong, flexible wine skin that can handle the pressure". Then He
said, " You don't take a new piece of cloth and use it to patch a hole in
your clothing, (no Sanforizing in those days) because the new cloth will
shrink and tear the old cloth where it is sewn together, and the hole will
be larger than ever." What Jesus was telling the hearers, and us, is
that you cannot add Jesus to the old covenant without losing
everything. Jesus did not come to patch up something old. He
came to make something totally new, something called a Christian, a new
creature in Christ.
I said that I thought the above was obvious, so
you will want to know why I see this as obvious. The answer is
this. There is no way to fit the old covenant into the new covenant
and there is no way to fit the new covenant into the old covenant. You
would have a better chance of success if you mixed oil and water. Just
a glance at either tells you immediately that the two are so contrary to one
another that they cannot possibly co-exist. Under the old covenant,
hereafter simply referred to as OC, you had one nation, Israel, out of all
the nations, that could approach God. Of that nation, only one tribe
could be priests.
Of all the priests, only one could enter the
presence of God, and him only one day a year. Under the new covenant,
all believers are priests, and can approach God anyplace, any time,
24/7.
During the OC, when you went to the temple, you found that
everything to do with worship was handled by the Levites. The NC
picture of the Church shows Jesus as the cornerstone, the apostles as the
foundation, and every believer as a living stone. There are no
Levites.
In the OC, the Holy Spirit was only given to selected
individuals, for a specific purpose, for a limited time. Under the NC,
every believer receives the Holy Spirit at the moment that he or she is
saved.
The OC law of Moses made no allowance for failure.
(Whoever shall keep the whole law of Moses, and yet offend in one point, is
guilty of all.) The NC promises that we can do all things thru Christ,
and if we fail, we have a redeemer.
Under the OC, the only way
to be righteous was to be totally compliant with 600 plus rules. Under
the NC, we are considered righteous, not because of what we have done, but
because of what our Savior has done.
We could go on and on with
endless comparisons, but you get the idea, I am sure; the law is not
compatible with grace. When you stand before the throne, the question
will not be "Did you eat pork, or did you tithe? It will be, what did
you do with Christ?"
That is why Paul says in Romans 7:4 that
believers have become dead to the law because Christ has saved us. The
law has no hold on the follower of Christ. We do not have six hundred
rules, we have two. Love God, love one another. Being a gentile,
I was never under the law to begin with, but in that same verse, Paul also
tells us that those who seek righteousness by keeping the law can only bear
fruit unto death.
If this seems like some radical new thinking, let
me point out that Abraham was saved by faith, not by keeping a clipboard
under his arm to check for proper response to every situation. He got
by fine before the law, just as we get by fine after the law. (The law was
in effect until the Seed came, Gal.3:19 )
Have to cut it off
now and jump in the shower, but this should give you at least a good start
if you want to pursue the
truth.
Blessings,
Terry
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