How many of you have had some really bad customer service lately? I bet if I was to take a poll I would find that just about everyone, at least here in the US would be able to say that they have had some really bad customer service.
One of the states that we used to live in had the reputation of having the worst DMV in New England. We discovered that first hand when we went to change our licenses and get our car registered.First we checked on their web sight to see what we needed and they didn't give any information beyond phone numbers. We then tried those phone numbers only to find that most of it was automated and that you were not going to talk to a real person. So we grabbed the things that we thought that we would need and headed over to the closest office and waited along with many others wasting their day. When I say wasting the day I am not kidding,as we sat there and waited for our number to be called we watched what was going on around us and we started to notice this pattern. There were 2 groups of people, one group, which as it turned out we were in, didn't have everything that they needed and the other group had already been there several times before and finally had everything. The problem was that even when you got up to take care of business and you discovered that you didn't have everything that you needed, they still wouldn't tell you everything! We literally spent the better part of 3 days trying to take care of something as simple as getting our drivers license and registering our car. Total madness and a fine example of very poor customer service.
Contrast that to yesterday when my wife and I had to take care of some business at the county offices, dealing with our taxes of all things, we were able to call ahead of time and talk to real people to find out exactly what we needed and how to go about doing so. By the time we got there we had everything in hand and was in and out in a few minutes and the people that we dealt with were very helpful and friendly, what a difference! And, just to be fair, it was as easy as that as well when we went to get our licenses and car registered. Wonderful customer service.
People can be like that as well, some like the DMV mentioned, can be just as unhelpful. You ask them a question that you are sure that they have an answer too and instead of answering the question or even suggesting where a good source of information might be, they insult you and get very nasty about it. I recently had an experience where I found that I had questions that were continually coming up and so I sent a message to that person explaining what the questions were, what I thought were the obvious answers and explained even as to why I was having difficulty with it. I was blasted and torn apart for questioning. I was looking for answers or at least a source for the answers. Instead many very nasty remarks were made to me instead.
I then wrote to another person, with the same concerns and questions and you know what happened? That person, actually sent me a couple of links along with an explanation of those links and further suggested who I should contact with other questions.What a difference! I looked at the links sent to me, and all of a sudden I understood. By that I don't mean that I understood everything and still leaves me with questions, but now at least I have a resource.
So which are you? Are you one of the helpful ones that people with questions can turn to and know that they will get treated respectfully or are you one of those who know everything and expect that everyone else should know already as well, without the same resources that you have?
I tend to believe that the way that you treat people is a reflection on your relationship to G-D or perhaps even your perception on who G-D is.
Is the G-D that you serve , someone who is willing to help out those who are lost and confused? Is the G-D your serving have compassion on the weak and the misinformed? Or is the G-D that you are serving the kind that expects you to know everything and will tear you apart the moment that you question?
Isaiah says of G-D, Come let us reason...this is HaShem asking us as mere humans to reason with Him? It even says that Job spoke His peace with G-D and made it very clear that he didn't understand, and yet even after G-D brought his thinking back to the right place , he was justified before G-D and blessed more then he had been.
I have asked of G-D questions and I have been blessed despite my ignorance and I have been blessed by some of His children who have recognised my ignorance and rather then leave me in my ignorance have helped instead.
Now that is good customer service!
Shalom,
Ignacio
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Under The Law ?
What does it mean to be under the law? I have heard this term used in Christianity to describe those who are sinners that are not "saved by grace" but that once you are saved you are no longer "under the law" So I have to ask the all important question, what does it mean to be under the law?
Usually in context it means that you are under the penalty of the law, which, according to Paul and Christianity, means that you are under the penalty of death. But is this really what "the law" is about? I have read the Torah and it does make mention of people who blatantly disobey G-D's commands as either being out right killed or cut off from the people and that was for very specific things, but I never saw where it says anything about a death sentence if you are keeping the law.Instead there are written many blessings to be had for keeping the law and disasters for disobeying.
If you read the history of Judah and Israel you will find that the reason that we went into captivity and exile was because we weren't keeping G-D's commandments, in fact not only did we NOT keep them, we decided instead to follow the nations around us and have false god's and keep their ways. G-D warned us through the prophets to turn back to His laws and His commandments before it was to late. We ignored them and we paid the price.
Now you would suggest to me that the Jewish people are being punished because we keep the law ?! That we will find ourselves in hell because we choose to believe in the One G-D of Israel instead of following other false god's? That makes no sense.
One of the things that always confused me as a Christian was how inconsistent this argument is. If I say to you "thou shalt not kill" you'd be OK with that but if I say to you, "remember the sabbath day to keep it holy" you would quickly say to me, I am not under the law but under grace. So taking that argument to it's fullest says that I can set up an Idol of myself and make you worship me. If you don't I can come and kill you and steal your stuff and it's perfectly OK to do because I am under grace not the law. You would then say to me, well we are not under the law but G-D expects us to live a righteous life loving G-D and loving our neighbors and while that is true, you still ignore the fact that by removing one of the commandments, given by G-D, you are disobeying G-D and that He put those laws in place to show us how to live.
What is your example of living a righteous life? Paul? He contradicts himself and G-D.
Jesus? How can that be possible.If he existed and the things that he said and did were true then you would have to be following the law as well.
Your true example of how to be in this life is found in that law that everyone ignores. G-D spelled it out for us in the Torah and we have just chose to either ignore it or disobey it because we are under the impression that we can.
Let me give you a silly illustration to make a point.
You have just received the owners manual for a car and a set of keys and you want to start the car. You know nothing about starting a car,( perhaps you shouldn't be driving , but thats another issue) you just know that this is what you want to do. You also understand that you have to do something with that key in order to get it to work, but you just not sure. You have 2 choices, you can either look at the owners manual or you can try to wing it on your own. If you are like me, you want to wing it, let's face it us guys hate directions, so I get in the car and I start to look around and I notice that there is a slot on the other side on something called a glove box, so I take my key and I slide in there and I turn it and then the door opens and all the contents fall to the floor, but the car just isn't running. So I get out of the car and I start looking around and I see places on the door's to put the key, but I have already caught on to the fact that doors aren't going to do it. But then I see something on the back of the car and I think to myself, this must be where I put the key to start the car. So you put in the key and the hatch pops up, but there is nothing in there! You stick your head in and look around but you don't see anything to make it start, so you think to yourself well if I get into the thing maybe that will work, so you climb in close the hatch and there you are locked in a trunk and you have accomplished nothing.It's while you are sitting in that dark trunk that you finally start to wonder if the directions might be in the owners manual.....
Sound silly and a bit to simple? The principal is the same. G-D gave us the directions in the Torah and we have chosen to ignore it and we are lost in a dark tight place.
G-D does not change, nor does His laws, we can certainly choose to ignore them and say that they are not relevant today. We can try to come up with all sorts of reasons as to why we don't need to keep them. We can try to suggest that we are under some sort of grace that allows us to ignore G-D's laws, but in the end it boils down to simply this; Are you going to obey G-D or man? G-d gave us the Torah as a way for us to live, who are we to say it doesn't matter anymore?
If I am wrong, which I don't believe, then I have lost nothing by obeying G-D's commands because I rejoice in doing so, but if I am right then at some point you may have to answer as to why you ignored it.
Something to think about,
Shalom,
Ignacio
Usually in context it means that you are under the penalty of the law, which, according to Paul and Christianity, means that you are under the penalty of death. But is this really what "the law" is about? I have read the Torah and it does make mention of people who blatantly disobey G-D's commands as either being out right killed or cut off from the people and that was for very specific things, but I never saw where it says anything about a death sentence if you are keeping the law.Instead there are written many blessings to be had for keeping the law and disasters for disobeying.
If you read the history of Judah and Israel you will find that the reason that we went into captivity and exile was because we weren't keeping G-D's commandments, in fact not only did we NOT keep them, we decided instead to follow the nations around us and have false god's and keep their ways. G-D warned us through the prophets to turn back to His laws and His commandments before it was to late. We ignored them and we paid the price.
Now you would suggest to me that the Jewish people are being punished because we keep the law ?! That we will find ourselves in hell because we choose to believe in the One G-D of Israel instead of following other false god's? That makes no sense.
One of the things that always confused me as a Christian was how inconsistent this argument is. If I say to you "thou shalt not kill" you'd be OK with that but if I say to you, "remember the sabbath day to keep it holy" you would quickly say to me, I am not under the law but under grace. So taking that argument to it's fullest says that I can set up an Idol of myself and make you worship me. If you don't I can come and kill you and steal your stuff and it's perfectly OK to do because I am under grace not the law. You would then say to me, well we are not under the law but G-D expects us to live a righteous life loving G-D and loving our neighbors and while that is true, you still ignore the fact that by removing one of the commandments, given by G-D, you are disobeying G-D and that He put those laws in place to show us how to live.
What is your example of living a righteous life? Paul? He contradicts himself and G-D.
Jesus? How can that be possible.If he existed and the things that he said and did were true then you would have to be following the law as well.
Your true example of how to be in this life is found in that law that everyone ignores. G-D spelled it out for us in the Torah and we have just chose to either ignore it or disobey it because we are under the impression that we can.
Let me give you a silly illustration to make a point.
You have just received the owners manual for a car and a set of keys and you want to start the car. You know nothing about starting a car,( perhaps you shouldn't be driving , but thats another issue) you just know that this is what you want to do. You also understand that you have to do something with that key in order to get it to work, but you just not sure. You have 2 choices, you can either look at the owners manual or you can try to wing it on your own. If you are like me, you want to wing it, let's face it us guys hate directions, so I get in the car and I start to look around and I notice that there is a slot on the other side on something called a glove box, so I take my key and I slide in there and I turn it and then the door opens and all the contents fall to the floor, but the car just isn't running. So I get out of the car and I start looking around and I see places on the door's to put the key, but I have already caught on to the fact that doors aren't going to do it. But then I see something on the back of the car and I think to myself, this must be where I put the key to start the car. So you put in the key and the hatch pops up, but there is nothing in there! You stick your head in and look around but you don't see anything to make it start, so you think to yourself well if I get into the thing maybe that will work, so you climb in close the hatch and there you are locked in a trunk and you have accomplished nothing.It's while you are sitting in that dark trunk that you finally start to wonder if the directions might be in the owners manual.....
Sound silly and a bit to simple? The principal is the same. G-D gave us the directions in the Torah and we have chosen to ignore it and we are lost in a dark tight place.
G-D does not change, nor does His laws, we can certainly choose to ignore them and say that they are not relevant today. We can try to come up with all sorts of reasons as to why we don't need to keep them. We can try to suggest that we are under some sort of grace that allows us to ignore G-D's laws, but in the end it boils down to simply this; Are you going to obey G-D or man? G-d gave us the Torah as a way for us to live, who are we to say it doesn't matter anymore?
If I am wrong, which I don't believe, then I have lost nothing by obeying G-D's commands because I rejoice in doing so, but if I am right then at some point you may have to answer as to why you ignored it.
Something to think about,
Shalom,
Ignacio
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Are You Searching?
In my last post I said to you to not cry for us, and that still holds true, but I want you to consider some of what I am going to share with you and then let you decide what you should do from there.
Earlier today I was on the web sight called Arutz Sheva which is a part of Israel National Radio and I was listening to a clip from "Tuesday Night Live " where they were talking about the lost tribes of Israel and how they have found some in the remotest areas you could think of, who claimed to be children of Israel, and they followed the practices of the Jews though they have had no contact with them since time out of mind. It is a fascinating story and one that has personal meaning to me as well, I'll get to that in in a minute, but first let me ask you a question. Are you satisfied in your soul? Or are you still searching for that elusive peace? Some of you who are Christians and are reading this know exactly what I am asking about. You are going through the motions but you know that something is missing. Some of you have bounced from church to church and others of you have switched denominations but still you feel empty ,like nothing is quite clicking. Some have left the traditional churches and have started their own home churches or have joined with others in the Messianic congregations , but even with that, even with experiencing a few moments of joy there is still a longing in your heart for something different , something better. If your reading this blog these things are either true in your life or they are about to be.
How would I know? I am describing my own path that has brought me to the place where I am right now and I know for a fact that I am not alone in this.
What if I told you that this is Biblical, that this was prophesied by the prophets of old concerning the latter days of this world? Would you believe me?
Isaiah,Jeremiah,Ezekiel and all the rest foretold of a day that G-D would gather all His people from the four corners of the earth and bring them back to Israel where He will set up His kingdom.They were not just talking about the Jews, the tribe of Judah, but of all the tribes of Israel, and I might add righteous Gentiles as well. They also wrote that at that time the peoples who didn't even know that they were of Israel would return and that they would all be united never to be a part again.
If you want the texts email me and I will get them to you, there are just to many to put on a blog.
But the other thing that is made clear as well is that the people would turn from their false god's and turn to the Jewish people to learn of G-D as well, and that eventually the nations of the world would come to the worship of G-D through His people Israel.
I submit to you that if you are finding your self dissatisfied with what you are believing and you fit any of the descriptions above that there may be a good reason for it; G-D is calling you out of the churches to seek out His truth which is to be found in the Torah. He is likely calling you right now because you actually belong to one of His lost tribes or , at the very least you are a righteous Gentile.
The Jews believe that every soul that is Jewish or of the tribes of Israel, past present or future, were all there at Sinai when G-D made His covenant with His people.
They believe that many a person who is in the process of searching and who are turning to Judaism are those who have that soul.
How about it, do you think you fit in this category? If you are searching at all , I would humbly submit that you may want to consider what I have written. We have found that which we have been looking for in the Torah and the Tenach. We have found that all elusive peace in our hearts now that we understand what it is that HaShem is doing.We now understand what we have been searching for. We do not claim to have all the answers because we are still learning, but we do know who does have the answers and where to look.Again as I always say, don't believe me, search for yourself, but search honestly looking for the truth. If you go into it with you already preconceived ideas then you will just wind up back where you started.
Now some of you might be thinking that I believe that way I do because I was taught by a Rabbi to believe this way. As shocking as this may seem to you, the only contact that I have had with a Jewish Rabbi has come from reading articles that have been written by them. They do not go out seeking for converts. All that I have discovered and all that I have learned that has brought me to this place has come from G-d through His scriptures. Yes I have read other sources as well, both Christian and Jewish alike, but the bottom line question for me was what does the scriptures say and it says to me the very things that I have been sharing with you lately.
Again search for yourselves know the truth and more importantly come back to the G-D of Israel know Him and have peace in your searching soul.
Shalom,
Ignacio
Earlier today I was on the web sight called Arutz Sheva which is a part of Israel National Radio and I was listening to a clip from "Tuesday Night Live " where they were talking about the lost tribes of Israel and how they have found some in the remotest areas you could think of, who claimed to be children of Israel, and they followed the practices of the Jews though they have had no contact with them since time out of mind. It is a fascinating story and one that has personal meaning to me as well, I'll get to that in in a minute, but first let me ask you a question. Are you satisfied in your soul? Or are you still searching for that elusive peace? Some of you who are Christians and are reading this know exactly what I am asking about. You are going through the motions but you know that something is missing. Some of you have bounced from church to church and others of you have switched denominations but still you feel empty ,like nothing is quite clicking. Some have left the traditional churches and have started their own home churches or have joined with others in the Messianic congregations , but even with that, even with experiencing a few moments of joy there is still a longing in your heart for something different , something better. If your reading this blog these things are either true in your life or they are about to be.
How would I know? I am describing my own path that has brought me to the place where I am right now and I know for a fact that I am not alone in this.
What if I told you that this is Biblical, that this was prophesied by the prophets of old concerning the latter days of this world? Would you believe me?
Isaiah,Jeremiah,Ezekiel and all the rest foretold of a day that G-D would gather all His people from the four corners of the earth and bring them back to Israel where He will set up His kingdom.They were not just talking about the Jews, the tribe of Judah, but of all the tribes of Israel, and I might add righteous Gentiles as well. They also wrote that at that time the peoples who didn't even know that they were of Israel would return and that they would all be united never to be a part again.
If you want the texts email me and I will get them to you, there are just to many to put on a blog.
But the other thing that is made clear as well is that the people would turn from their false god's and turn to the Jewish people to learn of G-D as well, and that eventually the nations of the world would come to the worship of G-D through His people Israel.
I submit to you that if you are finding your self dissatisfied with what you are believing and you fit any of the descriptions above that there may be a good reason for it; G-D is calling you out of the churches to seek out His truth which is to be found in the Torah. He is likely calling you right now because you actually belong to one of His lost tribes or , at the very least you are a righteous Gentile.
The Jews believe that every soul that is Jewish or of the tribes of Israel, past present or future, were all there at Sinai when G-D made His covenant with His people.
They believe that many a person who is in the process of searching and who are turning to Judaism are those who have that soul.
How about it, do you think you fit in this category? If you are searching at all , I would humbly submit that you may want to consider what I have written. We have found that which we have been looking for in the Torah and the Tenach. We have found that all elusive peace in our hearts now that we understand what it is that HaShem is doing.We now understand what we have been searching for. We do not claim to have all the answers because we are still learning, but we do know who does have the answers and where to look.Again as I always say, don't believe me, search for yourself, but search honestly looking for the truth. If you go into it with you already preconceived ideas then you will just wind up back where you started.
Now some of you might be thinking that I believe that way I do because I was taught by a Rabbi to believe this way. As shocking as this may seem to you, the only contact that I have had with a Jewish Rabbi has come from reading articles that have been written by them. They do not go out seeking for converts. All that I have discovered and all that I have learned that has brought me to this place has come from G-d through His scriptures. Yes I have read other sources as well, both Christian and Jewish alike, but the bottom line question for me was what does the scriptures say and it says to me the very things that I have been sharing with you lately.
Again search for yourselves know the truth and more importantly come back to the G-D of Israel know Him and have peace in your searching soul.
Shalom,
Ignacio
Monday, March 1, 2010
Don't Cry For Us
Over this past weekend we celebrated Purim, for those of you who don't know, it is the festival that takes place in remembrance of the Jewish peoples deliverance by Esther from the evil hands of Haman ( boo - hiss )and his evil cohorts. It is a time of great celebration. Of eating and drinking and even dressing up. It is quite literally a celebration of life and deliverance from death, of freedom from enemies and all that would seek to destroy you.
The part of it I would like to talk about briefly is the part on freedom, though in this case not from enemies so much as freedom from hiding in the shadows of who we are and what we believe.
Over this weekend my wife and I had various conversations with people from our families as well as some of our friends and we were finally able to just speak plainly of the fact that we no longer are xtian and are following Judaism as best as we know how. It was a breath of fresh air to say the least for it. We would be visiting some people and they wanted to talk about something that Jesus said and rather then get into it with people we have tactfully just turned the subject elsewhere, but as you can imagine that gets kind of tiring. So now they know and you know and anyone who doesn't know isn't paying attention!
Part of my reasoning for writing about this is simply this , I wish to make a request of those few xtian friends that we have left. Don't cry over us.
I know that you believe that it's a salvation issue and I do appreciate the fact that you care that much but please don't cry for us. We are not lost, G-D has simply led us on a different path from yours. All of us are on a journey that only G-d can lead so do not shed tears for us. We are not sad , in fact not only are we happy, but we have come to see G-D and life in a much different light then you could imagine. We know who the one true G-D is and we know what His plans for the future are and if the prophets are right, which I believe they are, the days are soon coming when His Messianic kingdom is going to be established and all the world is going to come to the Jews and ask to learn of G-D through them, and His kingdom will be in Jerusalem. Don't cry for me , rejoice in His soon coming kingdom.
I know that you don't see it that way and depending on what your denomination is you have been told many different things. But here is the beauty of what my family and I believe, we know because it is written in the Tenach, the old testament.It's all there just as plain as the nose on your face but you have to read it and really look at what it says. I realise that for many of you the thought of reading the Old Testament is foreign. You have been told everything from it's just a bunch of stories to it doesn't apply to us today, one man told me once that it was nothing but a history book. If you believe all that to be true and won't even take the time to look then I would say that it's your loss. However while for you it's a salvation issue if I don't see things your way, in my eyes the reverse does not hold true, G-D has plans for all of us and in the end we will all be worshiping HaShem.
In the latest Star Trek Captain Pike says to a youngish Kirk, your father was captain of a star ship for 12 minutes ,he saved 800 people including you, I dare you to do better! So there is my challenge to you to do better then your forefathers, look for yourselves , study and learn.
Maybe next year we can celebrate Purim together.
Shalom,
Ignacio
The part of it I would like to talk about briefly is the part on freedom, though in this case not from enemies so much as freedom from hiding in the shadows of who we are and what we believe.
Over this weekend my wife and I had various conversations with people from our families as well as some of our friends and we were finally able to just speak plainly of the fact that we no longer are xtian and are following Judaism as best as we know how. It was a breath of fresh air to say the least for it. We would be visiting some people and they wanted to talk about something that Jesus said and rather then get into it with people we have tactfully just turned the subject elsewhere, but as you can imagine that gets kind of tiring. So now they know and you know and anyone who doesn't know isn't paying attention!
Part of my reasoning for writing about this is simply this , I wish to make a request of those few xtian friends that we have left. Don't cry over us.
I know that you believe that it's a salvation issue and I do appreciate the fact that you care that much but please don't cry for us. We are not lost, G-D has simply led us on a different path from yours. All of us are on a journey that only G-d can lead so do not shed tears for us. We are not sad , in fact not only are we happy, but we have come to see G-D and life in a much different light then you could imagine. We know who the one true G-D is and we know what His plans for the future are and if the prophets are right, which I believe they are, the days are soon coming when His Messianic kingdom is going to be established and all the world is going to come to the Jews and ask to learn of G-D through them, and His kingdom will be in Jerusalem. Don't cry for me , rejoice in His soon coming kingdom.
I know that you don't see it that way and depending on what your denomination is you have been told many different things. But here is the beauty of what my family and I believe, we know because it is written in the Tenach, the old testament.It's all there just as plain as the nose on your face but you have to read it and really look at what it says. I realise that for many of you the thought of reading the Old Testament is foreign. You have been told everything from it's just a bunch of stories to it doesn't apply to us today, one man told me once that it was nothing but a history book. If you believe all that to be true and won't even take the time to look then I would say that it's your loss. However while for you it's a salvation issue if I don't see things your way, in my eyes the reverse does not hold true, G-D has plans for all of us and in the end we will all be worshiping HaShem.
In the latest Star Trek Captain Pike says to a youngish Kirk, your father was captain of a star ship for 12 minutes ,he saved 800 people including you, I dare you to do better! So there is my challenge to you to do better then your forefathers, look for yourselves , study and learn.
Maybe next year we can celebrate Purim together.
Shalom,
Ignacio
Monday, February 22, 2010
Lies and Deception
Yesterday evening I received an email from a friend of mine in Ohio and I found it a bit disturbing to say the least. We have been talking about what it is to be Jewish and the steps one has to take to either reclaim their Jewish heritage or to convert. He told his Rabbi about my family and I and we have been invited to come and visit them which we will probably do in the near future. What disturbed me greatly though was what his Rabbi told him. He told him about some people who had come to them in the recent past that claimed that they wanted to convert to Judaism when their only real purpose was to learn how one becomes a Jew so that they could go and try to convert Jews to Christianity! I have a real distinct problem with that.
You have to have some really large ( place your own word here ) to go into a Jewish community, ingratiate yourself to the people, learn from them and then stab them in the back! That has to be somewhere close to about one of the lowest things I have ever heard.
Years ago, we belonged to a Christian denomination that has a "Daniel and Revelation" seminar where they would make the claim that they knew, based on their prophetess, what the end time events were going to be. They would send out fancy colorful fliers and give an address to come to but would never mention the name of the church or the denomination. They would go so far as to cover up the church sign and remove anything in the church that would give away who they were. The end result is that the unsuspecting seeker of truth would be drawn into what amounted to an indoctrination into the denomination.
Now lets examine both situations very carefully because if you look they have some very common threads.
The biggest of those threads is deception. Yes deception! If your message is so shaky that the only way to reach people is to deceive them and lie to them then I would submit to you that there is a distinct problem with your religion and message.
Tell me, those of you Christians , who believe in the "great commission", where were you ever told that it was OK to lie and deceive to get your message out? Is there some commandment that I some how have missed that allows for deception when speaking to people about G-D and your beliefs? Perhaps you need to go back and read a bit of history, the greatest deceivers were those in leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, they have never cared to much as to how they got their message across or what they had to incorporate into it to make it palatable to the people. Is this how Christianity works? Is your message based in nothing but lies? I admit that I don't believe in Christianity and Jesus, but even I have a hard time understanding how a person can justify deception like that even if it is well intentioned. Does the ends justify the means? Shall we go further then that and re authorize torture as a way to make people believe the way that you do?
One of the things that I have appreciated about the Jewish people that I have gotten to know and converse with, is that none of them have tried to lie to me to tell me that I must become a Jew in order to be saved and to serve G-D. In fact most of the people that I have talked to have gone out of their way to point out just how difficult it can be and also to point out that their isn't a command saying that I must convert. Wow, imagine that, honesty. I have learned much from these people with no pressure at all and despite the difficulties it makes me want to convert and quite frankly ,my family and I probably will.
To my Christian friends I say this; If you want to know why people are leaving in droves, it is because on some deeper level they know that they are being deceived and if you want to know why the Jews resist you it is simply because they know beyond a doubt that you are trying to deceive them.
If your faith is based on nothing more then lies and deception you have a serious problem and need to really seek out G-D and learn the truth.
Zech. 8:23 Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying let us go with you for we have heard that G-d is with you.
Words to consider,
Shalom,
Ignacio
You have to have some really large ( place your own word here ) to go into a Jewish community, ingratiate yourself to the people, learn from them and then stab them in the back! That has to be somewhere close to about one of the lowest things I have ever heard.
Years ago, we belonged to a Christian denomination that has a "Daniel and Revelation" seminar where they would make the claim that they knew, based on their prophetess, what the end time events were going to be. They would send out fancy colorful fliers and give an address to come to but would never mention the name of the church or the denomination. They would go so far as to cover up the church sign and remove anything in the church that would give away who they were. The end result is that the unsuspecting seeker of truth would be drawn into what amounted to an indoctrination into the denomination.
Now lets examine both situations very carefully because if you look they have some very common threads.
The biggest of those threads is deception. Yes deception! If your message is so shaky that the only way to reach people is to deceive them and lie to them then I would submit to you that there is a distinct problem with your religion and message.
Tell me, those of you Christians , who believe in the "great commission", where were you ever told that it was OK to lie and deceive to get your message out? Is there some commandment that I some how have missed that allows for deception when speaking to people about G-D and your beliefs? Perhaps you need to go back and read a bit of history, the greatest deceivers were those in leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, they have never cared to much as to how they got their message across or what they had to incorporate into it to make it palatable to the people. Is this how Christianity works? Is your message based in nothing but lies? I admit that I don't believe in Christianity and Jesus, but even I have a hard time understanding how a person can justify deception like that even if it is well intentioned. Does the ends justify the means? Shall we go further then that and re authorize torture as a way to make people believe the way that you do?
One of the things that I have appreciated about the Jewish people that I have gotten to know and converse with, is that none of them have tried to lie to me to tell me that I must become a Jew in order to be saved and to serve G-D. In fact most of the people that I have talked to have gone out of their way to point out just how difficult it can be and also to point out that their isn't a command saying that I must convert. Wow, imagine that, honesty. I have learned much from these people with no pressure at all and despite the difficulties it makes me want to convert and quite frankly ,my family and I probably will.
To my Christian friends I say this; If you want to know why people are leaving in droves, it is because on some deeper level they know that they are being deceived and if you want to know why the Jews resist you it is simply because they know beyond a doubt that you are trying to deceive them.
If your faith is based on nothing more then lies and deception you have a serious problem and need to really seek out G-D and learn the truth.
Zech. 8:23 Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying let us go with you for we have heard that G-d is with you.
Words to consider,
Shalom,
Ignacio
Monday, February 8, 2010
So How Did I Get Here...
The question that has come up a few times, has been; How did you get to this point? I looked through some of my former posts and realized that perhaps I didn't explain that part very well, if at all. I told you what I believe but not really how I got to this point. It will require a few minutes of your time for a good explanation, so make some coffee and have a seat and I will explain to you as best as I can.
To understand properly, you have to know a little of my upbringing so that will be my starting point. I was brought up in a religious environment, very conservative in nature and strict. We were a bit different though. We were Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) and as such we were very familiar with the "law" and with keeping the Sabbath. We never kept any of the holy days, but we did eat Kosher. The Law was something that I became very familiar with and in the SDA church, despite what Jesus did, we followed the teachings of the law as well. The SDA church also believed that they were the only true church and that they had all the truth because they also had their own prophetess. The Roman Catholic church, in the late 1800's even backed up some of that claim stating that because the SDA church kept the Sabbath that they were the only Christian church that was truly following the Law. So, needless to say, I knew a bit about the law. We were also taught, and this is true of most Christian denominations, that the Jews were made blind by HaShem so that they wouldn't recognize who Jesus was. There were many other strange things concerning the Day of Atonement that I won't get into here but just keep it in mind that as an SDA raised person I thought that I had a pretty good grasp on the scriptures.
Fast forward some years. I had been in and out of the SDA church for years but finally as I got to be an adult with a wife and children we finally decided to stick with the teachings of the SDA church. G-D had other plans! I reenlisted into the Marine Corp. and my family and I were stationed in NC. It was there that I was asked a question by one of my fellow Marines that started me on this road of questioning and studying. What he asked me wasn't nearly as important as was the fact that I couldn't back up what I had been taught through scripture. In fact the only way that you could believe it was if you ignored the Bible and instead went with what the SDA prophetess said. I was angry. The more I studied the Bible and the doctrines of the SDA church the more I understood that we had been lied to. This caused me to be angry with HaShem and I became an agnostic and started to learn about pagan practices. Almost left my wife and kids as well. I was angry.
Then came 9-11 and the world as we knew it came to an end. I didn't turn back to G-D at that time but I did come to understand just how important my family was to me. January of 2003 found me on board a ship heading for the Persian gulf and it was on that ship that I had, what most Christians would call, my salvation experience. I cried out to G-D that if He was real, then all I wanted Him to do was to touch me, and He did. G-D wrapped His arms around me, like it was a warm blanket and I cried and asked Him to forgive me and He did. Now some of you are going to say to me that "you see Jesus saved you!" And I will admit to thinking that at the time, but here is the real kicker, I hadn't asked Jesus to do anything I had asked G-D. It took me 6 years to realize this but that is what I had done.
I was injured twice while in Iraq and was sent home and discharged. And in the years that I was waiting to be "retired" officially I became an Ordained minister in the General Baptist Church (GB). I had questions even then, especially about keeping Sunday as opposed to Saturday but I kind of figured that eventually I would come to understand. I was a youth Pastor who watched a camp and occasionally filled in for pastors and of course very much involved with the youth and young adults that came to the camp. I thought for sure that, in all ways, we were where we were supposed to be. Again, G-D had other plans.
About 3 years ago a friend of mine started talking about something called Messianic Judaism and just how much this had changed his life. They were keeping the Sabbath and following the Holy days and it really was doing wonders for them spiritually. So my wife and I started to look into it and honestly we couldn't see anything wrong with it. What we were seeing was that this was a movement of both Jews and Gentiles that were keeping the Torah, following Jewish traditions, and still they were Christian in their belief of Jesus, whom they call Yeshua. I have to tell you that the first time we went to a Shabbat service, we couldn't believe how happy everyone was. They were singing and doing Hebraic dance, we were welcomed at the door but almost everyone and we spent the entire day with them celebrating G-D and Shabbat. It was, in all fairness a wonderful experience and it caused me to really start searching the Torah and to try and understand what it was to be Jewish. We spent 2 years studying the Torah and keeping the Holy days and it was also during this time that I discovered that some of my ancestry on both sides of the family were Jews. I am not going to get into how I found that all out because it would take too long and really isn't the point here.
What was interesting though, about this group was that they did not believe in evangelizing anyone but especially not the Jews. The reason for it was simply that they believed that the Jews already had the Torah and G-D so there was no need. During this time though, I started to ask why it is that the Jews couldn't see that Jesus was the Messiah. That question got me started on this journey and has brought me to the conclusion, that the reason that they didn't was because he didn't fulfill the Messianic prophecies. It wasn't that they were blind, but that we are blind.I have listened to many debates between Rabbi's and Christians and the Rabbi's knew the "New Testament" better then the Christians,and the evidence against him being the Messiah or the "son of G-D" was just too compelling to ignore. So I have declared publicly that I don't believe that he was either the Messiah or the son of G-D and that the Jewish people have been right all along. The rest of this is pretty much known to you, if you have been reading this blog.Let me end this by saying, as always, never take my word for anything, go and look for yourself.
The point of this was not to convince you of anything, you will have to decide that for yourself, but to simply give you an idea of the process that got me here.
Next time I write I will start talking about being a Righteous Gentile and what that means and the Noachide laws. What I learn I will simply share.
Shalom,
Ignacio
To understand properly, you have to know a little of my upbringing so that will be my starting point. I was brought up in a religious environment, very conservative in nature and strict. We were a bit different though. We were Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) and as such we were very familiar with the "law" and with keeping the Sabbath. We never kept any of the holy days, but we did eat Kosher. The Law was something that I became very familiar with and in the SDA church, despite what Jesus did, we followed the teachings of the law as well. The SDA church also believed that they were the only true church and that they had all the truth because they also had their own prophetess. The Roman Catholic church, in the late 1800's even backed up some of that claim stating that because the SDA church kept the Sabbath that they were the only Christian church that was truly following the Law. So, needless to say, I knew a bit about the law. We were also taught, and this is true of most Christian denominations, that the Jews were made blind by HaShem so that they wouldn't recognize who Jesus was. There were many other strange things concerning the Day of Atonement that I won't get into here but just keep it in mind that as an SDA raised person I thought that I had a pretty good grasp on the scriptures.
Fast forward some years. I had been in and out of the SDA church for years but finally as I got to be an adult with a wife and children we finally decided to stick with the teachings of the SDA church. G-D had other plans! I reenlisted into the Marine Corp. and my family and I were stationed in NC. It was there that I was asked a question by one of my fellow Marines that started me on this road of questioning and studying. What he asked me wasn't nearly as important as was the fact that I couldn't back up what I had been taught through scripture. In fact the only way that you could believe it was if you ignored the Bible and instead went with what the SDA prophetess said. I was angry. The more I studied the Bible and the doctrines of the SDA church the more I understood that we had been lied to. This caused me to be angry with HaShem and I became an agnostic and started to learn about pagan practices. Almost left my wife and kids as well. I was angry.
Then came 9-11 and the world as we knew it came to an end. I didn't turn back to G-D at that time but I did come to understand just how important my family was to me. January of 2003 found me on board a ship heading for the Persian gulf and it was on that ship that I had, what most Christians would call, my salvation experience. I cried out to G-D that if He was real, then all I wanted Him to do was to touch me, and He did. G-D wrapped His arms around me, like it was a warm blanket and I cried and asked Him to forgive me and He did. Now some of you are going to say to me that "you see Jesus saved you!" And I will admit to thinking that at the time, but here is the real kicker, I hadn't asked Jesus to do anything I had asked G-D. It took me 6 years to realize this but that is what I had done.
I was injured twice while in Iraq and was sent home and discharged. And in the years that I was waiting to be "retired" officially I became an Ordained minister in the General Baptist Church (GB). I had questions even then, especially about keeping Sunday as opposed to Saturday but I kind of figured that eventually I would come to understand. I was a youth Pastor who watched a camp and occasionally filled in for pastors and of course very much involved with the youth and young adults that came to the camp. I thought for sure that, in all ways, we were where we were supposed to be. Again, G-D had other plans.
About 3 years ago a friend of mine started talking about something called Messianic Judaism and just how much this had changed his life. They were keeping the Sabbath and following the Holy days and it really was doing wonders for them spiritually. So my wife and I started to look into it and honestly we couldn't see anything wrong with it. What we were seeing was that this was a movement of both Jews and Gentiles that were keeping the Torah, following Jewish traditions, and still they were Christian in their belief of Jesus, whom they call Yeshua. I have to tell you that the first time we went to a Shabbat service, we couldn't believe how happy everyone was. They were singing and doing Hebraic dance, we were welcomed at the door but almost everyone and we spent the entire day with them celebrating G-D and Shabbat. It was, in all fairness a wonderful experience and it caused me to really start searching the Torah and to try and understand what it was to be Jewish. We spent 2 years studying the Torah and keeping the Holy days and it was also during this time that I discovered that some of my ancestry on both sides of the family were Jews. I am not going to get into how I found that all out because it would take too long and really isn't the point here.
What was interesting though, about this group was that they did not believe in evangelizing anyone but especially not the Jews. The reason for it was simply that they believed that the Jews already had the Torah and G-D so there was no need. During this time though, I started to ask why it is that the Jews couldn't see that Jesus was the Messiah. That question got me started on this journey and has brought me to the conclusion, that the reason that they didn't was because he didn't fulfill the Messianic prophecies. It wasn't that they were blind, but that we are blind.I have listened to many debates between Rabbi's and Christians and the Rabbi's knew the "New Testament" better then the Christians,and the evidence against him being the Messiah or the "son of G-D" was just too compelling to ignore. So I have declared publicly that I don't believe that he was either the Messiah or the son of G-D and that the Jewish people have been right all along. The rest of this is pretty much known to you, if you have been reading this blog.Let me end this by saying, as always, never take my word for anything, go and look for yourself.
The point of this was not to convince you of anything, you will have to decide that for yourself, but to simply give you an idea of the process that got me here.
Next time I write I will start talking about being a Righteous Gentile and what that means and the Noachide laws. What I learn I will simply share.
Shalom,
Ignacio
Thursday, February 4, 2010
A New Direction
It has been almost a month since my last post and while I haven't lacked for things to say, I thought it might be better to just give it a rest and hope that some of you, if there are any left that is, may have decided to examine all that I have written. I don't know if anyone has, simply because I have received only one response and I am not really sure what it had to do with the blog.
So if you are new to this blog or you have stumbled upon it by accident, welcome!
What I will be doing on this blog from this time on is focusing on the things that my family and I are learning as we go down this Hebraic roots road and with the help of some that are better versed then I ,perhaps ,explain some things from Judaism that are misunderstood and also what our role as "Righteous Gentiles" should be as I study the Noachide laws that all of us should be keeping.
To my Jewish friends, feel free to correct me if I am wrong in what I write, I will be more then happy to correct it.
To my Christian friends speak up and have your say and as long as it is civilised we can debate the issues.
To both I will say that the only thing that I will accept though is that which is written in the Bible. I am not interested in what someone who wrote a book about something says. I want to know what YOU have studied and learned and what YOUR opinions are, I will do the same.
Please note I have not said that I am going to prove you wrong or right, I am not interested in converting you to my way of thinking, if you love G-D and serve Him , that is enough for me. At the same time if anyone tries to use this as a way to convert people you will be promptly blocked, no warning no apologies.
So let us begin starting with my next post.
Shalom,
Ignacio
So if you are new to this blog or you have stumbled upon it by accident, welcome!
What I will be doing on this blog from this time on is focusing on the things that my family and I are learning as we go down this Hebraic roots road and with the help of some that are better versed then I ,perhaps ,explain some things from Judaism that are misunderstood and also what our role as "Righteous Gentiles" should be as I study the Noachide laws that all of us should be keeping.
To my Jewish friends, feel free to correct me if I am wrong in what I write, I will be more then happy to correct it.
To my Christian friends speak up and have your say and as long as it is civilised we can debate the issues.
To both I will say that the only thing that I will accept though is that which is written in the Bible. I am not interested in what someone who wrote a book about something says. I want to know what YOU have studied and learned and what YOUR opinions are, I will do the same.
Please note I have not said that I am going to prove you wrong or right, I am not interested in converting you to my way of thinking, if you love G-D and serve Him , that is enough for me. At the same time if anyone tries to use this as a way to convert people you will be promptly blocked, no warning no apologies.
So let us begin starting with my next post.
Shalom,
Ignacio
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