RE: [TruthTalk] (Slade) God's Way and Man's Way

[Slade Henson]

I disagree with some of your points, but they are non issues that can inflame and that is not my point nor my style by habit, but there is a point I would like to bring to the forefront. I will quote you and then begin. "I understand that the Jews were given the oracles of God and I value both them and their contribution; Jesus said He was sent to the lost sheep of the 'house of Israel' and they are the ones to whom He went with the message of His Kingdom.  However, the Jews as a nation rejected Him.  The apostles Peter and Paul went to the 'circumcision' first but they had a lot of trouble with riots, insurrections, etc. and by the end of the book of Acts Paul had wiped his hands of them and said he was going to the gentiles who would hear him (see Acts 28:26,27) Paul repeated the prophecy of Isaiah 9:6 to the Jews which Jesus also reminded them of in Matthew 13:14.  As a nation the Jews still do not receive Jesus as their Messiah." The Jewish people did not reject Yeshua as a nation. Here are your texts for today: Luke 23.27; John 19.13 (the Stone Pavement can hold 45 people comfortably, 200 people if they're cramped); Acts 2.41, 6.7, 15.5. (myriads who are zealous)   A Jewish believer in Chicago says that between 25-40% of the Jewish population in the Land believed in Yeshua as the Messiah. If his calculations are correct (I don't know how he came up with them), there was not a national rejection. In my opinion, even if 5-10% believed, it's not a national rejection (cf. Genesis 18:32)   Please remember that the Gospels (with the possible exception of Matthew) were written for a Jewish audience, therefore the words need to be understood within their historical context. While we tend to see the words "Jews" to be an all-encompassing term, it was/is not considered so in the Hebraic mindset.     jt: Not sure about the above - what kind of an offering was it?  There must be the shedding of blood to atone for sin. Vegetables would not be accepted for that.   You are assuming that the sacrifices performed in Genesis 4 are sin sacrifices; we have no evidence to go on. They could have been simple burnt offerings (which the "grain offering" in just one kind). In Leviticus, however, one can use a simple grain offering for a sin offering if one is poor enough (Leviticus 5:11-13). Also, your word "vegetable" is merely "m'peri ha-adamah" (Strong's #6529 and #127) which simply means "fruit of the soil" -- a generic term that can mean anything. I guess you could assume Cain's bringing celery and avocados, but I assume Cain would bring something a bit more appropriate. He's merely the first of many who despoil the gifts we are to give to God by having a rotten attitude. No wonder He hates our sacrifices and feast days! -- slade   P.S. The Torah serves many functions... only one of which is the schoolmaster, which you eluded to.