RE: [TruthTalk] The Outside of the Cup

[ShieldsFamily]

Thanks, Jeff, for the good word. Iz        John, et al, It looks as though I accomplished what I was attempting. And believe me folks it was almost as hard to write in the manner of the Greek texts as it was for many of you to read. I must confess I enjoyed this exercise though. Some of you may have gotten frustrated and began to ignore my posts, be that as it may. My purpose was to point out how difficult the translators job is and how easy it is to miss something or mistranslate it. This is the root of disagreements and misunderstandings I have seen on TT regarding what scripture says. I'm sorry that I do not remember the subject line that started this, but it had to do with someone misunderstanding Matthew 22:36-40, Mat 22:36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Mat 22:37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' Mat 22:38 This is the first and greatest commandment. Mat 22:39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Mat 22:40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."   I'm saddened to see that many people automatically drop verse 40 in order to justify the church's rejection of Torah. If one truely reads Yeshua's words I fail to see how they can reject Torah and claim that there are only 2 commandments.  You see here that Torah and the Prophets are BASED upon these two. NOT replaced by theses two commandments. I am going to quote for you part of the introduction to  The Gospel of Moses by Samuel J. Schultz, Professor Emeritus,and Chairman of Biblical Studies at Wheaton College and Graduate School,           "Is it possible to express the essence of the Bible in a few sentances or a short paragraph? From a dialogue between Jesus and the foremost learned leaders in Israel comes the most concise summary of the law and the prophets (the Old Testament) in two brief statements:                                                         "Love God with all your heart                                                           Love your neighbor as yourself."     According to Jesus this epitomization not only expresses the essence of the written Bible available in His times but also stated the minimum requirement for any person who was concerned about life after death. Jesus answered the inquiring scribe, "Do this and you shall have eternal life." [jeff here inserts: regarding Gamaliel I belive he will be in heaven with us and look forward to picking his brain for all its worth. Did Yeshua say that this scribe had to ask him (into his heart) in order to be saved? NO. I think some of the criteria the church uses to judge whether a person is saved or not is arbitrary, and non-sense. I prefer Yeshua's example over the churches as I consider it to be much more real than the church's dogmas.]     This summary provides an integrating core for understanding the Old Testament as a record of the God-man relationship that comes to a climax in Jesus Christ."         Some of you reject, some accept, some are curious about Torah. Ask the source of Torah, Yeshua! He tells us how to live in the Newer Testament Gospel records.We just have to honestly read ALL His words, not just the easy parts and toss away the difficult sayings. Everything Yeshua says and does is reflected in Torah, our guide to a right relationship with HIM. All the while realizing that the existing earliest texts and translations contain room for error and misinterpretation. Thanks to Slade for his interpreting a small bit if Izzy's comments to me in just sucha fashion as to demonstrate how easily misinterpretation can happen. And thanks to Izzy for unwittingly stepping up to the plate and accidently mispelling a couple of words that made Slades job even easier!     My friends, simple faith is wonderful, but God has so much more for us when we understand why he says to do this and not do that. We should study and not allow the corrupting of scripture to rob us of the blessings we have been promised. When we think we understand a passage, then its time to get deeper, and see if that is what is really being said. If the "church and christian theologians" all agree I suggest studying the original texts for clues that show us dogmas and omisions to the truth. Hey, throw your questions to this forum, I'm sure we can figure out the meaning and proper response better than some of churchianity's current leading commentators. I've seen it right here! Love ya all for putting up with my experiment, jeff