Torah Observance

Most Christian theologians dismiss the applicability of the Torah for believers whatsoever. This view, of course, is what the book Boundary Stones aims to confront. However, some Christian and Messianic teachers are comfortable with the idea that Jewish believers in Jesus can or should continue with Torah observance, but for Gentiles, it is either not recommended or entirely forbidden. Continue reading...

If you have children, you will identify with this.

Quite often, when I tell my kids to do something, they respond: "WHY?" Now I don't want to stifle their inquisitiveness, but I know that a sincere quest for knowledge is not the motive for their question.

When my four-year-old daughter asks "why" she should go to bed, her aim is to call my judgment into question. She wants me to offer a rationale for my decision so that she can argue with that rationale. Continue reading...

Jesus said that the greatest commandment in the Torah is to love God, citing Deuteronomy 6:4-5.

When you think of love, what first comes to mind? For many people, love is a feeling of affection. The Scriptures tell us to love God with all of our heart, soul, and strength. Does that mean that we are to muster up intense emotions of affection toward God?

Certainly affectionate feelings play into our relationship with God. How can one not feel a sense of affection toward the God that created us and continues to give us life? But we have not met our obligation simply by generating an emotion. Continue reading...

What is faith? To many individuals, faith is the same as belief: a mental agreement that some idea is true. If I have "faith" in God, that means I believe in him. If I have "faith" in Jesus, I am agreeing with the idea that he exists, and possibly other specific things about him. But this concept of faith is much different from the biblical concept.

Faith must be more than merely consent to an idea. After all, Satan believes in God. What, then, must be added to mere belief to rise to the level of faith? Continue reading...

We are members comprising the body of Messiah, correct? A body is made of cells. Each cell has a particular use, a particular function related to the tissue that it forms. Liver cells, for example, perform a function of removing toxins from the body. In addition, every cell has a function of reproducing itself, called mitosis, to enable the tissue to grow and remain healthy.

The commandments in the Torah are our function as members of the body. The great commission (the instruction to raise up many disciples) is our cellular mitosis, our replication. Continue reading...