The Lord just gave me a sudden insight from my youth. As a child I wanted to be a Jew instead of a Catholic, so I could be an inheritor of the promises to Abraham and to Israel. I had a child's carnal mind that got in the way of my understanding and no spiritual life at all. I never knew what to say in a confessional because I had no awareness of my own sin. The "sacraments " failed me, because they were unreal. The word is real. Jesus Christ is real, alive, returning soon, and doesn't live in a small golden box. My surviving and unbelieving brother tipped me off a long time ago to what really bothered him about our "religion. " It was about the whole concept of a chosen people (the catholic conundrum apparently). He even married a Jewish girl as his first wife, so his kids are of "the chosen people."
He divorced his first wife and married a Catholic girl, but only professes a belief in Taoism (If you can't be Jewish, you might as well believe in something that doesn't involve judgment for sin, especially when you stand condemned by the law.) He would never admit this stuff and gets extremely angry and defensive when ever I discuss my faith with him, but you really can't escape the conviction of sin, even when you openly reject the scripture. Someone just misapplied Romans chapter 2 while trying to make the point that we can receive the circumcision of the Spirit and be Jews inwardly. Problem is that our goal was not, is not, and never will be to become Jews. The Israel of God is one of faith, not one of blood, but Israel wasn't a Jew. The kingdom of Solomon's son, Rehoboam, was not Israel after the rebellion of the Northern tribes, but was only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. It took the name of Judah, because Judah held the scepter, Rehoboam was the grandson of king David, with the promise of a kingdom which would not end. Israel was eventually judged by God and removed into captivity. Judah likewise was judged and removed to Babylon. Only a poor remnant was left behind. However, the Jews, along with their levites and priests (who were spread through the land of Israel without inheritance but lived in the cities and by the tithe) were allowed to return to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity. The word Jew is derived from Judah, because only the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and their levites, persisted in the land until the coming of the Messiah.
Jesus was born a Jew and lived under the law as a Jew, but God could've chosen any nation to be chosen for His Revelation. Abraham was born Abram and came from Ur of the Caldees, a place with many gods and forms of idolatry, but He heard God and believed. It took him a long time to get where he was going. He took a lot of detours on the way, did a lot of lying and basically gave his wife away a few times to protect his own skin out of fear of the kings in those lands in which he journeyed, yet God accounted him as righteous. The fact that he eventually did what God told him to do justified his faith to all who saw him receive God's promises, but he doubted God enough to take Sarah's handmaiden to produce a son in his old age, rather than wait for Sarah's womb to open (it was reasonable doubt in consideration of their advanced age). He didn't have any bible as a rule book to follow, but believed God and eventually did what He was told to do. His faith grew strong enough to be willing to offer up his own son as a burnt offering during that terrible test of his faith, but his confidence was in God's promises, even to the necessity of raising the dead in order to keep them.
He divorced his first wife and married a Catholic girl, but only professes a belief in Taoism (If you can't be Jewish, you might as well believe in something that doesn't involve judgment for sin, especially when you stand condemned by the law.) He would never admit this stuff and gets extremely angry and defensive when ever I discuss my faith with him, but you really can't escape the conviction of sin, even when you openly reject the scripture. Someone just misapplied Romans chapter 2 while trying to make the point that we can receive the circumcision of the Spirit and be Jews inwardly. Problem is that our goal was not, is not, and never will be to become Jews. The Israel of God is one of faith, not one of blood, but Israel wasn't a Jew. The kingdom of Solomon's son, Rehoboam, was not Israel after the rebellion of the Northern tribes, but was only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. It took the name of Judah, because Judah held the scepter, Rehoboam was the grandson of king David, with the promise of a kingdom which would not end. Israel was eventually judged by God and removed into captivity. Judah likewise was judged and removed to Babylon. Only a poor remnant was left behind. However, the Jews, along with their levites and priests (who were spread through the land of Israel without inheritance but lived in the cities and by the tithe) were allowed to return to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity. The word Jew is derived from Judah, because only the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and their levites, persisted in the land until the coming of the Messiah.
Jesus was born a Jew and lived under the law as a Jew, but God could've chosen any nation to be chosen for His Revelation. Abraham was born Abram and came from Ur of the Caldees, a place with many gods and forms of idolatry, but He heard God and believed. It took him a long time to get where he was going. He took a lot of detours on the way, did a lot of lying and basically gave his wife away a few times to protect his own skin out of fear of the kings in those lands in which he journeyed, yet God accounted him as righteous. The fact that he eventually did what God told him to do justified his faith to all who saw him receive God's promises, but he doubted God enough to take Sarah's handmaiden to produce a son in his old age, rather than wait for Sarah's womb to open (it was reasonable doubt in consideration of their advanced age). He didn't have any bible as a rule book to follow, but believed God and eventually did what He was told to do. His faith grew strong enough to be willing to offer up his own son as a burnt offering during that terrible test of his faith, but his confidence was in God's promises, even to the necessity of raising the dead in order to keep them.
