Exploring Biblical Heritages or Blind Faith in Unexamined Beliefs?

The Bible is one of the most important books in the world because people of every nation, people of every color and race, and people that speak thousands of languages read it, believe in it and used it to learn about God and what God wants them to do. But, Bible readers also go to war against other Bible readers. Why?

We call finding an answer to that question -- Exploring Our Biblical Heritages.  It is a science based approach to discovering the histories of the Bible and Bible based institutions. It is the journey described on the above graphic, which introduces people to twelve important factors.

#1. Prioritizing facts before unexamined beliefs.

#2. Incorporating the roles DNA and the brain play in belief systems and human actions.

#3. Learning about the roles three Persian Kings – Cyrus the Great, Darius the Great and Artaxerxes I – played in the creation of Second Temple Judaism [6] (building the Second Temple [#4] and creating the first Torah scroll [#5]).

#7. Translating the Jewish Scriptures from Hebrew into Greek (the Septuagint), which created Hellenistic Judaism and provided future gentile Christians with the Greek Old Testament.

#8. Yeshua, the Jewish Jesus, created a Jewish movement he called “The Kingdom of Heaven.” It was not a new non-Jewish religion.

#9. Roman authorities governed the Jewish homeland, crucified Yeshua, and executed Peter, Paul and Yeshua’s brother Jacob (called James in modern Bibles). A Roman citizen from Tarsus created the movement in which members were first called “Christians.”

#10. Roman Emperors -- specifically Constantine the Great, Flavius Claudius Julianus, Valentinian I and Theodosius the Great -- played major roles in the creation of the Roman Catholic Church and Rabbinic Judaism.

#11. Decisions about which books are in the Christian Bible were made Roman Catholic bishops and councils.

#12. Without the biblical based phrases – “all men are created equal” and “they are endowed by their Creator” – the United States of America as we know it would not exist.

I was an ordained minister and I was unaware of any of the factors above. My professional education taught me how to persuade people to believe my church’s doctrines (listed in our statement of faith) and defend them against people who attacked them.

I believed that people had to believe the right things

to go to Heaven so they would spend eternity with God

instead of spending eternity in Hell with the Devil!

That was my top priority. Today I know when those beliefs originated, who created them, why they were created and how they evolved over the centuries. I also know that simply giving people a new list of “the right things to believe” doesn’t work.

In order to effectively change long-held trusted beliefs

fact based stories about those beliefs get the best results.

Exploring Our Biblical Heritages educational emails are designed to connect readers to those stories, provide additional information and pose questions for explorers to consider and discuss. Thank you for being an explorer and reading this email.

May your explorations make your life safer, more fulfilled and happier.
Jim Myers

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The Jewish Jesus and the Salvation of Gentiles

Did the Jewish Jesus require gentiles to convert to Judaism in order to be saved? That is a question I hear a lot and the answer is “No.” When the Creator created the Heavens and the Earth he also created a kingdom – he did not create a religion.

● The Heavens and the Earth are the Creator’s Temple in the first story in Genesis. (Click here to learn more.)

● The Creator’s Kingdom is a kingdom of creatures “created in his image.” (Click here to learn more.)

The Jewish Jesus was a member of and practiced Late Second Period Temple Judaism. The Jerusalem Temple and the Laws of Moses played major roles in his life. His movement was a Jewish Movement. But his primary message was about the “Kingdom of God (Heaven)” and he preached it to Jewish audiences, but it wasn’t a message that was exclusively for Jews. Pay close attention to his words below:

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him,

then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him.

(Matthew 25:31-32a)

This is the judgment of all of the nations of the earth. Connected to his Kingdom of God message, was an urgent warning that the Great Day of Judgment will come soon. He believed it would happen in his lifetime. The Great Day of Judgment will be a repeat of what happened when God caused the Great Flood – the earth would be cleansed of people that did violent and evil things! For the Jewish Jesus, only those in the Kingdom of God will be saved from the fire that God is going to use to cleanse the earth this time (Malachi 4:1).

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven,
and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble.
And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” says the Lord of hosts.”

God saved Noah and his family because Noah was the only man of integrity -- a tzadiq – that God saw on earth. A tzadiq is a man that does acts of tzedaqah. In English translations, tzadiq is translated as “righteous” and “tzedaqah” is translated as “righteousness,” but the English words do not reflect the Hebrew meanings. I encourage you to incorporate the Hebrew words in your vocabulary. The Jewish Jesus taught that those who did acts of tzadaqah will be the ones that will be saved from the fires – just like Noah was saved from the waters. (Matthew 25:34, 37a).

Then the King will say to those on his right hand

(those who did tzedaqah) “Come, you blessed of my father,

inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

God does not judge the nations of the earth by Jewish laws. He uses the standard that existed long before the Jewish nation existed. It will be the standard the Creator uses to judge his actions -- the TOV Standard:

Acts that are TOV protect and preserve lives,

make lives more functional and increase the quality of life.

Now pay close attention to the type of acts the people had done, which Jesus said would be saved:

They gave food to the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty,

brought a stranger into their homes, gave clothes to the naked,

visited the sick, and went to those in prison.

(Matthew 25:35-36)

They are acts are TOV. They affected lives in good ways – and, interestingly, Jesus was quoting Isaiah (58:6-8):

● Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?

● Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out, when you see the naked cover him, and do not hide from your own flesh?

● Then (after you do the things above) your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, your acts of tzedaqah shall go before you; the glory of Yahweh shall gather you.

Tzedaqah was one of the most important words in the Jewish vocabulary in the Late Second Temple Period – and it still is in Rabbinic Judaism.

● Tzedaqah is greater than all sacrifices.

● Tzedaqah hastens the redemption.

● Tzedaquah atones for sins.

● Tzedaqah saves one from death.

The view of the Kingdom of God (Heaven) the Jewish Jesus taught was not the only view that existed. Some groups taught that the Kingdom was only for Jews, others taught the Kingdom was only for Jews that followed their interpretations of the Laws of Moses, still others taught the Kingdom was for Jews and Gentiles that did tzedaqah – and there were other Jewish views too.

But there is one thing that no Jewish group taught, including the Jewish Jesus and even the Roman Catholic Church:

The salvation of individuals.

You can credit Martin Luther with the creation of individual salvation. In the Jewish Scriptures and the teachings of the Jewish Jesus – salvation is a group thing. When Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church -- he lost the only way of salvation. Luther had to come up with “a new way to be saved” – and he did it!

No Christian group before the 16^th century taught that belief!

How important is that information? We believe it should be of great interest to any Christian and that is one of the reasons we Explore Our Biblical Heritages. We want to identify the origins of our beliefs!  Please share and discuss this with others. Thank you for reading this.

May your life be blessed with an abundance of TOV,
Jim Myers

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Creating a Vision for Good and a Good Government

The powers of mind, spirit, and body with which we have been created, and which we use in religion and politics, belong to us simply because of who we are. Simply by coming into being as a human we have them. We have the right to keep these powers permanently – that’s what the words “endowed by the Creator” mean in the Declaration of Independence.

Any effort to take these powers away from someone

is an effort to rob him of his fundamental human property.

This leads us to the two of most challenging questions Americans have ever faced.

1. How is it that we come into being as humans in the first place?

2. And how is it that we come not merely to have these powers of mind, spirit, and body but also to have a right to them?

In the Declaration of Independence these questions, in turn, lead us straight back to the Creator.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights . . . That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men . . . .”

The answers to the questions above are the same in the Declaration of Independence – “The Creator.” Science provides two answers – DNA and governments. Having “a right to them” and actually “having them” are two very different things. According to the Declaration of Independence – “governments are instituted among men to secure rights.” Science agrees with that answer.

In order for a government to be established by men, they must share a common vision about two things -- the kind of government they want and the definition of “good.” Below is the kind of government the writers of the Declaration of Independence had in mind:

1. A government that pursues the common good.

2. A government that cultivates and protects the rule of law.

3. A government that protects the sovereignty of the people.

4. A government that encourages material prosperity and growth.

5. A government that provides access to justice, security, and peace for the citizens.

If you read my email, The Creator’s Vision and Values for Humanity, you probably noticed similarities between the words of Genesis 1 and those of the Declaration of Independence. Both visions rest upon the meaning of one word – good. That is one of the most important words in English, as are its equivalents in other languages.

The Hebrew word TOV is the word translated “good” in Genesis.

Actions that protect and preserve lives, make lives more functional

and increase the quality of life are TOV – “good for life!”

We created the TOV Center to promote TOV as a universal standard for defining good and measuring human actions. I encourage you to adopt and incorporate the TOV Standard in your life and your decisions.

Thank you for reading this. Please share and discuss it with others.

May your life be blessed with an abundance of TOV,
Jim Myers

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SOURCE:

● Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality by Danielle Allen © 2014l Liveright Publishing Corporation, New York, NY; pp. 174, 247.

What Have You Been Taught that God Wants You To Do?

In Christianity and Judaism, the answer to that question is based on which institution you belonged to or identify with. However, historically, the answers of Christian and Jewish institutions fall into two groups and they reflect how members of the religion describe themselves. Since Judaism has been around much longer than Christianity and Yeshua, the Jewish Jesus was “Jewish,” I will begin with Judaism.

Jewish groups describe people who are members of the group as “observant” or “non-observant.” Observant Jews follow the laws in the Torah, as per the explanations and instructions of the Talmud. “Talmud” is the generic term for a large collection of documents that comment and expand upon the Mishnah (Oral the Law), which was written down around 200 CE. Today there are two Talmuds. The Talmud used by observant Jews is the Babylonian Talmud, which was completed around 500 CE. “Non-observant” refers to Jews who are more secular. People who are not Jewish are called “Gentiles.”

Christian groups generally describe people as “believers” or “unbelievers.” “Believers” are people who “believe the right things.” “Unbelievers” are people who “believe the wrong things.” “Right beliefs” are determined by Christian institutions or individuals who “self-identify as Christian.”

The bottom line is that Judaism is about what people do

and Christianity is about what people believe.

   

This creates some very confusing situations:

Jews that are atheists keeping Jewish Laws and

Christians that are believers not doing what Jesus taught.

During the time of Yeshua, the Jewish Jesus, what Jewish people viewed as “observant” was determined by different sects – Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Yeshua Movement -- and the Sanhedrin (highest court of the land). Yeshua called his movement the “Kingdom of Heaven” and membership was based on what people did – not what they believed. Interestingly, the Jewish Jesus, observant Jews of his period and observant Jews today all agree on pikuach nefesh:

The principle in Jewish law that

the preservation of human life overrides virtually any other religious rule.

But today there are thousands of Christian groups and denominations with belief systems that are completely disconnected from human actions. Many believe they have their “ticket to heaven” regardless of what they do or how they treat other people. In my opinion, the primary question for Christians today is:

Should Christians today do what Yeshua taught or ignore him

and believe things people who lived centuries later said they should believe?

The answer to that question plays a big role in how Christians respond to bad things done to other people and themselves. Thank you for reading this. Please share and discuss it with others.

May your life be blessed with an abundance of TOV,
Jim Myers

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