Have Christians turned their ears away from hearing the Torah...?

Question

and substituted their own book instead?

Understand the word "hear" or Shema in Hebrew has the connotation of hear and OBEY. So, if the christians don't obey the Torah, they aren't hearing.

For those christians that say the Torah was never for them as they are gentiles, I can respect that. But it's impossible to be grafted in without accepting the Torah.

I'll put it a little more bluntly. Do christians believe you should observe Shabbat on the 7th day as a day of rest which was an eternal command?

Do christians believe they should observe the festivals which were eternal commands?

Or have they turned away from hearing this sort of thing. Since hearing implies obedience, you should use care in your answer.

"I have not come to replace the law, but to fulfil it"

The verb here which is often translated as fulfill means to DO in today's English.

If you fulfill your obligation to pay taxes, do you have to pay them next year?

Come on christians. I've heard over and over you don't need to follow the Torah. Now, are you saying you do?

Answer 1

Yes, of course they have. Christians choose to believe that the new testament 'fulfills' or 'completes' Judaism. But it's rubbish, because Judaism requires no 'completion'; it's a complete theology in and of itself.

Christians, though, have to find a way to factor Jesus being Jewish into their faith. So they have twisted the facts and now claim that, just before he died, Jesus claimed he was put on earth to 'fulfill' the law, and 'complete' Judaism; and they claim he says that Judaic law can be set aside.

It's nonsense. Jesus lived and died a practising Jew. He never renounced his religion; the scriptures are full of references to him studying and teaching in the temple/synagogue.

So he certainly did not suddenly get up one day and decide that Judaism needed 'fulfilling'!

It was only decades after his death that various people, including the Emperor Constantine, made the decision to elevate Jesus to the status of a deity and messiah.

Paul was the one who developed Christianity - and he never even MET Jesus!!!

But still Christians continue happily pitying Jews and telling us that we 'will' embrace Jesus as messiah, and that if we don't we will end up in 'hell'. It's massively ironic - Jews are the ONLY people now practising the same religion that Jesus followed.

EDIT

Oh, good grief... Apart from xtheurga (I can't access the whole username, for some reason) nobody has addressed the actual question; I'm really not sure they even understand it. We might as well be speaking two different languages.

Answer 2

In a nutshell, yes.

However, keep in mind that the vast majority of Christians are gentiles. I've been told by some of them that they believed Jesus and the New Testament first, and believe the Torah because the former affirmed it. If the New Testament said nothing about the Torah, I doubt some of these Christians would bother with it.

Also keep in mind that Christians think that G-d has nullified the laws of what they call the Old Testament because, according to their doctrine, they were fulfilled in Jesus. They believe that they are part of a "new covenant" and that the "old covenant" does not apply to them.

So yes, Christian doctrine essentially teaches them to turn their ears away.


BTW, Paperback_writer is correct about a lot of what she said, too.


P.S. Christians simply don't interpret "fulfill" the way you suggest above.
And BTW, I agree with you, it's definitely a contradictory position which stems from the way Christianity developed in its early history.

Answer 3

No, as a matter of fact. It's part of the Holy Scripture. We believe the word as do those that practice Judaism.
After that we believe the New Testament and that's why you call us Christians.
We all believe in the God of Abraham,Jews, Muslims and Christians. Somewhere along the line
approximately 2000 years ago we all changed.
(except for Muslims) Their prophet was born considerably later than Jesus but their God is the God of Abraham.
Muhammad born in Mecca ( Makkah), Arabia, on Monday, 12 Rabi' Al-Awal (2 August A.D. 570).
http://www.anwary-islam.com/prophet-story/muh.htm)
The Jews however believe there was a Jesus they just don't believe he was the Messiah. They stop with the old testament.
Amazing how we all believe in the God of Abraham.

Answer 4

The Torah or as Christians call it, the first five books of the Old Testament, have been a part of Christianity from the start.
What are you taking about? We have the New Testament, which Jews don't have because of denial. We learn the Old Testament along with the New testament. Where do you get your goofy info from?

Answer 5

No - the Torah is included in what we call the Old Testament in the Christian Bible.

We haven't turned our ears away - we still believe it is God's word, but we think that it was ultimately pointed to the Messiah, and we believe it has been fulfilled in that Messiah, ie Jesus. It doesn't apply directly to us in the same we as it did to people pre-Jesus, because now the way we relate to God has changed, but that doesn't mean it's not relevant to us. It still tells us a lot about who God is and what we're like as people etc.

Answer 6

Yes, I am of the persuasion that indeed we as Christian should be Torah observant, after all who would keep the times, seasons and celebrations better than God's chosen people.

Answer 7

By our own book I assume you mean the New Testament? Since I am Gentile, was the Mosaic code of the law ever for me? I think you know by now how important the scriptures are to me, I would never ignore God's word. Perhaps I do not understand what you are getting at.

(By the way, when people are asking questions on here about the creation story and Noah's ark, and the nature of God as revealed in them I really wish you would answer sometime, your input would truly be welcome.)

Answer 8

You should read the Gospel. It confirmes the Torah. Jesus said "I have not come to replace thelaw, but to fulfil it."

The Gospel is nothing without the Torah.

Answer 9

That appears to be the case, big time. For example, they are not kosher, they don't celebrate the holidays of the Torah etc.

Answer 10

Jesus spoke to those who thought that they had life in the scriptures and told them that they would not come to him so that they might have life.

The Torah testifies of him.

John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

Do you believe in the Lord who spoke the world into existence and gave us the Law and the Prophets, and who justifies ungodly men by the blood that Jesus Christ shed on Calvary?

edit:

Jesus abolished, in his flesh, the enmity contained in the law, namely that it is a curse upon all who break even one commandment, and by receiving faith and walking by it we are hearing and obeying.