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Speak truth, even if against yourself!
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Speak truth, even if against yourself!
From whence do we learn that a true Hebrew believer won’t hesitate to speak truth, even if against himself? We learn it from prophet Jonah; who, after acknowledging his own religion (“And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven…”- Jonah 1: 9), went on to say: “… Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you”- Jonah 1: 12.
The bitter moral truth hiding behind Torah’s narrative
God’s Law (or “Torah”) wasn’t intended to be a book of science, nor to be a book of accurate history--- Instead, it’s aim is to be a book of parables and moral paradigms. For example, even though Lot was part of Avraham’s family [a Semite], he was considered to be part of the Hebrew people only while living under Abraham’s shadow (symbol of the moral high ground).
But, after living upon the plain of Sodom (symbol of the moral lowlife), Lot was no longer considered part of the Hebrew people, becoming instead the nations of “Moab and Ammon” (Pagan nations destined to be eternal enemies of the Hebrew People! ). Thus, Torah teaches that he who strives to live a moral life, is counted as part of the Hebrew people. But he who strives to embrace an immoral lifestyle, can’t be counted as part of the Hebrew people [even if, as it happened with Lot, he is an ethnic Semite! ]
Both Hebrew & Christian Scriptures declare the Ten commandments to be God’s genuine religion
According to Reformed Samaritanism, both Hebrew and Christian Scriptures bear witness to the fact that, obedience to the Ten Commandments [as opposed to blind faith on any “Son-of-man” Messiah], is God’s true religion. As is written:
“And He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even the Ten Words [or Commandments]; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone… The end of the matter, all having been heard: fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole man…
And ye shall keep My commandments, and do them: I [who commands you to do so] am the LORD… How long refuse ye to keep My commandments and My Laws? … Keep my commandments and live ”- Deut. 4: 13, Ecclesiastes 12: 13, Leviticus 22: 31, Exodus 16: 28, & Proverbs 7: 2 (JPS, 1917 Edition);
“... but if thou wilt enter into Life [everlasting], keep the [Ten] Commandments... Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself ” (Matthew 19: 17-19, King James Bible)...
“ Put not your [blind] trust in princes, nor in The Son of Man, in whom there is no [everlasting] help… Thus saith the LORD: Cursed is the man that [blindly] trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart [thereby] departeth from the LORD ” (Psalm 146: 3, & Jeremiah 17: 5- Jewish Publication Society, 1917 Edition);
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous ” (1 John 5: 2-10, King James Bible).
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… But, since the former truth could seriously undermine both Jewish, Christian & Muslim establishments, they will all vehemently deny it.
“Just as it happens with most things in life (money, sex, power, intelligence, etc), Religion can be used as a tool: We can choose to use it for evil purposes, or we can choose to use it for godly purposes… Either way, the Holy One will respect our freedom of choice. But beware! Although we are allowed to ignore goodness, we are not allowed to ignore the consequences of ignoring goodness”
Who is a Hebrew believer?
To be a practising Hebrew believer is a little bit like being a mathematician: You need to learn a lot about abstract ideas! In fact, you must be able to deduct (and extrapolate) new truth, starting from already existing facts. And you must be able to do so in an honest, logical, rational, and coherent fashion.
In other words, a real Hebrew believer never utilizes arbitrary ideas, in order to build up his own ideological framework; he never tries to make them stand by means of intimidation; by claiming they are “the politically correct thing to believe”; or that they are backed up by this or that other Hebrew movement (or reputable personality).
And, most definitely, a real Hebrew believer never tries to make his ideas stand by means of the public lynching his his opponent’s reputation. Instead, his ideas stand upon the merits of the moral and rational arguments that gave them birth. This emphasis on moral and rational thinking is what makes Hebrew believer a power house in the fields of physics, engineering, and mathematics.
Consider the following example: the main tenet of ancient Hebrew faith was that existence of only one single God-- the Source and Creator of all other things. The former implies the Creator made light, air, matter, energy, space, time, emotions, ideas, dimensions, laws of physics... in fact, the whole universe! But, since God existed before He began to create the Universe, we must conclude that He is “outside” the Universe (in other words, He is no part of it).
Thus, in a strict literal sense, we can't “see” God; we can't " touch" Him, we can't " hug" Him, " kiss" him, give him something to eat, nor something to drink. But, if this is so, how can we ever fulfill the greatest command ever given by Him-- “to love our God with all our minds, hearts and strength” (Deut. 6: 5)? Well, logic dictates that we can't do it directly. But, if we dig a little deeper, we’ll find out we can do it indirectly, as Scripture teaches man was created in God’s own image (Genesis 1: 27).
Thus, we are forced to conclude that, while God doesn’t need to be loved (as He isn't a man, has no need whatsoever, and isn't even part of the Universe), if He ask us to love Him, it’s only because He's trying to convey the idea that, rather than being optional behaviour, to love our fellow creatures is actually a moral obligation (our Divinely appointed task).
Therefore doing good [living the ethical life embodied in loving our fellow human beings] was the original foundation of the ancient Hebrew faith-- and not the belief on this or that other religious movement or dogma.
And the fact that doing goodness and justice was the Divinely ordained path set forth for all mankind was also revealed to our father Avraham, when God told him the following: «For I have known him, so that he may teach and command his children and the sons of his house after him to keep THE WAY OF THE LORD and TO DO WHAT IS JUST AND RIGHTEOUS, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has promised him»- Genesis 18: 19.
Thus, whenever we do what is just and righteous (treat others with the same consideration we ourselves would like to be treated), we thereby walk in the path of the Lord, and thereby affirm our spiritual connection to Avraham.
And the former all encompassing (or, " results oriented" ) view of the Hebrew faith is the reason why, although much older than it’s monotheistic counterparts, Hebrew Faith has only a handful of sects (by way of comparison, Islam has close to seventy sects, while Christian sects number in the thousands).
In short, from the Scripture's standpoint, a true Hebrew believer is he who can “fix the eyes of his understanding” upon the “head” of the religious issue (in other words, upon the ethical lifestyle that the Creator expects him to embrace), while the non-Hebrew beliver fixes his eyes upon “the tail” of the issue-- in other words, upon the religious “pocket change” of their ethnic, cultural, political, and theological identity [secondary, non ethical, incidental, and inconsequential minutiae].
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