The sin of pretending to be counted as part of God’s own assembly, but without “paying your dues” (your own “half shekel”)

The sin of pretending to be counted as part of God’s own assembly, but without “paying your dues” (your own “half shekel”)

God’s Law states the following: «The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “When you take the sum of the children of Israel according to their numbers, let each one give to the Lord an atonement for his soul when they are counted; then there will be no plague among them when they are counted. This they shall give, everyone who goes through the counting: half a shekel according to the holy shekel. Twenty gerahs equal one shekel; half of [such] a shekel shall be an offering to the Lord”»- Exodus 30: 11-13.
Why was it a sin to count God’s people without each person paying his half shekel? In order to understand the answer, we need to bear in mind that God speaks thru parables, whose purpose is to teach us an important moral lesson. As is written: «… I will give parables through the prophets»- Hosea 12: 10; «And when he [Balaam] looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said, “Amalek was the first of the nations; but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever”»- Numbers 24: 20; «Then I said, “Oh, Lord God, they are saying of me, ‘Isn’t he just composing parables? ’ ”»- Ezekiel 20: 49).
Thus, the rite of paying the half shekel is a parable; one whose aim is to teach us that no individual will be redeemed [and be therefore counted as belonging to God's own people] unless he gives at least a minimal amount of his own money toward the Lord's cause (meaning toward those who, like the Levites, had no means of earning a living). And the same truth is taught in the Christian gospels, were a man receives Jesus, but the latter does not count him as saved until he stands up and decides to give a half of his own to the poor.
As is written: «And Zacchaeus stood forth, and said unto the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor”... Then Jesus said to him, “This day is salvation come unto this house”... »- Luke 19: 8-9. And the same truth is confirmed in the Hebrew Scripture, when it goes on to say: “Happy is one who is considerate of the poor; the Lord will save him in a day of adversity (the day of Judgment)”- Psalm 41: 1.
In short, the half a shekel rite teaches us that there is no such think as “salvation without works”, as he who refuses to have mercy of the needy cannot be counted as part of God’s assembly. In fact that was the very reason why the Ammonites were not allowed to enter into the Lord's assembly. As is written: “An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord…. [Why? ] Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt... ”- Deuteronomy 23: 3-4

Christianity is an awesome religion. The problem with Christianity is that it holds fast to an extremist (“Black and White”) kind of theology; One in which you either have absolute truth (following the New Testament to the letter of the word), or you don’t have truth at all (following anything else); Where you either obey each and every one of God’s 613 Commandments, or you do not obey them at all (as your partial obedience is worthless); a faith in which you either consider Jesus to be the perfect, all powerful, all knowing, all present, and unquestionable Creator, or else a foolish madman who is unworthy of your attention; where your short 70 or 80 years life span of sin and/or obedience are either punished with 1, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 trillion years of torment and suffering, or else are rewarded with 1, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 trillion years of peace and bliss; a theology that will allow any imperfect human father to freely forgive the faults of his penitent children, yet will demand nothing less than blood to be shed for the slightest fault committed against the Heavenly Father [the most merciful of all Parents! ]

Seguir las siete leyes de Noah (Noé ) es extraviado, pues el Creador desea que todos sigan la misma Ley Divina

La Ley de Dios dice que Israel lloró a Moisé s [el padre espiritual de Pueblo de Israel] durante 30 Dí as. Como esta escrito: “Y LLORARON LOS HIJOS DE ISRAEL A MOISÉ S EN LOS CAMPOS DE MOAB TREINTA DÍ AS…”- Deut. 34: 8. Del mismo modo, la Ley ordenaba a Israel dejar que sus CAUTIVAS GENTILES llorasen a sus padres durante 30 dí as. Como esta escrito: “… y se quitará el vestido de su cautiverio, y se quedará en tu casa; Y LLORARÁ A SU PADRE Y A SU MADRE UN MES ENTERO…”- Deut. 21: 13.
¿ Por que menciona la Ley este particular detalle? ¿ Que enseñ anza é tica y moral implica el que Dios desee que los gentiles guarden duelo segun lo revelado en la Ley a los Hebreos? Pues lo que pretende intimar es que, no solamente los Hebreos, sino tambié n los gentiles está n llamados a seguir la Ley de Moisé s [es decir, a vivir segú n las verdades que surgen de lo escrito sobre las dos tablas de piedra]. En otras palabras, Dios espera que tanto Hebreos como gentiles sigan la misma Ley Mosaica.
Y, si aparenta que Dios permite que un gentil siga otra Ley distinta a la de Moisé s [como podrí an ser “la Ley de la gracia de Cristo”, “la Ley Shariah”, o “las siete leyes de Noé ”], es solo porque el Creador es un Dios compasivo, que provee un generoso acomodo a la frá gil y extraviada condició n humana. De este modo, quien sigue una Ley distinta a la de Moisé s, no se encuentra en armoní a con la perfecta voluntad Divina, sino que se refugia en la voluntad permisiva del Creador.
¿ Y de donde sabemos que el Dios de Israel espera que tanto Hebreos como gentiles sigan una la misma Ley? Pues lo sabemos de la Escritura que dice: “UNA MISMA LEY Y UN MISMO DECRETO TENDRÉ IS, VOSOTROS Y EL EXTRANJERO QUE CON VOSOTROS MORA”- Nú meros 15: 16. Y tambien dice en otro lugar: “EL NACIDO ENTRE LOS HIJOS DE ISRAEL, Y EL EXTRANJERO QUE HABITARE ENTRE ELLOS, UNA MISMA LEY TENDRÉ IS…”- Nú meros 15: 29