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Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

Get real about faith: God doesn’t want — or need — your virtue signals (Leviticus 6–8; Hosea 6)

We may soothe ourselves by saying, “I’m glad we don’t do that sacrifice stuff anymore!” But at key lesson of the Torah reading צו Tzav (“command,” Lev. 6:8–8:36) is that God is concerned about how we bring our offering of ourselves — who we are on the inside — on top of the instructions for the what and the how of the offerings.

We all need to figure out what our offering to God will be. Will our offerings be of shallow faith, shallow love, shallow actions? Or will our offerings come from a deep faith, deep action, deep love for God?

Categories
Discussions Torah

Grace and response: What ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ are really about (Leviticus 11; 2Samuel 6)

What is holy and not holy? What is clean and not clean? Both are defined by God alone. Heaven sets up appointments for His people to meet with Him and how they are to prepare themselves and show up at the appointed times in the appointed ways.

A key lesson of the Torah reading שמיני Shemini (“eighth,” Leviticus 9–11) is the leaders of the people, such as the priests, kings and nobles are called to a higher standard, because of their higher education and proximity to God than the common people.

It is our duty as those who consider ourselves citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven to know our position and to know and follow the Torah instructions that apply to us.

Categories
Discussions Torah

Leviticus 11: More lessons from food of ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’

Leviticus 11-16 are about how to discern “cleanliness” vs. “uncleanliness.” God is giving us these instructions because He is holy — literally, set apart or distinct — and wants us to be holy, i.e., set apart for God’s purpose. God does not say that we will never be in a situation where we will be exposed to “uncleanliness.” Exposure to “uncleanliness” is a part of being in this world. God is giving us a simple object lesson about how to go from unclean to clean, from unholy to holy.

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Anger Discussions Gossip and Slander Life With God

Lassoing lashon ha-ra (evil tongue): Grappling with gossip and slander in God’s family

We’re taking an excursus from our exploration of Yeshua’s “apocalyptic discourse” in Matthew 24-25, Luke 21 and Mark 13 to explore one of the most pervasive sins among God’s people today. It’s not the Sabbath. It’s not sexual deviance. This is a study about kosher — distinguishing between “clean” and “unclean” — and God’s judgment on the Day of the Lord.

There is a deeper meaning of kosher and what God considers “clean.” Many are very concerned about Moses’ commands about eating kosher, but little concern about Yeshua’s command to speak kosher.

Apostle Ya’akov (James) wrote a lot about the essential matter of keeping control of what comes out of one’s mouth.