Backpedal

For a long time, I’ve treated this blog (and Facebook) more as a journal than a social media platform. I’ve bared it all on more than one occasion and received a fair share of questions and criticism, as well as plenty of affirmation and attaboys also. This is not a good thing, because in doing so, I’ve made myself look stupid a few times. This, in turn, hurts my credibility and worse, sometimes the name of my Father. This is my recanting of something I’ve said. 

Over the past couple of years, I have begun to study the Scriptures in a way I never had before. I have grown weary and discouraged by “churchianity,” a term I use to describe following the crowd in serving tradition in the name of Christ. Mind this, it is different than a cult or false religion in that many Christians follow Christ in the only way they know how, and thus worship the Messiah, albeit in the framework of tradition. Churchianity values mode and method, pomp and program, and music and money over deep teaching of the Scriptures. I’m not indicting all churches, but most. And part of that I understand: tradition provides familiarity, continuity, and order to the service and that serves to prevent chaos. However, it also can prevent deeper understanding of Scriptures. Getting locked into a belief system because someone misinterpreted a passage 141 years ago, but it made sense to people who never dug deeper, and now it’s been regurgitated a million times until it is church creed or doctrine, who is going to question it?

I digress on that point, because this is about me. 

In my search to better understand the Scriptures and thus be more pleasing to my Adonai, I made an error. I found many passages in both “Old” and “New” Testaments that revealed shortcomings in churchianity. However, my desire to be consistent led me to also conclude that all of the Scripture was intended for all men in all eras. One example is the dietary commandments in Leviticus. To be clear, Elohim declared pork flesh to be an abomination, and He never clearly rescinded that statement. However, it appears that all of those who emphatically chided me were partially correct in that it was a restriction for the Hebrews only, of which company I am not. The argument can still be made that we are the spiritual descendants of Abraham, thus still subject to what he was, but this is one of the side issues that is dividing people and causing them to fall out of fellowship with other believers. So let me say this: through more learning and council, I have slightly changed my position in that I still don’t eat pork because it’s a disgusting animal that Elohim doesn’t want us to eat, but it is not a COMMANDMENT for anyone living post-70 CE. 

The Sabbath day is another position I have argued strongly for. Although I do believe Elohim, the Almighty creator and Adonai of the Earth desires us to rest and set aside time to worship Him, He is not concerned with the name or position of the day itself. I am reserving this space to say I very well may be wrong here. Keeping the Sabbath is echoed over and over and over throughout the entire canon so I don’t believe it’s a non-issue, but I know He is more concerned with the “thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). However, if this be true, Sunday is no more special than Saturday (Sabbath). It is simply the day we TRADITIONALLY set aside for worship. Note there is far more Scriptural precedent for Sabbath than Sunday.

I’ve said all this for one reason: I do not want to be, or perceived to be, a hypocrite. Worse, I don’t want to be inconsistent with Scripture. If I’ve said or done something in error, I hope to be able to always admit just as publicly as I did when I said or did it. 

As I continue to search and study as the Bereans (Acts 17:11), I do plan to post my studies, but not before I have fully researched them. And as always, I will be willing to stand corrected if I am found to be in error.