Here’s my response to the Levertoff/Tanya article this blog isn’t accepting to post there:
Marylou,
Your bible (the New Testament and the Christological translation/alteration of the Hebrew scriptures) is riddled with mistakes that are individually beyond the scope of this posting– I do plan to address many of them over time through future contributions to the discourse on this blog site.
But if we focus for a moment on the Jews’ actual original G-d-given Bible, we see that the Bible took the trouble, right after Noah got off the boat, to spell out the differing directions mankind’s generations took. It was Noah who gave birth to your ancestors, and, separately, to the Semitic peoples. G-d’s Bible didn’t devote a whole lot of attention to the descendants of Noah who didn’t arise through Shem, and ultimately down the line through, specifically, Jacob, whom He later named Israel.
I can see how you in your insecurity might be tempted to ascribe the loving attention G-d lavished on the children of Israel to the exclusion of all other peoples as “self-admiration” and “sinful pride”. In the same way, when I kiss one of my children it sometimes happens that another responds by hitting him. Of course, that childless reaction is misplaced. It is G-d Himself who admires and takes pride in the Jews, not the Jews themselves. Remember, the Bible’s author was G-d, not the Jews.
I’m not trying to make you feel low about yourself, as if G-d does not love you. G-d does love you. G-d created you! That in itself is powerful testimony to an affection He has for your that is beyond any human comprehension–more than your mother or your husband could ever hope to love you. And while I wouldn’t advise anyone to violate the Torah and become prideful, since everything comes from G-d, I do think you should honestly bear in mind the unbelievable greatness you represent and the potential you possess as one of G-d’s greatest creations–the human being. That is something you should be feeling great about, and it is only through that good feeling, which the Creator wants you to have, that you can connect with Him and thereby fulfill your purpose in life.
None of this takes away an iota from the reality that G-d Himself did distinguish between Jew and gentile. For example, G-d tasked the prophet Isaiah to record four special songs about His servant, the Jewish people. In those songs, G-d made this statements about His suffering servant:
Is. 41:8–”But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen…”
ibid 43:1–”But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.”
ibid 44:1–”Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen:”
ibid 44:21–”Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.”
ibid 45:4–”For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect…”
ibid 49:3–”Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
Many other examples of G-d’s special relationship with the Jews are evident throughout the Jewish Bible; no other nation enjoys that scriptural recognition. So the question becomes, not does G-d have special admiration and pride in the Jewish people, but why?
Since this is already a lengthy posting, I’m not going to try to slip in an overly simplified answer to that rather important question. What you need to understand in order to maintain your loving relationship with your Maker is that He hasn’t created you to be in a second class. You need to get past the idea that just because G-d wrote and gave the Torah to the Jews means that His not having given it to you signals his displeasure with you. And you need to recognize that, if you perceive the relationship Israel enjoys with G-d to be better than the one you have, then He has left the door open for you to join with them by accepting all of the law, by conversion.
In any event, you need to stop abusing the Jews for acknowledging their status as G-d’s chosen people. If you don’t like that then take it up with their Chooser, not with them.
Lastly, I hope by now you understand that nothing Joseph writes here about the views or activities of mainstream Jews is correct. I think the author of the Tanya would be thrilled and honored to know that a sincere and inquisitive gentile such as yourself took enough of an interest and an initiative on her curiosity about his ideas that she stopped to actually pick up and read the book in correct translation and proper context. But if you insist on judging the author by the warped view of him Joseph here offers you then your much more of a fool than I’ve so far given you credit for being.
dnessim, I didn’t hear any pleas for money… like the annual Jewish appeal that uses paranoia to milk American Jewish dollars.
Perhaps you’d care to listen again and attend to the human rights violations by Yad and other anti-freedom of Jewish religion groups.
On the positive side, I am happy that Yad and similar don’t kill other Jews and Christian Jews and missionary visitors. May they ever be so peaceful like us… and use only words not threats or harrassment.
Ken, you didn’t see any pleas for money by Maoz -Did you watch the same video?
It disturbs me that Calev has linked himself with Maoz. Especially as it was Maoz that are credited with initially promoting disgusting heresies like the Toronto Blessing and related meshigas in Israel. On their list of translated books you can find many of the well known false prophets and wackos that are currently doing the rounds.
“It disturbs me that Calev has linked himself with Maoz. Especially as it was Maoz that are credited with initially promoting disgusting heresies like the Toronto Blessing and related meshigas in Israel. On their list of translated books you can find many of the well known false prophets and wackos that are currently doing the rounds.”
Ok, well in that case from miaow to roar, or rolling on the floor laughing, whichever comes first
From what I understand Maoz has a very strong connection with Latter Rain/Manifested Sons of God teachings, and the influences of William Branham via Gordon Lindsay (father of Shira Sorko Ram). This explains the connections with all that flakey stuff, and the fact that they translate and promote books by Cindy Jacobs, Kenneth Hagin, Dutch Sheets, Mahesh Chavda, Joyce Meyer etc, just to name a few.
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Here’s my response to the Levertoff/Tanya article this blog isn’t accepting to post there:
Marylou,
Your bible (the New Testament and the Christological translation/alteration of the Hebrew scriptures) is riddled with mistakes that are individually beyond the scope of this posting– I do plan to address many of them over time through future contributions to the discourse on this blog site.
But if we focus for a moment on the Jews’ actual original G-d-given Bible, we see that the Bible took the trouble, right after Noah got off the boat, to spell out the differing directions mankind’s generations took. It was Noah who gave birth to your ancestors, and, separately, to the Semitic peoples. G-d’s Bible didn’t devote a whole lot of attention to the descendants of Noah who didn’t arise through Shem, and ultimately down the line through, specifically, Jacob, whom He later named Israel.
I can see how you in your insecurity might be tempted to ascribe the loving attention G-d lavished on the children of Israel to the exclusion of all other peoples as “self-admiration” and “sinful pride”. In the same way, when I kiss one of my children it sometimes happens that another responds by hitting him. Of course, that childless reaction is misplaced. It is G-d Himself who admires and takes pride in the Jews, not the Jews themselves. Remember, the Bible’s author was G-d, not the Jews.
I’m not trying to make you feel low about yourself, as if G-d does not love you. G-d does love you. G-d created you! That in itself is powerful testimony to an affection He has for your that is beyond any human comprehension–more than your mother or your husband could ever hope to love you. And while I wouldn’t advise anyone to violate the Torah and become prideful, since everything comes from G-d, I do think you should honestly bear in mind the unbelievable greatness you represent and the potential you possess as one of G-d’s greatest creations–the human being. That is something you should be feeling great about, and it is only through that good feeling, which the Creator wants you to have, that you can connect with Him and thereby fulfill your purpose in life.
None of this takes away an iota from the reality that G-d Himself did distinguish between Jew and gentile. For example, G-d tasked the prophet Isaiah to record four special songs about His servant, the Jewish people. In those songs, G-d made this statements about His suffering servant:
Is. 41:8–”But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen…”
ibid 43:1–”But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.”
ibid 44:1–”Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen:”
ibid 44:21–”Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.”
ibid 45:4–”For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect…”
ibid 49:3–”Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
Many other examples of G-d’s special relationship with the Jews are evident throughout the Jewish Bible; no other nation enjoys that scriptural recognition. So the question becomes, not does G-d have special admiration and pride in the Jewish people, but why?
Since this is already a lengthy posting, I’m not going to try to slip in an overly simplified answer to that rather important question. What you need to understand in order to maintain your loving relationship with your Maker is that He hasn’t created you to be in a second class. You need to get past the idea that just because G-d wrote and gave the Torah to the Jews means that His not having given it to you signals his displeasure with you. And you need to recognize that, if you perceive the relationship Israel enjoys with G-d to be better than the one you have, then He has left the door open for you to join with them by accepting all of the law, by conversion.
In any event, you need to stop abusing the Jews for acknowledging their status as G-d’s chosen people. If you don’t like that then take it up with their Chooser, not with them.
Lastly, I hope by now you understand that nothing Joseph writes here about the views or activities of mainstream Jews is correct. I think the author of the Tanya would be thrilled and honored to know that a sincere and inquisitive gentile such as yourself took enough of an interest and an initiative on her curiosity about his ideas that she stopped to actually pick up and read the book in correct translation and proper context. But if you insist on judging the author by the warped view of him Joseph here offers you then your much more of a fool than I’ve so far given you credit for being.
Hmmm. Alarmism. It’s all about money. You can count on Maoz ministries for that.
Miaow!
dnessim, I didn’t hear any pleas for money… like the annual Jewish appeal that uses paranoia to milk American Jewish dollars.
Perhaps you’d care to listen again and attend to the human rights violations by Yad and other anti-freedom of Jewish religion groups.
On the positive side, I am happy that Yad and similar don’t kill other Jews and Christian Jews and missionary visitors. May they ever be so peaceful like us… and use only words not threats or harrassment.
Ken, you didn’t see any pleas for money by Maoz -Did you watch the same video?
It disturbs me that Calev has linked himself with Maoz. Especially as it was Maoz that are credited with initially promoting disgusting heresies like the Toronto Blessing and related meshigas in Israel. On their list of translated books you can find many of the well known false prophets and wackos that are currently doing the rounds.
“It disturbs me that Calev has linked himself with Maoz. Especially as it was Maoz that are credited with initially promoting disgusting heresies like the Toronto Blessing and related meshigas in Israel. On their list of translated books you can find many of the well known false prophets and wackos that are currently doing the rounds.”
Ok, well in that case from miaow to roar, or rolling on the floor laughing, whichever comes first
From what I understand Maoz has a very strong connection with Latter Rain/Manifested Sons of God teachings, and the influences of William Branham via Gordon Lindsay (father of Shira Sorko Ram). This explains the connections with all that flakey stuff, and the fact that they translate and promote books by Cindy Jacobs, Kenneth Hagin, Dutch Sheets, Mahesh Chavda, Joyce Meyer etc, just to name a few.