This writing will be brief (compared to some of my other writings). I simply want to use a few historical and Scriptural facts to make a few points, and primarily to address some false assumptions and false teachings that are going around. If you've been Torah Observant (and been on the Internet) for any length of time, you've no doubt encountered most if not all of these teachings. Sadly, many fall prey to them when they are new to this walk. The feeling that you've been lied to and betrayed by the normative Christian Church for so long has led many to reject any and all orthodoxy. I tend to say, "A little bit of orthodoxy can go a long way." And yet, not everything the Church does or has done is wrong. It is also unfair to speak so monolithically, as if the "Church" were a singular entity, all sharing the same beliefs and practices. One need only a attend an Anglican or Greek Orthodox service and then a non-denominational Charismatic service to understand there are just as many differences between Christian denominations as there are between Torah-keepers and the average evangelical. Not everything they believe is a lie. And many things are merely misconceptions.
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Many times over the last 15 years, I have heard the assertion that the Apostle Paul (Rav. Sha'ul) was not a tent-maker, as most Bibles render it. Rather, he was a tallit-maker. This assertion is even popularized in some Hebrew Roots Bible versions and HR-flavored commentaries. Indeed, so common is the acceptance of this belief, that few even question it. But one should be compelled to ask…why? Why does one need Paul to be a tallit-maker? Does it render him somehow more Jewish? Does it, in some way, make him any more of an Apostle? What do we gain by claiming this understanding? I'll let those questions hang there for a moment, while addressing the issue at hand.
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AuthorJonathan Andrew Brown Archives
July 2022
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