Post by Nashdude on May 30, 2008 5:11:33 GMT -8
As you might probably guess from the subject line, I'm a redneck 
This means, among other things, that I have a slightly "off kilter" way of seeing things. I hope it doesn't rub anyone the wrong way.
At the outset, let me say that I still do not use the Hebraic terms, aside from calling Jesus "Yeshua" once in a while to emphasize a point. I use the King James Version, mainly because it is the one that seems to speak the most to me, and also because the Strong's Concordance makes it easier for me to see the actual meaning of the scriptures in their original languages.
Anyway, a little about myself...
It seems as if I've known Jesus all my life. I've always accepted Him as my Savior, but it wasn't until 1998 that I actually accepted Him as my Lord. I didn't realize until that time that the two roles were actually very different, as simple forgiveness for a wrong does not automatically mean that you are now in the right.
My mother christened me Catholic at birth. My father raised me Southern Baptist (in his own somewhat disinterested way). My first wife Tonya was Pentacostal. It is while we were divorced the first time that I truly came to know who Christ is, and who He desires to be in my life. I remarried Tonya both as a response to my love for her, and in response to 1 Corinthians 7:11.
After our second divorce (infidelity on her part), I threw myself into Biblical study, with a heavy bent on End Times Prophecy. It was then that I met my second (current, and FINAL) wife, Mary. She was raised Assembly of God.
All of these situations---to include an interest in science fiction and fantasy, inherited from my Dad---led me to an odd place spiritually. Well, odd as far as I was concerned. No matter how hard I tried, I could not just "follow" a given church. The night before my conversion, I understood almost nothing in the Bible beyond the most basic concepts. The very next morning, there was no spot in the Bible I could turn to that the Lord WASN'T speaking to me about!!! But even after this conversion, I found it difficult to fall in line with denominational church.
So I began to pray and seek the Lord in His Word (James 1:5). If He wasn't going to speak to me through a pastor or a church, I'd find Him where He does His own talking. And I began to grow.
That's not to say that I forsook the assembling of His Body. Far from it. But every word that came to me, I dissected and compared to scripture. It didn't matter who preached it, be it my Dad or Billy Graham or Michael Youssef---their words would be scrutinized. It wasn't until much later that I realized that this is what Paul lauded the Bereans for doing.
From the start, I viewed the Bible differently than my Christian brothers and sisters. Where they saw a division between Old and New Testaments, I saw the scriptures as a single unit. Where they saw Dispensation, I saw a God that never changed one iota, and expected the same thing from me as He did from every other soul that would follow Him from time immemorial. Where they spoke greatly of the difference between Law and Grace, I saw them as a single concept, one being incomplete without the other. Much could be said about Moses and the Law. But what Law did Abraham follow? What Law did Enoch follow? What Law did Adam follow?
This is the kind of thinking that ultimately led me here. I'm fairly well-studied (VERY well-studied, I'd say, in End Times related issues), so I can see how the entire Bible works together. As such, I can see the vital importance of the Law---not as a road TO salvation, but as an example of why we NEED salvation. We obey because of our relationship with God through Christ, NOT in order to establish or maintain that relationship, for our salvation is by faith alone and not of works. But just because I understand this concept does not mean that I know everything there is to know about it.
I wanted to join a community of believers that took a serious look at the Law, and knew how to rightly apply it to salvation by Grace---neither discarding it, nor giving it more honor than it should have, but seeing it as the equal partner of Grace. Lord Willing, I have found that community at Ahavat Elohim
This means, among other things, that I have a slightly "off kilter" way of seeing things. I hope it doesn't rub anyone the wrong way.At the outset, let me say that I still do not use the Hebraic terms, aside from calling Jesus "Yeshua" once in a while to emphasize a point. I use the King James Version, mainly because it is the one that seems to speak the most to me, and also because the Strong's Concordance makes it easier for me to see the actual meaning of the scriptures in their original languages.
Anyway, a little about myself...
It seems as if I've known Jesus all my life. I've always accepted Him as my Savior, but it wasn't until 1998 that I actually accepted Him as my Lord. I didn't realize until that time that the two roles were actually very different, as simple forgiveness for a wrong does not automatically mean that you are now in the right.
My mother christened me Catholic at birth. My father raised me Southern Baptist (in his own somewhat disinterested way). My first wife Tonya was Pentacostal. It is while we were divorced the first time that I truly came to know who Christ is, and who He desires to be in my life. I remarried Tonya both as a response to my love for her, and in response to 1 Corinthians 7:11.
After our second divorce (infidelity on her part), I threw myself into Biblical study, with a heavy bent on End Times Prophecy. It was then that I met my second (current, and FINAL) wife, Mary. She was raised Assembly of God.
All of these situations---to include an interest in science fiction and fantasy, inherited from my Dad---led me to an odd place spiritually. Well, odd as far as I was concerned. No matter how hard I tried, I could not just "follow" a given church. The night before my conversion, I understood almost nothing in the Bible beyond the most basic concepts. The very next morning, there was no spot in the Bible I could turn to that the Lord WASN'T speaking to me about!!! But even after this conversion, I found it difficult to fall in line with denominational church.
So I began to pray and seek the Lord in His Word (James 1:5). If He wasn't going to speak to me through a pastor or a church, I'd find Him where He does His own talking. And I began to grow.
That's not to say that I forsook the assembling of His Body. Far from it. But every word that came to me, I dissected and compared to scripture. It didn't matter who preached it, be it my Dad or Billy Graham or Michael Youssef---their words would be scrutinized. It wasn't until much later that I realized that this is what Paul lauded the Bereans for doing.
From the start, I viewed the Bible differently than my Christian brothers and sisters. Where they saw a division between Old and New Testaments, I saw the scriptures as a single unit. Where they saw Dispensation, I saw a God that never changed one iota, and expected the same thing from me as He did from every other soul that would follow Him from time immemorial. Where they spoke greatly of the difference between Law and Grace, I saw them as a single concept, one being incomplete without the other. Much could be said about Moses and the Law. But what Law did Abraham follow? What Law did Enoch follow? What Law did Adam follow?
This is the kind of thinking that ultimately led me here. I'm fairly well-studied (VERY well-studied, I'd say, in End Times related issues), so I can see how the entire Bible works together. As such, I can see the vital importance of the Law---not as a road TO salvation, but as an example of why we NEED salvation. We obey because of our relationship with God through Christ, NOT in order to establish or maintain that relationship, for our salvation is by faith alone and not of works. But just because I understand this concept does not mean that I know everything there is to know about it.
I wanted to join a community of believers that took a serious look at the Law, and knew how to rightly apply it to salvation by Grace---neither discarding it, nor giving it more honor than it should have, but seeing it as the equal partner of Grace. Lord Willing, I have found that community at Ahavat Elohim
Faith, Jew and Gentile can worship together as one an authentic biblical expression of faith just as recorded in the Book of Acts, now put into practice in the 21st century. 
