If You Were A Jew, What Kind Would You Be?

1. Joshua Welch 2012

2. If You Were A Jew, What Kind Would You Be?

3. Five Possibilities… Joshua Welch 2012

4. Questions… • 1. • A. Are you very devoted to keeping religious holidays and traditions—Christmas, Lent, Easter? • B. Would you trust your pastor’s word on a subject without reading the Bible to determine the answer yourself? • C. Are you more likely to read a book about the Bible rather than the Bible itself? • D. Does your family’s history at your church play a significant role in why you worship and attend there? Joshua Welch 2012

5. Questions… • 2. • A. Do you find yourself doubting whether or not all of the Bible is truly inspired of God? • B. Are you more likely to believe in the theory of evolution or theistic evolution rather than Bible creation? • C. Do Bible teachings about prophecy, miracles and hell seem unfathomable to you? • D. Do you place a high premium on the religious, formal education of your “pastor/preacher, etc.?” • E. Do you attend a popular church because of the ability to make business/financial connections with others? • F. Do you feel the best churches for your family are the ones with the most entertainment/recreational resources? Joshua Welch 2012

6. Questions… • 3. • A. Do you feel as though individuals should openly rebel against unjust governments/authorities? • B. Do you look forward to Jesus coming back to earth to establish an earthly government/kingdom? • C. Do you believe a literal battle of Armageddon will be fought in a major conflict of good vs. evil? • D. Does the apathy of some religious groups and Christians bother and anger you? • E. Do you applaud religious leaders who are purposefully arrested for the sake of publicity? • F. Do others avoid talking to you about religious subjects because you come across as confrontational and militant? Joshua Welch 2012

7. Questions… • 4. • A. Are you extremely disappointed and consumed by the moral decay of our country/culture? • B. Do you feel intimidated by the immoral majority to the point you are afraid to speak? • C. Do you find yourself withdrawing from the public to the point you are around no one but Christians? • D. Are you tempted to “look down” on parents who allow their children to go to public schools rather than home school? • E. Do you have a pessimistic attitude toward those from sinful backgrounds as if they are incapable of change? Joshua Welch 2012

8. Questions… • 5. • A. Do you think the church should be more tolerant of immorality since “nobody’s perfect?” • B. Do you feel Christians are too strict on issues like drinking, immodesty and divorce? • C. Do you think the church should just “agree to disagree” with other denominations without open discussion? • D. Would you consider altering your religious beliefs if they endangered your political or financial goals? • E. Are you open to various world religions since they are just “different paths to the same goal?” • F. Do you catch yourself thinking or saying “I hope nobody from church finds out I’m doing this”? Joshua Welch 2012

9. Questions… • 6. • Do you reject binding religious holidays or traditions (despite their popularity) if they are not derived from the Bible? • Do you believe in all of the Bible, even the supernatural, despite the opinions of liberal academia and skeptics? • Do you believe in trying to change the world by persuasion and example rather than by force or threat? • Are you willing to teach the gospel to anyone regardless of their background, upbringing or current beliefs? • Do you live a life of moral purity no matter how “radical” others might view your moral stance and are you willing to expose hypocrisy rather than turn a blind eye to it? Joshua Welch 2012

10. Your Jewish Party Profile • Smith’s Bible Dictionary says of the Pharisees, • “The fundamental principle of all of the Pharisees…is that, by the side of the written law…there was on oral law to complete, and to explain the written law…It is a digest of the Jewish traditions…it came at length to be esteemed far above the sacred text.” • “The Pharisees, at an early day, secured the popular favor, and thereby, acquired considerable political influence.” • “One of the fundamental doctrines of the Pharisees was a belief in a future state. They appear to have believed in a resurrection…” Joshua Welch 2012

11. Your Jewish Party Profile • The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says of the Sadducees, • “The most prominent doctrine of the Sadducees was the denial of the immortality of the soul and of the resurrection of the body…From Acts (Act_23:8) we learn that they believed in neither “angel or spirit.” Josephus distinctly asserts (Ant., XVIII, i, 4) that the Sadducees believe that the soul dies with the body. They deny, he says, divine providence (BJ, II, viii, 14). • “The Fathers, Hippolytus, Origen and Jerome, credit the Sadducees with regarding the Pentateuch as alone canonical…” Joshua Welch 2012

12. Your Jewish Party Profile • The ISBE says of the “Zealots,” • “From the time of the Maccabees there existed among the Jews a party who professed great zeal for the observance of the “law.” According to Josephus (BJ, IV, iii, 9; v, 1; VII, viii, 1) they resorted to violence and assassination in their hatred of the foreigner... It is not improbable that the “Assassins” (see ASSASSINS) of Act_21:38 were identical, or at least closely associated, with this body of “Zealots”…” Joshua Welch 2012

13. Your Jewish Party Profile Joshua Welch 2012

14. Your Jewish Party Profile • Philo writes of the Essenes, • “There is a portion of that people called Essenes - over four thousand in my opinion. They are above all servants of God. They do not sacrifice animals but study to preserve the sanctity of life. They live in villages, avoiding all cities on account of the lawlessness of those that inhabit them. Some of these men cultivate the soil, others live by peaceful arts and so benefit themselves and all their neighbors. They do not lay up treasures of gold or silver for themselves, judging contentment and frugality the great riches” (Quid Omnis Probus Liber). Joshua Welch 2012

15. Your Jewish Party Profile Joshua Welch 2012

16. Herodians • “A Jewish political party who sympathized with (Mar_3:6; Mar_12:13; Mat_22:16; Luk_20:20) the Herodian rulers in their general policy of government, and in the social customs which they introduced from Rome. They were at one with the Sadducees in holding the duty of submission to Rome, and of supporting the Herods on the throne. (Compare Mar_8:15; Mat_16:6.)” (Easton’s Bible Dictionary). Joshua Welch 2012

17. If You Chose # 6… Joshua Welch 2012

18. Judaism in Its Purest Form! Joshua Welch 2012

19. The Implications • You cannot truly follow Christ if you… • are equally concerned with traditions Christ or His apostles never bound on men (Matthew 18:18). • do not believe in the testimony concerning Christ’s virgin birth, miracles or resurrection (John 20:30-31). • are most interested in the business and entertainment offerings of your church than its spiritual teaching (Matthew 21:12-13). • zeal causes you to force your religion upon others rather than reason with them (Matthew 11:28-30). • hidefrom others Christ came to save (Matthew 5:14-16). • live a life of hypocritical compromise (Matthew 6:24). Joshua Welch 2012

20. “And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch” (Acts 11:26). Joshua Welch 2012