You’ve left christianity but you’re still a christian?

There is a teaching by the Jews. Shemot (Exodus) 22:20 states the following.

You shall not mistreat the sojourner …

The word “sojourner” in this verse is understood by many Jews to refer to someone, a Gentile, who has left his home country to reside permanently amongst the Jews, this time becoming one.

One of the teachings that come from this is that this naturalised Jew, permanent sojourner, should not be reminded of his past by his now fellow Jews. As evidence of this teaching, here’s a quote.

So now, the language of the Talmud makes sense: It means, “A [sojourner] who comes to live amongst you.” This is who he always was—always someone who did not fit in. He did not fit into the place from whence he comes, and now he comes from there to fit in among us. Eventually, he will be absorbed and become completely one of us—for, like himself, we are the people that never fit in amongst the nations. Perhaps it is for this that we are enjoined repeatedly not to remind the [sojourner] of his past and to accept him with no distinctions. For he was truly always one of us. (Is a Convert Surrendering His True Self? By Tzvi Freeman, found at https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/837560/jewish/Is-a-Convert-Surrendering-His-True-Self.htm)

It must be nice for that type of sojourner to get that sort of legal protection from God, that the people around him be enjoined not to keep ribbing him about his past.

For many, leaving christianity is not an easy thing. It entails sacrifice, cutting off from something that was a part of you. I left it a long time ago, but the consequences still impact me today. Shortly after I left, when I didn’t know about the seven laws, but was just … I don’t know what, I married my wife who remains a devoted christian to this very day. She displayed moral characteristics that I saw as becoming for a companion, and there was no one like me in my vicinity. But as I know why I left christianity, the people around me had no means of getting me back. I left because I read the Jewish Bible, and I studied all the so-called “messianic prophecies” (translate as “anything similar to Jesus) and found Jesus was nowhere there. No christian in all my days has ever had the biblical literacy to bring me back. You know why? I realise now. Christianity, following Jesus as messiah, has absolutely nothing to do with literacy in the Jewish Bible.

I won’t go into detail here.

So I left christianity over a decade and a half ago. So you’d think it would be the christians reminding me of my past, right?

I’ve found that there are those amongst the Torah-lovers, amongst the good people, who would remind me of my past, no, make an chain-like tether between me and my christian past as if it’s still with me. And why? I’ve written whole webpages going thru every single “messianic prophecy” showing the Jesus claim is false. I spent hours creating a video series on the same topic. I’ve written a book and Kindle ebook on going through every time Paul of Tarsus quotes or refers to the Jewish Bible, showing how he distorts it most of the time. I still write on a blog about leaving Jesus which would make it seem like I’ve left Jesus. Despite my wife’s desire, my family’s desire, the desire of others, I have not bowed the knee to Jesus and I continue to reject him today, willingly, fervently.

Yet, despite all this, if I do something wrong, unacceptable to some, either I or my action of my attitude is labelled “christian.”

Again, it’s nice for the Jewish sojourner to have God’s legal and moral protection against being reminded of, being linked to, his past, because, as a Gentile amongst other Gentiles and Jews, even those who love Torah, a person who has left christianity, whether it be yesterday or decades ago has no such protection, no such moral teaching. Apparently.

I speak for myself and no one else because who am I to speak for others who have said nothing to me. But I believe there is a principle here.

So what crime, what immorality, do I commit for me to be re-associated with the faith I see as dung? (those who remember Paul the conman from Tarsus may see my play on words there) Did I mention Jesus with respect? No. Did I talk about returning? No. Did I go and tarry for the “holy spirit” to get the gift of unknown tongues (babbling nonsense)? No! Did I adopt the central doctrines of christianity? Not at all!

Aside: Isn’t that so amazing? Do you see the link? The Pauline claim of speaking in tongues and Babel, the confusion of languages from Bereshis (Genesis) chapter 11?

Anyway, carrying on.

So I’ve made no gesture at all towards Jesus or christianity, nothing of the sort. But what did I do to be linked again with the dung-faith? I disagreed with a rabbi.

That’s it.

What makes me a “christian”, what makes my attitude “christian”, my action “christian,” is that I, as an uncouth and, in relation to a rabbi, stupid Gentile, did not defer to the opinion of that rabbi.

I recently learned that if I do not listen to the Jews, let myself be taught by them, obey them essentially, then I have not rejected idolatry. This view is praised by Jew and Gentile alike. Apparently, the overt sign, no, the necessary sign, that I’ve left idolatry is clinging to a Jew and learn from him, leaving my views and opinions aside.

You get that, right? Leaving christianity, forsaking Jesus, is not actually forsaking Jesus. It’s obeying a rabbi. Leaving idolatry is not refraining from bowing to or being reverential to idols. It’s not turning your back on it all and seeing it as vile and base. No, it’s finding a rabbi and switching your mind only to his channel.

Of course, he is God’s channel, the Torah channel. Right?

Have words lost their meaning? And isn’t wisdom to say things as they are, to call them by their real names? It seems like, to some, you are either a christian or a Jew-follower, an idolator or a student of a rabbi. If you aren’t following “Israel,” … well you can’t just be a good person, can you?

You know what? Since personal opinions are not respected without rabbinical backing, here’s what I’ll do. I’ll do exactly that. What I say next will be my own view with no rabbinical endorsement. Let me add to the “confusion.”

I think words have meanings for a reason. There’s no point in having words if you can redefine them to include things and people that don’t fit the original definition. Again, it’s a bit like calling a biological man “a woman.” It’s a bit like accusing a cat that walks on four legs of being “a dog” because the dog too happens to walk on four legs. It doesn’t make too much sense.

What is a christian? Basically, it’s a person who follows Jesus as “the christ,” an elevated figure who died for the sins of the world and accepts that there is a creator of the world. If someone rejects the fundamentals of christianity, of following Jesus, that person can no longer be called a christian.

What is an idolator? It is a person who worships idols as gods. If someone rejects the worship of idols and no longer gives them any reverence or respect, he can no longer be called an idolator.

Does a person need to even know a Jew or rabbi or even a Torah-observant Gentile to do these things? Does this person even need to recognise the existence of Israel and the Jews? Nope. Not at all.

Now, let’s imagine that a non-idolator, an non-Christian finds a rabbi and the rabbi says something that he doesn’t like or something that doesn’t make sense to him, and, because of this, he just chooses not to listen to the rabbi, does that make this person a reconfirmed idolator and/or christian? Well what is a christian? What is an idolator? He’s done nothing to warrant being labelled as such because he doesn’t fit the (English?) definitions.

But he’s acting like a christian! He’s acting like an idolator!

No! He’s acting like a human being!

Let’s take my example of myself. Suppose I think the rabbi is talking utter nonsense. “But he’s an expert, David!” Sorry, my experience inside and outside of religion has taught me not to simply trust experts. Let’s try again. Suppose I don’t think the rabbi makes any sense so I don’t listen and obey. That has nothing to do with idolatry because that rabbi is not God and I’m not worshipping an idol. It’s not christianity because nothing I’m doing is related to accepting Jesus as someone I should follow.

But, David, that attitude, that response, it’s what christians do, what idolators do.

I think such an argument is similar to calling a cat “a dog” simply because they both walk on two legs. Sure, christians and idolators may not listen or bow to rabbis. But how is that different to any member of non-Jewish humanity? The question is, why is this supposed to be a christian trait? Why do idolators supposedly have the monopoly on not accepting things that don’t make sense to them? To get to the point, there’s nothing uniquely christian or idolatrous about not doing as rabbis say. It’s part of being human. Some people find a person, take that person as someone to listen to and just go with that flow. But that trait does not solely belong to those who follow rabbis. Idolators and christians do that too.

What, again, makes things worse for the Gentile, as I’ve bemoaned before, is that there are various conflicting opinions amongst rabbis. One will say, for example, rape is a capital crime, and another will say it is not. The solution of the “follow-your-rabbi” Torah observant Gentile is simply to, in effect, ignore the controversy and stick to your rabbi’s teaching. Ta da, no confusion! Right? But there are those who will look on the Gentile who doesn’t tow the line, who doesn’t simply accept the one rabbi, and call that loner “idolator!” He who has rejected christianity will still be reminded, in a denigrating way, of his past.

Again, the Jewish sojourner has Torah legal protections. The outsider has no such protections and must either stay silent, deal with things for himself or make a public stand and give a reply. I think you can guess which one I am.

Look, if I am being ignorant, then the word for what I am is “ignorant.” If I’m being arrogant, then the word for my attitude is “arrogant” or “pompous.” If I’m being obstinate, then I think you can guess what the word for that is. Even “foolish” is ok. But, these days, to say things with accurate wording seems to be too much. It seems easier to see a whopping big religion or religious mindset, see a negative trait in it, and then simply use the title of the whopping big religion or mindset to just describe a trait.

I ask you, is it just? Is it fair or right? It’s one thing to be a christian and it be assumed that because the group has a certain attitude, the individual has that same attitude. I don’t even think that is fair. It would be silly to promote personal responsibility and then use collectivism or group-think to condemn an individual, an individual being guilty by means of a group. Anyway, it then another thing to have dissociated from the group, shrugged off its doctrines, rejected its figures of authorities, and still be tarnished with the same brush, even though the brush is far too wide, much wider than the point the accuser wishes to make.

I think the “Jewish sojourner” teaching reveals something universal, something that happens to people all over the place. You see, there will always be people that will dangle your past in your face, even well-meaning ones. They won’t let your sins of the past remain a thing of the past. When king David wrote that “my sins are ever before me,” these people will do their part to help shove it in your face, just to be “helpful” and “rebuke in love.” You don’t have to be a naturalised Jew to face these sentiments.

As there may not be a moral directive upon others to care about my feelings or anyone else’s – there’ll always be ways to justify such a thing – what should I do about such an approach? How should I deal with those who will see my ways as those of a christian or an idolator?

In the end, I know I cannot control such people. As I say, there’ll always be someone to throw my past in my face. But I can control myself. I have to make sure I’ve dealt with my past. And that doesn’t mean acquiescing to the accusers and simply submitting to “the experts.” If it’s true that I don’t follow Jesus and I’ve dispensed of the religion that claims to follow him, if I’ve truly buried idol worship in a grave or cremated it, then I should take such accusations and labels for what they are: a misguided attempt to point to a perceived flaw I may have that has absolutely nothing to do with christianity or idolatry.

Whether I should just listen to rabbis and silence my own opinions or use the information they provide to make my own decisions, that’s another topic I think I’ve dealt with before. But I know what I will do with labels that conflate whole religions with specific character traits. Those labels can share the same place where my previous beliefs are: on the dunghill.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook

Like this: Like Loading...