A foundational principle of Christianity is the claim that a new covenant was instituted by Jesus’ death and resurrection, replacing the covenant made between YHWH and Israel at Mount Sinai. No longer are we required to observe YHWH’s instructions, for we are saved by simple faith in Jesus and nothing else. What if it could be easily shown from the New Testament that the new...

It seems that many adherents of the New Testament fail to notice that it contains competing, incompatible ideologies that have been woven together into a confusing patchwork quilt. This is perhaps best illustrated by comparing Paul’s view of righteousness with that of James: For we consider that a person is declared righteous by faith apart from the works of the law. Romans 3:28...

It is a Christian concept that Jesus freed his followers from the law. By law we mean the law of Moses, called the Torah. When you see the word law in english translations of the Hebrew scriptures, the Hebrew word that has been translated such is the word Torah, which literally means instruction. Etymologically it comes from an archery term meaning “to hit the mark”. The Torah, as...

25 years before my deeper study of the scriptures prompted me to leave the church, I had already developed strong convictions against Christian holidays. There is virtually no-one, not even among conservative Christian scholars and apologists, who denies the pagan origins of Christian holidays. The question is: what, if anything, is wrong with co-opting pagan practices? Christianity sees this...

In the New Testament book of Hebrews, we find this well known Christian assertion: Indeed according to the law almost everything was purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. (Heb 9:22 NET) Is this actually true? This idea is often cross referenced to the following “prooftext” from the Hebrew Scriptures: for the life of every living...

Today’s rabbinic Judaism is governed not just by the Hebrew Scriptures, but also by the Talmud, a written collection of oral traditions. After the destruction of Jerusalem in the first century CE and the exile of the Jewish people, it was feared that Jewish tradition would be lost, and around 200 CE Rabbi Judah the Prince redacted the Mishnah. The Mishnah is but one component of the...

A friend recently suggested that Tovia Singer had some convincing arguments in favor of the oral Torah, so I pulled up a short video of his, documenting some of those arguments, and decided to write this response. I place a high value on the work of Tovia Singer, and have watched and appreciated many of his videos. However, when it comes to the oral Torah, I’m simply not in agreement. I...

The idea of a “Messiah” is found outside of the Torah. The Torah does not promise a “Messiah”. I personally do not consider anything but the Torah inspired or authoritative, so therefore I don’t accept that there even needs to be a Messiah. However, if you do accept the Judean writings (i.e. the rest of the Tanakh/Old Testament after the five books of Moses) to be...

A number of people seem to be convinced that the Sabbath (Hebrew: Shabbat) cycle must be based on the cycle of the moon, rather than repeating seven day weeks. The lunar Sabbath theory seems to be driven by the fact that most of the other appointed times (Hebrew: mo’edim) such as Pesach, Chag HaMatzot, Yom Teruah, Yom HaKippurim and Sukkot are all set on specific days of specific...