Back to the subject of Shabbat...
If the I follows the Bible, then it is important to keep Shabbat hola just as JAH commanded. Not any more or less important than all other Levitican laws and laws mentioned in Exodus and Numbers, but important. JAH Yeshua did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it, therefore I&I should still keep the laws that JAH instructed from the beginning. However, many of these laws seem outdated (stoning an adultress wombman, laws about how to deal with slaves, animal sacrifices for atonement, etc.) and not all can be practiced under this government (destroying idol statues and graven images). So if I&I are not going to keep ALL of the laws, why choose one over another? Aside from not killing or lying, which seem obvious...
But if the I chooses to observe the Sabbath, how does one do that? People have different ideas. Orthodox Jews don't use cars.
As a small child my father would enforce the keeping of the Sabbath in his Baptist Christian manner... Go to church in nice clean clothes, pick up fried chicken from the Hardy's, have a family afternoon outside. This doesn't seem like a real Shabbat to I, although it wasn't necessarily bad - in fact may be some of the only good memories of that man.
Recently I visited a Shabbat meeting of some local Messianic Jews. Being of Jewish lineage and growing up in a Christian church, I was interested to see what they do.
Meeting at 10am, people started to gather and socialize, introduce each other, share kosher finger food, etc. Around 11am the adults sat in a circle and opened the Bible, and began to take turns reading slowly, pausing for any questions or comments from the group. Being a newcomer, I still felt welcome to ask questions and was responded to with respect and thorough references. Among the group I noticed that the reader would always insert the name Yahweh instead of the Lord or God. When I had a turn to read, I used the name JAH in that place as I always do, and no one skipped a beat. Come 1:30pm, the group realized the time and had a break for lunch, which was kosher vegetarian food, mostly fresh vegetables, and then quickly reassembled for more discussion and reading.
Obviously coming from a different perspective, I asked challenging questions, and some other members of the group had opposing viewpoints as well, but all were responded to respectfully.
The meeting concluded at about 5pm. This is by far the longest Bible study I ever attended, and the most open-forum and respectful theological discussion I have ever experienced. The knowledge among the group was impressive; most of them read ancient Hebrew in all three forms, modern Hebrew, Greek, and could shed light on certain passages due to this in depth study of the original text.
Although I have no idea what the right way is to hold Shabbat, this seemed like the best one I have come across.
Bless up all idren, inified in love through JAH Ras Tafari.
Guidance.
|
|
