Differences - Messianics vs. Christians

[notreligus]

-Messianics observe traditional Jewish holidays such as Purim, Chanukah, etc. Christians do not. 

-Messianics observe the biblical feasts of Vayikra (Leviticus) 23 such as Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), Rosh HaShanah (Feast of Trumpets), Sukkot (Feast of Booths) and Passover. Christians do not. 

-Messianics do not observe Christian holidays that were borrowed from paganism, such as Christmas and Lent or were simply concocted.

-Messianics do not use Easter bunnies, Easter eggs, Christmas trees, etc., (which are part of Christian tradition in many parts of the world although they are not part of official Christian theology).

-Messianics worship on the biblical Sabbath, i.e., Friday evening till Saturday evening, not Sunday. HaShem says the Sabbath is an eternal covenant between Him and the descendants of Israel.  (Sh'mot/Exodus 31:16). 

-Messianics cant the Shema, and traditional Jewish blessings that most Christians have never heard of, e.g., the kiddush and the Aaronic benediction. 

-Messianics cant the Torah portion in Hebrew at worship services. 

-Messianic preaching is mainly from the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), although references to the B'rit Chadasha are common. 

-Messianic Judaism emphasizes the special relationship between G-d and the Jewish people, whereas Protestantism and Catholicism hardly ever mention it. 

-Messianic Judaism emphasizes Jewish traditions that do not conflict with the Bible, whereas Protestantism and Catholicism totally ignore those traditions. 

-Messianic Judaism asserts that the Torah (literally, "teaching") is still in effect (as modified by Yeshua). Christianity claims that once Jesus "fulfilled the Law" it no longer applies.

-Messianic Jews bar-mitzvah their sons and bat-mitzvah their daughters. Christians don't. 

-A Jewish person who converts to Protestantism is referred to as a Hebrew Christian, not a Messianic Jew. -Messianic Judaism and Protestantism teach the biblical doctrine that salvation is a free gift from G-d, by faith in Yeshua.

-Roman Catholicism teaches that Catholics can earn ("merit") all the grace necessary for salvation, and that Moslems will also be saved, even though Islam denies the deity, death and resurrection of Yeshua. 

-Messianics do not need to be proselytized into Christianity. We already know who Messiah is and what he did to provide salvation for his people. 

-Messianics use the same scriptures as Protestants, including the common translations, e.g., NIV and New King James Version. Of course, it is much more common to find a Messianic who has studied biblical Hebrew than a Christian.

-Messianics only baptize believers, not babies, and only baptize by immersion, since the practice described in the B'rit Chadasha is actually derived from a mikvah, a Jewish ritual purification bath.


Source:  http://www.messianicworship.com/html/differences.html

[DaveW]

Sometimes true; sometimes not.

When that list says "Christians do not;" I can say I know many who do.  I led a Passover Seder at a Catholic school a few years ago for about 250 students and staff.  They do it every year.

And not every Messianic group meets on Saturday or chants the Torah in Hebrew.

I find the list way too determinate; trying to draw a hard and fast line where it is not that distinct.

For instance - almost all Protestant denominations do adult immersion baptisms AFTER repentance, not the catholic and EOC sprinkling of infants.

[MeMyself]

Why do the differences matter?  We both look to Christ as Savior and Lord. 

[Shimshon]

Why do the differences matter?  We both look to Christ as Savior and Lord.

I get the impression that some do not see our unity as something to be grasped, nor something that is revealed within the new covenant.

[Shimshon]

I find the list way too determinate; trying to draw a hard and fast line where it is not that distinct.

For instance - almost all Protestant denominations do adult immersion baptisms AFTER repentance, not the catholic and EOC sprinkling of infants.

Generalizations get used when one desires to demonize another.  America did it with Saddam in Iraq, it's a standard operating procedure when one engages in war.

[DaveW]

I get the impression that some do not see our unity as something to be grasped, nor something that is revealed within the new covenant.

Some cannot reconcile the word "Jewish" with the New Covenant. 

[notreligus]

Why do the differences matter?  We both look to Christ as Savior and Lord.

I get the impression that some do not see our unity as something to be grasped, nor something that is revealed within the new covenant.

I have posted at another Board where you post for about ten years.   My views should not be new to you.   

I don't have to say a lot as you're proving my claims better than I ever could.   

[Shimshon]

Why do the differences matter?  We both look to Christ as Savior and Lord.

I get the impression that some do not see our unity as something to be grasped, nor something that is revealed within the new covenant.

I have posted at another Board where you post for about ten years.   My views should not be new to you.   

I don't have to say a lot as you're proving my claims better than I ever could.

I never knew you there.  But I have realized you are the local Messianic antagonist here.

[JohnDB70X7]

1.) Without a doubt the Gentiles have really Goyed-up the Faith.

And the Holy One of Yisro'el has really had to make many concessions to save believing Gentiles.

But this is thank to a virtual total abdication of the chosen elect people who were bred to lead the Church out of Old Covenant Judaism into New Covenant Judaism.

2.) The tendency of the Messianic (Jew or Gentile) is to over emulate the non-believing Jews in order to identify with Judaism (forgetting the fact that for 2000 years a primary essentially to being a non-believing Jew is to be the opposite of a believing Jew or Gentile). Unbelieving Jews like Michael Medved testify to this that the main focus of Judaica is how not Christian they are rather than how Jewish they are.

3.) Ignoring the Gospel in the Tanakh is a tendency in Messianic Judaism which brakes from the Old Covenant to usher in the New Covenant:   

  Jeremiah 31:31–34 (AV)
³¹Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 
³²Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 
³³But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 
³⁴And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Jeremiah 31: (Complete Jewish Bible)
31  "Here, the days are coming," says ADONAI, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Isra'el and with the house of Y'hudah.    32  It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took them by their hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt; because they, for their part, violated my covenant, even though I, for my part, was a husband to them," says ADONAI.    33  "For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Isra'el after those days," says ADONAI: "I will put my Torah within them and write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be my people.    34  No longer will any of them teach his fellow community member or his brother, 'Know ADONAI'; for all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest; because I will forgive their wickednesses and remember their sins no more." 

The Apostle Paul distinguishes between the two Torahs:


  1 Corinthians 9:19–21 (AV)
¹⁹For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. 
²⁰And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; 
²¹To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.

  Romans 7:1–8:22 (AV)
¹Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 
²For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 
³So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. 
⁴Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. 
⁵For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. 
⁶But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. 
⁷What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. 
⁸But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. 
⁹For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 
¹⁰And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. 
¹¹For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. 
¹²Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. 
¹³Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. 
¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 
¹⁵For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 
¹⁶If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 
¹⁷Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 
¹⁸For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 
¹⁹For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 
²⁰Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 
²¹I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 
²²For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 
²³But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 
²⁴O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 
²⁵I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. 
¹There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 
²For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 
³For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 
⁴That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 
⁵For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 
⁶For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 
⁷Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 
⁸So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 
⁹But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 
¹⁰And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 
¹¹But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. 
¹²Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 
¹³For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 
¹⁴For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 
¹⁵For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 
¹⁶The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 
¹⁷And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. 
¹⁸For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 
¹⁹For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 
²⁰For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 
²¹Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 
²²For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Galatians 3:24–25 (AV)
²⁴Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 
²⁵But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

Yeshua did not modify the Torah Moshe he replaced it with the Torah Moshiakh (Law of Christ / Law of God).

-Messianics observe traditional Jewish holidays such as Purim, Chanukah, etc. Christians do not. 

-Messianics observe the biblical feasts of Vayikra (Leviticus) 23 such as Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), Rosh HaShanah (Feast of Trumpets), Sukkot (Feast of Booths) and Passover. Christians do not. 

-Messianics do not observe Christian holidays that were borrowed from paganism, such as Christmas and Lent or were simply concocted.

-Messianics do not use Easter bunnies, Easter eggs, Christmas trees, etc., (which are part of Christian tradition in many parts of the world although they are not part of official Christian theology).

-Messianics worship on the biblical Sabbath, i.e., Friday evening till Saturday evening, not Sunday. HaShem says the Sabbath is an eternal covenant between Him and the descendants of Israel.  (Sh'mot/Exodus 31:16). 

-Messianics cant the Shema, and traditional Jewish blessings that most Christians have never heard of, e.g., the kiddush and the Aaronic benediction. 

-Messianics cant the Torah portion in Hebrew at worship services. 

-Messianic preaching is mainly from the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), although references to the B'rit Chadasha are common. 

-Messianic Judaism emphasizes the special relationship between G-d and the Jewish people, whereas Protestantism and Catholicism hardly ever mention it. 

-Messianic Judaism emphasizes Jewish traditions that do not conflict with the Bible, whereas Protestantism and Catholicism totally ignore those traditions. 

-Messianic Judaism asserts that the Torah (literally, "teaching") is still in effect (as modified by Yeshua). Christianity claims that once Jesus "fulfilled the Law" it no longer applies.

-Messianic Jews bar-mitzvah their sons and bat-mitzvah their daughters. Christians don't. 

-A Jewish person who converts to Protestantism is referred to as a Hebrew Christian, not a Messianic Jew. -Messianic Judaism and Protestantism teach the biblical doctrine that salvation is a free gift from G-d, by faith in Yeshua.

-Roman Catholicism teaches that Catholics can earn ("merit") all the grace necessary for salvation, and that Moslems will also be saved, even though Islam denies the deity, death and resurrection of Yeshua. 

-Messianics do not need to be proselytized into Christianity. We already know who Messiah is and what he did to provide salvation for his people. 

-Messianics use the same scriptures as Protestants, including the common translations, e.g., NIV and New King James Version. Of course, it is much more common to find a Messianic who has studied biblical Hebrew than a Christian.

-Messianics only baptize believers, not babies, and only baptize by immersion, since the practice described in the B'rit Chadasha is actually derived from a mikvah, a Jewish ritual purification bath.


Source:  http://www.messianicworship.com/html/differences.html

[Texas Conservative]

Messianics can sport those curlish and girlish sideburns, while Christians do not.

[Red Baker]

Some cannot reconcile the word "Jewish" with the New Covenant.

Wrong~It is the Messianic Camp, who reject that a true Jew~ one that God loves through Jesus Christ is not of the natural seed of Abraham, but one who has been regenerated by the Spirit of God, those who are the true children of God's promises~be he Gentile, or, of Abraham's natural seed.

I have no problem reconciling the word Jews with the children of God's promises.  It is you and your friends, and many more of the evangelicals, who have been deceived by men like C.I. Scofield, Jerry Falwell and a host others.  This is all I desire to say on your forum set up for you and your friends.