Session 1: In the Beginning – Introduction (DVBD)

Posted on 02/19/2017 by Messyanic

dismantling-the-virgin-birth-doctrineGenesis 1 Establishes a Natural Order

Generally speaking, all life is made to reproduce after like kind.

Given that the Virgin Birth Doctrine deviates from this Natural Order established by the Creator in the beginning, the burden of proof should fall on the proponents of that doctrine to defend their case, not on those who adhere to the Creator’s way.

But because this doctrine is so pervasive in our modern western culture, the notion of the Messiah being born by natural means is widely considered to be the deviant position.

As a result, those who challenge the Virgin Birth doctrine often find themselves in the weaker position of having to speak from a limited pool of Biblical text, because the case for a Virgin Birth can only be made in a few verses, namely within the first chapters of Matthew and Luke.

But the fact of the matter is that the Bible at large not only speaks to the Natural Order, and strongly against the usurping of it, but it also speaks of many promises made by the Creator toward mankind by way of various covenants, all reinforcing the Natural Order.

Multiple witnesses testify of these things, and an ample supply of evidence to support this order and the carrying out of these covenants on the part of the Creator are often overlooked in the Virgin Birth debate.

Consequently, a great divide is formed between the Old and New Testaments, and many are either rejecting Jesus as the Messiah or embracing a false image of him.

So, I have chosen to act as the Prosecutor in the case for the Natural Order and the expectation concerning the Messiah, utilizing the entire Biblical text to challenge this doctrine and ultimately dismantle it.

My hope in presenting this case…

To equip the average person with the Biblical evidence to not only address the Virgin Birth talking points, but also to demonstrate beyond a shadow of doubt that the Bible not only overwhelmingly upholds the Natural Order, but requires the anticipated Messiah to be born of natural human descent.  Continue reading →

Posted in 3-Grass, Seed-Yielding Herbs, Fruit Trees, 3-Land and Seas, 5-Sea Creatures and Winged Birds, 6-Living Creatures on Land, 6-Man and Woman, Creation, Jesus / Yeshua, Virgin Birth Doctrine | Leave a comment

Dismantling the Virgin Birth Doctrine: An Introduction

Posted on 02/19/2017 by Messyanic

dismantling-the-virgin-birth-doctrine

I was raised to believe…

Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, and Joseph was not his biological father.

The idea was that while Mary, a virgin, was espoused to Joseph, she was visited by the Holy Spirit and miraculously became pregnant with Jesus without Joseph’s involvement. And when Jesus was born, Joseph became his adoptive parent.

As a result of this miraculous event, the thought continued, God was able to appear to mankind clothed in humanity.

This paved the way for another fundamental tenet of my Christian faith: the notion that Jesus was God.

I couldn’t really explain it rationally, but I had believed that Jesus was fully God and fully man, a hybrid God-man, if you will…simply because that is what I was taught.

But then…

When I began to realize, several years ago now, that not everything I understood concerning God and all that the Bible said was accurate, I decided to challenge the fundamental assertions of my faith by studying the Bible more intently.  Continue reading →

Posted in 6-Man and Woman, Jesus / Yeshua, Virgin Birth Doctrine | 6 Comments

Genesis 1: Evening and Morning (Video)

Posted on 01/20/2017 by Messyanic

In my Follow-Up Series to the video presentation on When a Day Begins and Ends, I address the most common objections to the notion that the Bible only speaks of the Day as being “the light”, separate from the Night.

The single most common objection I encounter is found in Genesis 1, particularly the statement:

And the evening and the morning were the first day. (Genesis 1:5b KJV)

Many believe this defines a different kind of Day, one that includes the Night.

Here’s my answer to that:

If you’ve never done the exercise of looking at all the uses of “ereb” (H6153) and “boqer” (H1242) in the Old Testament to see how thy are used elsewhere, I encourage you to do so.

While at times these words may be translated in English as “night”, “darkness” or “day”, and “light”, when you understand the nuances of what these words mean, that of “growing darkness” and “darkness seeking light”, I think you’ll get a better idea of what the verses that use these words are saying.

Let me know what you discover.

 

Posted in 1-Day and Night, Precept Upon Precept, What About? verses | Leave a comment

Correction: And God Divided Between the Light…

Posted on 01/11/2017 by Messyanic

And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (Gen 1:4 KJV)

The Brenton translation of the Greek Septuagint says:

And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided between the light and the darkness. (Gen 1:4 Brenton)

It was recently pointed out to me that the Hebrew word “beyn” (H996) translated above in the KJV as “from” appears twice in Genesis 1:4: once before the light, and the other before the darkness.

And upon further inspection in the Greek Septuagint, I see the phrase “ana mesos”, translated as “between” also appears twice in this verse.

A more proper translation of this then would be:

…And God divided between the light and between the darkness.

Given this, I don’t know how accurate my previous statement is, that this means God made a distinction between the light and the darkness.

Perhaps this verse is telling us He made distinctions between each: a distinction between the light, and a distinction between the darkness.

I still believe light is not darkness and darkness is not light, that they are two different things. Clearly God called them two different things in verse 5: “day” and “night”. But this verse may be meaning something more than what I first thought based on the English translation.

Hmm, very interesting.

Posted in 1-Day and Night, Precept Upon Precept | 1 Comment

When a Day Begins and Ends (Video)

Posted on 01/09/2017 by Messyanic

Our modern culture teaches a day is a 24-hour period of time that begins at midnight. Jewish tradition teaches a day is a 24-hour period of time that begins at sunset. But what does the Bible say?

Watch this presentation covering the Biblical definition of the day, how long it lasts, when it begins and why it matters.

Posted in 1-Day and Night, 4-Sun Moon & Stars, Day of Atonement - Yom Kippur, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Passover - Pesach, Precept Upon Precept, Sabbath Day - Shabbath | Leave a comment

Made in His Image and Likeness

Posted on 01/04/2017 by Messyanic

Genesis 5:3 establishes the notion that within humanity, a son bears a likeness to his father.

And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: (Gen 5:3 KJV)

We all understand this with physical features, where a son may physically look like his father bearing the same skin tone, hair and eye color, build and facial features.

Are you reflecting the likeness of the one in whose image you were made?

But because he was taught by his father, he also may carry similar traits found in his:

  • temperament
  • work ethic
  • love/compassion towards others
  • integrity/moral character

And similar interests like:

  • a love of the outdoors
  • being an avid reader
  • sharing a preference for types of foods, books, friends and even women
  • being a fan of sports and even of a particular sports’ teams

And engage in similar occupations:

  • doing a common trade or working in the same industry
  • carrying forward a generational business
  • following in the same footsteps regarding military service or being men of the cloth

When a child mirrors his father in all of these ways, we often say of him: He is his father’s son.

We’d even go as far as saying: He is his father.

Why?

Because he is a cookie-cutter image of the one who fathered him.

Does that mean he is truly his father?

Of course not. It’s clear they are two separate beings: one begotten of the other, but they carry the same spirit (attributes, habits, tastes, interests, skills, etc) in them. The son truly bears the likeness of his father.

That’s how I think it is with men being called sons of God, and particularly Yeshua being called the Son of God.   Continue reading →

Posted in 6-Man and Woman, Jesus / Yeshua, Walking in the Ways of the Creator, YHVH Elohim/God | Leave a comment

Paul Saw the Light and Heard the Voice of Jesus

Posted on 12/31/2016 by Messyanic

whitelightAccording to the book of Acts, Saul, before he came to be known as Paul, had an illuminating experience on the road to Damascus. He describes it like this:

“and it came to pass, in my going on and coming nigh to Damascus, about noon, suddenly out of the heaven there shone a great light round about me, I fell also to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why me dost thou persecute?

`And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? and he said unto me, I am Jesus the Nazarene whom thou dost persecute– and they who are with me the light did see, and became afraid, and the voice they heard not of him who is speaking to me– and I said, What shall I do, Lord? and the Lord said unto me, Having risen, go on to Damascus, and there it shall be told thee concerning all things that have been appointed for thee to do.” (Act 22:6-10 YLT)

While he saw a great light round about him, the voice Paul heard was identified as being that of Jesus the Nazarene, not of God. (According to previous testimony in Acts, Jesus is resurrected from the dead at this point in time, situated at the right hand of God.)

Paul became temporarily physically blinded from that encounter and sometime thereafter Ananias explained what happened to him…

“`And when I did not see from the glory of that light, being led by the hand by those who are with me, I came to Damascus, and a certain one, Ananias, a pious man according to the law, being testified to by all the Jews dwelling there , having come unto me and stood by me, said to me, Saul, brother, look up; and I the same hour did look up to him; and he said, The God of our fathers did choose thee beforehand to know His will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice out of his mouth, because thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard; and now, why tarriest thou? having risen, baptize thyself, and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord.” (Act 22:11-16 YLT)

Ananias explained that Saul was chosen by God:

  • to know the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’s will
  • to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice out of his mouth

It is my understanding  the Righteous One is the one situated at the right hand of God.  Continue reading →

Posted in Jesus / Yeshua, Paul, YHVH Elohim/God | Leave a comment

When is the Start of the Year?

Posted on 10/31/2016 by Messyanic

EDITED 1/25/17: See Notes in Red.

Recently I received an email that read: Calendar-Icon

I have been thinking about the start 
of the year and wondered how you 
determine the beginning of the year 
using a solar calendar.

Here was my response:

From what I understand from the Book of Enoch, the years are solar in nature one year with the has months being determined by way of the sun rising in 6 different stations of the sky in the east and setting in 6 in the west (marked by the 12 constellations of the stars), and the moon likely plays a part in telling
us which year we are in over a series of years.  Continue reading →

Posted in 1-Day and Night, 4-Sun Moon & Stars, Appointed Times of YHVH | Leave a comment

When is the Sabbath Day According to the Bible?

Posted on 10/16/2016 by Messyanic

This past week at our fall camp-out I did a presentation on what I understand the Torah to be testifying to concerning when the Sabbath days fall out on the 364-day solar year model put forth in the Book of Enoch.

enoch_calbigIt’s been a few years since I discovered this layout, and I’ve been relatively quiet in discussing this subject publicly because I have not been able to reconcile how that model would play out in a modern setting given what we experience with a 365.24 day solar year.

However, more recently I’ve been associating with some folks who esteem the 364-day priestly calendar discussed among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and they had never heard my take on these findings, so I thought it worthwhile to share it with them.

I thank Jackson Snyder for making this recording available and sharing it on his Jackson Snyder presents program on Hebrew Nation Radio. I hope to provide more presentations like these in the future, both as a podcast and in video format.

When is the Shabbat/Sabbath Day?

In this particular presentation, I reference a 4-page packet. Here are the .pdfs of that packet for your reference: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, and Page 4.

Let me know what you think.

Posted in 4-Sun Moon & Stars, Appointed Times of YHVH, Sabbath Day - Shabbath | 2 Comments

The Great Deviation: The Virgin Birth Doctrine

Posted on 10/01/2016 by Messyanic

Biblical Model for Conception

man-woman-conceptionIn Genesis 4:1 we’re told, “Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and brought forth Cain and said, I have gained a man through God.”

This provides a model for us: a man knows a woman, and with the help of God, she conceives and brings forth a child.

MAN  +  WOMAN  +  GOD’s HELP  =  CHILD

 

We see examples of this model being played out throughout the Bible in the young and old, or more specifically in the old and young.  Continue reading →

Posted in Jesus / Yeshua, John the Baptist, Virgin Birth Doctrine | 15 Comments