Eggshells

I do a little Bibly Study about the Bible and violence in the Hebrew Scriptures (aka the "old" testament). Thru my studies, I have found pretty rich insight necessary to a sound Christian understanding of God, both in the Hebrew Bible itself and in extra-Biblical resources. I am increasingly becoming a pseudo-Messianic Jew. The Feasts fascinate me, the intricate ideologies within Messianism, and the sayings of Christ just open up as one studies their 'Jewishness.' It has been my tragic experience that the Judeo-literacy within Christianity is inexcusably low. Instead of rising up and blessing the parent of our relatively young faith, we have rebelled and insisted they are blind!A friend recently wondered aloud about the theological legitimacy of rooting my Christian faith in Judaism. I was aghast to say the least. How can you separate the Man from his Faith? The 'enlightened' (Hellenistic?) tint we see Jesus thru needs to be taken with a bit of caution; we need to remember Christ wept for Jerusalem, not Athens. To have a Christianity that is divorced from Judaism is as hollow as a yolk-less egg, and just as frail. One cannot understand the Parables to their fullest extent without grasping Jewish Aggadah.Some good authors that lay it out plainly:Brad Young (Christian)David Flusser (Orthodox Jew, Professor in Israel)David H. Stern (Messianic Jew)Dr. Young has been a favorite of mine, his book "Jesus the Jewish Theologian" is a stellar read, and is inspired by David Flusser enormously. Check out that or any of Young's books on Christian-Jewish connectedness.Shalom y'all