The Dangers of Dualism: Fearing the World Instead of Trusting in God

Dualism is a metaphysical belief that looks at life in terms of extremes – physical vs spiritual, good vs evil, us vs them, etc. Sounds reasonable ay first glance, and yet this kind of thinking has led to a terrible kind of bondage, not only in the world but also within the Body of Messiah – bondage that we see in politics, congregations, and all over social media. It is an extreme point of view that has led to paranoia, persecution and unnecessary division throughout the ages.
 
Dualism is about separation, and most often comes up in terms of “we are good, they are bad,” or “physical = bad, spiritual = good.” It’s the mindset behind the idea that this world can be written off, that it exists simply to be escaped from – where we become “more heavenly focused than earthly good.” Because of this, there has grown up a mistrust in and fear of the physical world as well as a fear of and contempt for anyone who is not in lockstep with ourselves – there are no shades of grey in dualistic religious or political thinking. For example, Catholicism (Judaism, Liberalism, Conservatism, whatever) can’t just be partially wrong, in the mind of a true dualist, it has to be entirely evil. It has to be discredit, destroyed, at any cost, through whatever worldly and even sinful means at our disposal. When we are scared, we are more than willing to allow our morals to slip “for a good cause.” Everything done under that banner has to be suspect, and no one can give them credit for any good works for fear of being labeled as a papist, or at least very dangerous. People from other countries can’t just be “backward,” they have to be subhuman – they have to be, because we, ourselves, are supposedly good. Or at least I am, in this train of thought. (Hence the American form of slavery as identified and justified by color). This is also the line of thinking responsible for political rancor, racism, and class warfare – people like me are good and anyone else is suspect and most probably inferior (at the very least)
 
The Bible even seems to support this kind of thinking, because it was written in a dyadic society – hence they had no problem with celebrating the “dashing of enemy babies against the rocks.” They were too extreme for the tastes of people growing up in a post-Cross world which has been largely transformed by the fruit of the Spirit. We take for granted that no decent person would want such a thing to happen, but again, Yeshua/Jesus died in order to bring God’s heart values (and not just outward observances, which are also vitally important) into the world in a massive and unprecedented way.
 
But, with the advent of social media, we have once again become very much like the paranoid and conspiratorial people who lived before the Cross. Nowhere is it better seen than in politics and the fake news stories spreading all over the internet – reporting conspiracies as though they were fact, citing non-existent news stories and fabricating quotes, data and statistics. Of course, these sites have a LOT of advertisements, and they get money when you visit, a lot of money. Because of this unBiblical dualism, which paints everything in terms of black and white, these stories feed the notion that, for example, government is entirely evil, and anyone who questions it is immediately granted an aura of integrity. That’s dangerous. We can’t attribute virtue to those people who feed our pre-perceived notions and call it something like, “taking the red pill” – instead, it is simply believing, without a thorough investigation, a separate storyline. Believe me, if you take too many red pills, you will overdose.
If you are obsessed with finding all the hidden evil in the world, then your focus is desperately off.
 
I have seen it used in politics, racism, anti-semitism, intercountry squabbling, religion, you name it. It is rooted in an absolute paranoia of the different. We want “us” to be good and right, and so we need “them” to be evil and wrong. It’s completely about us, and because it is about us, our moral compass goes off-kilter. We will believe everything good about us and everything evil, no matter how absurd, about them. It goes so far that we read a story and don’t even do a basic fact check – we don’t bother to find out if this celebrity actually even made the interview being quoted, or if CNN is actually the source behind a story, or if there truly is a speech on file that says what the story claims, in context. We are driven by fear and surface-appearances by people who, frankly, would appear to be training us to react and divide without even thinking about why we are doing it, and without asking questions. Who exactly is yanking our strings so effectively, while warning us that others are yanking our strings? Seems to be the perfect disguise for a deceiver, eh?
 
Think, for a moment, about the paranoia that has to exist within us, in order to believe and propagate anything bad we see reported about our “enemy” when the Ten Commandments specifically tell us not to bear false witness against our neighbors. Think about how compromised we have to be, to forward every bad thing we see about the suspected folks of our choice. That isn’t a godly virtue, or truth-seeking, being informed, smarter, a remnant, or a watchman.  In the real ancient world – a watchman who reported false information regularly would die. He was not at liberty to blow the shofar every time he saw a tumbleweed on the horizon. What we are dealing with is a lack of self-control –  fear gone wild, manifesting itself in sin through false witness. It’s a blindness brought on by a need to be good and right – but we aren’t entirely good and right – are we?
 
No. We aren’t. And it is our pride and self-deception that drives this madness of external dualism. But let’s look at a healthier dualism-ish sort of situation.
 
Within each individual (let’s not bring extremes like psychopaths into the mix), there is a battle of good vs evil. I am certainly no exception – I am trying to be more good all the time and less evil – but the Bible clearly lays out this struggle in every human being, beginning with Adam and Eve. All of the patriarchs, the kings, everyone fought this battle within themselves. We are not entirely good – only one Man could ever boast of that on His resume. The rest of us are various degrees of what I call a hot mess. It is an unending battle that we have to fight every day, for the rest of our lives. As we begin to see how suspect we are, as we stop seeing ourselves and those who side with us as inherently good, we will begin to see the world and the people in it as more multi-faceted. Honestly, that is the kind of mindset that can take the gospel to the ends of the earth – as opposed to Peter’s belief that he couldn’t even enter the home of a Gentile, even a decade after the Cross. We can’t effectively serve God when our judgment and perception is clouded by extreme dualism.
 
You know what? The best way to start is to take a break and stop questioning everyone else all the time – the government, religions, races, ethnicities, etc.; we need to question ourselves and what the things we need to/choose to believe – specifically, we need to understand what they tell us about ourselves and our need to believe that we 9and those who agree with us) are truly on the unquestionably trustworthy end of our dualistic paranoia.
 
“Wow, look at that headline, it’s outrageous, and it is about X so it must be true.”
 

Whether it was happening in Nazi Germany or today, it’s the same dualistic pride and fear behind the sin – and it is behind our inability to do anything but sit in paralyzed fear of the world around us. One thing is for certain – we can’t make any kind of headway in the Kingdom if our constant focus is the world and all the terrible things they must be constantly doing behind the scenes – especially if a lot, or even just a little, of it is just the product of our imagination spurred on by those who are out to make a quick buck, create outrage, and further their own agendas – which we actually should be questioning. After all, if we are so suspicious of X that we will believe anything that Y says, it doesn’t make us particularly well-informed, it just makes us useful to God only knows who, hidden safely and anonymously behind the scenes and hidden behind some computer screen. People we don’t know, but whom we place our blind trust in – simply because they appear to be the enemy of those whom we believe are our enemies.

We are the Body of Messiah: worshippers of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Who exactly have we been trusting blindly?



Q: How Many Pagan Gods Were Born of Virgins (or even born) on December 25th? A: Zero

Of the charges leveled in order to undermine Christianity and the historical Yeshua ben Yosef aka Jesus Christ, one of the easiest to debunk is the idea that heathen religions are full of examples of this or that false god being born of a virgin on December 25th. Widespread among atheist detractors, these charges have spawned endless memes over the years – specifically since 2007 when the first Zeitgeist documentary was released and these charges were nonexistent before that. The scary thing is that believers have been using this hoax (one designed to prove that Jesus was simply a literary figure) not having any idea that the source of it is a conspiracy theory documentary developed to prove that there was no Messiah. Sadly, the claims are so flimsy that even a basic Wikipedia search can tear them to shreds (and you know how I feel about doing research with Wikipedia…) – and yet, they largely go unchallenged. So here is my challenge to those claims, as they are being used to create a false impression that the Jewish Messiah is a myth – and create unfounded arguments among believers. Links to other related articles are in bold blue.

Disclaimer: I do not celebrate Christmas, nor do I approve of it. Because of some unfortunate circumstances in the first few centuries of Christianity, Christmas came to replace the Biblical Feast of Tabernacles aka “Sukkot” which occurs during modern September/October sometime prior to 200CE. It is my firm belief that Sukkot was the day referred to by John as when “the Word became flesh and Tabernacled among us.” (John 1.14) My family celebrates the birth of Messiah then, and not in December, which was chosen because of an interesting theory among the Church Fathers about the conception and death of Messiah occurring on the exact same day – Passover – hence, forty weeks later giving rise to a date of birth of either December 25th or January 6th (both of which are still observed) depending on when they decided to place Passover.

So this post is not in any way in defense of Christmas, which I never defend, but instead a plea to clean up our online witness by not sharing memes and teachings based on atheist propaganda (although I do firmly stand against the charge that Jeremiah was speaking against Christmas trees in Jer 10). Promotion of the Feasts should be just that – we should teach the Feasts! I am currently writing two curriculum books within the Context for Kids series designed to teach what the Feasts looked like for an 11-year-old Yeshua/Jesus and 12-year-old John the Baptist in first-century Galilee and Judea. We don’t need to make up things to combat what we don’t like, okay? If something isn’t bad enough based on what is actually true about it, then perhaps we ought to revisit our objections and the source of them. As for me, the gross commercialism is apparent to anyone and I don’t ever get asked to prove it.

(NOTE: I will not publish comments unrelated to the topic at hand, which is specifically December 25th being the birthdate of a plethora of pagan gods. I understand this is a very emotional and agenda-driven topic for a lot of folks (hence the half-star rating not based on content but on the dislike of my content), and many ministries have staked their reputation on this information but this isn’t about anything except what can be proven historically. There is nothing personal about this. Of course, I never publish comments from people who come to the table with cheap shots, emotional arguments, and wild accusations about their uninformed opinions about my “true intentions” instead of factual data delivered respectfully.)

This meme is a classic example of how lies on colorful memes generally go unchallenged (because people have to pass an honesty test before Adobe will allow them to use Photoshop, right?) – even when it is incredibly easy to do so. This one clearly states “if he actually lived” and so I would hope that no believer would ever pass this particular one along, but I have seen these same charges passed around by believers on too many occasions to ignore it. I hate to say this, but some believers and ministries regurgitate such claims without investigation if it suits their agendas, and others outright make up lies – like Reverend Alexander Hislop in the 1850’s during the Protestant/Catholic PR wars where no expense was spared in undermining the warring Christian factions (Hislop’s book, The Two Babylons, in particular, was racially based in order to offend and terrify white British Protestants, attributing the origins of Catholicism to a deformed black man who dared to marry a beautiful white woman). I myself propagated some of these lies in the past – consider this part of my ongoing mea culpa. I want my witness to be worth something – God doesn’t need me to pass on revoltingly racist urban legends in order to promote His Word. The truth is all He has ever needed to propagate His Kingdom.

Now, first of all, I want to talk about the Roman Calendar. Every single ancient culture had their own separate Calendar – Egypt’s year began and ended with the inundation of the Nile in the summer; Babylonian years ended and began in the Spring in the months of Adar/Nisan during their bizarre twelve day Akitu festival in honor of Marduk; the Athenian calendar (Greek, but there were a lot of different Greek calendars) began and ended in the late summer; the classical Hindu calendar begins in the Spring, and beginning in 45 BCE, the Julian calendar began in January – a gross departure from how things had been handled previously. Before 45 BCE, the Roman calendar was historically a mess, with months from March to December (304 day year)  separated by a long random winter made longer or shorter at the whim of legislators who might like to extend or prematurely cut off the administration of a certain ruler. I say this to illustrate that the specific dating of anything to the Julian (and by obvious extension, the modern Gregorian) calendar before 45BCE is purely wishful thinking. Equating dates between one culture and another until just before the time of Messiah is nigh impossible, except in the cases of recorded astrological phenomena. Hence, in historical volumes of this era, we see things narrowed down to a few years or, if we are fortunate, a couple of months within a given year.

Our second problem: Until the deification of Julius Caesar in 42 BCE, almost no one cared about when anyone was born (the notable exception being Egypt). People cared about knowing when great deeds happened, and when great men died; they didn’t give a fig for anyone’s birthday unless it was associated with some great astronomical or historical event – otherwise, it didn’t warrant a mention. With the advent of the Imperial Cult, the birthdays of the Ceasars became public celebrations – but this was very new in the time of Messiah. It was so new, in fact, that scholars are fairly certain that Herod Antipas was not celebrating his birthday in Matt 14, but instead his regnal anniversary (after all, the day he came to the throne was more important than being born – no honor in being born, but becoming King? Oh yeah.) Besides Horus and Osiris – in the link provided above – not a single one of the birthdates claimed in memes like the one above, are actually recorded – and for the overwhelming majority, aren’t even commemorated.

Horus and Osiris – now this meme claims they were born on the same day – but, in fact, they were born on the first and third epagomenal days of the Egyptian Calendar as I explained in the previous link (not considered part of the year, but extra days outside of time). In the version of mythology where they were brothers, their mother had been cursed with an inability to have children on any day of the year but, through some fancy finagling, managed to get five extra days inserted at the time of the inundation of the Nile, during the summer. So not only weren’t they born on the same day, they were both born in the summer. As for the 3000 BC date – that is pure fiction. Egyptian records claim that the Pharaohs themselves went back much farther than that. As for the charge that either one of them were born of a virgin – that strikes out as well. In the most well known of Horus/Osiris mythology (the myths with no birthday mentioned at all), Horus’s parents were married, which generally discourages virginity and Isis was never portrayed as a virgin. Virginity has never been a highly prized trait among wives.

Attis of Phrygia – no birthday found anywhere. He castrated himself and wore a funny hat, and his priests castrated themselves as well. I think the only reason he was chosen for this list is because his mother was impregnated by an almond – which I suppose could be equated with a virgin birth.  If store labels can be believed, we can at least know that some olives are virgin, and some are even “extra virgin.” So, I imagine almonds can be at least as virtuous as olives. He was also one of the “dying gods” whose departure from the world marked the death of vegetation over the winter months.

Krishna – this one is popularly on such lists because somehow Krishna sounds enough like Christ that they want him included. However, the non-pagan origins of Christos in Greek Jewish writings, including the Septuagint version of the Scriptures (3rd century BCE), is well established. Krishna’s birthday is actually celebrated on Janamashtami, in the Hindu month of Shraavana (August/September on our calendar). So this one is just flat out manufactured when there is perfectly good information already out there, as is also the case with Horus and Osiris. Like Horus, Krishna’s parents were also married – no virgins here. The date of 1400 BCE is problematic as I am unaware of any mentions of this god before the first millennium BCE.

Zoroaster – now this guy, Zarathustra, was actually a real historical figure – a Persian prophet. No one knows when the heck this guy was actually born – sometime between the mid-second and mid-first millennium BCE. His parents were, again, married, sexually active – and both human. He was never worshiped (Ahura Mazda was the diety he preached) but founded the religion of Zoroastrianism. His birthday is now commemorated on the sixth day after the Persian New Year, and falls on March 26th or 28th each year on a holiday known as Khordad Sal. He is venerated as a prophet.

Mithra of Persia – (as opposed to Roman Mithras) – I am just going to link this article by the undisputed Mithra/Mithras expert Roger Beck – but no birthday, and he sprang to life fully adult from a rock (although I have no reason the doubt the rock’s virginity). I also wrote about Mithras and the problems with Mithras speculation here. Another related scholarly article is here about the related Sol Invictus.

Heracles – (original name of Hercules) – this dude’s mom was definitely not a virgin – she unknowingly had relations with Zeus, who was disguised as her husband. We have no reason to believe that she was holding out on her husband until the day Zeus showed up. The Greeks celebrated the date of his death as Heracleia, in late July/early August, but not his birth. Remember that, until Ceasar, birthdates were largely irrelevant and would only be mentioned with respect to signs in the sky or other great events, but not referenced with dates. The 800 BCE date on this one is bizarre – Herodotus claimed that Heracles lived 900 years before his own era, so roughly 1300 BCE.

Dionysus – worshipped beginning in the second millennium BCE by the Mycenians and better known by his later Roman name of Bacchus. Herodotus dates his mortal mother Semele’s life at around 2000 BCE.  She had an affair with Zeus, knowing he was Zeus – so not a virgin either or at least not a very dedicated one. But this is only one of the legends, in others the mother of Dionysus was Persephone, Queen of the Underworld. Like the Egyptians, the Greeks sometimes had regional origin stories. The weird thing about the date on this meme is that it is 186 BCE – the year that the Roman Senate prohibited the festival of Bacchanalia. So they used a legitimate date tied to Dionysus but utterly misrepresented it. It’s like saying I was born on the day I got put on the TSA “no-fly list.” (just kidding, that hasn’t happened)

Tammuz – I wrote an extensive blog on the very misrepresented Tammuz here, so I won’t go into great detail on this one. But 400 BCE? Ezekiel 8 has Tammuz being worshiped in the Temple, which was destroyed in 586 BCE – how on earth could he be born two hundred years later? And how could a Babylonian god who had a summer month named after him have his birthday celebrated on a calendar date that didn’t exist yet, by a still backward nation? Rome wasn’t even founded until 753 BCE, and at this point, Babylon and Rome were, for all intents and purposes, as far away as two countries could get while still being considered part of the known world. Yes, even mighty Rome was once a pathetic little backwater nation.

Adonis – born 200 BCE? I have seen an aryballos from the fifth century BCE with Adonis pictured on it, so again, I have no idea where this date comes from or why there would be a claim that the Greeks would be celebrating one of their gods’ birthdays according to the Roman calendar. There are many Adonis origin stories, most notably that which involved the incestuous union between his mother and grandfather, but none of them list a birth date. The only festival in his honor was Adonia, celebrated by women in the spring or summer (greatly disputed), commemorating his death. Again, they focused on how great men/demigods died.

Hermes – again – 400 BCE. How can we take seriously the claim that an ancient Greek god was only 400 years older than Messiah? In the 8th century BCE, Homer included Hermes in the Iliad. No birthdate is ever associated with him – but the Hermea festival was celebrated in his honor during the month of Hermaios (in poleis that had that month, not all did) – the timing of which varies according to the ancient regional calendars (as I mentioned previously, each region had its own separate calendar until the creation of the Thessalian calendar during the Roman era).

Prometheus – “born at the beginning of mankind” – in Greek legend he was the Titan who actually made mankind out of clay. That this birth supposedly happened on December 25th is undocumented and unsubstantiated historically. His parents were married and he was only one of their four children so, again, not a virgin birth either even though some memes make that claim. Not only wasn’t his mom a virgin, but she was also seeing Helios on the side.

Finally – I don’t know of a single scholar who thinks Yeshua/Jesus was born in June, and especially not sure why the 16th – now, in 2008 some astronomers made that claim, but it is hardly worthy of claims to scholarly consensus. And the last line equates BCE with CE – I just can’t even believe that someone would equate “Before Common Era” with “Common Era.” It’s like equating yesterday and tomorrow.

There are other accusations floated around with this December 25th myth that are just as baseless- Nimrod, Buddha, etc. – but I didn’t want to post memes from actual ministries so as to not humiliate them – I wanted to go to the source, and the source of all this is atheism. Sadly, believers have been spreading atheist propaganda in order to undermine Christmas at any cost, and so are unknowingly spreading what amounts to anti-missionary literature, undermining faith in the Jewish Messiah, instead of simply teaching the Biblical Feasts of the Lord. As a result, knowledge of the Feasts, even among those who try to keep them, is abysmal. Hey, I used to do this too – but then I started legitimately studying ancient Near Eastern and first-century world history, religion and culture. The stuff I was repeating had no correlations with the copious amounts of archaeological evidence at our disposal. In fact, over the past 150 years, our knowledge of the ancient world has exploded. It is our responsibility to study before we teach, and especially when those teachings include accusations of idolatry – a death penalty offense in the Bible. In the Bible, anyone who falsely witnessed against their neighbor with regards to a death penalty offense would themselves face the death penalty. We cannot accuse people of idolatry when we have no solid proof, or even remotely plausible theories. I trust God, His Messiah, His Word, and the integrity of His Feasts – I don’t need to lift propaganda from discredited sources. I take God’s laws very seriously.

Deuteronomy 19 15 “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. 16 If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, 17 then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days.18 The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. 20 And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. 21 Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”

UPDATE: 9/25/19–If I had known about this video years ago, I would have added this. Very hilarious bit by LutheranSatire on youtube: Horus Ruins Christmas

UPDATE: 4/13/23–Inspiring Philosophy, a terrific YouTube channel, also has a bunch of videos dedicated to the Zeitgeist claims

 

 



¿Está ordenado el Lavado de Manos? Sí … y No.   Mateo 15 y Marcos 7 en Contexto

 

Gracias Lisa Velazques! My grateful thanks to my dear sister Lisa Velazquez for translating this post. She is a marvel! Her teachings can be heard regularly on teshuva.tv

Hay mucha información errónea circulando sobre el debatido ritual del lavado de manos en el tiempo en que fueron escritos los Evangelios, así que aclaremos más las aguas. Por ahora sólo cubriremos las oraciones del lavado de manos porque a veces las personas se molestan por ellas. En el futuro, cubriremos la creencia general del primer siglo de que no lavarse ritualmente las manos contaminaría los alimentos. Tengo que sentar una base en la pureza del Templo antes de que yo vaya allí o no será comprensible. Hay una gran diferencia entre lo santo y lo común, lo limpio y lo inmundo. Tenemos que entenderlos todos para comprender lo que estaba pasando aquí – ¡de lo contrario terminamos pensando que el Mesías violó las Leyes de Moisés y se rebeló contra Dios! Hay mucho más en estos pasajes de lo que parece.

Estoy segura de que han oído hablar de los fariseos, ¿verdad? Pero lo que probablemente no saben es su historia y los pocos que había en realidad en el primer siglo – en algún lugar entre cinco y seis mil. Los fariseos, o P’rushim (del hebreo que significa “separarse”) llegaron a la prominencia, y con frecuencia a la ruina, durante los tiempos de los Hasmoneos después de la muerte del último de los líderes de la Rebelión Macabea, Simón. Durante el reinado de su nieto Aristóbulo I (el primer Hasmoneo que se describe como un verdadero rey), surgieron entre los fariseos algunas disputas muy amargas y mortales, creían en usar todas las Escrituras hebreas (como todos los judíos de hoy) y los Saduceos, que creían sólo en el mínimo necesario de la Torá (los primeros cinco libros de Moisés), y lo que creían estaba muy retorcido por su creencia de que no había resurrección ni juicio final, por lo que había que tomar bendiciones en esta vida. Tenga en cuenta que cuando las Escrituras dicen que “los principales sacerdotes” o el “Sumo Sacerdote” están hablando de los saduceos, que habían comprando el sacerdocio anual de Roma. Aunque los saduceos constituían los principales sacerdotes y el sumo sacerdocio, no eran los sacerdotes de rango y posición, como Zacarías, el padre de Juan el Bautista. Como los saduceos sólo aceptaban los primeros cinco libros de Moisés y tenían cero temor de juicio, los hacía muy peligrosos y en realidad fueron el partido responsable de entregar a Yeshúa/Jesús a Roma para ser ejecutado como un rebelde político contra el Imperio. Los Fariseos, por el contrario, en una ocasión le advirtieron de un complot de Herodes Antipas para matarlo (Lucas 13:31).

Los fariseos, al igual que la mayoría de la gente, eran un saco mezclado que eran realmente desjarretados, vivieron en una hiper cultura de honor y vergüenza. Se criaron en una sociedad donde tenían que competir por una cantidad percibida de honor (reputación) en nombre de sus familias. A medida que la fama de Yeshua aumentaba, la suya decayó y algunos respondieron atacándolo, mientras que otros respondieron siguiéndolo (Nicodemo, José de Arimatea y más tarde, en el libro de Hechos, muchos otros como vemos en Hechos 15). Pablo y Gamaliel, que escatimaron a los apóstoles, eran ambos fariseos (Pablo nunca renunció a su estatus de fariseo según Hechos 23:6).

Así que, aparte de la resurrección, ¿en qué otras cosas creían los fariseos? Bueno, como con la mayoría de los grupos judíos durante este período de tiempo, ellos creían que eran un Templo vivo. Sí, ese no es un concepto cristiano. El Segundo Templo se levantó y los judíos creyeron que eran las piedras vivas que constituían un Templo espiritual – abarcaban tanto las realidades físicas como espirituales. Debido a que creían que el pueblo de Dios era colectivamente Su Templo, tenían algunas opiniones interesantes sobre tener una relación con Dios fuera del Templo de Jerusalén – de nuevo, no es realmente diferente de los cristianos. En particular, porque se veían a sí mismos como un reino de sacerdotes (otra vez, no un concepto cristiano), creían en traer algunos estándares de pureza del Templo al hogar y lo más importante, a la mesa de la cena. La mesa era vista como el altar de la casa, donde comidas de convenio podían ser compartidas entre ellos y Dios.

Entonces, ¿qué tiene que ver esto con las oraciones que los judíos oran hoy?

“Bendito eres Tú, Señor, Dios nuestro, Rey del Universo, que nos ha santificado por tus mandamientos y nos ha ordenado acerca del lavamiento de manos” (y hay una expresión similar en el encendido de las velas del Shabbat)

Espera, no hay mandamiento para eso, ¿verdad? Si y no. Los fariseos, y en gran parte otros judíos de la época, se consideraban parte del Templo vivo, su mesa un altar, y cada israelita un sacerdote del Reino de Dios. ¿Estás empezando a ver hacia donde me dirijo? Aunque sabían que no eran y no podían ser sacerdotes del Templo, se veían como mediadores y siervos de Dios en el mundo, que son funciones sacerdotales. Comenzaron a mirar los mandamientos del Templo para los sacerdotes y llevarlos a su vida cotidiana. ¿Había un mandamiento con respecto al lavado de las manos e iluminación de las lámparas en el Templo? Absolutamente. Donde los modernos se cuelgan es en la palabra “nosotros” en esas oraciones. Como parte de un grupo social diádico, no eran individualistas. Cuando los sacerdotes en el Templo guardaban un mandamiento, todos lo guardaban por extensión. Si un sacerdote rompía un mandamiento, todos lo rompían: la nación no era tanto una colección de individuos, sino un solo pueblo. Aquí es donde los judíos y los antiguos cristianos difieren fundamentalmente de nosotros. Un mandamiento para uno se consideraba que se aplicaba a todos, incluso si una persona en particular no podía realizarlo físicamente ellos mismos. ¿Guardó el Mesías toda ley? Sólo si lo consideramos como uno con la nación. Evidentemente no podía mantener físicamente las leyes de las mujeres, ni de los reyes, ni de los sacerdotes. Pero como cada miembro de la nación guardaba las leyes, se les consideraba colectivamente como estando de pie con Dios.

Éxodo 30:17-21: 17 Y el SEÑOR dijo a Moisés: 18 Harás también un lavabo de bronce con su soporte de bronce para lavar. La pondrás entre la Tienda de Reunión y el altar, y pondrás agua en ella, 19 con la cual Aarón y sus hijos lavarán sus manos y sus pies. 20 Cuando entran en el Tabernáculo de Reunión, o cuando se acercan al altar para ministrar, para quemar una ofrenda al Señor, se lavarán con agua, para que no mueran. 21 Y lavarán sus manos y sus pies, para que no mueran. Será por estatuto perpetuo para ellos, a él y a su descendencia por sus generaciones”.

Como el altar era un lugar de ofrenda de alimentos para el Señor, los sacerdotes debían lavarse las manos y los pies antes de acercarse a Él. Por lo tanto, los fariseos honraban a Dios en sus hogares al volver a hacer esto – ¿estaban equivocados al llamarle un mandamiento? No. Sin embargo, vemos que Yeshua no lo hizo, pero Él no los criticó por hacerlo. En lugar de eso, Él cambió hábilmente el tema de cómo deben estar limpiándose en el interior, como se ordenó en el Sinaí, en la circuncisión de sus corazones. La pureza ritual no era nada a menos que estuviese acompañada por la transformación interna que deberíamos experimentar como pueblo de Dios.

¿Qué hay de la iluminación de las velas del Shabbat? No haré un corte extenso aquí, pero a los sacerdotes se les ordenó cuidar y encender la Menorá en el Templo, así como el fuego en el Altar. So ¿fue el encendido de la llama del Shabbat (en aquellos días una lámpara de aceite) un mandamiento? Sí, de alguna manera. Recuerden, están trayendo el Templo a la casa, como piedras vivas.

Veamos otra vez la oración:

“Bendito seas tú, Señor, nuestro Dios, Rey del Universo, que nos ha santificado por tus mandamientos y nos ha mandado acerca del lavamiento de manos”.

En ninguna parte dice que Dios nos ordenó acerca del lavado de manos en el hogar – y por lo tanto esta oración no es una mentira. ¡Dios realmente nos mandó, como Su Nación, acerca del lavado de manos!

Mi razón para abordar esto no es promover ni criticar las oraciones o las tradiciones, simplemente para explicar el pensamiento subyacente. Honestamente no apruebo o desapruebo, soy ambivalente. Si lo haces, no me importa. Si usted se abstiene – no me importa, vea la imagen. Mucho se oscurece cuando la gente tiene una postura definitiva sobre el tema – a veces sienten la necesidad de hacer las intenciones siniestras o excusar excesivamente lo que estaba pasando. Yo no participo en el lavado de manos o en muchas otras halakah, pero es muy importante para mí abordar la desinformación y las reacciones negativas sobre esta tradición. A veces nos empujan a juzgar algo antes de que realmente entendamos por qué se hacía, y cuando estamos juzgando los escritos bíblicos del primer siglo, es increíblemente importante que hagamos las cosas bien. Yeshúa no lo hizo, pero tampoco condenó a nadie por hacerlo. Hay guerras que hay que combatir, y posturas que tomar, pero sólo un tonto lucha contra cada hojarasca que cruza su camino sólo porque parece un poco extraño y esquemático. Seamos sabios y discernidores antes de caer en la batalla unos con otros sobre cosas que el Mesías mismo dejó ir sin desafío.

Ahora, en cuanto a la creencia del hecho de comer con las manos sin lavar hacia que la comida se contaminara, eso es otra cosa completamente. Vamos a cubrir eso en el futuro.

EDITADO: Me han preguntado sobre esto varias veces y por lo que voy a añadir un poco más. “Sólo sabemos que los discípulos de Yeshúa no lavaron sus manos, no que Él no lo hiciera.” Así que para aclarar esto, tenemos que mirar la relación del Sabio/discípulo (en realidad es anacrónico llamar a los maestros religiosos del día – Rabinos – que surgieron más tarde). Los maestros tomaban principalmente a jóvenes adolescentes como discípulos, e imagino que todos estos jóvenes eran realmente muy jóvenes, a excepción de Pedro (aunque ahora tengo 48 años, Pedro probablemente también cuenta como “muy joven”). El objetivo de un discípulo era aprender todo lo que su maestro sabía, y emularlo todos los días. Así que, cuando fue desafiado en cuanto al comportamiento de los discípulos, la acusación era más probable, “¿Por qué están corrompiendo a la juventud?” – una carga mucho peor que simplemente personalmente transgredir su tradición. Dicho esto, los Judíos Galileos eran muy observantes de las Tradiciones de los Ancianos, mucho más que en Judea – así que imagino que creció haciendo esto en casa. Creo que se detuvo como un adulto debido a la necesidad de abordar la suposición defectuosa de que la comida limpia podría contaminarse fuera del Templo simplemente por tener manos sucias – cuando llegamos a la siguiente parte, vamos a abordar eso porque Yeshúa específicamente habla de la incapacidad de contaminar comidas limpias con manos sucias.