Chapter 1
The Phenomenon

 

Something is happening. It is happening within every denomination of Christianity. It is not the work of any organization or charismatic leader. On a very “grass roots” level people are meeting in home fellowships and church Bible studies to study the Hebraic origins of their faith. Many others are reading their Bibles on their own, believing that they are all alone in their discoveries.

Although this development in Christianity seems to be quite expansive, it is also a quiet movement, much of the time going undetected. Yet, within the Orthodox Jewish community, many have noticed the movement and call it simply “the phenomenon.”

David Klinghoffer in the Toward Tradition pamphlet, “Enemies or Allies?” writes:

“As the Evangelical magazine Christianity Today has noted, “The real story in the last 20 years is the founding of scores of small, grassroots, pro-Israel organizations that rarely get into the headlines. They exist to educate and mobilize their local Evangelical community to support Israel.”

Many groups go beyond supporting Israel, and actively want to learn from Judaism the meaning of their own faith. Organizations have been multiplying that seek to inspire Christians to return to their Judaic roots; these groups include the Restoration Foundation in Atlanta, advocating “the restoration of all believers to their rightful heritage in the Judaism of the 1st-century church”; Hebrew Ministries in Houston, which proposes that Christians observe the Sabbath on Saturday as Jews do; and First Fruits of Zion Ministries in Jerusalem, but with an American following, which likewise advocates Saturday Sabbath-observance as well as observance of the laws of kosher food preparation.

Here in Western Washington State, Christians gather each year at Ocean Shores, a resort city on the Pacific Coast, to observe the festival of Sukkot, complete with dwelling in temporary booths or “sukkot” and waving palm branches and citrus fruits as per Jewish tradition. Jews who hear of such goings-on may at first suspect an attempt to lure religiously uneducated Jews to embrace a version of Christianity concealed behind Jewish decorations – a shamefully dishonest tactic pioneered by “Jews for Jesus.” But the folks at Ocean Shores don’t mean to convert any Jews; there are no Jews in Ocean Shores. (As Toward Tradition’s Rabbi Daniel Lapin has quipped, “I’m less concerned about Christians who perform mitzvot [commandments] like wearing a prayer shawl and praying to God than I am about Jews who don’t.”)

We are aware of no comprehensive study of this phenomenon, but the anecdotal evidence is striking. 

This change is not limited to one branch or denomination of Christianity. There are some Pentecostal groups that are beginning to use tallits and shofars in their service. Other groups have become more interested in the Biblical Holy Days, but no matter how it manifests it self, the phenomenon seems to be found throughout every form of Christianity. While visiting a Catholic convent, a few miles from Jerusalem, I was describing the phenomenon to Sister Katherine, (the head nun), believing she was unfamiliar with the “Hebrew Roots” movement. I was watching her nod her head as I was saying, “There is a growing number of Christians becoming interested in the Sabbath and Biblical Holy Days.” She then said, “Oh yes, I attend a messianic congregation every Sabbath.”

Messianic Jews?

In order to understand where this phenomenon is heading, we need to look into the origins of our faith. Christianity began as a messianic sect of Judaism. This is not to say that other religious Jews are not messianic, because clearly they are. One of the 13 articles of Jewish faith drafted by the thirteenth century Jewish philosopher, Maimonides, states:

“I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah; and, though he tarry, I will wait daily for his coming.”

However, there are a couple of factors that make Christianity different from other messianic sects of Judaism that have risen throughout the years. First of all, the size of Christianity is much more than that of other sects. Secondly, it grew and changed into something quite different from what it started out as, and did so very early in its development. It became a different religion. This causes us to ask the critical questions: Why and how did this happen?

As we will discover, Christianity began as "a bunch of Jewish guys", but because of the political and cultural struggles that existed at the time, difficulties arose as Jewish concepts were inserted into a Greek world without the experience or knowledge of how to properly assimilate them.

Why We Believe

In fact, our reality is often shaped by our inexperience or lack of knowledge about a particular subject. I had a teacher (when I was in the 6th grade) that told us a story about an experience he had as a young boy. When he was growing up, there was a map of North America in his classroom. The United States was green on the map; Canada was pink. My teacher said that he was shocked when his family visited Canada. The trees and the grass were green! Because of the colors on the map, he was expecting the grass and trees in Canada to be pink. However, the trees and grass in Canada were not pink, they never had been pink. And yet, up to his families visit, that was my teacher’s reality – that is what he thought was true. 

In addition, sometimes experiences and feelings change our reality. Have you ever known someone who had a strong belief in God, and then, for whatever reason changed that belief? There may have been a terrible accident that killed a friend or family member; something so traumatic that it caused that person to become bitter and lose all faith in an all powerful being. They may say “If there is a God, how could he have allowed such a thing to happen?” Whether there is or is not a God has not changed. The man’s BELIEF in God, however, is now the exact opposite of what it once was. This change did not come about because of intensive study and research. His beliefs before and after the accident are based on feelings and experience - not proof. This is not unusual. Most of our deep beliefs are not based on proofs, but on our feelings and our experiences, causing our "reality" to be less objective than what we realize.

A Matter of Perspective

Sometimes the real key to understanding requires no more than viewing our beliefs from a vantage point we may never have considered.

The reason for this is that our doctrinal outlook is derived through a particular perspective that is based upon certain assumptions. These assumptions are held as undeniable truths, locking us into a paradigm that is very difficult to alter. And, in fact, we will discover proofs that seem to support our paradigm, because we do not accept as valid any other perspective.

Let me give you a few examples of this.  My wife and I were invited over to an author’s home for dinner. He was a writer of “conspiracy books”. It was an interesting evening of conversation, because he viewed everything in life as a conspiracy. That is the way he viewed the world. He also found “proofs” for all his theories because he accepted as a core belief that the conspiracies were true. In other words, he believed that the conspiracies were true to begin with, therefore, he believed everything that happened was a result of the conspiracy which in turn proved that it was true.

Our viewing reality different than what it really is happens all the time.  We've all seen it.  In fact, it has been the comedic device used in many TV sitcoms. 

One situation comedy that used this device almost exclusively was a show called “Three’s Company”. Every episode was basically the same. Someone would either overhear someone else talking or find something, and they would believe that the situation was different than it really was. And because that is how they believed the situation to be, every time something was said or done they interpreted the situation in that way. The comedy arose through seeing two people interpret a situation totally different from each other based upon their preconceived view of reality.

Fill in the Blanks

However, even when we base beliefs on specific Biblical texts we don't all agree on what we are reading. Have you ever wondered why there are  so many religions, and so many denominations WITHIN those religions? How could this be? If we are all reading the same text, the Bible, wouldn’t we all believe the same thing? The problem is, we have a limited text. There is much that is NOT in the Bible, so we must “fill in the blanks”. 

Most “core beliefs” are based on what is NOT in the bible. Therefore, how we fill in the blanks determines some of our basic doctrines. Belief in a rapture, for example, is based upon very limited, non specific text. It is a relatively new belief that was not part of Christian theology before the 1800's.  It gained popularity in Christianity in the 1950's, and more recently with the popular "Left Behind" series. It is strange to think that such an accepted doctrine within Christianity has so brief of a history, and that before the 1800's it was not part of Christian belief at all.

How do "new" beliefs get started?  Through our reason and judgment we develop theories and doctrines. Then we find supporting texts that will “prove” our doctrines, and continue to build more theories based upon the ones that we have “proven”.

The more that we build on our original premise, the more of an investment we have. Yet, all of our development is based on how we filled in the blanks to begin with. Or to put it another way, we base a lot of our beliefs on what we make up.

Seeing is Believing

A few years ago on Hoshanna Raba in Jerusalem, we attended a lecture given by Rabbi Gold.  He talked about the phrase, "If I hadn't have seen it I wouldn't have believed it". And said the opposite is even more true, "If I hadn't have believed it, I wouldn't have seen it", meaning that our view of reality is based on our beliefs we have BEFORE discovering the facts.  Regardless of how clear the facts are, we often refuse to see reality in any other way.

The condition then that we find ourselves in is known as “cognitive dissonance.” Regardless of what may be true, we believe those things that are comfortable for us to accept, and do not believe those things that are uncomfortable.  To look at the possibilities of a different perspective, however, is critical to understanding what happened as Christianity began.

This new religion believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and yet had adopted many pagan beliefs and customs. Its new writings used the Tanakh (Old Testament) as its authoritative text by which it “proved” its positions. Then its leaders said that the authoritative text was not authoritative after all and they, in fact, were “doing away” with many of the principles found in the Tanakh: a contradiction that many Christians have no problem accepting.

How did a group of just over one hundred followers grow into the most influential religion in all of history, and what is this phenomenon we see developing within the Christian faith today all about? Upon arriving home from my first visit to Israel in March of 2001, I posted the following on my website:

The Phenomenon

Something is happening. In every denomination within the Christian Church there is a drawing -- a tug back to the origins of our faith. We who are being drawn are seeking something, but we are not always sure what that something is. We are part of a phenomenon, trying to the best of our abilities to follow that tug that we believe is God Himself drawing us back to our beginnings.

From my perspective, it is not necessarily essential to know why the phenomenon is happening, only to see that it is. It is somewhat like the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” Many people feel like the character played by Richard Dreyfus. They are pulled toward Jerusalem. They are compelled to reevaluate, and begin to observe in a more complete way, the Sabbath and the Biblical Holy Days. Prayer and gratitude and an eagerness to learn are becoming more prominent in their lives. They find a kinship with complete strangers who are also being pulled the same direction, to the same end.

There is no organization that will control or contain it. It is not our doing -- it is God’s. That, however, does not mean that there will not be organizational attempts to take control and even take credit for the movement now a-foot. This, in itself, is the biggest obstacle that we are facing: to allow God to do His work, and for those of us who are leaders to be gentle guides; to not evaluate our own significance as of any importance; to not read ourselves into prophecy; to not focus upon our own accomplishments, as if they were the important factor.

When you get right down to it, none of us have the market on being able to even fully comprehend what He is doing. Every time I believe I understand the breadth of what He is doing, I soon realize I was only seeing the edges of a small corner.

What then are we to do? Should we sit back and ignore it, avoiding taking any active role? No, but neither should we force it into our individual areas of comfort and familiarity. We should be aware of, and watchful for, those people eager for followings: for the person who believes that God has given His truth to them alone.

As phenomenees and observers of this phenomenon unfolding, let us not be focused in narrow areas and subjects that will divide us. Rather let us focus on what unites us: the topics, issues, and values that we can clearly see we are all moving toward; asking each other for patience and understanding; being able to teach and be taught; not forcing or convincing, but gently guiding, directing, and educating in the service of one another.

The Paradigm Shift

This book is an attempt to explain “the phenomenon” that is now happening in Christianity through undergoing a “paradigm shift”.  If you are willing to put aside your preconceived beliefs, you may find a reality that is much different than you have ever imagined! One that holds an exciting future, while discovering the origins of our faith. Those origins take us back to a young Orthodox Jewish rabbi who taught for just over three years and died at the age of thirty-three.

To find out more about this young rabbi, Rabbi Yeshua Ben-Yoseph, we must look at his life and teachings in context of the culture, time, and belief system in which they took place. This discovery begins by asking a common phrase heard in modern Christianity, “What would Jesus do?”