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Jennifer Cuddy

Un-Earthing the Hebrew Origins of Christianity

Posted Sunday, June 07, 2009 (153 days 17 hours ago.) Viewed 110 times.

Many Christians do not recognize that the Original Church was a branch of Judaism ( hence, they are grafted into the Vine ). The Judea-Christian Church of the 1st Century embraced the Torah and all of the Jewish festivals as expressions of Jesus (or Yeshua, in Hebrew). In fact, Jesus of Nazareth ( Yeshua, the Nazarene ) was an avid Jew and not once did He discourage these adherence's. This divorce of Christianity from Judaism was first installed after the emperor Constantine announced Christianity to be the sovereign faith of the Roman Empire. It is ironic that the Romans would eventually embrace the essential book of Judaism after centuries of slaughtering and oppressing the Jews in the preceding Jewish Wars and their destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.

As more gentiles were converted into the faith in Rome, as such, the Jewish and Hebrew origins and practices of the Jewish Christians were liquidated. After Constantine, Judaism and Christianity became two separate religions. New rules were imposed that widened this gap between them; such as:

1. Disbarment of the celebration of Jewish festivals

2. Changing the Sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday to appease the Pagan converts

3. kneeling rather then standing and raising one's arms in devotion to the Most High

Subsequently, Christianity became increasingly anti-Jewish in their drive to separate the Church from its Jewish origins and the Hebrew people. Christians lost their earlier loyalties to their fellow Jews as they were once fellow "under dogs" succumbing to the persecutions of the Romans. The gifts of the Jews were forgotten and suppressed. The label "Judaizers" became distorted to mean anyone who reminded them of the Jewish Origins of their faith. However, Christian scholars are now unearthing this true history. Jesus ( Yeshua ) is now being recalled as the very Jewish Messiah, and not in any way the white- Anglo Saxon that is often portrayed in American films and in the stain glassed windows of the Roman Catholic Church.

I believe, that if Christians today would investigate for themselves the 1st Century Jewish Christian Church led by the Apostles: Peter, Paul, James, Matthew, John, and Luke - that they would discover the deeper meanings behind Jesus' own words and parables as reflections of the ancient Talmud; the purification ritual of Baptism that was commonly practiced by the Jews of the Temple period called "mikvah", and recognize the Torah and Laws of Leviticus as being not the distortions of these laws that Paul was referring to in the numerous letters and Epistles of the New Testament. To truly understand Yeshua ( Jesus ), one should understand Him in context to the Jewish history and exegesis from which He emerged. I leave you now with one question: " Why shouldn't you?"

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Poetries:Lost and Found

Posted Thursday, March 26, 2009 (226 days 21 hours ago.) Viewed 44 times.

Shadows and Sunlight

To live in the sun is to engage in life!

It is a submission to the rules of nature;

humanity is their gift.

They are content,

have families

and they are very popular

and successful

in this world.

And it is a brave activity, saying yes

humbled by the wonder of God.

They are free spirited

and energetic,

both of body and mind.

To choose the darkness -

the cold barren months

of December

and January

is a sullen choice.

They feel only resentment

and anger

and jealousy.

However, proud and headstrong

in their

refusal to live

and refusal

to conform

their answer is always

a bitter "No!"

Some stay in the shades

of life.

They fear the strength of the light,

and can not commit.

Instead,

they observe both the sun and the darkness;

like cowards

or hypocrites -

because they yearn

but will not yield

to the power and peace

of lightness.

They repress their anger

to become shadows

of apathy -

and they die

quietly

and alone.

Eternal Youth

Before dawn on Saturday mornings

or every morning, maybe -

people sparsely fill the fitness centers

in loosely fitting armless t-shirts

and spandex

and bottles waters.

Silence is replaced by the clashing sounds

of metal on metal

or the rhythmic beat of anorectic runners

on treadmills;

when nobody watches

and no one compares.

They sweat, they hunger

they call

but no one answers.

Tomorrow,

they'll be back again

for some days

are very, very long days.

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Biblical Archaeology: Why Do We Search?

Posted Wednesday, February 04, 2009 (276 days 9 hours ago.) Viewed 165 times.

I've noticed a sort of pattern emerging in my spiritual journey that I can only refer to as a "growing pains." Whereas I once was fully engulfed in reading the Bible rather innocently, pleasantly and enormously enthusiastically, I have recently taken a brief turn from the actual source ( the Bible ), and have started reading books on Theology, spiritual warfare, and watching documentaries on Biblical Archaeology. To my chagrin, the latter imposed a queer sort of stumbling block, though not one that disproves my new found faith per say, but does challenge my literalistic mind frolicking in my own ethnocentric sense of Biblical interpretation. Oddly enough, I had never thought of myself as a literalist before. Quite the contrary.

In the film version of the nonfiction book "Walking the Bible" writer Bruce Feiler states that one of the main themes of the first five books of the Bible ( otherwise known as the Torah), is a people's relationship to the land. On first hearing this statement I was a bit unsettled in my seat. To me, the actual land seemed incidental for the most part. Or at least, incidental in all except for the Exodus story where the newly named Israelites journey through the desert into the Promised Land. This period of time in the desert certainly has its metaphorical significance as Moses and his people go through a sort of death to a kind of resurrection, i.e., from slavery in the prosperous Goshen, Egypt through the desert of the Sinai ( Desert of Sin ) unto the land of milk and honey, ancient Canaan, now known as the area of Israel where they were to become a nation of God's people or Israelites. Other than this metaphor, I do not see the stories as reflections of humanity's relationship to land at all. Nevertheless, insistent upon this, the documentary journeys through the theorized sites beginning in modern day Iraq to an alleged location of the actual Garden of Eden, to Mt Ararat, to Egypt, to Mount Sinai and on to Israel. Note: I should say, "an alleged Mount Sinai " as we have yet to without a doubt locate the real mountain of God where Moses did receive the ten commandments and spoke to God "face to face." In fact, I have now seen three different documentaries all making compelling claims to its location; my personal favorite being in the southern tip of now Saudi Arabia. As far as anyone making claims to having found the Garden of Eden seems to me beyond absurd, not out of disbelief in its past existence, but the thought of searching for something which God himself has stated to have hidden from man is just too " Tower of Babel-ish." ( See Genesis 11:1-9 ) All of which leads me to this question, " Why must we search?"

For millenia people have been searching for various Biblical landmarks and/or holy objects to validate the Bible. The most recent documentary I've seen called " Exodus Decoded " searches not only for the real Mt Sinai, but also gives a fascinating scientific explanation for the ten plagues of Egypt along with evidence of the Ark of the Covenant's actual existence. Graham Hancock's research outlined in his book " The Sign and the Seal " has convinced me without a doubt that the Ark of the Covenant is in Ethiopia. And in the newly released biography of the Russian princess, Anastasia, there is mentioned a successful Royal search for Noah's Ark found on Mt Ararat. Even Jimmy Carter claims to have witnessed this object while flying over Mt Ararat to meet with the Shaw of Iran in the 1980's. The list could go on and on as far as excavations go: to the Lost Tomb of Jesus, his site of crucifixion, the Shroud of Tiran, etc.. And to make these matters all the more difficult, the political unrest in the Middle East makes attempted quests nearly impossible, if not deliberately thwarted due to National Security threats in these areas. Also, because there is so much folklore in nearly every place that hints to an actual undiscovered site of "the real Mt Sinai," that these Bedouin legends can give one a false sense of assurance. For example: all of the three documentaries I have seen thus far have Bedouin traditions that stake claims to "Jebel Musa" aka Mt Sinai. Obviously, only one can be correct, if any one of them at all.

Yet, one thing that I have noticed in some of the mission statements of the explorers' is that some seem to be looking for proof to justify faith, rather than to search as an act of worship and devotion. I doubt that God would reveal his mysteries to those who look for evidence as a prerequisite to believe. And if you believe, why must you search? Or is it " because I believe, I search." Unless you are searching for the sake of your own glory, you would have to have some element of belief to embark on such a quest. However, sometimes these searches can only prove to be very confusing to a believer. Sometimes, the very discussion can be controversial in certain circles or denominations or even between rivaling religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Sometimes these searches can actually unite all three religions in some very unsuspecting and uncomfortable ways. It is because of this that I refer to this path in my journey as "growing pains." It isn't easy to be shown events in the Bible from various perspectives and it is the ultimate paradox. I can't even begin to imagine the tension that must reside in these areas.

Despite archaeological findings, we will never to be able to prove that it was God who instructed Moses to make the Ark of the Covenant, nor that God's will parted the Red Sea ( or as some might say, the sea of Reeds which is a sweet water lake, in fact ) even if we were to prove that all ten plagues did occur as the story of Exodus describes. And this is the element that we call faith. I do not have to see the Ark of the Covenant to know that it was God who inscribed his ten commandments on stone tablets to give to Moses. I do not have to climb Mt Ararat to believe the stories of those who have seen Noah's Ark on that mountain. I do not have to see the real tomb of Jesus to know that he resurrected from it because I believe it in my heart to be true. I believe it all because it is the only thing that ironically makes sense to me in this earthly world where we reside. And in the end, faith is the only thing that will truly matter. It is by far and away more fulfilling to believe in such a beautiful story than not to believe. I don't know why people would choose to live such a life of death as not to believe in this God, in this story, and in this that gives all the world hope, alas!

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writing, poetry, and publishing

Un-Earthing the Hebrew Origins of Christianity

Poetries:Lost and Found

Biblical Archaeology: Why Do We Search?

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