The Heart of the Issue, and Why Torah Observance Is Impossible Today

I've been sick with food poisoning for the past three days. But being sick gives you a lot of time to reflect on things.

I've decided that I need a reset in my faith walk. A purge of old habits and a new perspective on some things I've been doing as I walk with Jesus.

I came to an astounding conclusion.

If being "Torah-centric" is the most important thing, what is Jesus going to do with all the people who died before the 20th century?

Hebraic Roots, as they're commonly called, are a new phenomenon.

So, at the end of time, when Jesus returns sometime in the far future, how is He going to judge the dead who died before this movement?

Are they going to be vile sinners who are going to be told to get lost?

Or will He have compassion and mercy for their ignorance?

I'm not saying the Torah is a bad thing, but the truth is, it is impossible to keep the Torah today.

We aren't living in a theocracy, certainly not in a biblical framework.

We aren't living in the land of Israel, and frankly, modern Israel is secular.

We are also under the Melchizedek Priesthood, not the Levitical Priesthood.

Hebrews 7:12 "For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.”

We aren't to sacrifice animals as part of this new priesthood because Jesus is the final sacrifice, as seen when the Temple veil was split into two.

Matthew 27:51 "Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth quaked and the rocks were split."

There is even a record in Judaism about the scarlet thread of the Day of Atonement not turning white anymore after Jesus died. For forty years after 30 A.D., the Temple doors would slam and open over and over in addition to the thread staying red.

Now, I'm not saying that Paul and his followers didn't practice sacrifices after the cross, because many passages show they did use the Temple, even keeping a Nazirite vow (see Acts 18:18).

But if someone was living in 13th-century Europe, could they keep any of these things? No, which means God has a universal standard of morality for all humans.

What about Joseph, Jacob, or even Enoch?

They didn't have a tabernacle or the Temple.

Most Torah laws revolve around that system. And Jesus is the High Priest of a better covenant.

God's morality never changes. But He does change some things that wouldn't make sense later on from Adam and Eve.

We're not expected to be vegetarian nudists, and God forbid us marrying our own siblings and the like.

God allowed it, at the beginning of creation, to populate the human race on Earth.

Later on, in Leviticus 18, He introduced relationships that are forbidden to us and the biblical definition of sexual immorality.

And He introduced Himself at a time when man thought you communed with the gods by sacrificing blood.

I doubt He'd do that today with our advancements.

That isn't to say that the sacrifices didn't point us to Christ, because they did. God used the idea of mankind at the time for His own glory.

But it is impossible to keep Torah today.

We can't.

I can take the day off on Tabernacles days one and eight. Camp out, even. But I'm not in Jerusalem and can't keep the rest of it. I can keep the spirit and celebrate; maybe throw a biblical party to boot.

I can blow the trumpet on the Day of Trumpets, take the day off, and rest in Christ.

But I can't do the rest of any of the commands, which are temple-specific.

I'm done with calling myself "Torah-observant." I’m a Christian, one who understands Torah is the way, but not everything is possible today.

I am a follower of Christ, who Himself followed the Torah. But doing things perfectly isn’t the main point of the Law. The point of the Law is to show us sin and to hit the mark, preferably with God and our neighbor.

I won't eat unclean foods; I will keep the Sabbath; I will keep the feasts; I will love my neighbor; and I will keep the moral laws that apply.

But I can't literally keep all of the Torah, even in a theocracy. It isn't possible, especially since we're under the Melchizedek Priesthood.

I’m not a woman, so female laws don’t apply to me. I’m not a farmer, so farming laws mean little to me. But I am a follower of the one true God, Yahweh, so His morals apply to me.

Does Psalm 119 make me taste the sweet honey that the commandments are? Of course!

But until Jesus returns and sets up a theocracy, we can't do these things as they were done before.

We can love our neighbor at any time, like our Middle Ages brethren, who had no idea of the Hebrew Roots movement.

Where is baptism in the Mosaic Covenant? I’ve found mikvahs, but not baptism.

Where is the idea that Jesus is the Torah made flesh?

He's the Word of God, not literally the Five Books of Moses.

He existed before the Torah, being the means by which God created the heavens and the earth.

The New Covenant is not renewed; it is new.

That doesn't mean we are free to do whatever. The commandments are always important.

But we don't wear outer garments with four corners anymore, so we can't make tzitzit in the normal style of dress of those days. And is it really for you, or are you trying to be holier-than-thou? I’m not saying not to wear them, but to check the heart.

For me, a prayer shawl with them suffices, but it’s quite impractical to wear it everywhere.

And the name of Jesus, too, is fine to use.

Yes, the name was Yeshua or Yehoshua, but it transliterates to Jesus in our modern language.

It isn't a sin to use the name Jesus. That's how most of the world knows Him, and how most of the world will react when they see Him coming on the clouds in the far future. “That’s Jesus!”

The funny thing is, I'm from Colorado Springs, the city where this movement seems to have begun with a false prophecy about progressive revelation over time at a congregation in 1986.

We have a church on almost every block, so no shortage of interpretations.

The truth is, the Torah is important, but it doesn't work without a theocracy. The moral laws always apply, but the ceremonial priestly works can't be done today.

And there's always some form of Kabbalah or Zohar work in this movement.

I'm sorry, but Kabbalah is not biblical. Gematria is not biblical, and higher interpretations are obscuring the plain meaning of the text in exchange for gnosticism.

Jesus told us to love even greater and that adultery in the flesh begins in the heart of a man.

We must examine our hearts, not just mechanically obey.

And I'm done worrying about issues that aren't relevant to the gospel.

Fighting the “woke agenda” isn't relevant to the cause of the good news.

I think it harms art, but missing out on God’s love harms people.

I'm interested in seeing people saved, not worried about issues that aren't culturally relevant in our era en masse.

There are entire subgroups in this movement that treat the law above the heart of the commands.

There are subgroups in this movement that treat plural marriage as some kind of fetish instead of worrying about the real matters—the matters of the heart. Again, God allowing something doesn't mean you must do said thing. Neither can you condemn it.

God defines what is moral, well done.

But having multiple women if you can’t even get your house in order seems like a priority misplaced.

There are militant people who believe that kids who have been eating candy on October 31st are eating Snickers to Satan, or that people who put up a tree in honor of the Nativity story are evil.

Jeremiah wasn’t describing a Christmas tree, that’s called anachronism.

Where does the Bible say that we can't have other traditional days, so long as they don't worship a false god?

I accept Deuteronomy 4:2, but that doesn't mean we can't eat Thanksgiving or decide not to drink alcohol even if the Bible permits it.

If you drink, great. If you don't, as Paul said, “…let each be convinced in his own mind.”

The time has come for this movement to realize we cannot possibly keep the Torah today. We need to have the heart of Christ. Which IS the Torah, but not the impossible things to keep in modern, non-Temple times.

How is hating your brothers and sisters in Christ loving?

How do you explain the massive gathering in Revelation 7 in light of this movement being very small?

By all means, avoid the pork, but don't become a terrorist who doesn't show the slightest inclination towards love.

And yes, Paul is often misunderstood, but since we aren't in the land with a temple and Levites, we can't do anything but honor the spirit of the command.

Many things are from the rabbis, not the Bible. And yet you expect me to believe a movement coming from God Himself doesn't understand these additions?

So many things are warped today.

Cheeseburgers, cooking on the Sabbath, having a giant beard (Joseph had no beard), occult practices, Jewish traditional interpretations, September starting the year, the rabbis changing circumcision in 140 A.D., and the list goes on.

If God is really behind this movement, why are many in it not correct on these issues? I'd think God would understand His own words. Traditions of men are everywhere, even in this movement.

Let's offer up our gifts for the Body of Christ and not spend needless arguments on issues that don't affect us today. What good does slavery do us in the world today? The Torah guides how it should be done, but thankfully, humanity has moved past it.

Though, to be fair, slavery in biblical times was more like employment or voluntary subservience than our plantation-time cruelty.

What does plural marriage do in a monogamous society except get you thrown in jail and hurt people who are part of a different culture than the ancient Near East? I will never be ashamed of God’s morals, but what's truly the higher law here?

Not judging, just making a point.

Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, and His ways are far higher.

Let's be wise as serpents and gentle as doves.

Stop focusing on the letter alone, but on the spirit of all of the commands.

Let's revive ourselves and love the lost, even those pesky, lawless Christians that keep the Torah better than you do.