Jewish ??? Christian ???

[GymRose]

Morning All

My 11 year old son was watching a cartoon in which a family celebrated Honika ( sp??) I don't know how to explain the difference to him. I know Jewish people are Gods chosen people, but what does that mean exactly and how do I explain the difference to my son, I've never really known myself. We don't have a big Jewish community here in Australia so the subject has never really come up.

Thanks to anyone who can help.

[Guest Eyes on Jesus]

Hi, the Jewish people are God's chosen in that he is showing himself to the world through the nation of Israel.

God's faithfullness to his people can be seen throughout scripture, how they have rebelled against him, just like the rest of the world we have all departed from the Lord and he is always faithfull in forgiving us and it all started from Abraham, when God promised him that he would make his seed as the sand of the sea, while the Jewish people or Israelites are the actual seed of Abraham scripture tells us we the gentiles are of the seed of Abraham through faith in Jesus Christ.

And we can see clearly that God has not abandoned his people Israel,

for scripture so clearly tells us that God would return his people to the land of Israel which he did in 1948.

54 years ago, today there are last I heard 112 messianic congregations in Israel, that is exciting news for us , for we hear of so much blood shed in Israel, but behind the scenes there are hundreds getting the gospel to the Jewish people through the mighty power of God through the Holy Spirit, and they are being saved by the very one who brought them back to their land, and that is God the only God in the whole earth, the God of Israel, praise be to the Ancient of Days.

[Dad Ernie]

My 11 year old son was watching a cartoon in which a family celebrated Honika ( sp??) I don't know how to explain the difference to him. I know Jewish people are Gods chosen people, but what does that mean exactly and how do I explain the difference to my son, I've never really known myself. We don't have a big Jewish community here in Australia so the subject has never really come up.

Greetings Gymrose,

This is from the Wycliffe's Bible Encyclopedia:

Feast of dedication. The Feast of Dedication (hanukku, "dedication"), also called the Feast of Lights, is a significant, although extra-biblical, feast originating during the Maccabean period in commemoration of the purification of the temple and restoration of the altar by Judas Maccabeus in 164 B.C. (1 Macc 4:36-61). The dedication of the altar was observed eight days from the 25th of Kislev (Dec.) and ordained to be observed yearly thereafter. According to II Macc 10:6-7, the feast was likened to the Feast of Tabernacles and celebrated by the carrying of boughs, palms, and branches, with the singing of psalms. Josephus called the feast "Lights" for he writes: "We celebrate this festival, and call it Lights. I suppose the reason was because this liberty [i.e., restored political and religious freedeom] beyond our hopes appeared to us" (Ant. xii.7.7). The use of lights during Hanukkah celebrations has always played a significant part, especially in the homes, synagogues, and streets of Palestine. The feast is mentioned in connection with Jesus ministry in Jn 10:22ff.

John 10:22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.

[Hvnly1Rose]

I would have to think that as much as our faith comes from the Jews it was accepted more so by the Gentile and the traditions of the Jew were not passed on to the Gentile so we would not have it passed to us. The only Gentiles that celebrate the Jewish holidays are those that either married into a Jewish family or those that truely felt as though they should be completely grafted into the Jewish family, and studied their traditions.

Can you imagine if we celebrated both Jewish and Christian holidays? We would never have to work....lol.

I am not sure how many of their traditional holidays are explained in the Bible except maybe Passover, I have not studied that myself. I think that most of them are explained in other Jewish writings. Oh, and it seems so is Hanukka (The Feast of the Dedication) although I didn't know that is what it was till now, probably because there is a different name for it than we have now. Maybe there are more because of the same reason.

Well anyhow, this would be a good thing to continue with on the thread, or start a new one "Finding Jewish Holidays in the Bible" a challenge.

JMHO

Be Blessed~ Rose

[Guest yod]

Well I'm one of those who do celebrate both jewish Feasts and christian holidays.

My motto is; Rejoice??? Why not???

Hanukkah is special to me because it comes right before Christmas. It's 8 days set apart for dedication and there is no way to commercialize it. We turn off the TV and the lights (mostly) to play dreidel, eat latkes (sometimes), light the candles, and tell the story of how a small band of men defeated the world's largest army in the power of God. This leads to the telling of how the shammish (servant) candle is above all the rest and gives light to them all. Hanukkah means "dedication" and it's known as the festival of lights. There is plenty of object lessons there for the kids and a time of reflection for the adults.

We used to give some little gift every night but it was hard to keep up with so we stopped doing that and just make it "family time" instead. This is nice right in the middle of all the holiday craziness! Plus it helps keep the focus on the Lord...so it doesn't bother me when Santa gets all the attention in Christmas celebrations anymore.

The story was prophecied in Daniel 11 and the fulfillment can be found in the non-canonical 1st and 2nd Maccabees of the Apocrypha.

My son was asked to teach his class about it in the second grade. He showed them Yeshua in the celebration. That would never have been allowed for Christmas in the public schools.

[GymRose]

Well I'm one of those who do celebrate both jewish Feasts and christian holidays.

Thank You all for enlightning me and thank you Yod for the correct spelling.

Yod, do you mind if I ask if you were brought up to celebrate Jewish holidays because your family is Jewish or if you celebrate them because they have great significance to you in what they stand for. Hope that's not too much of a personal question. I only ask to gain an understand, I had never even thought of any of this until my son asked me and the way you described the holiday and tradition of it all it sounds like such a wonderful celebration I'd like to learn more.

You also mentioned about Christmas, I have a terrible time over Christmas trying to focus on what it really is about with all the commercial hype. It really saddens me. I love the looks onthe kids faces and a day of feasting with family and friends and the carols but a part of me wants to go away for a month or so and hide from the craziness and try to regain focus onwhat it really is about. Jesus.

Cheers GymRose

[Guest yod]

That is why I love the Feasts....you simply can not commercialize them. The entire purpose of the Feasts are for teaching the children and remembrance. God knows that even adults forget things after a while....

I was raised an atheist. I am not jewish.

I spent a few months trying to prove christianity and the bible false about 14 years ago. What I found was that modern christianity is a corrupt version of what is in the bible...but I could find no fault in the Bible.

I also noticed that everyone in the Bible (Old and New Testaments) were jewish so after I had convinced myself that the Bible was true, I began calling around to see if there was a church of jewish people and found a messianic congregation where they all actually love each other.

I visited churches of various denominations on Sundays and this place of Saturday (sabbath). After a few months I gave up on finding anything remotely close to the joy present at Baruch HaShem....so I knew the Lord wanted me to stay there.

I went from being an atheist to being messianic without going to the church in between. Now...I consider this to be the church....we aren't separate from the Body at large....but it is a completely different perspective that the jewish believer brings because of their understanding of the Torah. My rabbi's parents were both Holocaust survivors in Poland and he was raised in an Orthodox jewish home. He has lived the Torah!

They are a LOT more graceful than most churches because of an understanding of just what Yeshua saved us from. They are also more balanced in their approach to the New Testament because an understanding of the foundation of the entire Bible is found in the Torah.

There are, of course, some bad messianic congregations out there and fringe groups calling themselves messianic seem to be popping up all the time but every church denomination has that same problem.

btw....NO ONE knows the correct spelling of Chanukah!

[GymRose]

What a wonderful testimony Yod, Thanks for sharing.