On (18 Nov 05) Steve Asher wrote to George Pope...
 SA>  GP> There're two categories at work here:
 SA>
 SA>  GP> 1) the Jew who loves God and worships Him by honoring the gift of
 SA>  GP> the Torah given to Israel
 SA>
 SA> A Jew may love God, worship Him by honoring the gift of the Torah
 SA> given
 SA> to Israel, but such works will not save from sin & death and hell.

No, the works don't -- the trust(faith) in God for His promised mercy
WILL though!

Remember, Jesus didn't come to point to himself, but to lead others to
follow his Heavenly FATHER!

The main reason Moses was not allowed entry into the land of Israel with
the rest of the Israelites who left Egypt is because there would have
rapidly evolved a Moses-cult, with the focus on Moses instead of God!
(just as Christianity has done so with Jesus as the focus, instead of
the One that Jesus himself pointed to!)

 SA>  GP> 2) the non-Jew who, through grace, through Jesus, can have the
 SA>  GP> blessings of the Torah without the obligations thereof, and they
 SA>  GP> claim this gift through sincere contriteness & total repentance
 SA> --
 SA>  GP> only repentance so total that it effects a major life's change is
 SA>  GP> the real thing, and is acceptable 100%!
 SA>
 SA> By repentance for sins, and accepting salvation by grace, through
 SA> faith
 SA> in the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our sins.

Only REAL repentance has any effect, though, as the Apostles all taught,
as Jesus taught, as the prophets before them taught, as Moses before
them taught. . .

 SA> At that time, the Law has done its work of revealing to the sinner
 SA> (me)
 SA> the nature & extent of my sins ... leading me not to try & do better,
 SA> but to know that I am a total failure, on a fast track to hell.

So you really believe you don't have to try any more in treating your
fellowman with lovingkindness?

What did Jesus mean when he taught his followers that not only do they
have to follow the Torah law of paying back 7 times what one steals to
one's victim, but 490 times! ("7 times 70" is the exact quote)

 SA> As Lee puts it, "Repent, the End is Near" as we see on the signs in
 SA> "end of the world" movies, but I found that
"metanoia" is a better
 SA> word, the "change of mind" about myself, my sins, my life, and most
 SA> importantly about Jesus Christ, and indeed the Bible, which "comes
 SA> alive", instead of being "dead" and dry.

I've never met a Jew who saw the Bible as "dead and dry", but I've met
many a Christian who does!

Because I care,
<+]::-{)}  (Cyberpope(the Bishop of ROM!))


--- PPoint 1.76