Doctrine of the Sheeple
Rabbi Yehudah ben Shomeyr
David,
Isaiah and Messiah Yeshua all likened us to the gullible and dim-witted of all
animals; the sheep.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want. – Psa.23:1
All we like sheep have gone astray… -Isa. 53:6
My sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me. - John 10:27
Sheep are so
stupid; they can actually drown standing on dry land! This is because their
noses are parallel with their mouths and that if they drunk from a swift moving
stream they would drown. Why? Because as they drink, the rushing water would
flow into the nose and into the lungs unnoticed until they drown. They
literally do not know any better not to not drink from fast flowing waters. That
is why David said…
…He
leadeth me beside the still waters. – Psa. 23:2b
And I dare say that the sheep are running the Messianic/Natsari movement
moreso than The Shepherd. Why do I say this? Well, because if we are dim-witted
sheep, then God’s Word, His Torah, His Laws, His Instructions and the doctrine
that lies therein has to be pretty simple for us to understand and follow. But all
I am hearing is doctrine and theology that makes me furrow my brow, cock my
head, curl my lip and say, “Whaaaaaaaaaat!?” “Theo-babel” that sounds a lot
like the untranslatable, “Bwaaaaaah,” the bleating of a sheep. I’m no theological
or intellectual slacker, I’m no dummy, I got high marks in my Systematic
Theology class in Bible College and I can knock it around with the best of
them, but choose not to because you rarely change anyone’s mind, end up making unnecessary
enemies, and have a headache to boot. I hate battling over semantics and splitting
hairs. There comes a point that you break things down even beyond their basic
elements and theology and doctrine spills over into the realm of philosophy and
quantum physics and one realizes that they tore it apart so much so that they
cannot piece it back together again. This is the very thing that haunted Albert
Einstein; he dubbed himself as the Jew who killed God.
Please forgive this crude, offensive and unrefined analogy, but it seems
the only one I can think of that fits and the only one to really get my point
across. Nonetheless, even with such declaimer and warning, I will still try to
word it the most delicately yet blunt way possible. It’s the theological equivalent
of a “pissing contest” or the measuring and comparing of each other’s manhood. It’s ridiculously childish, flaunting ones
insecurity for all to see, and a sorry waste of time. I will have no part of
it.
For the wisdom of this world (this worlds doctrine of the sheeple) is foolishness with God. – I Cor. 3:19 – (parenthesize italics mine)
Sheep are so dumb and faulty that if they survived a barn fire and only
had minor smoke inhalation they’d blame the oxygen for bringing the smoke to
them and deciding to breath carbon monoxide instead! This is what is happening
in Messianic/Natsari Judaism. Instead of taking the Scripture for what the
Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek say they mean, we are running ourselves through with
a rusty, jagged, double edged sword. Many of us have come out of Christianity
feeling anger and betrayed by the cover up and paganism with in it and run to
Judaism thinking, “Ah, they are closer to Torah and so they must have it all
figured out.” When they don’t even know who Messiah is and approximately a
quarter or more of their doctrine was formed as a reactionary tactic to separate
themselves from the Natsarim! Hence, the double edged sword. Then some try to
marry the two while others create a whacked out reactionary doctrine that does
not resemble Christianity or Judaism. This is the incubator in which cults are
born and the sweat shop of red flag making.
Forget Calvin, forget the Rambam, why can’t we just NOT throw the
baby out with the bathwater and look at the simple plain truth of Scripture
instead of trying to determine who was right; Christianity or Judaism? Read it with
new eyes as if you never set foot in a church or synagogue with such and such
denomination or sect name over the door.
I’m all about Truth and I’m not saying I got it all 100% correct; as long
as I am solid on the Torah, the virgin birth, deity of Messiah, His sinless
life, atoning sacrificial death, burial, resurrection, ascension, soon return
and reign of the divine Messiah; the rest is doctrine that has nothing to do
with one’s salvation or personal standing with God and such differences in
doctrine that vary from person to person or denomination to sect I can live
with.
Tomaytow – Tahmahtow
Potaytow – Potahtow
That sort of thing.
Simplicity is not the same thing as stupidity and ignorance. Simplicity is
happiness. Simplicity is Truth. I want to be a simple, happy, loving person,
not some miserable tortured theological genius, preoccupied, wasting my time, always
battling the next ridiculous doctrinal fad or firestorm that comes along in the
movement. I want to focus on loving God, loving people and leading them to God
through Torah and Messiah.
I’m done with hair splitting nonessentials.
I am held accountable to be a good steward of my time, for my time is on
God’s watch. I don’t know about you, but I do not want to stand before Abba
Father and Him asking me why I wasted so much time arguing over doctrine and
theology instead of loving people as Messiah did and teaching Torah through
Messiah.
