Article #69
Subject: The Ordinance of Silence
Author: Andrew W. Harrell
Posted: 6/1/2011 10:49:44 AM

In sermon #15, the "ordinance of silence" A.J. Gordon states that the Jewish
Sabbath is outdated. I do not agree with this.It seems rather egoistical to
me for someone to state that the Christian way
of worshiping God is the "only way" that is pleasing to God.
Since the ordinance of silence is a a fundamental part of what many modern day
Jews consider to define them, this is an important point.
What does it mean to be a "real Jew"? According to many Jews it means to
have a Jewish mother and to meditate on the Hebrew Letters in the Torah,
by use of whichGod created the Universe.

According to Saint Paul, Romans 2:28-29 "For the real Jew is not
the person who is one outwardly, nor is circumision that
which outwardly evident in the flesh. But, the real Jew is one who is
so in secret,and real circumcision is one which is of the heart, wrougth
by the Spirit, and not the letter, and the communications
such a person receives comes not from human beings, but from God."

Thus, in this famous passage St. Paul has redefined what it means to
meditate on God inwardly (ie, one doesn't receive the revelation from
the Torah by mediating on the Hebrew letters of the Kabbalah, but from
meditating on love and truth within the human heart.

I believe God supports St. Paul's definition of what a Jew is to be truthful.
But I also believe that there is not just one definition of what a Jew is
(just like there is not just one definition of what a Chrsitian is.
Therefore, I do not consider
the Jewish Sabbath to be "outdated" as most Christians do. But, I have
received
much benefit from practicing the Jewish Law as a Christian and I think many
other Christians can also receive these benefits.