Is it a Jewish or Christian Faith?
What is Faith
Faith is the substance to believe in something unseen.
Faith is not something one can smell or see.
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Substance and evidence are
difficult words to understand in the context of faith.
We think of substance as physical matter, but that is only one meaning. The primary meaning, according to the New World Dictionary is
"the real or essential
part or element of anything."
And while people tend to think of "evidence" as something visible, it has to do with grounds for belief.
Faith is the real or essential part of what we hope for; it is grounds for believing what we cannot see. In other words, faith is not a guess at what might be. It is not wishful thinking.
It is trusting what is, even when what is can only be perceived through a nonphysical "sense."
Faith is based on perception and rooted in reality. There are many religions and many ideas, but in order to qualify as faith in the biblical sense, a person's belief about God must be true.
Faith is belief, trust and commitment, not to a religion, but to a reality:
The Reality, which is the object of faith.
There's not one Reality for
Jews and another Reality for gentiles; therefore, there is not one faith
for Jews and another, different faith for gentiles.
People can't choose "a faith" any more than they can choose "a reality." If there is one God, there is one faith.
Jeshua told about his heavenly Father, the Only One True God. That God is not the God only for Jews. He should be the Gdo of every one, Jew, Christian, Muslim, but also the God for all those who do not yet have accepted Him as the Most High God.
Jeshua or Jesus is the way to God, the son of man who showed people the way to come closer to God. Those who believe in Jeshua, him being the long awaited Messiah, should have the same Gdo as this Messiah, Which is the Most High Elohim Hashem Jehovah, the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of the Jews.
Therefore the Jews choosing to follow Jeshua or Jesus Christ do not change their Gdo, because they should keep to That Only One True God.
Though we understand their fear, because the majority of Christians in Christendom have taken themselves an other god than the God of Jesus, namely they made Jesus into their god.
Though such place is not something Jesus or Jeshua ever wanted. For him it is clear that Jehovah God is the Most High God and that we should come to Him and nobody also to bring our demands and prayers and to praise Him.
Jesus also gave his followers a model prayer, that directs to that Only One True God, calling Him "Our Father".
Jesus his God should be accepted and praised as the Father of Jews, Non-Jews and being seen as the Sustainer of all living beings.
Faith is not casting a vote for what we think God is or ought to be like
People use the word faith to mean different things.
Some speak of "the Jewish faith" or "the Christian faith" when they mean "religion." Others say,
"I have my own faith,"
meaning they have a religious opinion that is private and ought not to be challenged. Still others say,
"I'm a member of the____ faith because I could never believe in a God who _____."
Such people are expressing personal preference,
using the concept of faith to reinforce their own sense of morality.
These common uses of the word faith reduce the meaning to a form of group or self-expression.
Faith is not a matter of taste, opinion or affiliation. Faith is not casting a vote for what we think God is or ought to be like. Nor is it a profession made for the purpose of being with others who profess likewise.
The Book of Hebrews in the New Testament describes faith as the "substance" of things hoped for, the "evidence" of things not seen and then goes on to illustrate by pointing out great heroes of faith from the Hebrew Scriptures.