Torahbytes: It's a Baby! (Toledot)

The children struggled together within her, and she said, "If it is thus, why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the LORD. (Bereshit / Genesis 25:22; ESV)

It seems to me that there are many people who claim to be pro-life who are not anti-abortion. It is common to claim to greatly value the unborn, but hesitate to be seen as coming on too strong toward others who may choose to terminate them. We might think that abortion is bad, but our unwillingness to impose our viewpoint upon someone else might be of higher value than our being considered pro-life.

There are two different issues at play here. Each of these has an effect on the other, but they are different. The first has to do with when is it right and good, if ever, to impose our viewpoints on someone else. I don't know if we could establish an absolute principle on this. How much we speak into the lives of others differs quite a bit from culture to culture. People in some cultures readily criticize one another about anything and everything with no offense taken, while other cultures so value the individual that it is thought we have no right to offer an opinion about anything personal unless explicitly invited.

Regardless of how free or hesitant a particular culture might be, every culture has a range of acceptability that governs when it is appropriate to impose one's viewpoint. In those cultures where people feel more free to speak up, there are still subjects that are off limits, and in the hesitant cultures, there are times when even the most hesitant will voice their opinion. This demonstrates that whatever else might influence our tendencies to speak up about a matter; what drives us is determined by our perception of the topic's importance.

I am aware that there are other factors that keep us from doing what we think is good and right. Fearing for our lives may prevent us from standing up for someone else, for example. But fear aside, confusion or doubts about a cause will obviously result in inaction.

This is why some people who claim to be pro-life are not anti-abortion. They don't believe that pregnant women carry real babies. For some, the unborn child is becoming a baby, which somehow makes it less than a baby. It might be nice to protect this potential life and preferable for the mother to carry it to term, but is aborting a fetus equivalent to murdering someone post birth? Well, not really. Sad? For sure. Bad? Possibly. But worth making big deal about? Probably not.

The "it's not really a baby" viewpoint is deeply rooted in a non-biblical perspective on human development. The naturalistic, scientific worldview is a warped lens that devalues life based on a cold analysis of its parts. Value, according to this worldview, is based on pragmatics with a focus on short-term benefits in the service of self (What does it do? What difference does it make if it survives or not? How best can I use it?).

In contrast, the biblical worldview derives value from God, the Creator. When the biblical writer refers to Isaac's wife Rebekah's unborn twins as children (Hebrew: banim, meaning "sons" or "children"), he regards the unborn as children, not potential children. There really were babies in there!

It is overwhelming to think of how many abortions take place worldwide every year. The Guttmacher Institute estimates the number at 46 million (http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/ib_0599.html). Based on a biblical view of life, that works out to more than one cold-blooded murder of an innocent child every second of every day of the year. Until we accept that these are actually babies, we shouldn't be surprised at how little is being done to save them.

Torahbytes: Burial vs. Cremation (Hayyei Sarah)

After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites. (Bereshit / Genesis 23:19, 20; ESV)

How the handling of garbage has changed through the years. When I was a kid I remember living in a neighborhood of high-rise apartment buildings which all had incinerators. We would throw our garbage down a chute (nothing was recycled back then) and then about once a week, it would be burned. I imagine they had a process for the remains, but the bulk of it simply went up in smoke.

Oh, how we have come a long way in our attempt to preserve the purity of our environment. It makes me feel good to see how much we recycle and how little we truly throw out. I am glad the authorities make sure to show my garbage (and recycling) the greatest care possible in order to preserve our precious planet for future generations.

Yet in spite of the increasing popularity and complexity of recycling programs, garbage dumps continue to grow. There is one not far from where we live that is becoming a small mountain range.

I find it interesting how we used to burn garbage and bury people, and now we bury garbage and burn people. I know cremation has been around for a long time, but in cultures most influenced by biblical truth, it is only more recently that it has become as popular as it is.

When Abraham's wife, Sarah, died, Abraham went to great bother and expense to arrange a burial plot for her. It would have been much easier to cremate her, but he didn't. Burying dead bodies is not something simply based on custom and culture. It arose out of an understanding of the preciousness of the body and the hope of afterlife - an afterlife associated with that body. God instructed Moses that cremation was reserved for those who committed very immoral acts (Vayikra / Leviticus 20:14; 21:9). Otherwise God's people were buried.

I don't think that the burial of garbage and the burning of the dead are due to a conscious decision to honor garbage over people. But then again maybe it is.

We are so consumed with material goods, while people are deemed disposable. I haven't done the research but it wouldn't surprise me if we spent more money and time on electronic gadgets than on our relationships. I refer to real relationships such as marriage and family, the kind of relationships that build community for future generations.

Of course I know we dispose of gadgets as much as we do people, but could it be that the burning of bodies represents the human attempt to obliterate all obligation to our God-given relationships? Maybe the growing popularity of cremation isn't a direct reflection of the devaluation of people and relationships. Maybe it's just a coincidence.

Torahbytes: Faith and Works (Va-Yera)

But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." (Bereshit / Genesis 22:11, 12; ESV)

Perhaps one of the most confusing issues in the Bible is that of the relationship between faith and works. The more I hear the issue discussed the more it seems to me that it is rife with misunderstanding. It should strike us as curious that evangelicals, who claim to take the Bible more seriously than anyone, rally around the cry of "justification by faith alone" - when we read in the New Covenant Scriptures, "a person is justified by works and not by faith alone." Here it is in context:

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. (James 2:21-24; ESV)

Justification is a biblical term that means "being made right with God." How one is made right with God is a major issue throughout the whole Bible that becomes most controversial in the New Covenant Scriptures. This is because it was essential to determine the basis upon which non-Jews could be included in the messianic community. Many Jewish Believers in Yeshua assumed that the embracing of Torah as given by God at Mt. Sinai through Moses and as understood by the Prophets and Sages of old was that which established right standing with God. The New Covenant writers rejected this notion. While Torah was God's true and holy revelation to Israel, it had two fundamental functions. First, it was designed to prepare Israel and the world for the coming of the Messiah. And second, it stood as an indictment against Israel and the world that we all fall short of God's requirements and need God to rescue us.

When the New Covenant writers speak against justification by works they are opposing the rabbinical claim held by some messianics of their day that Israel finds right standing with God through the Torah as a system. The rabbis knew that no one could keep Torah perfectly, but by adhering to Torah to the best of one's ability, one could be confident that he was in good stead with God. Contrary to this the New Covenant writers appeal to the example of Abraham and others whose right standing with God was clearly on the basis of their trust in him (faith, belief, and trust are the same words in the biblical languages).

It would be many years later that the faith/works controversy would take a new twist and help spawn Protestantism and affect how most Bible believers view this issue today. By the Middle Ages the Church began to regard good deeds and religious rituals as the basis of right standing with God. The rediscovery of the importance of the Bible coincided with this misguided approach to justification. Thankfully there arose those who stood for biblical truth and reestablished the correct understanding that no system of moral or ritualistic effort could ever satisfy God's requirements. Right standing with God could only come about through faith in the Messiah.

While the Protestant remedy rightly redirected us to the Biblical teaching of justification by faith, it tended to play down the place of works so much that today many Bible believers get nervous whenever someone seeks to restore works to their proper biblical place.

It is possible that this was already happening in the first century, which would explain why James addresses it. The balance between faith and works is actually all through the pages of the Bible. Right standing with God cannot be achieved by anything we do. God is the one who justifies us. Trusting in him and what he has done through Yeshua the Messiah is what makes us right with him. Good works and religious activities are the necessary fruit of real faith. Works don't produce right relationship with God, but those who claim right relationship with God yet lack the resulting fruit are most likely hypocrites.

Torahbytes: How Blind Is Your Leap? (Lekh Lekha)

And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. (Bereshit / Genesis 15:6; ESV)

One of the most important issues in the Bible is how one finds acceptance with God. For some Jews and Christians, acceptance with God is assumed based on ethnicity or religious affiliation. Many Jewish people think that by virtue of being born Jewish they are in good stead with God. Whether it is due to our forefathers' own special relationship with God or the gift of the Torah through Moses, our relationship with God is inherited.

Many Christians have a similar view, thinking that eternal life can be attained through affiliation with the right church by baptism and/or membership.

However popular these views may be, they have no biblical basis. Neither birth nor affiliation has any bearing on establishing or maintaining a right relationship with God. As we see modeled in the lives of people such as Abraham, it was their faith that connected them with the Master of the Universe. As so well said by the writer of the New Covenant book of Hebrews:

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him (Hebrews 11:6; ESV).

Right relationship with God demands first and foremost an acceptance and understanding of his existence. The performance of religious rituals is completely useless unless we first believe God - the true God - the God of Israel - exists. But that's not all. Real relationship with God depends on an awareness that God responds to our lives. He is not a concept, but a living being who "rewards those who seek him."

Besides realizing the necessity for this kind of faith, it is essential to understand what true faith is. Faith, especially faith in God, is often misrepresented as a blind leap into the unknown. While there are aspects of faith that include the unknown, true faith in God has far more to do with what is knowable than the unknowable. Having a vital relationship with God is not about throwing away our minds and going against our understanding. Rather it is committing ourselves to a view of life based on clear evidence of the truth and reality of God.

When children are taught correct life truths by their parents, they may have limited knowledge about those things, but their faith in their parents will benefit them regardless. For example we don't require in-depth knowledge of electric stoves in order to effectively learn how to prevent ourselves from getting burned. Trusting the wisdom of elders is not blind faith. The natural faith of children in their parents demonstrates that we are designed to learn the realities of life from others without having to first come to some elusive full understanding of this or that. Most of our technological advances have developed due to this principle. Scientists and engineers have no need to rediscover every formula from scratch before embarking on new inventions.

I am aware that having faith in our elders can be problematic, since they are not always right. But this problem helps to serve my point. Blind faith is not able to discern when the things we trust are wrong. Blind faith overlooks abuse, ignorance, and falsehood. True faith depends on reality. While it doesn't require complete and thorough knowledge, it must be based on what really is.

The evidence of design in creation, the accuracy of biblical prophecy, the reliability of the text of Scripture, the emergence of the church, the preservation and the restoration of Israel, and the testimony of believers are examples of the overwhelming evidence for the reality and reliability of the God of Israel as he is revealed in the Bible and for the fulfillment of the Scriptures through Yeshua the Messiah.

Deciding to trust in God through Yeshua is a most reasonable act based on clear, tried and true evidence. Are there elements of the unknown involved? - absolutely! - just as there is in anything in life. But blind? Far from it! There are few life decisions you will ever make that will be based on better evidence than this. And the result? Right relationship with God.

Torahbytes: Human Greatness (No'ah)

Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves..." (Bereshit / Genesis 11:4; ESV)

The Torah portion this week helps us to understand how we can achieve greatness in this life.

The settlers of the ancient city of Babel wanted to create a place of greatness, security, and unity. They thought that somehow their city would provide these things for them. They sought to establish an identity based on themselves, thinking they could find security in the work of their own hands.

But God thought it best to thwart their plans by confusing them for the following reason:

If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them (11:6; ESV).

God acknowledges what we would call human potential. History has shown us how we have been able to take ideas - even fantastic ones - and bring them to reality. The technological advances we have experienced in the past 100 years are breathtaking. This ability comes from God as he made us in his image. Even though he put an end to the building of Babel by imposing confusion on the human family, he hasn't taken that ability away from us.

But as far as Babel was concerned, this is a project to which he put an end. But why? The answer is found in the story following this one - the Call of Abraham. God cursed Babel, but blessed Abraham. In fact much of what the people of Babel wanted, God promised to Abraham. That they desired (as we do) to create something enduring, to have identity, and to find community is a good thing. It was how they went about it that got them into trouble.

Self-reliance, self-focus, and self-protection are not what we are made for. We were created to be God's representatives on earth. Our identity cannot be found in ourselves; we, who were made in the image of God. It is only when we submit to God's direction in our lives that we can embrace the greatness he intended.

As we learn to submit to God, we don't lose our intelligence, creativity, and abilities - far from it! It is in this place of humility that we can truly realize our human potential. In fact, as we learn to trust God, we discover that our effectiveness in the world is not wrapped up in our natural abilities at all, but in his power. The talents we possess are gifts from God, instruments given to us by him for his purposes. But it's not until we put ourselves and all we have at his disposal that we will become all we were meant to be.