Which Messiah Do You Follow?

The above is a meme I see floating around from time to time on the internet.  Let's take a look at it.

1) While we know that the Messiah was not born on December 25th, we also don't know that He was born on the feast of Tabernacles either.  Nowhere in scripture are we told to celebrate the birth of Messiah at all.  There are a lot of pagan rituals involved in the December 25th date and that was chosen as an appeasement to groups who worshiped the winter solstice.

2) The Name Jesus does not make a false Messiah.  Many languages have various pronounciations of the name of Messiah and none of them diminish His stature in any way.

3) Sabbath keeping.  Many folks argue this point greatly.  While there is no doubt that Israel was commanded to keep the 7th day Sabbath, when we move over to Gentile salvation, we see in Acts 15 the conclusion of the council of apostles was they the Gentiles not be charged with trying to keep the law.  Paul also tells us 2 Collossians 2:16 that we are not to judge people on that.  Romans 14:23 tells us that whatever is not of faith is sin.  If you are convicted to keep the Sabbath, by all means do so.  But, we are not to judge others if by their faith they keep another day.

4)  Did Jesus teach "new commandments" or His fathers?  Is this a distinction?  Our Savioir does give a new command...  John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  But He also gives us a simplified version of His Fathers commands.  Matthew 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.  Love God and Love others.  So, while you could say He gave new commands, they are really covering the Fathers.

5) Death, Burial, resurrection I will lump together because the controversy was lumped together.  Different sects of the early church were disputing with one another over which day was proper to keep that days of Salvation.  The Friday-Sunday was a compromise that also worked well with the calendar.  As with Christmas, I think of more importance is how people have slipped in Pagan rituals and renamed the Holiday after a Babylonian godess.  Eggs and Rabits have nothing to do with the Sacrificial offering of the savior.  Jesus Himself said we should do "this", the keeping of Passover, in remembrance of Him.  This is the high holiday of Christianity and should be bringing to remembrance how we were delivered from sin.  This story is told in the keeping of the Passover dinner.

6) Was the law done away with at the cross?  This one question is a major stumbling block in the faith.  The law was fulfilled in Yeshua/Jesus. He was the one sin offering once and for all.  When a contract is fulfilled, you are no longer bound by that contract.  This is explained in Romans 7.  1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. 4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.   Mark 14:24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.  This shows that are indeed under a new deal.  The law was not done away with, but we are not contractually bound to it.  It still does have a role in showing how man falls short of the perfection of God and steering people who recognize this to the savior.  We can still do things in the law if we choose.  I purposely chose law here because the law is not the commandments.  The commandments, of which there are 10, are summarized as I said before in love of God and love of neighbor.  When one examines the 10 commandments, you can see how they fall into these two categories. 

7) replacement theology is not something the whole church believes in.  There are denominations and sects that hold to this idea of replacement, but that is not indicative of the entire church.  Gods grace being extended beyond the house of Israel to all of His creation would be a more accurate and proper description.

8)  We dealt with law in #6 but this is another denominational or sect issue.  Most churches I know of do not subscribe that Jesus taught against the Law.  Most teach He fulfilled it.

Some of these near the end are repeating themselves from previous points.

9) the time of Jesus' return...  Matthew 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.  It is pretty clear that the exact time is not known.  To understand this one has to look to Jewish wedding customs.  The wedding contract would be made and then the groom would go and prepare a place for His bride.  The groom did not know the day or the hour when he would go back to get his bride.  His Father only knew that time based on whether the groom had made a proper abode for His bride.  When finally the Father approved it, then the groom would go and get his bride.

10)  The Peter foundation issue is generally a Catholic issue.  Most churches teach that the confession of Jesus as Messiah was the foundation upon which the church was built. 

11)  People sure like to attack the sinners prayer.  There is nothing wrong with praying.  It is a good way to start out your new relationship with the Lord by talking to Him.  Discipleship and repentance is always going to be the expected result of a serious conversion. 

12)  I guess living the good life is a swipe at the prosperity preachers.  Again, this is another thing that is being over generalized and is not a part of the body at large.  It's popular in these mega churches, but not so much in the many many churches that dot the landscape.

13)  I saved this one for last.  If the Messiah came only for the lost sheep of Israel, there are a lot of us gentiles who are in for a big surprise.  Yeshua did not come just for Israel, but for the entire world, all of His creation.  1 John 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.  He had to come first to the house of Israel to fulfill the scriptures and that Gods promise that the whole world would be blessed through Abraham's seed.

In conclusion, I think this picture sets up some false dichotomies to promote a certain viewpoint.  They picked and chose a list of false teachings from various places and mashed them all together as if that is supposed to represent Christianity as compared to how pure the Hebrew Roots movement is.  It is an argument called a straw man.  You set up a fake premises, and attack that false premises to substantiate your own point.