To answer some questions I’m sure people will have after reading my Bible study posts, I’m a Christian who keeps the seventh-day (Saturday) sabbath and observes the holy days outlined in Leviticus 23 (as did the apostles and early New Testament church). I strive to practice the same kind of Christianity as the earliest first-century believers in Jesus.
When Jesus came as the Messiah, it wasn’t to start a new religion. He came as the next step in God’s plan. What soon became known as “Christianity” has roots that go all the way back to Genesis. When we commit to following God the Father and Jesus Christ, we become part of the entire Genesis-to-Revelation saga of God building a family.
If you’d like a label for me, probably the most concise way to describe my beliefs is to say that I’m a Messianic Jew or a Christian who values the Hebrew roots of our faith. My parents came into a 7th-day Sabbath keeping group called Worldwide Church of God before they married, and so I was born into this faith. Worldwide split over doctrinal change when I was just a few years old, and I’ve been a part of a variety of different Sabbath-keeping and Messianic groups throughout my life. Currently, my whole family attends with a group called United Church of God.
Some key differences between my beliefs and those of “mainstream” Christian groups is that I observe the 7th day (Saturday) Sabbath, keep the Holy Days outlined in Lev. 23, observe clean and unclean meat laws from Lev. 11 and Deut. 14, and don’t believe that “Trinity” (a word never used in scripture) is the best way to describe the nature of God. To elaborate on that last statement, I believe that the God-family consists of two beings — God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son (Yeshua haMashiach). I see the Holy Spirit as a manifestation of Their power, Their divine essence, and the part of God (Elohim) that communicates with our human spirit.
Some of the things we hold in common with other Christian groups are belief in Jesus Christ as our personal savior, that the Bible is God’s word and a guidebook for our lives, and belief in the importance of following Christ’s example and commandments. We believe human beings were created in the image of God to have a relationship with Him, but because of our sins we need salvation through Jesus Christ in order to come to God. We believe prayer, keeping God’s commandments, and loving one another are essential parts of being a Christian. We also practice baptism by full immersion as part of an adult believer’s commitment to following Jesus (i.e. entering a covenant relationship with God).
Further reading:
Like An Anchor 