As I have reflected on the past few weeks of Youth Group and Sunday school, I continue to Give Praise to the King of Kings, our almighty God! "Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed. O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come. When we are overwhelmed by sin, you atone for our transgressions."
[Psalm 65:1-3]
Bible Term Look up!
Zion: a fortified hill in Jerusalem, then conquered and named "City of David", then also King Solomon's temple.
Atone: Making up for mistakes.
Transgression: mistake or a wrongdoing.
I just noticed the few words, "to you shall all flesh come".
Many different religious groups continue to come to God. This is a special week in the Jewish faith. From last friday to this friday, the Sukkot (Feast of the Tabernacle) holiday is being celebrated. I visited with some friends last night a Messianic Jewish household in nearby Scotland. We sat out back under their man made Sukkot, enjoyed hot tea, coffee, ginger bread cookies, pasta, fellowship, and a great learning experience.
There may not be many Jewish American's in this area, but where I am from there is a large community base. I grew up thinking Jewish people were cheap, followed too many burdensome rules, and were private to outsiders. Last night changed that for good.
Recently, I learned from some friends that God is seen and worshiped by many different religious groups in many different ways. This can be influenced by your culture, language, homeland, family, and religious book you go by. This family saw their observance of the Torah as a way of worshiping God, as a way of drawing closer to God, and by no means burdensome.
Talk to me about this experience, because it was really eye opening, fun, and I learned a ton about the bible! We could go and visit their family as a youth group sometime!
Here is a link that describes some of the similar within the Muslim community.
And some goodies...
--List the numbers 1-100 in 1 minute! (Quiz)
Peace and love
VMG
1 comment:
Interesting blog, Vince. Visiting the Messianic Jewish home sounds like a great experience for the youth group.
I'm curious about what you meant by, "Recently, I learned from some friends that God is seen and worshiped by many different religious groups in many different ways."
Does this mean that as long as we believe in whatever 'god' we believe and follow whatever religious book this god offers that we will all go to heaven?
I'm also curious about the Muslim link. Yes, I believe that God offers salvation to everyone of all religions, but that is through His son, Jesus Christ's work on the cross. The character of Allah is very different than the character of the God of the Bible.
Let me know what you think....
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