THERE IS NO "CHRISTIAN CULTURE"

- ONLY JEWISH AND GENTILE CULTURES

In 135 A.D. or so, the second Jewish war against Rome ended with the lead general crucified, the head rabbi killed by having his skin and muscles scraped raw by iron combs, and the already distrusted empire wide Jewish people -- still paying reparations for the 67-71 A.D. war -- now paying for this one as well.

Although there were some primarily Gentile Christian congregations by that time, many Gentile Christians had continued to worship with Jewish Christians in Christian synagogues or even in the regular unbelieving Jewish synagogues. However, if the Gentile Christians stayed, they'd be paying the reparation taxes along with their Jewish Christian brethren and the unbelieving Jews. So most Gentile Christians exited the synagogues and Christianity took on a decidedly Gentile flavor.

Jewish Christians, once honored as "Jesus' kinsmen after the flesh" became despised as "legalists" and "judaizers" in the Gentile dominated EKKLESIA. Jewish Christians were often made to change their names to "Christian" ones, eat pork, violate the Sabbath, etc, to show their allegiance to Jesus Christ ... Violate the Torah to show loyalty to their own Messiah! But that's how it went from shortly after the 135 A.D. rebellion until ... now.

Gentile culture was mistaken for Christian culture. Still is.

However, during the 1700s and especially the 1800s there were strides made in world missions. One of those strides was to notice that tribal and other people were more open to the gospel when the missionaries did not force them to adopt western customs as "Christianity." Local dress, music, customs, etc could be maintained as long as they did not violate something clearly taught in Scripture.

When this missions stride was applied to Jewish people, a huge influx of Jews into the EKKLESIA resulted. These Jews too wanted to be able to remain Jews while they followed their Messiah. If Jews are pressured to stop doing what defines them as Jews, then the default result is they begin to live like Gentiles. When unbelieving Jews see Christian Jews living like Gentiles, it reinforces what they already thought: Christians want to turn Jews into Gentiles.

Again, it is naive to think that there is one homogenized Christian culture. There are family resemblances across cultures, but no Christian culture. If it is not Jewish culture, then it is *automatically* Gentile culture. This is the way it works among Jews.

Since those days in the 1800s, there has been an increasingly steady stream of Jews coming to Jesus. And there have been various distinctly Jewish expressions of the Christian faith.

Nevertheless, Jewish Christians today, who should be honored as "Jesus' kinsmen after the flesh" are often still despised as "legalists" and "judaizers" in our Gentile dominated EKKLESIA. Jewish Christians are often unwittingly ... or wittingly ... served pork, goaded into violating the Sabbath, etc, to show their allegiance to Jesus Christ ... Pressured to violate the Torah to show loyalty to their own Messiah! But that's how it went from shortly after the 135 A.D. rebellion until ... now.

Gentile culture is still often mistaken for Christian culture.

That is where I'm coming from. I strive to educate Gentile Christians about these things and to protect my Jewish Christian brethren from being pressured to think that they must live as Gentiles in order to be accepted as Christians.

-Michael Millier