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We Finished Reading the New Testament! - Temple Israel Long Beach’s New Testament From Jewish Point of View Class 10/9/23

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We have completed the New Testament, so we will begin studying the gospels again but read all four at the same time since many in this class did not ever study the gospels or Acts. Below is a summary written by Dan of what went on last Monday, October 9, 2023: “We did it, finished reading the letter to Philemon and with it the entire New Testament. Thanks to Dave who told us we began reading it over three years ago. Spent most of our time this week talking about slavery, in ancient times and more recent too. We were against it, if you want to know.  It was kind of nice having a letter this short, just one chapter. Nicer still, it was not someone complaining about what some person was teaching that was wrong. Instead, it was personal, a request for Philemon to free a slave who evidently had run away from him. It was a request that would do the most guilt inducing Jewish mama proud. This letter is among the letters that modern scholars consider genuinely written by the Apostle Paul, ...
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Summaries: 8/28/23 and 9/18/23 - New Testament From a Jewish Point of View Class

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Dan may have not sent me summaries for September 4 or September 11, but below are summaries from August 28 and September 18. ———————————- Monday, August 28, 2023 II Timothy chapters 2 and 3 We studied some of the more famous New Testament quotations today. It was observed that  God in the Tanakh seems more violent and vengeful while in the New Testament God seems more forgiving. It is also true that God in the New Testament could blind and kill people.  In II Timothy 2 verse 10 referred to “God’s elect”, or in some translations “Chosen people”, which here seems to refer to believers in Jesus.  In verse 12 which is part of a song or a creed it speaks of those who deny Jesus as being lost. So is “salvation” conditional based on continued faith until death, or is it once and always? So many questions. Chapter 3 brought up  the awful behavior of people in the last days. It appears nothing has changed since then.  Persecution : and the statement that those who “live ...
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Summary of New Testament From a Jewish Point of View Class - Monday, August 21, 2023

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Jo Ann was on the road and worried her car was overheating during our class, so Dan facilitated the class.  We had a large group: Dan, Steve, Karen, Merrill, Igor, Laura, Dave, Robin, Randy, and Jay attended.  Jessica joined at the end and Jo Ann listened in.  It was great to have Randy back! Below is a summary written by Dan of what was discussed: II Timothy chapter 1  We read the introduction to II Timothy from the second edition of the Jewish Annotated New Testament and the text of II Timothy 1. However, our discussion centered about why there are so many religious opinions about all kinds of things in the first place? We had the advantage of having a very diverse group to talk this over with. I believe we achieved a consensus that no one has a monopoly on truth. Also, the point was raised that sincere belief of any kind can never be forced on anyone. Our discussion ranged far, from the Spanish Inquisition to religious belief in Spain and the United States today. ...
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Summary of New Testament From a Jewish Point of View Class - August 7 and August 14, 2023

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  Is the love of money the root of all evil? Jo Ann missed our class on 8/7/23 since she was helping our daughter Annabelle move, so Dan facilitated the class.  The summary, written by Dan, of what went on is below: “We are always grateful for all who participate in our discussions. We covered ITimothy chapters 3 and 4. In chapter 3 we discussed the qualification for leaders in the early church. We compared what this chapter had to say about how this church operated versus the church in Corinth mentioned in ICorinthians. Notably the qualifications for the leaders in ITimothy are moral and not based at all on what kinds of “spiritual gifts” people had.  In I Timothy 4 there is teaching about what should be believed, and more importantly, what should not be believed. In particular, there seems to be criticism of those who tell them what to eat (Jewish teaching?) and those who teach that it is wrong to marry (early Gnostics?). What follows in the same chapter is encouragemen...
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Summary of New Testament From a Jewish Point of View Class - July 31 and July 17, 2023

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We skipped studying together on Monday, July 24, 2023, since Jo Ann and Dan’s daughter’s 24th birthday was on July 23 and Jo Ann and Dan wanted to devote their entire Monday to Annabelle since she flew back from Israel to the USA on the 23rd. This blog post summarizes what we have covered on July 31 and July 17.  Both summaries are written by Dan.    It’s backwards but….. I’m going to post July 31st’s summary first.  (Jo Ann, Dan, Steve, Karen, Odette, Merrill, Dave attended) I Timothy chapter 2 Theme: Role of Women This chapter is controversial because of its rigid restrictions on what women can do, beside having babies. No one present in today’s conversation supported these restrictions, which include: Women must dress not just modestly, but plainly. Evidently men were considered to be incapable of self control. Women must learn in silence and humility. Women are forbidden to teach. Women are forbidden to have authority over men. Women, again, are instructed to be ...
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Summary of New Testament From a Jewish Point of View Class - July 10, 2023

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Dan and Jo Ann were on the road on Monday, July 10, 2023, but we were still able to facilitate our class o Monday, July 10.  (We did not have a class session on July 4, 2023 since neither Dan or Jo Ann could get into Temple Israel’s Zoom account to hold our meeting.) Jo Ann, Dan, Steve, Karen, Robin, Dave, and Merrill attended. Below is a summary written by Dan of what we discussed: Our last look at II Thessalonians 3 - a chapter which addressed people who were part of the church at Thessalonians who were idle. Regrettably we lacked much information about life in a first century Greek city and who these idle people were. We did discuss homelessness as it is now.  We did not solve the problem of homelessness in our day, alas. We begin I Timothy  on 07/17  which will have plenty of controversial subjects. Thanks to everyone who attended. Zoom Link - Temple Israel Long Beach’s New Testament From a Jewish Point of View - Mondays 9:45–10:45 am Pacific Standard Time New Te...
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Summary of New Testament From a Jewish Point of View Class - June 26, 2023

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Jo Ann was finally back in the USA and was with us for our class even though she was very jet-lagged.  The summary below is written by Dan: In some ways, II Thessalonians sounds a lot like I Thessalonians. Some of the most interesting reading came from the “gray box” commentary (thanks to Jo Ann for screen sharing!). Whether II Thessalonians is a forgery or not, it does show signs of a change in the ideas about the return of Jesus that suggest Christians were questioning how long this return was supposed to take. Jews and Christians and Christians who retain a Jewish identity share that same long wait. This letter was an indication early Christians were becoming aware this wait going to be a long haul.  Finally, whether or not we are optimists or pessimists about the future, we are all committed to doing all we can to improve the present. As Karen says “it doesn’t have to be this way.” Thank you to everyone who attended. Zoom Link - Temple Israel Long Beach’s New Testament Fro...
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