New Testament From Jewish Point of View - A Temple Israel Long Beach Zoom Class

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. ...

  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...

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 ...