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

We had a fairly large turnout!  Jo Ann, Dan, Dave, Odette, Jay E., Robin, Randy, Norky, Jessica, Amy, David, Ruth, Kim, and Merrill attended.  Below is a summary written by Dan about what we discussed: We read Revelation chapter 2, the messages to the “angels” of the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum and Thyatira.  These are four of the seven churches in Asia, now in western Turkey. There is uncertainty about weather the “angels” these letters are addressed to are literal angels or the leaders (bishops?) of these churches. We are still uncertain. Other mysteries in this chapter include: 1. Who are the “Nicolaitans”, and why does Jesus hate them? 2. Who was this person called “Jezebel” who leads others into sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols? 3. What is the “synagoge of Satan”? We discussed the “synagogue of Satan” the most by far. Our understanding that if Revelation is looked at from a Christian perspective, this could refer to a persecution inflic...

We had such a great group attend this past Monday!  Jo Ann, Dan, Steve, Dave, Robin, Randy, Odette, David, Ruth, Kim, Norky, Merrill, and Patricia attended.  It was Patricia’s first time with us and we really enjoyed having her join the group. We completed the grey boxes that we didn’t get to the week before in the Jewish Annotated New Testament.  Below is a summary written by Dan on what we discussed. We read some of the introduction to chapter 2 of Revelation. We spoke of very early Jewish believers in Jesus, and David told us of the crisis of authority in early church regarding whether Jewish ritual purity was important. Dan read a section in the Jewish Encyclopedia about the book of Revelation, especially talking about the John of Patmos and his criticism of the Pauline churches (synagogues of Satan). Steve shared the story of the two Jews on a desert island with three synagoges, and our task in life of putting together “pieces of light”. Kim summed it up that the pur...

We had another class where Dan and Jo Ann were physically together in Long Beach.  After class, some of the class members who were in Long Beach met at The Library Coffee House, but via Zoom when we studied together Jo Ann, Dan, Steve, Karen, Dave, Norky, David, Robin, Randy, Odette, Ruth, Merrill, and Kim attended.  It was Ruth’s first time joining us and we were delighted to have her with us. Dan gave us a summary of what was in the introduction to Revelation which we studied the week before. A very lively discussion occurred next! Below is a summary, written by Dan of what went on after he summarized what we studied the week before: Summary by Dan Farris of Revelation chapter 1 We began studying the first chapter of the book of Revelation, reading a book unlike any other in the New Testament. The first chapter set the scene of a man named John (John of Patmos, not the Apostle John who was Jesus’ disciple) on an island off of what we call Turkey, having a vision of “one like...

It was good for Jo Ann and Dan to be in one place, together in Long Beach, for our Monday, November 7, 2022 study! Jo Ann, Dan, Steve, Karen, Dave, Amy, Odette, David, Robin, Randy, and Norky attended. We read the introduction for Revelation in the Jewish Annotated New Testament.  It was written in such a scholarly style that Randy pointed out that the words were so complicated that it was hard to understand what we were reading.  So…we discussed intellectual writings! Jo Ann wondered if there is a comic book version of Revelation.   We think it might be helpful to have someone that understands this to translate for us, but David did a good job of translating what we read.   And…we discussed who wrote Revelation and determined that it was not John the Apostle and that it was written at the end of the first century.  This is a different John than the John that wrote the Gospel of John and the Epistles of John. Most of the group has not read Revelation including D...

We had another great discussion!  Jo Ann, Dan, Steve, Karen, Dave, David, Randy, Robin, Amy, Jessica, and Norky attended. Below is a summary written by Dan of what went on: We discussed the Epistle of Jude today. The core of this epistle is an appeal to these early believers to resist false teachers. The epistle was not directed to a specific group of believers in any particular location. Early on there is an exhortation to "earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints" (King James version, I think). It refers to "the faith" as some set of agreed upon beliefs, but does not state what "the faith" was. Likewise, the letter contains a lengthy section condemning "godless men" who have infiltrated the body of believers, but does not name or explain what their particular false teaching was. These "godless men" were, among things, accused of being sexually immoral and leading others into sexual immorality. David Philips talked ...

  As always, we had a good discussion and time of learning together.  Jo Ann, Dan, Karen, Dave, Randy, Robin, Merrill, Norky, and David attended.   We were glad Randy and Robin could attend while they were on vacation. Below is a summary written by Dan of what went on: We covered the third Epistle of John today, coming to the conclusion that this letter is a "letter of introduction", with the writer who calls himself/herself? "the Elder" to a leader named Gaius of a congregation of believers in Jesus in an undisclosed location. The men bearing this letter request the cooperation/assistance of Gaius. It is interesting that another local leader named Diotrephes opposed extending assistance by anyone in the congregation to these same men. According to the introduction in the Annotated New Testament, the Elder appears to a Jewish leader of a group of Jewish believers in Jesus.  We discussed the division of good and bad mentioned in the letter. Do good = belonging to God...

Again, we all had so much fun learning together on Monday, October 17, 2022.  Jo Ann, Dan, Dave, Karen, Amy, David, Randy (Robin was present for a bit), Norky, and Jessica attended.  We missed Steve who had another commitment and we also missed Merrill who was ill. Below is a summary written by Dan about what went on: We covered the 5th chapter of the epistle of I John as well as the introduction to the epistle of 2 John. We noticed that some themes from earlier chapters were repeated in I John chapter 5. Dan brought up the contrast between the teaching in this chapter of I John that prayers are answered if they are according to "God's will" versus the teaching quoting Jesus in the gospels of Mark and Matthew in which anything is possible to the person who believes without doubt. Others added that the teaching of I John could be the result of logic and experience. The introduction to the 2nd epistle of John brought up that the epistles of John could have been written by d...