Is it possible for a Christian to convert to Judaism?                                                                         

Thank you for your question. Yes, it is possible to convert from a so-called Christian to a so-called Jew, but first lets consider what it really means to be either. According to the Bible, the only conversion that means anything is not conversion from Christian to Jew or from Jew to Christian, but from unbeliever to believer.

John the Baptist warned that Jewish ancestry was not enough to guarantee salvation. (Matthew 3:9-11)                                                                                                          

Even a Jew by birth is not a "Jew" in the truest sense unless his heart is converted: 

"A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code."

• Romans 2:28-29                            

(Formal conversion through a rabbi would obligate the convert to undergo the ritual of circumcision and adhere to strict religious rules, many of which have only the most tenuous basis in actual Biblical commandments)                                     

In 1 Cor 7:18, the apostle Paul tells the uncircumcised not to seek to become circumcised. It seems clear that Paul is saying that non-Jewish believers should not convert to Judaism:

"Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts." -- 1 Corinthians 7:18b-19

What does it mean then to keep God’s commands? A crowd once gathered around Yeshua (Jesus) and asked him "What must we do to do the works God requires?" He answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." (John 6:36) On another occasion, he declared that whoever believes in him will have eternal life, but whoever did not would remain condemned.    

Note that I said remain condemned, not be condemned. In Yeshua’s words, he who does not believe is condemned already. That is because there is a gulf of unrighteousness between Man and God. The Bible tells us that everyone has sinned (Romans 3:23, or Isaiah 53:6) and fallen short of the glory of God. Because God’s standard is absolute Holiness, it is impossible for anyone to attain it on his own. No matter how many or how great his good deeds may be, it is impossible to regain that "perfect score" once even the tiniest sin has been committed.                                                                     

How then can anyone be redeemed, if he cannot redeem himself? Only by the grace of God. So does God just shrug and let everyone off the hook? No, if God were to lower the standard he would be making himself less than God. The World to Come would be no better than The World That Is if all the sinners simply marched right in unchanged! What God has done is to offer his own righteousness to pay the price. The Bible says the wages of sin is death, so in order for God to pay, he had to come into the world as a mortal man of infinite righteousness to die. Now most of us do not have enough righteousness to survive death, but the Son of God Yeshua did! He literally rose bodily from the dead in three days time, proving he had the authority to the price of sin once and for all for all mankind.                                           

You might say that God has set a trust-fund of righteousness with a balance of infinity. Anyone with a need can draw on that account simply by asking for it. Since absolutely no one on earth has perfect righteousness on his own, anyone who fails to take advantage of this offer will simply come up short. 

"Cashing in" this way – by simply acknowledging your need to God and accepting his gracious gift – is the beginning of a true relationship with God. It doesn’t come from circumcision or baptism or conversion to this or that religion. Having taken God’s hand this way, what remains is to learn to walk with him, to know and do more and more of his good will.

David Brown
AMF International
http://www.amfi.org

Don't you love days when you think homeschooling is the best thing going? I love to hear how other peoples' days go so I can get ideas on how to do things here, so I'll share what our day was like today, so far.      

We didn't start super early as I slept in. The kids are not supposed to come down for breakfast unless they have done morning chores, but today they forgot and the girls were playing cards at 8 am in their jammies. ACK! Everyone got sent upstairs to do morning chores (dress, make beds, put jammies away, groom). Meanwhile, breakfast was prepared by a jammie wearing momma. 

Usually we start school around 8 or 8:30 at the latest, but the house wasn't as straight as I wanted and we decided little people need to be doing more work around here.  By 9 am school was in full swing with the house straight, including the kitchen, which is a shocker, trust me! I can do the entire house but leave the dishes undone...  

At 10:30 we headed to the YMCA for free gym time and break. I had to work out today, my knee is still improving and if I miss cycling I'm not doing so well (just twice a week will do) and for my hormone issues, weight lifting needs to occur also.                           

Here's what school the kids have done today, note all we're doing for science and history is Foundations memory work and the experiment they do weekly on Fridays (aside from reading books relating to these and watching Moody Science Videos).

• 3 yo- Listened to Bible story and was read to, Foundations, set table for breakfast, put "stuff" away
• 5 yo- K math, k-1st transition math, Bible, cursive, phonograms, TYCTR 33, Logic, handwriting, AWANA memory work, was read to, Foundations, vacuumed main level of house, cleaned sinks, put "stuff" away
• 7 yo-Saxon 54 math, EEL Task sheet, copied IEW sheets on compound sentences, reviewed all vocab words with me, Bible, AWANA memory verses, word search of banned words for writing, daily word problem, spelling test, Timeline review of first 6 weeks CC, cursive writing, read to siblings, independent reading (living history), Foundations, swept garage, folded laundry

The girls have ballet and during that time DS1 and I will do his AWANA memory work, go over numbers and letter sounds, and play together. He and DD2 painted and played playdoh earlier, plus played outside. Right now everyone is resting for quiet time (2 sleeping, 1 reading), so I'm on here and am about to get my shower for the 2nd part of the day and tonight. We've also put the "If/Then Chart" back up. Just need to clarify and simplify. I explained to them what the consequences will be. We'll also reinstate the "Blessings Chart" for when they go out of their way to be kind to others. (www.doorposts.net) 

Adding veggie tip--pureed carrot or squash is good in chili, adds a sweetness to it.       

I've always wanted to be a Messianic Jew...born and raised Jewish then learning the Messiah has indeed come. To be a "completed Jew" seems incredible to me. It is incredible to be born-again no matter what, but this has always interested me.              

I'm learning more about this idea and how some who are not actually raised Jewish worship alongside "completed Jews". IMO they are not actually Messianic Jews, but are fellowshiping and worshiping with the brethren they are most comfortable with. We are all one in Christ, so it is personal preference and perhaps a calling.  It's something I am very curious about as I feel a strong desire to witness to Jews who do not yet know the Messiah has come.       

What I'm wondering tonight is if you learn you have some Jewish blood in your ancestry, does that make you part of God's chosen race? Or is the religious side a big part of that? Does one need to decend from parents or grandparents who were practicing Jews in a religious sense. If it is a direct ancestry thing I'd go with the Biblical view of it having to come through the father's side rather than the Rabbinic view of the ancestry coming from the mother's side.       

I'd love to hear from you on this if you know anything about it. I would love to witness to Jews and to learn more about the religion so I could understand more about Scripture and Jesus' early ministry. I desire to see Jews come to a saving faith in the Messiah.

I stand corrected this morning about Les Miserables. It was incredibly entertaining. We watched the 10 year anniversary tape and from the start I sat captivated. While I wanted to fall asleep, I couldn't let myself. So, it was wonderful, and suddenly I feel more cultured .

It's National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Participating locations offer free mammograms on the 3rd Friday of Oct, which is National Mammogrammy Day. Get you a mammogram girls if you haven't had one recently!

We had Classical Conversations today and it was terrific as always. It is wonderful for me to see Christ in this program and in the tutors my children are blessed to have. I don't know about you, but I pray for God to put women in my kids' lives who show them aspects of goodness they might not be getting from me. He's done it with CC and I'm thankful to say the least.          

So, we've cleaned up the house, math is done, dinner is over, and my dh got all fancied up for our night of watching Les Miserables. I'm feeling miserable over this prospect, but he's so excited he showered and put "the" shorts on (see prior post). I'm to make popcorn while we do it up Broadway style after the kids hit the sack. I think I'll fall asleep so plan to turn his head by donning my newest jammies. :)      

As a side note: I made brownies last night and put baby food prunes in, just 1 stage 2 container, then used oil for the rest (no applesauce to be found). YUM. I also sprinkled a decent amt of ground flax seed in, to counteract the oil don't you know :). They really have a moistness to them.

We had a fun day today driving a bit over an hour to an apple orchard for pumpkins. It was amusing that the pumpkins don't grow there, they get shipped in and sat out near some vines that are growing, but just not producing pumpkins! Still, it was a great field trip and the place is beautiful. I hope we can all go back as a family. Tomorrow I'll get pics up!

Usually a good day involves school and cleaning to me, but we just started math (never finished it) and headed out at 8:30 am. After pumpkin and apple gathering, we got home, everyone took a fast shower and changed (except momma), and the girls and I headed to play dates. Thankfully our little guy napped while daddy worked. 

It was my youngest daughter's first drop off play date. She loved it and did not get scared at all. Such a blessing! I'm so thankful she has a sweet little friend, whom I have known for a couple years, to be close to. Church introduced them and they are in, and have been in, several classes together for years.      

Quite delightfully, a new friend of my oldest's (and me) lives essentially on the same street as my middle child's friend. So after dropping DD2 off, DD1 and I popped over to our friend's house! Can it get any nicer than that??      

On the way home I ordered pizza for dinner, so they ate and watched a movie while I baked and cleaned in the kitchen. Such a nice night leading up to the debate tonight.

God has been so good to us with our schooling decisions this year, all the way around. Do you feel you are in a groove that is just 'right' for your family?       

Incase I haven't said it plainly recently, I love homeschooling and the innocence it allows in children, if you strive for that. 

I've thought about what it must be like to be in an abusive relationship a few times over the past couple of months. I admit, I am coming at this as an outsider, but sometimes outsiders have a perspective that is helpful. As a Christian woman who believes in submission, I believe we can be responsible in part for anger getting out of control. Some wives push their husbands buttons expecting them to demonstrate self-control beyond what they are capable. But, there are those people out there, men and women, that have a problem which is all on their shoulder's. I'm sure there are those who will say you should be able to do whatever you want to a man and he should never strike out. Maybe so, but that seems unrealistic to me under some conditions. All that to say, I do not believe a woman should be struck by her husband under any circumstances. If you've found yourself being physically abused by your husband, or if your children are in a dangerous situation, you as the stable parent need to do what is best for you and the children. A time of separation may be needed, or if it is very serious, a restraining order may be needed.       

Here is a link with some information. Granted, it's from a completely secular point of view. Going through your pastor and the church rather than the state is what I'd suggest first if at all possible. But if you need to get out and can't go to your pastor, or if you don't have one, this may get you started. 

I know if I had a friend who was being abused by her husband, or who had been hit and was living in fear of it happening again, I would want to know so I could be there for her. If you are in this situation, please reach out to someone you trust. No one should go through something like this alone. You may have been doing everything "right" and your husband just has a terrible problem he needs help with. Whatever the case, it is not better for you or the children to stay in that situation, and it's not even best for your husband who needs help.

Has it been a week for you that is just passing by quickly? I can't believe it's 2 pm already, and yesterday was the same way. I thought I'd share what we've done for school today. Just to mix it up a bit. You can see the curriculum we use for the most part.

Our 3 yo:

1. Bible lesson with 5 yo
2. AWANA verses
3. Foundations week 5 (Classical Conversations-CC)
4. Timeline cards weeks 1-5 (CC)
5. Got read to by 7yo and momma 
6. Played at YMCA gym

Our 5 yo dd:

1. Bible no. 18 (Rod and Staff)
2. AWANA verses
3. Teach Your Child to Read lesson 32
4. A Beka K math, pgs 72-74
5. Timeline cards for CC (weeks 1-5)
6. Foundations week 5 for CC
7. Got read to by momma
8. Played at YMCA gym

Our 7 yo dd:

1. Bible (Bob Jones)
2. AWANA verses
3. EEL Task Sheet using "Did Jesus weep?" (CC)
4. Punctuation sheet (book from Teach N Stuff)
5. Spelling-recopy all words (22)-(finishing Phonics Road level 2 words)
6. work on rough draft IEW paper (CC)
7. Foundations week 5 (CC)
8. Daily Word Problem (Tue and Wed)-workbook
9. Read over IEW writing style sheets (CC)
10. Study this week's vocab words (4) (CC)
11. Saxon 54 (lesson 15)
12. Reading Detective (Critical Thinking Company)
13. Wrote letter to sponsored Compassion child

Time to go!!

Did your day travel at warp-speed today? It is rare a day goes by as quickly as today did. I feel like it should be mid-afternoon right now. We did a lot of schooling, though I would have liked us to get farther on the writing assignment for this week. We've had to pass up celebrating Rosh Hashana with some friends because we've already committed to a field trip on Thursday and we can't afford to miss 2 days this week to do our normal work.                 

Anyway, it was 2 pm before I knew what hit me, then it was time to get the girls ready for ballet, then dinner was over, and now the phone alarm just went off at 9 pm since it was time to pray for our nation already!!! Phew, my hair is blowing just recounting all of this.           

So I'm in the process of clearing off my kitchen island which entails getting mail read, Mary Kay orders ready to deliver, writing to our sponsored child (Compassion International) and sewing onAWANA patches, which will happen in a minute.

Tomorrow our oldest gets to start piano lessons from a Christian friend we really like. She is letting us pay through a bartering system, which is a tremendous blessing since otherwise we couldn't add lessons at this time. God is good! I've prayed for someone who lives close to us also and this is perfect, less than 10 mins away.  Thank you C.O. and God!

This is only the beginning, and we're so proud of her!

I have a video showing this but can't seem to upload it here. Is this possible?

For now I'm going to put it on my other blog, which has nothing to do with our school journey but at least you can see this there for a time.

I'll also upload our other daughter reciting Psalm 23.

www.vathinker.blogspot.com