The messianic world starts here for news, views and prayer for Israel and a balanced approach to exploring the Hebrew roots of Christianity, for Jew and Gentile. Read our PLAIN MAN'S GUIDE TO THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT Available on the web and as a printed booklet. Shalom and welcome to the Saltshakers Messianic Community. First, a little about ourselves. We are a Jew and a Gentile, who have met our Messiah, Jesus (Yeshua) and seek to minister to the whole body of believers, whether you call yourself Messianic or Christian. We promote a balanced approach to our faith walk and we work towards a non-judgemental, caring and loving witness to both Jew and Gentile, believer and non-believer. Our desire is to reach the following: Gentiles who wish to learn more about the Jewish Roots of Christianity Jews who are curious about the claims of Jesus, the Jewish messiah. All who love Israel and the Jewish people and are looking for reliable information and current news. Our destiny is in God, our hope is in Jesus, our inspiration is through the Holy Spirit and our guidebook is the Bible, viewed through Hebrew eyes.

NEWSLETTER | ABOUT US | JOIN US | DONATE | FORUM | EMAIL US Can you be both a Jew and a Christian at the same time? That depends on your definition of a Jew and your definition of a Christian. Let's try and work it out. Let's say your definition of a Jew is someone who observes Torah and is a firm believer in the 13 articles of faith of Maimonides. And your definition of a Christian is someone who is baptised as a baby and goes to church. Then you can't be a Jew and a Christian at the same time. But most people (including Orthodox Jews) define a Jew as someone born to a Jewish mother. Under the Israeli Law of Return it is not your degree of faith in Judaism that defines your Jewishness but your Jewish parenthood. On the opposite side of the picture under the Nuremburg laws it was not how often you went to synagogue or whether you even believed in God that made you a Jew in the eyes of the Nazis. It was having Jewish parents or even grandparents. Being Jewish therefore is an accident of birth not necessarily a religious commitment. If being committed to the synagogue and to Judaism is your definition of Judaism then a large proportion of the Hebrew speaking population of Israel is not Jewish. Many people define a Christian as we have done above. This makes most of the population of Ireland or Spain Christians. However the New Testament and most importantly Jesus himself never defined 'Christian' in this way. In an interview with a Jewish religious leader, Nicodemus, Jesus said, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven' (John 3.3). This spiritual rebirth comes as a result of repentance from sin and faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah as a sacrifice for sin (in fulfilment of such biblical passages as Isaiah 53, which prophesies the future sufferings of the Messiah as a sacrifice for sin). If you care to study the Tenach you will find that Jeremiah 31.31-34 describes the New Covenant and Ezekiel 36.26-28 speak of the new heart and spirit which God promises to Israel. The new covenant and the new spirit are available in the Messiah Jesus and are our experience when we put our trust in Him. By definition this experience can never happen to a baby who has no ability to choose about anything least of all about such issues as the existence of God, Jesus being the Messiah and the need for personal repentance and faith. Therefore no one can be born a Christian in the true sense. As Jesus said 'You must be born again', not physically but spiritually. Now the qualification for having this experience has nothing to do with our race or previous religious convictions or lack of any religious convictions. Atheists can be born again, so can former believers in Islam, Hinduism, witchcraft or even nominal Christians! But also by definition so can Jews be born again. Now if we accept the racial definition of being Jewish there is no problem with this. A born again Jew also remains Jewish, just as a born again Irishman remains Irish. If you insist on the definition of Jewishness meaning practising Judaism then there is a problem clearly because according to Maimonides' 13 principles Judaism is still waiting for the coming of the Messiah, but according to the New Testament the Messiah has come. This then leads to the real question 'Is Jesus the Messiah?' The major problem to any kind of rational discussion of this question (which is the one we are really interested in) is the kind of emotional (and we would have to say often irrational) arguments 'I was born a Jew and will die a Jew' (and therefore cannot even consider the claim that Jesus is the Messiah, 'You have betrayed our people by accepting Jesus as Messiah', or 'You are worse than the Nazis who only tried to destroy us physically. You are trying to destroy us spiritually.' All of these arguments are good for clouding the issues and stirring up hostility to Jewish believers in Jesus as Messiah. They are totally counter productive to any kind of sensible discussion of a question which no Jewish person can really avoid - 'Is Jesus of the Nazareth the one prophesied in the Tenach as the Messiah?' Click here for other articles

CONTENTS Home Tapestry of Gefilte Fish Plain Man's Guide Land of Many Names Israel Prayer Newsletter Israel audio update Praying for Israel Latest News on Israel Stand in the Gap Chaverim Messianic Mall Oy Vay iz Mir! Messianic Forum Your questions answered Midnight Oil eMessianica My Son, the Christian?! Library Messianica The Gospels Recommended Links Nepesh Jokes Poetry