In this video, this person analyses the reason why Josh Harris falls away, and he thinks this is the simple result of what happens when you push the LAW (TORAH) of God out of relevance.
How do you think about it? How should we conserve our faith?
I need a link that is direct to get to this.
He Quit His Marriage And His God on YouTube <— Click here if the above link in @Catherine_Taylor’s original post does not work for you. (This happens on my computer. Phones seem to use her type of link just fine.)
Just to answer your great question, @Catherine_Taylor, first of all, he’s right. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. The law is NOT nailed to the cross. That is a bad misinterpretation. Let me show you what Jesus Christ said about it in the New Testament:
Matthew 5:17-20 New International Version (NIV)
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Many so-called Christian churches, and now even the ones that were steady before, have done a short hand on that and decided that since Jesus fulfilled the law, then we don’t have to be bothered with it. Obviously verses 18-20 completely contradict that idea. This is why it is vital to take Scripture in context! The context is what comes after verse 17. Verse 17 of Matthew 5 does not stand alone. It is followed, probably in the same breath, by Our Lord and Savior being careful to teach us this does not “throw out” the law - not one tiny letter or stroke of the pen of it!!!
Besides being careful that we and/or someone who preaches to us is not taking scripture out of context, we must read it ourselves and never ever ONLY take another human being’s word for it.
My own idea of this is “never trust man” and “only trust God”. So what I do is listen, take notes, then study up myself, reading each cited scripture with 2 or 3 verses both before and after the cited verse. Often that is enough to expose lazy and/or false teaching.
Bottom line: this man in the video you posted is right. Because he calls it the Torah does not mean this is some Jews vs. Christians thing. We cannot do that. The WHOLE law and prophets and New Testament are our Bible and they should be taken as a whole.
P.S. This man says “our Messiah” meaning even if he speaks of the Old Testament as the Torrah, he is a believer in Christ the Lord. Therefore he has MUCH to teach.
Matthew 13:52 New International Version (NIV)
52 He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
There has been a great falling away since at least the 1970’s when the Charismatic Movement chose to focus on feelings rather than holiness. So what he says about the great falling away is most likely very true.