Today I participated in the fast of Yom Kippur. Though theres no such command for non-Jews to do so, I chose to do so as I felt it would be meaningful and had enough on my chest to be in need for atonement.
A friend of the university overhere, told me he wanted to join me as he had always wanted to fast for a day. He had told me earlier that he was a liberal Christian and believed in G’d etc but had some issues with certain church policies, such as its stance on homosexuality and abortion etc.
I told him that this was not a fast that would be shared by most of the church, but he didnt mind, he just wanted to fast 
So at 18.17 yesterday he and I started the fast and at 19.14 today we broke the fast and enjoyed a very nice dinner.
He told me he wanted to go to a church, which was not really the thing I associated with Yom Kippur, but anyways we went to a big Cathedral in the center.
When we entered he lit a candle and I just sat on one of the benches reciting Psalms and tried not to be distracted by the icons.
Its actually crazy when you think of it… on the big cross was hanging the man, who himself participated in this fast… who said:
If you would enter life, keep the commandments
What happened to his teachings? How is it that in the place that bears his name, we dont find [many of] his teachings to be lived out, while in the Synagogue a couple of blocks away, it is.
Its exactly this which makes me wonder whether it wouldnt be a better idea to go the Synagogue, it is after all the place where he was going, where he was being called for the Torah-reading, where he would recite the prayers, its so much closer to him… the only problem is that he is not welcome, and thus it seems only logical that his followers wouldnt be either… and even if they were, wouldnt that be kind of strange; to go to a place where your Rabbi is being excluded?
Whats your opinion, should Christians go to the Synagogue or to the Church?
Greetings,
To answer your question. The approach that my community has taken, is as expounded in our website. We are in the process of building the infrastructure needed to uphold 5000 years of Jewish culture/civilization, the interpretation of the Bible of our Sages and the revelation of the Meshiach of Israel as well. The way we have delt with believers from the Nations (as we have encountered different pro-Torah individuals) is to collaborate with them within our synagogue framework, as righteous covenant keepers or G-d fearers were part of the temple worship in biblical times. The issue is that the acceptance of Torah without the acceptance of Judaism is something foreign to Historical Judaism. So our resolve to be there for all of G-d’s people, as we are the disenfranchised of Israel and its commmonwealth has given us the opportunity to reach out to traditional Jews as well as non-traditional non-Jewish believers in Meshiach.
We are very impressed with your journey and study of Judaism, we would love to stay in touch with you and build a collaboration of ideas and support each other. Daniel T. from Messianic Judaism Quest
yeshuakingdom@netscape.net
You are the living example of a Christian who reads the bible carefully and intensely!
The problems you face are very clear to me and it makes me glad to hear this voice! When you are right (and I think so) you implicit make a condemnation of the Christian church for a lack of obeying the word of G’d in the right manner. You even condemn the synagogue for denying Yeshua.
You have a very difficult question on the way we have to choose for participating in church or synagogue. I don’t have an answer. But, if I try to answer, I think we must not leave to quickly the place we are put in by G’d, i.e. the environment we where born into. I think we have to prefer to reform our own environment. The church, synagogue and ourself have to do teshuva, convert to G’d, all day, but most of all nowadays.
Thomas Boston in his sermon on Zecharjah 12:12 was looking out for the salvation of the Jews. He said:
“Are you longing for the increase of the knowledge of heavenly mysteries? Then pray. At the rising again of the witnesses that had been slain by Antichrist, John saw the temple of God opened and the doctrine of the gospel clearly made known (Rev 11:19). But when the Jews are converted, he sees heaven itself opened (Rev 19:11) and receives a yet deeper insight into these mysteries. And we have no ground to doubt but, upon that great event, there will be a greater insight into the Bible than there is now among the most knowing.” (All the works, III, sermon 26)
He expected great advances for the church when the Messiah is revealed to the Jews.
As I do. First we have to pray.
warm regards, Jos
Daniel,
I believe this is a difficult question that cannot be decided through the strictness of an “either/or” answer. An individual’s circumstances and spiritual maturity plays heavily into such decisions. Personally, if I was completely without recourse for “Messianic” fellowship I would likely attend synagogue. I would be completely upfront and honest about my faith in Yeshua if this was the case. Otherwise, my second choice would be to attend Saturday afternoon Catholic mass. Having been raised Catholic I know that the church is not without its gross theological errors (as is Reformed Protestantism, in my opinion). However, the Catholic mass encompasses a liturgical style that mimics Judaism in some ways, and would afford me a means to worship in a corporate fashion on Shabbat.
Reflecting on Jos remarks; the Catholic church was indeed the initial place that HaShem placed me in which I learned of Yeshua initially through my family situation. Five years ago if it would have been suggested that I would consider returning to the Catholic church in any way, I would have been greatly insulted and thought such a thing an impossibility. Sometimes the circular fashion of life is a mystery and an inspiration. Yet, I must qualify my response as tentative at best due to the fact that I currently am part of a small Messianic community. I guess in this way I would fall under the category of attending “church”.
Also, I might caution a young and unmarried believer in Yeshua to refrain from regular attendance to synagogue and perhaps only as a means to celebrate the moedim. Ultimately, regular interaction with a Jewish community would likely lead to romantic interests that would greatly tempt one to convert at a time when marriage is in mind.
Shalom,
Paula