by J.K. McKee

This month, we commemorate a one-year anniversary of the McHuey Blog. Looking back on the past year of blog postings—even though they are not all from me—I think that we have used this medium of exchange fairly well. Certainly there is always room for some improvement and making better use of the topics we address, but on the whole I think it has been a good experience for all of us. I hope that this year we can continue to serve the Messianic community by offering thought provoking blog postings, which will help us all be the people the Lord wants us to be.

In my update for this month, I commented on how each day (well, usually each day) I visit a number of blogs. I make a specific point to visit two Messianic blogs, and then two anti-Messianic blogs. Believe me when I say this: I know that there is a major difference between blogs and religious websites that offer serious material. For the most part, a blog is a place where a person can express his or her opinion in the form of an editorial, and solicit comments from readers where some engagement or interaction can take place. The McHuey Blog is a place where the staff members of Outreach Israel Ministries can post their thoughts on a topic, in a format that can be informal, and where some editorializing is encouraged.

Unfortunately, not all blogs are connected to a ministry website where more detailed, formal teachings are offered. Just as it might be said that many people get their theology from t-shirts, bumper stickers, and praise songs—now the same are getting their spiritual instruction from blogs. While I do not mind people having to think about various things from blogs, this can present some problems.

Let me tell you just a little about the blogs that I read. (To protect the innocent, I will not tell you who they are.)

The first blog I read every morning is maintained by a Messianic Jewish writer and congregational leader. He has an M.A. in Theology from a well-respected school. He has written a number of books, and is someone with whom I have had some positive exchanges. Generally speaking, I actually like reading his blog, because most of what he posts is relevant to all Believers. The negative side to his blog is that this writer is largely against non-Jewish Believers following God’s Torah, and he does protest a bit too much about his interpretation of Acts 15, and to a lesser extent his interpretation of the Pauline Epistles. Yet, if it were not for reading this blog, I would not have added Acts 15 for the Practical Messianic for my list of things to do this year. (I cannot wait to start a full Acts commentary to do this.) This blog is a place where I get to see some of the things going on in the Messianic Jewish community, as the blogger will talk about many things that I know I would keep to myself if I were he.

The second blog I read includes posts from someone in the independent Messianic world. I have not had that many detailed personal exchanges with this gentleman, but I do find him to be a relatively nice guy, and I like much of what he posts. His blog is a bit more informal, but it does try to include an inquisitive form of teaching on various subjects. Much of what I read regards questions asked of his Christian colleagues, as he specifically wants them to reconsider the role that the Torah plays in their lives. The areas where he could improve concern not being up on various scholastic discussions in Paul, or needing to have a better handle on some Church history and contemporary, non-pop Christian theology. Likewise, there is a tendency in this blog to lean toward some Karaitism, but traditionalists such as myself are not at all unwelcome to express views in the comments section. This blog is not maintained by someone in full time ministry, so there is a bit more of a free flowing spirit than there might be elsewhere. Most of the time, I like reading this blog, and I find it a good place to find information about what is going on in some sectors of our faith community.

The third blog I read is a bit more complicated. It is hosted by a home schooling mother who is a fundamentalist Christian, and who has had much interaction with Messianic families in her home schooling circles. This blog is generally quite condemning of the Messianic movement, believing it to be utter deception, and believing that any attempt to get people to obey God’s Law is nothing more than forcing people into spiritual slavery that denies the New Covenant. There are some articles reproduced on this blog from other sources, but most of the written posts from the blogger are laden with long Scripture quotes (out of context) and appeals to Strong’s Concordance. I do not particularly like this blog, nor do I like the tenor of it. Yet the one thing that this blog shows me is that this is a major strata of thought present in the religious world. Reading something that I believe is written in an inappropriate, extremist manner, actually does give me writing ideas, or makes me realize the areas of Bible study where the Messianic movement does need to improve. I have contacted this blogger privately, expressing that I do agree with her on some of the areas where she finds problems with the Messianic world. But because I am only one voice, she said, her tirades against all of us would continue without moderation.

The fourth blog I monitor is the most complicated, and the most eclectic of them all. It is a place for this blogger to completely rant on the Messianic movement that she recently left. In the testimonial of this individual, she describes how she went full tilt into the Messianic movement and Torah observance, strongly and blindly believing the line “I’ve been lied to!” Turning her back on everything Christian, she began to really question the reliability of the New Testament, and embraced a form of Torah observance on the level of the Jewish Chabad. Jewish mysticism and Kaballah became a mainstay of this person’s spiritual diet. But then, feeling an empty void inside, this lady called out to the Lord—and a trusted friend from the Church came into her life and led our out of the Messianic movement. This person obviously got involved with some of the extremism that is present in some parts of our faith community. And now her attitude toward us is actually “I’ve been lied to!” Just about every post intends to rip apart something some Messianic teacher has told her. I do not have difficulty with some of the problems she has—and have voiced similar concerns—but because of her experience she believes that Christianity and Judaism have no connection. She believes anyone seeking enrichment to their faith from the Synagogue is on dangerous ground, and that there is no room in God’s economy for the Messianic movement.

Given these four blogs that I take a look at throughout the day, I obviously have more problems with the latter two than with the first two. Why do I have more problems with the anti-Messianic blogs? Obviously it is because of the unwillingness to fairly dialogue on the issues with which they so vehemently disagree with us. It is also because I think a great deal of the hostility demonstrated toward Messianics can be stopped.

Perhaps not everyone will agree with us on our convictions relating to living a Torah observant life like Messiah Yeshua. Perhaps not everyone will agree with our interpretations of Acts 15 or the Pauline letters. That does not mean that we have to be mean to one another. And it especially does not mean that we have to encourage this unbelievably overstated “I’ve been lied to!” mentality. Blogs need to used for their ability to ask thought provoking questions, where people can see both bloggers and blog readers engage in positive, constructive dialogue. They need to be a place where we can learn from one another, and truly demonstrate an attitude where the Psalmist’s expectation can be realized:

“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1, NRSV).