A Different God?

I have been in deep thought again this morning about Christianity, which I grew up in. Yeshua (or Yahoshua or Yahsua or some variation) is the actual Hebrew name of the Messiah (anointed one or Christ in Greek), so most people just simply change their conversation from  using Jesus to Yeshua, but are they really one in the same? Let me share some questions that came to mind so that *you* can ponder this as well.

For me, it is a simple matter of obedience. Breaking the Torah is sin (1 John 3:4), so I want to keep the Torah, not for salvation, but because I love my Father. In John 14:15 Yeshua says that if we love Him, we will keep His commands. What are His commands?

Do you believe that it was the Messiah Who gave the Torah at Mount Sinai? He is, after all, the image of an invisible God, right? (Col. 1:15, 1 Tim. 1:17) 


So if we understand that the Torah given at Mt. Sinai was given by the Messiah, then we agree that they were His commands, right? So what about the commands given in the gospels? Were they new? Actually, it may be better (for you) to look them up yourself, but He never gave any new commands, they were all repeated from the Torah! (I was shocked to discover this myself.) Yeshua simply lived the Torah (obeyed the Father) and took it (actually, took the understanding of it) to a whole new level, that if we even LOOK at someone lustfully, it is committing adultery, or if we just HATE someone, it is the same as murder. But none of His commands were new.


John tells us that in the beginning, the Word (Yeshua, the Alef Tav) was *with* God and *was* God, so the two are definitely not separate gods. But does Christianity treat them as such?

Mal. 3:6a - “For I the LORD do not change;

Heb. 13:8 - Yeshua the Messiah is the same yesterday, today and forever.

So we see clearly here that they both stay the same, and they are both ONE GOD. Let's look at another verse or three.

John 3:28 - So Yeshua said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.

John 5:19 - So Yeshua said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.


John 15:31 - but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.


So it is pretty clear that Yeshua was following the Father's commands, not making up new ones. Also, in Matt. 5:19, Yeshua says, "Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven."


So Christianity, *as a whole*, really does not teach people to follow the commandments of YHWH, our heavenly Father. In fact, I was taught (perhaps not directly, but the guidance was still there) to NOT keep the commandments. It's almost as if, when we do keep the commandments, we're automatically trying to earn our salvation. Actually, that is exactly what Christianity (as a whole) teaches. It is what I had always believed, though probably never voiced out loud, and as soon as we became Torah observant, my family's concern was that we were trying to earn our salvation! No, not at all, I simply love my Father and want to obey Him, just as Yeshua did!


Back to my original question......So if Christianity teaches that we should not follow the Torah, but Yeshua actually teaches that we should, then is Christianity serving a false god? Hmm.......