Cha-cha-cha-cha-changes

 So much keeps changing. Every time I sit down to write here I feel like I have to back up a few months and explain where I am philosophically. Since the time of my last post I have cut more ties with my former religion, not just in terms of organizational ties. Through a lot more time spent studying, conversing, listening and thinking a lot of things have become clear to me, clearer at least. For starters, though it's no small introduction, I've decided not to keep the holy days of Leviticus. That is quite the change for me, and it's one of no small consequence when it comes to living life. So very much of my existence up until now has revolved, quite literally, around the holy days and their absence is certainly noticed.

The reason for this change is quite simple to me, though for others it might not be the same. The issue at hand is 'covenants'. For those less used to the word, it means something akin to a deal or a contract; two parties agreeing to a set of predetermined terms, with a predetermined outcome. Failure on the part of either party to complete the terms is akin to 'breach of contract'. God, in the bible is a fan of such agreements, or at least He makes them often. 

While the Christian religion is familiar with the terms '1st and 2nd covenant' or 'new and old covenants', the two to which they usually refer are not correctly named. The 1st, or Old Covenant as most protestants call it is much more accurately called "The Second Sinai Covenant" since it is after all a covenant made at Sinai and was neither the first covenant made nor the only covenant offered at Sinai. The 'New Covenant' is used to refer to a 'new' covenant Jesus made the night before his crucifixion.  

500 or so years before the Sinai covenant were the Abrahamic Covenants, and 500 or so years before that were the Noahdic Covenants. Many people have been taught to conflate certain of these, and others taught to mislabel them so there is no lack of confusion about the subject.

For the sake of brevity, the Second Sinai covenant is where the holy days entered the picture, they were physical symbols of a PURELY physical covenant. That covenant never offered eternal life or spiritual salvation, only physical nationhood by centering the kingdom around the Temple and its sacrificial system. That covenant was broken repeatedly until 31AD when God's patience with the Nation of Israel ran out and a NEW covenant was made on better promises. The days when Jesus walked the earth Rome had already taken over Jerusalem and within the lifetimes of the contemporaries of Jesus the Temple which was the most important aspect of the second sinai covenant was destroyed, never as yet to be rebuilt. With the destruction of that temple came the inability to even practice Judaism.

The Covenant made the night before Jesus' crucifixion, as explained by the apostle Paul, as well as the unknown author of Hebrews, was made on "better promises". That Covenant, unlike it's predecessor that "could not save" is an offer to Eternal Life, with the agreement that we will take part in the Life and Death of Christ as pictured by the symbols He offered; "take eat, this is my body..." . This covenant has only 'The memorial of the Lord's death' as physical observance, but unlike the previous covenant it has Spiritual requirements. 'You have heard it said of old that 'you shall not murder', I say to you whoever hates his brother without cause is in danger of judgement.'  This code of conduct is not merely a check-list of do's and don'ts, it's an entirely internal code of conduct where YOU as the individual have to discern your own intentions. The new covenant also is centered around BEING Christ-like. That is, not so much Jesus-Like as it is the title of Savior. This covenant is about living Christ's life, loving others as He loved you. Living your life according to the example he set; giving all in pursuit of a mission, a mission to give life.

So yeah, that's a big change.