I was filling out a questionare about preaching the Gospel to Jews and I got the following series of questions, in an email, regarding my answers. I thought many would be interested in my response. I've changed the format of the questions a bit to fit better here on my site. Here are the questions:

1. Do you believe Jesus to be the promised Messiah?
2. You believe in Salvation, don't you?
3. Do you believe keeping the OT customs are required for Salvation?
   
4. You are more observant of Torah practices than I am, do you believe that I am unsaved because I'm not as observant as you?

And I know you are using different terminology but I wanted to understand everything. So for the sake of argument, let's just put terminology aside for the moment.

1. Yeshua is Messiah. What Messiah means depends upon who you ask ;)
2. I'm not Once Saved Always Saved (OSAS) I'll explain more later. I believe Salvation is highly conditional.
3. I believe the OT Commandments are still in effect. I also believe that there is a difference between a custom and a commandment.
4. I don't judge other people's salvation (see #2). That is way above my pay grade ;)

I'm not using different terminology per se, I'm being precise in my usage of terminology. Let me explain, as in detail as I can, where I am theologically. You probably won't agree with some (most??) of it, but that is okay. What we agree upon problably is more important than what we don't ;)

I believe that Yeshua is the Messiah promised from long ago (Gen 1-3 ). We have a luxury of seeing Yeshua from a perspective of history. All of scripture gives us the picture of who Yeshua is. There are aspects one can only see if one is versed in all of scripture. We still have promises (in the OT) yet to be fulfilled by Yeshua that will only come in the Kingdom, and I believe those promoses. This is the first big problem I have with much of nominal Christianity, in that much of Christianity says that Yeshua has fulfilled everything. He hasn't, and that is clear. The reason why Christianity has this position is to deal with what Messiah said in Matt 5:17-19 . Other NT verses which also support my view of scripture include John 5:46 , 2Tim 3:16-17. One question I usually ask Christians is what was the Scripture that Paul was refering to in 2 Tim?

I'm not OSAS, I believe that salvation is highly conditional. Salvation is conditional that one must believe in YHVH and Yeshua and ALL of what that entails (see Deut 13 ). I also believe that Salvation is much a process as anything. Paul talks about winning the race, what is that race if not salvation? Additionally, Salvation is not the end goal as many believe. Salvation is about restoration to what we(man) were created for, which necissarily means we have a greater purpose than just being "saved". I also have a huge problem with the whole presciption model for obtaining Salvation, as that has become a magic incantation; as if all we need to do to get YHVH to do something is say the magic words (Sinner's Prayer).

I wish I could teach Torah to more Christians, because I believe that many of them will realize that there is no commandment that is too difficult to do (Deut 30:11-14 ). Most Christians have no understanding of what is actually in the Torah, but yet they feel completely comfortable saying that it is a bunch of rules and regulations. At the same time, many Christian organizations have more rules of their own making that are not in scripture, even going so far as ignore Yeshua's own mircacles in the process (no alcohol, wine).

Another contention is not understanding the difference between a custom, and commandment. The biggest one I see is Sabbath. There are actually very few instructions for Sabbath in Torah. The command is to "remember the sabbath, and keep it holy". We are to separate Sabbath from the rest of the week, as a commemoration of our Creator! In Hebrew households, this is often commemorated by lighting of candles and Havdalah services, which are customs. There is no commandment regarding either of these two things people often use to set apart the sabbath; they are customs. Sabbath is commandment, not a custom. What we do for Sabbath are often customs, and not commandments. I'm Precise ;)

One of the biggest problems I have with Christianity, is the whole fixation on who is or isn't "saved". If salvation is a process as much as and end result, then fixating on who is, or isn't saved is meaningless. I usually ask the question this way ....

Who is Saved? Is a faithful Jew who believes in Torah and the coming Messiah, saved, even if they don't see Yeshua as the coming Messiah? Is a unfaithful Christian, who said the sinner's prayer and says all the right things in church, but lives a life filled with sin and error?

I know people in both cases. I don't know the answer, but I cannot believe that a faithful Jew is worse off than the unfaithful Christian. But on the otherhand, I also know I cannot see the hearts of others, so I am fully unable to be a judge of the "salvation" of others. In fact, I know that I am fully unable to judge even myself. Search me oh YHVH and see if there is ANY wicked way in me. (Psa 139:23-24 paraphrased). I am unable to see my own wickedness. When I realized this truth, it was a very humbling experience.

I realize this sounds like I am picking on Christians, and I REALLY don't want that to be the impression. I have similar problems with Orthodox Judaism. However I believe that the last 2000 years the separation of Torah from Messiah was to fulfill last days prophecies. What Christianity has done, even if it has been problematic at times, was keep Yeshua the focus. This is the blessing of Christianity! Likewise, the blessing of Judaism has been keeping Torah in focus, even in its problematic structure. We are seeing the fulfillment of Mal 4 in these last days, that people are remembering the Torah of Moses, which is causing the hearts of the children to return to their fathers, and the father's to their children. 

My faith isn't so much focused on the outward signs (customs, observances, prayers) but rather is focused on the heart condition. This doesn't negate the need for obedience, for obedience is the sign of one who loves YHVH with their hearts. And who among us is qualified to judge our own hearts, let alone the hearts of others.

I hope this helps explain where I am coming from. Please feel free to ask me any question at anytime.