Other Articles  Christian Monotheism... Is there a need for a Fresh reformation? The Pain of Restoration What is True Monotheism Made with Xara Copyright 2011 Christian Monotheism... New Hope or More Confusion? By Frank Selch There is a movement emanating from the USA promoting a new and allegedly Biblical Monotheism  based on the so-called Creed of Jesus.  Is this just one more American innovation like countless  other spiritual movements?  Does it offer hope to the untold millions starving for spiritual realities  and truth, or is it leading to more confusion and a deepening despair?  Essentially, the movement is an anti-trinitarian one using Jewish terminology to establish its identity.  That sounds good since there is now a  growing awareness among many people that not everything is totally kosher within normative Christianity.  Although the adherents of this  movement come from a diversity of Christian backgrounds, I will resist focussing on one or another for the sake of establishing the driving  force behind this thrust.  What I want to focus on is this Creed of Jesus that has been made the mainstay of the movement, which they claim to be the Hebrew Shema!   However, to say that the phrase ‘Hear O Israel the LORD our God is One LORD’ constitutes the entire spiritual philosophy of Jesus is highly  simplistic and misleading. The main focus of this movement is the trinity and it seems that all other issues, which have affected Christianity  since its inception, are considered irrelevant.   The website says that christianmonotheism.com exists in order to promote the fearless pursuit of truth concerning God and Jesus from a  biblical and historical perspective.  Christian monotheists (also called biblical unitarians) believe that Jesus must be taken seriously when he  says that his Father is the only true God (John 17.3).   I greatly applaud their declaration that one should not be afraid of truth and that one needs to approach all things with humility.  It is in this  spirit that I too am offering the following considerations; especially this: the term Christian Monotheism is an affront to Jewish people, for  Monotheism is a Hebrew concept in which Christianity has had its Genesis.  The Jewish people have maintained that understanding for 3500  years.  Therefore, at best we should say, ‘Praise God, we are rediscovering Biblical Monotheism.  However, this must be more than merely  re-establishing the truth that God is One because Biblical Monotheism is first and foremost an ethical monotheism— not merely the defence of  a singular deity.  But, what does it mean to promotes the ‘simple truth’ that God is one and to ‘take Jesus seriously’?  James writes in his letter that ‘...you believe that there is one God!  You are doing well - even the demons believe—and tremble!’ James  2:19.  Is it truly enough to hold the right theological position by declaring that GOD IS ONE or is there also an ethical dimension to this much  vaunted Shema that should receive equal attention?     What IS the Shema of Jesus? The term Shema is a truncated expression of a verse in Deuteronomy (6:4) and quoted by Jesus in response to challenges by Hebrew scribes.   However, as is evident from the NT (see above) the NT quote is more than often quoted by Unitarian Christians.  The line, ‘Hear O Israel, the  LORD our God, the LORD is ONE...’ is only the beginning of an injunction upon the children of Israel and ends in v.9 of the same chapter.  The section is one of the most foundational in the entire Tenakh as it outlines the way of life for all of God’s people.  Virtually all translations  miss its significance by rendering it as individual unconnected verses.  Here is how it should read:   “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your  soul, and with all your might.    And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart;   and you shall teach them diligently to your  children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when  you rise.   And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them  on the doorposts of your house and on your gates”. Deut.6:4-9  Twelve time the conjunction ‘and’ is used as an injunction in this segment to highlight the imperative of this entire segment; making it an  intrinsic part of everyday life in Israel.  To this day it can be found on doorways throughout the Jewish community; even secular Jews will  put a mezuzah on their doorways thus highlighting its eternal significance for the people of God.  Therefore, if the Shema is the Creed of  Jesus, then the above injunction should equally become an imperative for every Unitarian Christian; not just ornamentally, but in thought  word and deed!  The significance of this passage can be seen in the fact that it is repeated in further along, in Deut.11:13-21.  Does that  mean that by adhering to the Creed of Jesus we will also align ourselves with Israel in this regard?  The Creed of Jesus  If it can be said, to use Christian phraseology, that Jesus had a Creed, the truncated statement quoted above is grossly misleading.  The full  expression by Jesus, when asked concerning the greatest commandment, was, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all  your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as  yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matth. 22:37-40; Mark 12:28–34.  In other words, Jesus philosophy included both God and man as it were on an even footing.  What is significant here is the fact that these words  did not originate with Jesus, but with the Hebrew Sage Hillel, and thus clearly uphold the strict Hebrew Unitarian position.  If we are to speak of Jesus, then we must look beyond a theological declaration and to his lifestyle.  Any creed, if devoid of life-application  remains an empty rhetoric.  However, if we link the Shema with Jesus’ life style we will find ourselves in the midst of Biblical Judaism.  That means that if we look to Jesus’ creed as a template for our own, then we must also embrace his overall philosophy of life.  Is that what Christian Monotheism has in mind?  Biblical Inspiration The Faith Statement of Christian Monotheism declares that ‘both Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, are inspired and true’.  This declaration is as  confusing as the doctrine of the trinity.  The fact is that the Hebrew Scriptures and their Greek translation, the LXX or Septuagint, are not  compatible.  There are many errors in the Greek text that could be attributed to any number of reasons.  On the other hand, the Dead Sea Scrolls  have confirmed that the Hebrew texts of the Tenakh can be trusted.  Another factor is that the LXX is after all a translation.  If we are willing to  ascribe divine inspiration to the LXX, then we must also afford the same standing to all modern translations since they too claim to have the  ancient Hebrew text as a basis. The Being of God ‘God is a singular individual named Yahweh...’ I do take issue with calling the Creator an ‘individual’.  God is not a person, though He is attributed with personality and personal traits as  attributed to Him by the authors of the Tenakh.  An human individual is understood to be one among many, albeit distinct and isolated from  others by degree and/or location.  God, however, is the all-encompassing, ever present Being in Whom everything exists and has its being.  Jesus may be called God... ‘...Jesus is God's supreme agent and thus may be called God because he represents Yahweh...’  Throughout the Scriptures one comes across many ‘Agents of God’.  However, none of these ever merited the privilege of being called God.   The closest anyone comes to that is Moses during his dealings with Pharaoh (Exod. 7:1) where God declares, “See, I have made you as God to  Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you…’.  Then we have several occasions  where a heavenly messenger speaks to humans ‘as God’ (c/f. the burning bush episode (Exod.3:2-6), the binding of Isaac (Gen 22:11-18),  Gideon (Judg.6:22-23), Manoah (Judg.13:2-22) et al. Jesus could have sinned ‘...but he chose to consistently obey the will of his Father in every situation...’  This means that anyone can do what he did.  If Jesus was ‘pure’ man, not some supernatural hybrid, then every human being has the potential to  live a sinfree life.  Let us take an example from everyday life!  No-one can claim that it is impossible to live daily as a law-abiding citizen if the  laws are designed for the good of citizens.  Is there anyone would honestly dare to say that the commandments given to Israel are anything but  reasonable?  Especially, when we consider Moses’ claim that there is no other nation on earth with such wonderful laws as the Almighty gave to  the Children of Israel (Deut. 4:8)!  Jesus died for our sins... ‘... Jesus died for our sins, was resurrected from the dead, ascended into heaven, and will return to judge the living and the dead’   ‘… God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us… Rom. 5:8 and ‘…Christ died for  our sins according to the Scriptures’ 1 Cor.15:3b    The statement under the previous heading, which says that Jesus ‘could have sinned...’ make nonsense of this one.  If he was mere man, and  thus mortal – at least initially – then everyone of us can accomplish the same thing.  If we orientate our lives according to Torah as he did, we  too will lives that are pleasing to God.  The more one studies the Tenakh, the more difficult it becomes to accept the view that God demanded a  human sacrifice so that He could forgive mortal man.  If god desired to forgive, then why demand a tribute that could not be paid except by an  extremely convoluted process where God had to pretend to Himself!  Even more so, when close attention is paid to the alleged support for such  a salvation theology from the Scripture - it simply is NOT THERE!  So, the entire atonement theory is built on suppositions and unsupported  claims that may have had their origin in the depths of pagan mythology.  The Omnipresence of Jesus... ...the Holy Spirit is the means by which Father and Son are able to be present in the world even though they remain in heaven.  This declaration is a confusing hangover from the Trinitarian Nicene doctrine.  Let us therefore consider its implications.  The Scriptures clearly  teach that God IS SPIRIT and HE IS HOLY.  This means that there cannot be another entity called the Holy Spirit; it is pure nonsense and  distortion of a plain biblical teaching.  In addition, if we can take the view of Paul as inspired concerning the presence of Jesus at the right hand  of God, then he is still a man.  As such are we to ascribe him the same omnipresence as the Father?  In addition, the term heaven is not  describing a place as such, but a dimension that is largely incomprehensible to man.  God is forever present and therefore does not need an  additional spirit as a postman.  The Scriptures show beyond a shadow of doubt that the Almighty uses messengers of His choosing, i.e. on some  occasions they may be ordinary men (Gen 18:1 ff.) or beings of fire (see above; also c/f. Ezek. 1:4-14) on others.  The Eternal One is forever  present simply because HE IS; there cannot be a place in the Universe where God IS NOT.  No room for the Jewish people... ...despite a total reliance on their scriptures for authenticity, the Christian world largely treats Judaism and Zionism with contempt and  with it the Jewish people.  The Apostle Paul teaches with great clarity to ‘...remember that you [Christians] do not support the root, but the root supports you…’  Rom.11:18.  Now what is this root?  Is it not the Jewish people who have been the custodians of Scripture since Moses?  There can be no  question on that, because even Jesus support that view (c/f. Luke 16:19,31).  Furthermore, virtually every teaching that has been promoted over  the century as authentic Christian comes from Jewish/OT sources.  Virtually all of Paul’s teachings rely entirely on OT sources, so why is there  no room for the Jewish people; especially since Paul admonished the Christians to live in a way that will make the Jewish people jealous.   Indeed Jesus himself had told his disciples that ‘...unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees, you will never see  the Kingdom of God (c/f. Matth.5:20)!  A close examination of the New Testament – especially the life of Jesus – shows that there has never been any intention to create a new religion  for the Gentiles.  Does not Paul speak of a middle wall of partition having been broken down by the death of Messiah?  So why is there no room in the thinking of Christians for the Jewish people other than as objects of conversion?  There is much evidence from  the pages of the Old Testament that Christians have misunderstood God’s intentions and promises to the Jewish people.  Furthermore, the  conduct of the church for almost 2000 years has done everything except promote good-will between the two side.  The consequence of that is  now a deep-seated mistrust by Jewish people of most things Christian!  Just quoting a portion of the Shema will simply not fix the problem – if anything intensify it!  More Confusion? Christian movements have come and gone throughout the centuries.  However, virtually all have led to an eventual deeping of despair among  people through the creation of cultic environments that separated western society and even split families by means of doctrinal prohibitions.  A ‘Christian Monotheism’ sounds fine since the church never promoted anything but, albeit in a Trinitarian cloak...!  The movement under  discussion here re-interprets this 2000 year old Christian monotheistic view by manipulating terminology to arrive at a unitarian deity, but one  that is still comprised of all the trinitarian components; i.e. Father, son and Holy Spirit.  Although they reject the Nicene Creed, the son still sits  at the Father’s right hand and both still send the Holy Spirit into the world as the Creeds tell it!  A Need for Hope The can be absolutely no doubt that Christian theology needs to be reformed.  However, such a thing will not happen simply by renaming and  re-shuffling existing theological components.  The answer lies in the fact that the Creator always planned to redeem all of mankind; a concept  firmly embedded in ‘remnant idea’ first revealed through the salvation of Noah and subsequently through the Hebrew prophets.  Ever since  Cain, there has always been a rebellious element to fly into God’s face.  Irrespective of that, God understood that remnant to emerge from the  natural seed of Abraham with a portion of the Gentiles grafted onto that remnant.  Irrespective of the proportions of this remnant, He never  envisaged just the sons of Israel or gentiles only to comprise this remnant in full.  Traditional Christian theology is seriously flawed.  On the one hand are the Trinitarians, which comprise most of Christendom. On the other  hand are the Unitarians.  All of these are comprised of Roman Catholics, Protestants, Anglicans consisting of R.C. affiliates as well as those  who feel closer to Evangelicals, several varieties of Eastern Orthodox believers, Evangelicals of many different persuasions, Pentecostals of  numerous confessions, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Christadelphians, Messianics, as well as non-aligned Christians. Each of these defend  their turf; claiming to be the true church with the only and true answer.      The major flaw is the separation from the Hebraic origins of Christianity and its cast-iron allegiance to Greek thought.  If that separation had  proven itself to be a blessing to the world and indeed cause a massive jealousy among the Jewish people over righteous Christian lifestyle down  the centuries, then fine— let’s run with the Greeks.  As history shows such is not the case and in many respects the world is even more pagan  today than it ever was, albeit under an alleged monotheistic guise.  The Almighty will not be mocked, but that is exactly what we are doing.  He outlined His pathway for global redemption in the Torah and the  wider body of Scripture for Jew and Gentiles alike, but He also gave a measure of wisdom to the Hebrews that is absent from among the  Gentiles.  Is it for that reason that Zechariah prophesies in 8:23 that in the last days some Gentiles will be looking for answers, viz. ‘Thus says  the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with  you, for we have heard that God is with you.’ ” (NKJV).  This is a highly significant prophecy and we have to ask ‘is it true?’  If it is not true, then the question arises as to what IS true in that book!   However, since it is generally accepted by Jew and Gentile alike that Zechariah was a true prophet of God Most High, then that prophecy  should cause us to sit up in our Christian pride!  “Even from the highest mountain can you see only as far as your eyes will permit!”