When Indie Horror Directors Understand Faith Better Than Ordained Theologians

My buddy Daniel Emery Taylor is a man of deep faith and a director of indie horror films. And he totally gets both. I asked if he'd mind if I shared this tidbit he wrote about his Messianic understanding of faith. 

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I am going to tell you what most people get wrong about Jesus.

Now, before I explain that purposely provocative statement, I want to give a little context.

Invariably, when I post about the holidays, someone will message me in confusion. 

“Wait, so ... Messianic Judaism? You believe in the Torah and the Jewish holidays and all of that?”

“Yes.”

“But I also see you post stuff about like Jesus or whatever.”

“Yes.”

“... Dafuq?”

So, then I try to explain that a Jew following the Jewish Messiah really shouldn’t be that confusing and that modern Christianity, for all its sincerity, often misinterprets Yeshua’s (Jesus’) teachings so that’s why I generally shy away from using the “Christian” label. It’s not a good representation of my faith in the modern era.

But, at its core, I really have few disagreements THEOLOGICALLY with evangelical Christianity (method and practice are different issues). Save for one. It may seem like semantics but I believe it fundamentally changes the way you view the Scriptures and the way you go about your day to day life.

Christians teach, by and large, that when Yeshua was crucified, He abolished the Torah. We are no longer under the law! It is finished! Done! Kaput! Live your conscience and then if you feel guilty (“convicted”) about something, pray for forgiveness.

I say they’re wrong. I say they’re worse than wrong - not only did Yeshua not abolish the Torah ... HE MADE IT HARDER. He amplified it. How?

There’s one specific teaching in the fifth chapter of Matthew’s account. Yeshua teaches (my paraphrase) “You’ve been told not to commit adultery - I tell you if you look at a woman to lust after her, you’ve already committed adultery in your heart. You’ve been told not to murder but if you harbor unjust anger you have already committed murder in your heart.”

There it is. The Torah is written on our hearts - it’s no longer just about what we DO. It’s about what we feel. It’s about what we THINK (Lord, forbid). See, it’s relatively easy to not cheat on your wife. It’s easy not to murder someone. As much as we may want to, most of us have that conscious stopgap that forbids us from following through.

But lust? Petty anger? Those are base human instincts. They’re hardwired into us. They’re the sins that we are ALL guilty of. And Yeshua equates them to adultery and murder. In His eyes, we’re all adulterers and murderers. So, what does that mean? Two things:

1.) We’re all in the same rotten boat together, so not one of us should assume they’re more pious or holy than the rest. How gracious and empathetic we should be to each other!

2.) These are both sins that were punishable by death. We’re condemned to death. We have racked up a debt we cannot pay and, left on our own, we’re destruction-bound.

Just as HaShem provided a way to our people during the exodus, smearing the blood of a lamb on your door posts so the Death Angel would pass over you, so did Yeshua provide a way to be similarly passed over in judgment. He would pay our debts for us. And He did - and if you accept it, absolution of cosmic debt is yours to have. The blood of one lamb sustained us for that season; the blood of the ultimate Lamb sustains us forever.

But it’s not all roses and Easter lilies. Because He amplified the Torah. He internalized it. He is judging our thoughts, our motives, and our hearts.

That is why Rav Sha’ul (the Apostle Paul) says that if you confess with your mouth “Yeshua is Lord” and believe IN YOUR HEART that God raised Him from the dead, you would be saved. It’s not doing good deeds. It’s not just SAYING the right thing. It’s not going to Church at the right times or getting down on your hands and knees and telling Him how great He is several times a day. It’s what you truly, sincerely believe in your heart. He sees your heart. And trust me, the world may be fooled by hucksters and liars (politicians and televangelists) but the Almighty sure ain’t. He knows. And He judges accordingly.

But when your faith is weak and needs a boost, He also knows. And when you’re hurt He knows. When you’re sad, He knows. And when you’re trying the best you can but keep failing anyway, He knows. A bruised reed He will not break. What a merciful and gracious God!

So, in conclusion, contrary to what you may have been told, Jesus did not complete, supersede, or abolish the Torah. He amplified it and made it, by our standards, impossibly more difficult. And that is why it is imperative that we trust Him even more. We can’t pass the test on our own - we have to believe Him when He says He passed it for us.

Have a blessed rest of your Passover week or Resurrection Sunday, whichever you celebrate. I love you guys.