Recognizing a Truth Seeker and The Eight Levels of Torah
Observance
I often have to shut my mouth when talking to fellow believers. Everyone
seems to be at different levels. If you hit someone at a lower level with
information from a higher level, they get argumentative and tune you out. In
some cases they tune you out permanently. This is Biblical. Solomon said,
can two walk together unless they be agreed? Moses said Do not
plow with a bull and an ass together.
How do you recognize when someone is ready to ascend? It is their
attitude. They are seeking truth. They will listen to you without
interrupting, provided you are just giving them information. They will ask
probing questions to find out why you believe what you believe. They will
describe to you the consequences of what you are saying, and describe what
seem like contradictions to them. They may disagree with you, but they won't
try to strongarm you into believing what they do.
If someone doesn't show these signs, tactfully disengage. If you see that
someone is just eager to debunk you before you have even finished making your
case, then they aren't listening. If they argue around in circles, then stop
the conversation. Move on to another topic. There is some blockage in their
minds that might come unblocked later. Until God lifts the blockage in their
mind, it will not go away and you will be making your time vain.
Your goal is to share truth. If someone doesn't want it, don't push it on
them. Be grateful they don't turn on you before you've had a chance to
identify them as swine and back away.
When you share Torah, you must keep alert for any sign that the other
party is not a truth seeker. If they aren't seeking truth, the Torah is a
closed book. God himself said so, because God himself has shut it up against
those who are not seeking or desiring truth.
As long as the other party is a truth seeker, the following eight level
division of Torah applies. When talking to an alleged believer I try to place
them on the right level. Once I know their level, I just try to gently nudge
them to the next higher level. If they aren't ready, I leave them alone. But
at all times, it is the spirit of God that does any actual work. I, and you
fellow evangelists, are God's agents, spreading his word.
The Catholics speak of the 52 degrees of losing your faith. But the steps
to gaining faith are much fewer. So it should always be easier to regain
faith than to lose faith.
The Eight Levels of Faith
- Typical Christian: Christ did away with the Law; a believer is saved no
matter what he does. if you keep the law you are in slavery and bondage and
Christ is not in you. In fact, if you keep the law you are a servant of Satan
and going to Hell.
- Agnostics and atheist non-believers; the Bible is just a book of myths
written by men.
- Jesus fulfilled the Torah with a new law. We only need to keep the
commands in the New Testament. The baby is starting to babble, but no speech
is coming out yet.
- Jesus didn't do away with the moral laws, but he did away with the
ceremonial laws. Typical of Saturday sabbatarians. This is like a child
learning to count to five on his fingers.
- The difference between moral and ceremonial laws isn't so clear anymore.
I will test each law to see if it still works today. At this stage, people
start wearing tzitzit. This is like a child being able to write down the
numbers from one to ten.
- All of the law is in force, and I know what they are, but they are a
bunch of disconnected rules to me, each rule to be taken on its own. People
in this category usually shave their beards or teach that it is ok for others
to. This is equivalent to a child being able to count to one hundred.
- All of the law is in force, and I am keeping many of them. I see that the
laws are not isolated, but they set limits on behavior. The laws are now
interpreting each other. At this level people understand that if it is wrong
to shave the beard in mourning, it is also wrong to shave it for any lesser
reason. This is like the child being able to add and subtract.
- I can figure out what the law requires in almost any situation, but it
takes work and meditation. The historical and prophetic parts of the Bible
are now playing in, illuminating and showing me the correct interpretation of
the laws. Truly, all scripture is inspired and beneficial. At this level a
person can prove without a doubt that lesbianism is a sin without resorting
to the New Testament. This is like a child being able to multiply and
divide.
- I can now intuit the right thing to do in any situation; if someone asks
why I do something I can generally present several scripture quotations on
the spot to establish my position. This is like when the child learns
algebra.
- All of the law is in force, and when I interpret Torah I come up with the
same answers that Jesus gave, and can answer any new question as he would
have answered it. I am now truly Jesus disciple, and he is truly my master.
This is like the child who grows up, goes to college and learns calculus. Is
anyone today at this level?
Which level are you at? May you advance soon. Once we get enough level
seven's, one of us is bound to reach level eight. Most Christians believe
they are at level eight, but because they've skipped the previous seven
levels, they are actually at a worse level than level zero.