Hebrew vs. Greek Mindsets

Thank you all fro your comments on the last post. I know this stuff isn't sexy but it's important to give a a general understanding of what's to come. Remember, I'm not a teacher, I'm a student. I'm counting on you to pray for discernment, ask questions and leae provacative comments. I'm journalizing my thoughts to inspire all of us. Once we get past the dry stuff I'm sure you will be blown away. As stated previously, I was raised in a Christian home surronded by Christian family on all sides outside the home. A lot of my preconceptions have been bent opening a whole new understanding. Today, my relationship with Jeus is exponentially stronger and I'm just starting.

Here's the next installment, you may want to put on a pot of coffee first.

The Bible was written by Hebrews. I'm going to use the term Hebrew to avoid you being confused by Judaism. I don't know anything about Judaism so I can't comment on it. I will say I have a new respect for the Jewish faith, I may cover some of that in future posts.

The Bible was written from a Hebrew perspective. Our western culture is based upon a Greek mindset. There are distinct differences.

The Hebrew mindset focuses on works. They ask what are you doing? The Greek mindset is based upon beliefs. They ask what do you believe? The difference is huge. The Greek mindset is about the intellect and loves to espouse their thoughts. The Hebrew mindset could care less what you think. They don't care if you think you should take care of the poor, the Hebrew mindset says go out and shovel the snow off your 80 year old neighbours sidewalk. It's about actions not words. A verse in James comes to mind (James 2:14-17)

The Hebrew mindset asks lots of questions. The Greek mindset gives out lots of answers. The Hebrew mindset wants to know all the facts before forming an opinion. The Greek mindset wants to spurt out everything they know. Chew on that one for a minute, then take give a listen to the news networks or the people at the office. Everyone has a solution.

The Hebrew mindset reveres old people. They understand that gray hair brings wisdom. The Greek mindset worships youth and vigor.

The Hebrew mindset states there is one God, Hear oh Israel the LORD is God, the LORD is one. (Deut 6:4 NIV), In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God (John 1:1 NIV). The Greek minset has multiple Gods.

I'll back this next point up with future posts because its a deep one. Pray over the points above and think about them when you read this next point. The Hebrew mindset states that there is only one God. As stated in the verses above, Jesus is God. The Greek mindset would have us believe that there are three Gods. The rough dare I say mean God of the Old Testament who slaughtered millions of innocent people, the loving barefooted Son of the New Testatment who walked around healing and showing love and the Holy Spirit who now resides with us while the two other God's sit up in Heaven. The idea of a trinity is a translational Greek mindset concept. There is no reference to a trinity in the Word. There is one God, Jesus, Yeshua Ha Meschiach in Hebrew. Jesus is the creator of everything, He is our salvation, He is LORD.

Now, I know this is a lot to put together. I'll do my best to pull some of this together with a little history of how we came to this point. It's still pretty dry and I'm going to try to share the condensed version without losing the value. Hopefully you will stick it out, I believe (Greek mindset?) your world will be rocked.