At night I stayed late at the library to take advantage of evening study
hours, and returning home at 10:30 or 11 o’clock I would again see his desk
light on. He was always pouring over his books.
One day he invited me home for lunch, and after the meal I said to him,
“Would you mind if I asked you a question?”
“Of course not.”
“What keeps you studying? You never seem to stop.”
His answer, “Son, I would rather have my students drink from a running
stream than a stagnant pool.”

See:  Psa 1:1-3; Psa 119:97

A teacher is not there just to acquaint you with the tools of your
trade; a teacher is a tool of your trade, no matter what that trade is. You
never stop needing teachers. The great musicians never stop taking lessons,
never stop trying to improve. The great concert pianist, Arthur Rubinstein,
used to say that if he missed a day of practice, he noticed it in the
quality of his performance. If he missed two days, the critics noticed. And
if he missed three days, the audience noticed.

See:  Psa 25:4-5; Psa 143:8; Psa 143:10; 2 Tim 2:2

And Jesus Christ has provided us with the greatest of Teachers, the Spirit
of Truth who will lead us into all truth, one step at a time if we will but
open our hearts to him.  How often we are distracted by the cares of the
world and turn a deaf ear to the Holy Spirit?  Let us learn the lesson from
Arthur Rubinstein and practice hearing the Holy Spirit every day so that
the world can truly see we have been with the Master Teacher and have
learned our lessons. John 16:13

Discovery Channel is running a summer series entitled “Curiosity.” It is a forum for celebrity types to discuss their views on something about which they are curious. The initial program aired August 7, 2011 featuring famed physicist, Stephen Hawking asking, “Does God Exist?”

Anyone who recognizes Hawking’s name knows where he stands on the question. “Curiosity” gave him a television opportunity to discuss his views and why he holds them.

I watched the program with great curiosity to see how he would or could encapsulate a lifetime of work into a one-hour tv program. The program was designed (as are most) to reach a general audience whose education level was at least the eighth grade. The biggest and most difficult word used was “infinitesimally,” which goes quite beyond the average eighth-grade level of understanding.

He followed a logical course of continually asking, “Where, then, did that originate?” as he took us back through time to the beginning. That is ultimately the question that thinkers seek to answer. Those who follow a religious path answer with “God.” Those who do not believe in God answer with the current scientific explanation, “Big Bang.”

Hawking’s explanation of how the Big Bang occurred leaves much to be desired. His logical progressions are filled with major assumptions. This master of quantum physics made quantum leaps in logic that left me wondering if he had ever studied even the rudiments of logic.

His premise is that “laws can be understood by the human mind, and these laws tell us whether we need a god.”

The beginning of his presentation was a masterful deception designed to equate himself with other great scientists such as Aristarchus and Galileo. By association, he used his victim status of being persecuted by the church for his views as similar to the persecution of Galileo. It follows that since the church persecuted Galileo and he was later proven to be correct, then since the church has persecuted me, I must be correct. Subtle. Effective.

It appears that he has taken his great mind to argue against very weak religious views. Before he begins presenting his major assumptions, he makes one subtle assumption about God’s purpose. After his premise statement, his argument is that God’s purpose is only to set and reset natural law, but natural laws are universal and need no governance. Therefore, God is not necessary.

When he discusses black holes, we are led through a series of major assumptions that are posed as facts, but only after presenting some commonly known “facts” about black holes. Black holes are the result of extremely massive stars imploding upon themselves. (We have accepted that as fact, though no one has ever seen a star implode.) Nothing exists within black holes. (Though no one has ever gone into one to see. Just because we cannot see something, does not mean it doesn’t exist.) Time ceases within a black hole. (That has got to be a major assumption.)

We know, understand, and accept that scientific advances are made because of theories and propositions. No problem. But, please do not attempt to present a theory as a fact.

He states that it only takes three things to make a universe: matter, energy and space. Then Hawking brings in Einstein’s E=Mc², to show that only two ingredients are necessary: space and energy.

And, following the reasoning, he asks once again, “Where did space and energy come from?”

“We now know that space and energy were created by the Big Bang.”

Really? We know that? How? Were you there?

No, sir. You might theorize, postulate, propose, or assume that; but you do not KNOW that.

Hawking then follows with yet another assumption: “We know the universe was incredibly small.” This assumption is that the universe has always existed, which is similar to Carl Sagan’s assumptive statement: “The cosmos is all there is, all there ever was, and all that ever will be.”

Returning to the black holes, he states that these phenomena reveal “how the universe created itself.”

(In 1976, Hawking demonstrated under the rules of quantum physics that black holes begin to evaporate away taking all their information with them. But now, according to his latest revision (2004), Hawking argues that eventually some of the information about the black hole can be determined from what it emits.)

I realize that most of what I have presented so far can be reasonably argued against, expecially by those who have more knowledge and experience with these aspects of science. However, there was one glaring fallacy presented that even the weakest of minds could grasp.

In his initial explanation of black holes, Hawking stated that they were “massive” having come from massive stars much larger than our sun. Then, as he traced our knowledge backward to the beginning of time, and asked the question of where it all began, he boldly declared, “an infinitesimally small black hole.” The obvious contradiction should be more than most people can tolerate.

Mr. Hawking concluded, “We now know where the universe came from, and we are quite pleased with ourselves for having obtained this knowledge.”

The apostle Paul is the major contributor to the New Testament books of the Bible. We view him historically as the one who established the Gentile churches, and gave us clear instructions as to how to live the Christian life.

Barnabas, whose name means “Son of Encouragement” (Acts 4:36), was an associate of Paul. He travelled with Paul during his first venture out from Antioch to preach the Gospel in places where it had never been heard.

Timothy was a young disciple whom Paul trained (Phil. 2:22) to work with him in the ministry. We have the letters Paul wrote to Timothy after he left him in charge of the church in Ephesus.

Paul gives a fascinating instruction in 2Tim. 2:2 that many in the church have tried to incorporate into their lives. Books have been written on how to best fulfill this simple directive. Programs have been established, tried, and died as leaders sought to complete this master program of discipleship.

Paul writes: “and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (ESV) Notice that there are four generations mentioned here: Paul to Timothy; Timothy to faithful men; faithful men to others—Paul–>Timothy–>faithful men–>others = four.

This is obviously a good plan to spread the teachings of the gospel and how to live the Christian life. Why hasn’t it worked as planned?

There may be numerous reasons proffered for our consideration, but I would like to focus on only one which is not specifically mentioned in this passage.

Personal growth through accountability is often lacking in most programs that are established for the purposes of disciple-making.

Some of you may have quit reading at this point, because you know of systems where accountability is a given—built into the very fabric of the program. I, too, am aware of many such instances. But, I am not talking about a “top-down” type of accountability, which is the usual form, given our proclivity for hierarchical authoritarian structures.

I believe there is something much more powerful, something that is seldom done, something that cannot be mechanically orchestrated. It is one of those things that is simple, but not easy. It is a lifestyle that we choose to live for the sake of our own growth and the growth of the Kingdom of God. Ecclesiastes 4:12 states: And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him–a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

It is this three-fold cord to which I refer.

So, let’s consider again the three people we began with, and how that might relate to the fourth person—you.

Paul is a leader/teacher. Timothy is a student. Barnabas is a partner/encourager.

Before I try to explain it, I will simply state it. We each need to have a Paul, a Barnabas, and a Timothy in our life. Also, we each need to be a Paul, a Barnabas, and a Timothy to someone else.

We each need someone with whom we are close to be our teacher. Your pastor who delivers the Word of God to you each Sunday doesn’t count, unless you are with him/her on a regular basis as just the two of you—or possibly a couple more.

We also need someone close to us who is there for support and encouragement, not only when things get tough, but even when things are going well. We need that someone who is able to rejoice with our victories, be a shoulder to cry on in our defeats, and be with us to cheer us on to persevere during the doldrums of monotony.

And we need someone with whom we can share what we are learning in such a way that it helps them to grow. We need a student who wants to learn from us.

Plus, we need to BE each of these for someone else.

In this way, accountability is much more than someone superior to me asking if I got something done; or why I did such a thing. It is the type of accountability that provides a fullness of all that word means: answerability, responsibility, and liability.

When this is operating in our life, our own personal growth and the growth of those around us is ensured.

I was pleased to have been recommended for the position, and gladly accepted the offer. My hotel and meals were paid for during the training, and it was a fun time getting to know the others who would be in the same position in other districts.

Our supervisor, Emily, did the training. In our group was her former supervisor, Tom, who had been the FOS during the Address Update. Emily had been one of the Crew Leaders. Now, their roles were reversed, but both of them were professional and adapted to their new roles in good humor.

We had one more trainee than was required, so I volunteered to become the runner for all of the FOS crew. I would still have to complete the training, however.

Turns out it was a good decision.

One of the trainees had never worked any part of the census before. Therefore it became quite overwhelming for him to understand much of what was going on. There is a lot of jargon and acronyms that are tossed about, with which those who have been in for a while become familiar. He was lost.

One afternoon, it was obvious that he was close to tears. I told Emily what I saw, and she talked with him during the next break. To no avail.

The next morning, he came in and returned all his equipment. Now we were down to “just enough” people being trained. However, there was talk of redesigning the districts, so I could continue as the courier.

On the last day of training, the official day of the Census–April 1–the regional manager came in to talk to us.

He then began to pass out district assignments.

He called my name for District 8.

I went into my “I can’t do this” mode. I stuttered and stammered, and said, “I don’t know.”

Steve is a no-nonsense type of manager.

He said, “Are you sure? I’ve got to know now.”

One of the other trainees said, “Dale, you said yesterday that you had no problems with this.”

I said, “But that was yesterday. This is Today…April Fool’s Day.”

Everybody but Steve laughed.

I heard about how good that joke was for weeks afterward.

Anytime we would meet, Steve always treated me with respect. Don’t know if the joke had anything to do with it or not. I do know that not everyone was treated the same.

We were given a few days to get our bearings, become familiar with our materials, and then we had to train our Crew Leaders (CLs).

We had no say in who was assigned to us as Crew Leaders, and I am not exactly sure what the criteria was for their selection.

Each FOS had approximately eight CLs under their charge. Each of us had at least one CL who more than tried our patience.

Turns out that Emily had at least one FOS who more than tried her patience.

We used the locator to place a spot on our maps to indicate the exact location of a house. I would stand 10 feet from the front door, wait for the spotter to settle down, then tap the indicator with the stylus. The computer would place a black dot on the map in that spot in relation to the road. Worked really neat.

During the actual census, these map spots had been transferred to paper maps that the census taker would use to help locate a house.

For those of you who have never been out into the farming community of your area, you may not be able to understand why we would need something like this. But, in the hills, with their twisted turning roads that become gravel to clay back to pavement without warning, these maps can be a great benefit.

In this type of area, the postal service does not go to every single house. Often, there is a row of mailboxes at the bottom of a hill on the corner of the intersection. These mailboxes can be more than a mile from the household to which they belong.

During the census, some of my people had a map with the housing spots all clumped together at the intersection!

Why?

Because some enterprising, shiftless employee who recognized an easy dollar, sat at the bottom of the hill using the HHC to map-spot the mailboxes!!

This made it extremely difficult for the census taker, because many of these houses did not have house numbers at their physical location.

Time wasted. Money wasted. Resources wasted.

But, who cares? I got mine!!

As to the houses without numbers, which has nothing to do with the census–don’t people realize the jeopardy they are putting themselves in?

Most folks who move out into the country backwoods are trying to get away from many things including government intrusion. So, the census workers were not very welcome at some of these locations.

But house numbers on the street are not put there so that Big Brother can spy on you. He does that with or without your house number. Numbering your location–in town or out-of-town–could save your dwelling in the event of fire or your life in some other disaster.

But people think they can hide with these silly little subterfuges.

I knocked on one door of a lovely two-story home out in one of these areas. No one answered the door, and I heard nor saw any signs of life. It was about 9:30 in the morning.

I backed up from the door, held my HHC, and was about to pinpoint the spot when the window upstairs flew open.

“What are you doing?!?” the lady demanded. She had a phone and was in conversation with someone on the other end.

I calmly and politely identified myself, and told her what I was doing with the census and with the HHC.

She wanted to know how the HHC worked, and I told her.

She said, “I don’t want the government to know where I am.”

After I told her I wasn’t after her name or any other information, I told her that the satellites overhead could see me standing in her yard talking with her.

She screamed, “Cannot!!” And then she softly said, “Oh.”

Her daughter, on the other end of the phone conversation, confirmed what I had told her.

Fear manifests itself in weird ways.

I had been to a house in a neighborhood in the suburbs. I spoke with the gentleman, talked about different things, told him what I was doing, and then went on my way.

Somehow, I failed to gather the mapspot for his location, but didn’t realize it until I was almost done with the block.

I went down the rest of the block, and then returned to his sidewalk.

I was standing there collecting the mapspot–which I had previously described to him–when the front door flew open and he came running out demanding, “Why are you taking pictures of my house?”

I guess that could be considered a legitimate question, but the demanding tone indicated something more than simply gathering information. He was trying to intimidate me.

Number one, I am not easily intimidated. Number two, it is perfectly legal for me to take picture of any house that I can see from the street. Number three, I wasn’t taking pictures. Number four, I had just told him not more than 10 minutes prior what I was doing.

I calmly explained that I was the guy who had just been to his house, and that I had failed to get the mapspot that I had told him about.

“Oh,” he said, backing down from his posturing. “The lady across the street called me and said someone was outside my house taking pictures.”

Those of you reading this will have plenty of explanations as to why he might have been that way, but I still call it fear. He believed the negative that someone told him, rather than his own experience.

I met a lot of strange people during my time with the census, but I worked with just as many.

I stayed in touch with Frank, just to keep up with him and his family. He told me there were people up top who were watching out for him, and that we would be getting back to work soon.

I received a phone call just before Christmas (do you want to work? are you available? will you be available for training at (specified) time? When I replied in the affirmative, I was offered a position as a Recruiting Assistant. I called Frank to tell him. He was ticked!! He hadn’t been called! (His time was coming.)

I went for training and learned nothing about recruiting. Training was completed in two days on the 28th and 29th of December. During that time I learned about the census, how to fill out an I-9 (citizenship), and how to fill out the proper paperwork to become an employee of the US Census Bureau.

We were given a few boxes of materials and sent home without ever opening those boxes.

The trainer said we were to begin recruiting people immediately when we got home. I asked if we were expected work the New Year’s Eve weekend.

“That was always the best time for recruiting for me,” he said. He had been a military recruiter in the past. As it turned out, that was his sole qualification to train me as a recruiter for the Census–his past military experience. My supervisor didn’t have a clue about life outside the military.

That fact caught up with him. I was not able to reach him with questions nor updates the following week, because he had been terminated. The manager of the regional office discovered what had passed for training, and let him go.

A Recruiting Assistant who had been on the job for a few months was offered the position, and she became my supervisor. It was a good fit. Now we could make some progress.

My job was to spread the word that the Census Bureau was hiring more than 1,000 people in our area. All they had to do was fill out an application and pass the test.

In these harsh economic times, one would think people would jump at the chance to make $11.50/hr plus $.55/mile from and to their house for a day’s work.

Nope.

Many thought the money was great, but, “You mean I have to show up and do something to get it?”

I had heard of this type of person, but had never really met one face-to-face until this time. There is a whole tribe of them out there!!

I also had to secure testing sites and administer the test.

I thoroughly enjoyed my job, even though it meant walking down the icy sidewalks of the various towns talking with people who were in a hurry to get to a warm place. I did my own share of that, too, going into friendly looking places where I thought they might be willing to have our brochures on display.

Whenever I could talk to a crowd of people–bingo parlors, bars, senior citizen centers, civic clubs–there would be some good questions asked. But, there would always be at least one person who had applied (months or years ago), but never got called; so the whole thing was “obviously a scam.”

I tried to explain that getting called included a variety of factors–passing the test, work load, where one lived, etc. I would tell them to call the regional office to see if their name was still on file, which–if they had indeed applied and passed–would still be there.

With all the challenges that were before me, I managed to reach my quota early and was offered a new position for the upcoming census.

I was being promoted, and set up for an eye-opening ride.

I saw an ad in the paper stating that the US Census was in need of more than 700 people in our area. Well, that was a no-brainer for me.

I called, got the info, and appeared for the test.

The test, which was fairly standard for all of the operations of the cnesus, was basically to see if I could read, follow directions, compute simple math, and make distinctions. I passed and was called for an interview a few weeks later.

The phone interview was simple and to the point: do you want to work? are you available? will you work weekends? are you available for training at the (specified) time?

I showed up for training with at least 20 other people. I was selected as a Crew Leader Assistant for the operation known as Address Update.

Due to the many changes as a result of the 911-emergency phone system, it was necessary that the Census Bureau have current addresses for the population.

I won’t go into the details of how it all worked, but the design of the operation was apparently efficient. We were given specified areas to work, and we were to secure the correct address for each and every house in that area.

Our areas were assigned to us via a hand-held computer (HHC). That assignment included a map of the area and all of the addresses that were available from the previous census. It also included addresses that were sent to the Bureau from County and Post Office files. Those little computers were reputed to cost more than $3,000 (yes–three thousand dollars) each. They made our work and our communications with our supervisors easy to handle in a timely manner. (I’m not sure how many thousands of employees were using these across the country.)

It was our job to identify Housing Units (HU) and to map them on our HHC. (more on that later) We were to locate HU’s, enter the correct address for the HU, and delete any duplicate information that may have shown up in the system.

For instance, on my list of addresses in an area I might have something like this: (2) Green house w/black shutters and detached garage; (14) 1547 Toggle Lane. When I found my way to 1547 Toggle Lane, and saw a green house w/black shutters and a detached garage, then I knew I had a duplicate. I would go back into my list, find the description that matched, and mark (2) as a duplicate to be deleted.

All well and good. A marvelous system–or so I thought. The information that I collected and entered into the computer was “dumped” into the main computers that were setting up for the actual census. During the census, which began April of 2010, I had forms in which the address label was–you guessed it–Green house w/black shutters and detached garage!!

Why did I do what I did? Why did the government spend all that money? I was paid $11.50/hour plus $.55/mile for that Spring/Summer job. And this was the result of my labors? I’m a producer. I want to see results of my labor. I’ve never been one who needed to back up to the pay window for shame of what I had accomplished.

Somebody dropped the ball somewhere.

The Constitution mandates the taking of the census every 10 years for the purpose of allocating the correct number of representatives in the House for each state in the union. The census has been taken every 10 years since 1790.

Other uses for the census are the allocation of various federal monies, and the demographic information gained and published which businesses and researchers use.

This was probably not the first time that such an uproar was made by the populace, but this was certainly a notable one. I was living in California for the 2000 census, and remember people talking negatively about the long form that was used then. I was in a part of the country where most of the people simply discarded their forms, and then dared a government worker to come onto their property.

Because I was an employee of the Census Bureau for 2010, I was more aware of some things that were going on both within the Census and among the population.

There were a lot of stories circulating about various things–some true, some not so true, and some outright lies. I observed a strange (to me) side of humanity. I saw some things that made me wonder if there is any hope for our country to survive the downward spiral we find ourselves in. And I worked with some men and women that I am now proud to know.

I’m not sure that President Obama orchestrated the 2010 census, but I am fairly confident that the trickle-down effect of his policies had something to do with much of the inanity and insanity that I was a part of.

Finally, by reason of conscience, I was forced to resign my position.

What follows in a few days is a few articles highlighting some of the things that occurred during my stay with the U.S. Census Bureau.

I’m referring to the incipient socialism taking over in the restaurants in our area–maybe your area, too.

I was at a Subway for breakfast about 7:15am. There was only one server setting up for the morning. They open at 7. Ahead of me was a lady who had ordered six foot-long sandwiches. The server began my order while that one was working. She was very efficient with her time and her movements behind the counter, plus she was very pleasant.

The lady tried to give a tip for the excellent service, but the girl refused at first. Finally relenting to the older woman, she took it and said, “I will tell the manager about it when she comes in.”

Later, I had opportunity to ask her about the tip.

“We’re not allowed to take tips,” she said.

As I pressed her for more information, she said, “They take all the tips and set them aside for two weeks until the next pay-day. Then they divvy the money up according to who works the most during that time period.”

(slap me six sides of silly!)

But, then I remembered asking about how they handle the tips at one of our favorite restaurants in town.

They put the tips into a common jar, and it is divided equally at the end of the shift.

“We had to start doing this because we found that some servers wouldn’t serve any table but their own, so this eliminated the competition,” I was told by the assistant manager. “They wouldn’t even refill a coffee cup as they passed by if it wasn’t their table.”

Except for the lousy work ethic being tolerated, that actually sounded plausible to me–until this latest episode at the sandwich shop. Then I began thinking about how many places I’ve been where there is a common tip jar. Some of those places, to be sure, there is no one in particular to tip for extra service–Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Panera, etc. And, I realize that the Subway shop probably falls under the same category of eatery.

But, this was special–different–and only one person was on duty doing an excellent job of keeping customers happy. She earned the recognition.

Here’s my problem: servers on the afternoon-evening shift the rest of the week and weekend will benefit from her excellent service whether they deserve it or not.

Yes, the same thing can be said of the morning shift deriving benefit from another–but that is my point. Why should one person (or shift) carry another? There is no guarantee of quality service from one person/shift to another. In fact, my experience at the local DD is that the morning shift deserves all the tips, while the afternoon/evening shift should pay me for what I have to put up with. (so, I seldom stop there after noon.)

This system of sharing equally may also help to explain why there is such dour service at so many places.

What is the motivation to excel if everyone gets rewarded the same?

I understand the superiority of internal motivation over external motivation, but that is not the kind of planet I live on.

What can be done to shift this slide toward socialism in the workplace? Employers are constantly complaining about the lack of quality workers. Apparently we are not able to see a connection between effort and reward.

I don’t have an answer at this time, but if you do, please share it.

They are strong on emphasizing our Jewish roots. (See their website at http://www.foundationministriesinternational.org/) While in conversation with them about what they were doing these days, I was asked whether I believed the Church had replaced Israel in God’s economy.

Without taking time to fully define what I believe, nor to define the finer nuances of the question, I replied in the affirmative. “That’s replacement theology.” I was summarily brushed aside with that remark as if I had committed some grievous social faux pas.

A couple of weeks ago, I was following a thread on Facebook where this same friend was espousing more of an “inclusion theology.” (As I understand it, Christians are “included” in the promises of God to Israel.) The post was getting high marks from fans. This has potential for moving in the right direction, but does little to ameliorate the problem of divisiveness I see arising.

So, as is my tendency when faced with something that may lead me astray, I have researched (though only online; and certainly not thoroughly) the supposed error of Replacement Theology.

One of the arguments is that replacement theology is blamed for most anti-Semitic behavior among Christians. It is said that Hitler held to a replacement theology. This is akin to the so-called “gateway” argument that most (male) rapists read Playboy–therefore reading Playboy leads to rape. Or, the “gateway” argument that most hard-core drug addicts began with marijuana. Simply because many anti-Semites espouse Replacement Theology is not proof that the theology is wrong.

These same people also espouse other doctrines including the necessity that one be born again. Should I then assume that being born again leads to anti-Semitism? Of course not!

The other arguments are against the Scriptures that are used to prove replacement theology. This is merely an argument arising from one’s basis for understanding the Word of God–Dispensationalist or Covenantal. This is not the place for me to discuss these two views of Scripture. However, for the sake of full disclosure, I am more Covenantal than I am Dispensationalist. These differing views have profoundly differing interpretations of the Bible and God’s plan for man.

So, now, I am bothered.

I am bothered, for here I see yet another attempt to take people away from the plain and pure Word of God, and move them toward that which ultimately denies the simplicity that is in Christ.

Some–most assuredly not all–of those who are against replacement theology are also moving toward becoming more Jewish–at least in their approach to worship. This does not bode well for the Church.

Paul dealt with this problem when he penned the letter to the Galatians. He dealt with this problem when he went to Jerusalem to check his gospel against that of the Jewish disciples who had personally walked with Jesus.

There is a powerful move among Messianic Jews that is bringing many to the Lord. I love that. I love their music. But, as is true for the negative “gateway” argument, it is also true that just because Jews are reaching Jews for Christ is not an indication that Christians should become Jews–or Jewish Christians.

The danger lies not in that some are espousing a return to Jewish laws, but in that there are certain things we can do that will make us more pleasing to the Lord. “We should remember that Jesus was a Jew!” I am often told.

God tells us plainly through Paul that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but only faith working through love (Gal. 5:6).

No one (to my knowledge) is teaching the necessity of being circumcised in order to be right with the Lord. That is simply the summation of Paul’s argument about the whole Jewish controversy in which the Galatian churches were embroiled.

The main point of Paul’s argument is that there is no necessity for the Gentiles to become like their Jewish brethren in any way.

And today there is no need to wear a talith (prayer shawl) when preaching, or to refer to Jesus as “Yeshua”, or to keep a Saturday Sabbath, or to use Jewish terms of greeting.

My reluctance to do any of the above in no way makes me a hater of the Jewish people, nor excludes me from the promises of God.

And my belief that “a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter” is taken straight from the Scripture (Rom.2:29).