The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Yom Kippur question

Yom Kippur started at sundown yesterday.<br><br>Why, if the "work" of Yom Kippur for the individual is to find atonement only for sins between man and God, did my Jewish friend come to me a couple of days ago telling me he couldn't participate in Yom Kippur with a clean conscience unless he asked for my forgiveness for a lie he told me, and wanting to make up for the damage he did?<br><br>I forgave him, of course. Regretably, I was a bit stunned and at a loss for words. He saw my discomfort and said, "Just forgive me and we'll talk about it later." And I *do* want to talk to him about it! <br><br>The *really* important question in my mind is, what can I say to help him understand why his reliance on this ritual observance really has no effect on his atonement/salvation?<br><br>Thanks in advance for suggestions, especially those that cite a Scripture I can share with him.<br><br>--Cecil

Dear Cecil,

You seem to have received a wonderful opportunity here. I wish I had more time to develop these thoughts, but I simply do not.

Whatever Scriptures come to mind, it will be worth your time to assure him that you see the Scriptures as a single unit, with Moses and the Prophets looking eagerly forward to the Messiah, and the New Testament looking gratefully back to the same Messiah. That will be an essential reference point if issues of anti-semitism are ever raised. Then I would gently probe him to hear whose authority he accepts as final: the Scriptures, the Talmud, the commentaries, his rabbi, his own? Then I would take him to the Yom Kippur passage (Leviticus 16) in particular and ask if he had actually fulfilled the requirements specified by God. He will need to admit that he has not, since no bulls have been sacrificed in nearly 2000 years. (He may have sacrificed a chicken as some here in the ultra-orthodox communities of New York do, or more likely thrown bread crumbs into the river after having his sins transferred to them, or most likely, simply fasted and attended services all day.) Has God changed? How can His requirements have changed? That should lead to Deuteronomy 27:26 "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." If he is still with you, I would then approach some NT passages: Galatians 3-4, Hebrews 9 (he will see that it is about Yom Kippur), and if he needs more on the distinction between "sins" and "sin", Romans 2-3, Mark 7:14-23, .....

I'm out of time. You know the rest of the story[img]http://www.the-highway.com/w3timages/icons/grin.gif" alt="grin" title="grin[/img]. Please let me know what happens.