hopper

I will pray for Wendy. There are a couple of sites I'll point you to (I hope it's allowed) to give you an idea of the depth of what she's claiming. Of course, Jesus and the Disciples basically had the Tanakh (OT) from which to declare Jesus as Messiah, so it isn't all that difficult to proclaim the New Covenant from the Old and 'prove' Jesus from the Old Testament, though I'm not sure Wendy is prepared for that. https://www.easylearnhebrew.com/blog/how-to-understand-hebrew-numbers-a-simple-guide-for-beginners/ https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/hebrew-numbers Also, there's much modern talk of 'Bibles codes'. I won't get into those, but she may have some notion of those as well. Your concern to learn from or for her may also be a thing used by the Holy Spirit in her regard, but don't think it's really the nuances of Biblical Hebrew or original languages that's tripping her up. Jews have their eyes covered a bit when it comes to Jesus as Messiah, though most religious Jews are quite prepared to soon see Messiah with all that's happening in the world.

Knowing the original languages of the Christian Scriptures can indeed be helpful, but it's much more nuanced than that. We learn more each day about that ancient culture and the Biblical languages, but I'd hope your Jewish friend would also include an aspect of spiritual understanding given by God Himself, and even today's religious Jews also rely upon such interpretive guidance as the Talmud, Mishnah, Midrash, commentaries and more for clarity. Your friend needs the Holy Spirit to covert the mind and heart to a rightful and salvific understanding. She's insisting you need to understand Hebrew, and Christians might insist she needs the Spirit of God for understanding eyes to be opened. I too have a Jewish friend, prominent online, but completely rejecting of Christ as Messiah. No amount of arguing or apologetic will persuade him, and I've always sorrowfully known this. My main recourse is prayer for my friend and keeping the avenues of communication open. Getting into discussions of how "virgin" can mean "young woman", the rather fascinating numerology of Hebrew, or the now hundreds of English translations and interlinear presentations of the Hebrew Scriptures may indeed help in ongoing avenues of communication, but without transformative insights from God Himself through the Holy Spirit your friend will continue to be lost, just as she may feel you are. The best you may do outside of prayer is to remain a steadfast friend with her awareness of your urgency for her eternal soul and well-being.

Elements of Christ's Mass have both continued and been forgotten far more than I believe Christ would have us reverently consider. If Christ did not honour it yearly throughout his life I see no reason for us to value it as due worship.

I do. I do not like them, but I do not believe them to always be a sin, and I respect the value they have to some, especially to those for whom they have a healthy spiritual meaning. I'm from a generation (I'm 67) and culture (a conservative Reformed American South) where they have been frowned upon as undesirable even uncouth. We Presbyterian and Reformed were initially against iconography, feeling that such too often led to idolatry. We often are still against 'pictures' of Christ, human statuary (ex. Mary, the mother of Jesus), stained glass depictions of the life of Christ and the Apostles, etc. It's a bit of the reason Protestant crosses are plain, whereas Roman Catholic crosses usually depict Christ on the cross. Such distaste carries over somewhat to body art. I personally just generally find it unattractive, much as I do body piercings, particularly on the face. On the other hand, I find any proscription in Scripture to be largely cultural ("Do not do as the heathen do... Do not do as the Pharisees do..., etc.). The Children of Israel were even commanded to have phylacteries or tefillin between their very eyes so that such Scripture would be a reminder to them. Nose rings were often like our wedding bands, as a witness of the marriage covenant. A problem arises however, if one may come to rely upon amulets or tats and the like as crossing over from a due reminder to some fashion of belief in a protective power residing within them, rather than a faith in the sovereign love and predestination of God alone. We humans are delicate creatures when it comes to adorning ourselves immodestly or misplacing faith worship with something like a 'sacred cow'. Tats can be great. Tats can also be not so great. I'd rather avoid them for myself.

Ah... the debate. I'll post upfront that I no longer celebrate All Hallow's Evening, Christmas, Easter, or artificial Church Calendar Days initially thrown out by Reformed Protestants as unworthy and unBiblical along the lines of the regulative principle of worship vs the normative principle of worship. That is, that God instructs that, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth” (Jn. 4:24). This takes a high view of Scripture as the sole rule of faith and practice, removing especially from church worship any element not explicitly mentioned in the Bible in order to avoid any risk of compromise and obvious violation of what is pleasing to God according to His dictates of appropriate worship. This by-and-large contrasts specifically with Catholic theology or theologies offering God worship based also on sacred tradition instituted by the Church. It harkens back to a time where abuses had crept into the Church based on trying to honour God in man-made fashion. So, overall, this generally translates to the highest view of the Lord's Day over and against most other artificial constructs of a Church Calendar. Now, having said that, and having acknowledged I don't religiously observe Hallowe'en or many other such days, I can also somewhat defend those Christians who do, or who especially are intent to honour God in every aspect of their lives including holiday observances. Yes, Hallowe'en has pagan origins, and yes, Christians eventually attempted to co-op most pagan cyclical observances into the Church Calendar as a missionary tool; but All Saints' Day, honouring the sacrifices and martyrdoms especially pertinent to early struggles of Christianity in very hostile environs is rooted in the first high honour of worship allocated by the Church outside Lord's Day observance. That is, placing a premium of observance and recognition of a saint's homecoming into heaven was of special importance long before official designation of Christmas, Easter, or other days now so popular among Christian observances. These are the Christian roots of Hallowe'en, as a Christian Memorial Day. Further, abuses surrounding saints' relics, certificates of indulgences, and the like, was the prime reason Hallowe'en was chosen by Martin Luther to launch a call for Church reforms that would become the Protestant Reformation. Some today even replace a Hallowe'en observance with a Reformation Day observance, since they exactly coincide. So, whether from putting a focus on spiritual reformation or on a memorial honouring of those Christians gone before us to their eternal reward, there are reasons of celebrating that would seem honourable. And as others have pointed out, one other take of redeeming Hallowe'en away from pagan ritual is using the day or evening to focus on the very real terrors of sin and Hell awaiting the unrepentant – a sort of, “Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God” approach. I still say the greater part of wisdom and holy comportment is to avoid any religious observance of the day, but there are uses of it that can be put to hopeful well-intent.