I was raised in "non-denominational" or sometimes called Full Gospel/Charismatic/Evangelical church, as a teenager I ran away from all of that once I started to get independence from my parents. Now many years later, having learned what I have about jewish influence in Christianity/Scofield Bible, etc. I'm searching for where to learn about Christianity without the presence of all the subversion. Not quite sure where to start.
I mean that both from trying to read and gain knowledge about it as well as potentially finding a fellowship or church to join. I don't necessarily know a lot about theology or doctrine outside of the things I picked up when I was a kid but obviously all of that was zionist oriented.
Due to my background I have found Orthodox/Catholic stuff strange and foreign, the icons and pomp of it all is somewhat "off-putting" for lack of a better word. Though granted, there was definitely stuff within the church I grew up in that I found off-putting and strange too.
Any suggestions, whether on reading material (or podcasts, I've heard of Stone Choir being mentioned as something to check out), or other areas to look into? Thanks!
I don't know that you're going to find a Church local to you that is willing to name the jew. What you can find is Churches local to you that do not support gay marriages or any LGBT clergy whatsoever. You can screen prospective Churches near you on both issues by asking DDG ai or Brave ai in a way that is ambiguous, meaning phrase it in a way where it thinks you might be gay and/or concerned for your safety. If ai thinks you want to avoid gay Churches, it very likely could lie to you on purpose (you bigot)!
What is harder to find is Churches that are actively, or openly anti-LGBT. They exist, but it's going to depend on your area. You're probably not going to find one in NY, LA, Chicago, etc. But if you're in rural West Virginia, or Tennessee, or Oklahoma, or somewhere similar you've got about a 1 in 4 chance of stumbling into one.
> *Not quite sure where to start.*
The Bible, especially The New Testament, because Jesus disputes a lot of the Pharisees, which was vaguely based on customs and practices from The Old Testament. That being said, don't ignore The Old Testament entirely, the groundwork or reasoning for a lot of what The New Testament says about jews and the Synagogue of Satan is mostly laid in The Old Testament.
[jews scorned in Old Testament](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2032%3A28-33%2C%20Hosea%209%3A1%2C%209%3A7%2C%209%3A9%2C%209%3A15%2C%209%3A17%2C%20Leviticus%2020%3A2-5%2C%20Numbers%2025%3A3-5%2C%20Judges%202%3A11-13%2C%201%20Kings%2011%3A5-7%2C%20Zephaniah%201%3A4-6%2C%20Amos%205%3A26%2C%20Jeremiah%207%3A31-32%2C%20Jeremiah%2019%3A4-6%2C%20Jeremiah%2032%3A30-35&version=NLT)
[jews scorned in New Testament](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelations%202%3A9%2C%20Revelations%203%3A9%2C%20Titus%201%3A14%2C%20John%208%3A44%2C%20Matthew%2027%3A22-26%2C%201%20Thessalonians%202%3A14-16%2C%20Acts%207%3A43&version=NLT)
As far as the Bible version. Get something easy to read. Some people like the KJV but I don't. I'd rather read the Greek or Hebrew translated to modern English so I can think about the message I've just read rather than concentrating on translating the Old English dialect to modern English to grasp what I read.
However there is plenty of subversion in different versions. So read some key passages in the different versions before you decide.
For example,
> *Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.* — Leviticus 18:22, NLT
>
> *It is disgusting for a man to have sex with another man.* — Leviticus 18:22, CEV
>
> *Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.* — Leviticus 18:22, NIV
>
> *You must not have sexual intercourse with a man as you would with a woman; it is a detestable practice.* — Leviticus 18:22, CEB
>
> *You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.* — Leviticus 18:22, NRSV
>
> *You shall not lie with a man as one does with a woman. It is an abomination.* — Leviticus 18:22, MEV
>
> *Don’t have sex with a man as one does with a woman. That is abhorrent.* — Leviticus 18:22, MSG
>
> *You are not to lie with a man, as with a woman—that is an abomination.* — Leviticus 18:22, TLV
In NLT for instance, *"Do not practice homosexuality"* because *"it is a detestable sin"*. Pretty damn clear in my opinion. In others it's reduced to *"shall not lie with a man"* or *"you are not to lie with a man"* because it's *"a detestable practice"* or *"it is abhorrent"*.
Some of those Bible versions were written specifically by gay churches. Metropolitan Community Churches (a gay denomination) specifically uses only one Bible version and discussing other versions is prohibited.
Personally, I prefer my Bible to call a spade a spade, in a version of English that I use myself.
> *The Old Testament translation was based on the Masoretic Text (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia) and was further compared to other sources such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint, Greek manuscripts, Samaritan Pentateuch, Syriac Peshitta, and Latin Vulgate. The New Testament translation was based on the two standard editions of the Greek New Testament*
That sounds ok on the surface, but it's missing some verses that are only in the Septuagint, and entire Books; Tobit, Judith, Maccabees 1 & 2, etc.
Thanks for posting this. I'm pretty pissed off right now. I don't really get hung up on the whole direct translation stuff since the languages have evolved and changed entirely several times, but omitting entire books and many verses definitely sounds very 7th to 10th century jewish to me.
> *Masoretic Text (MT) is the text that was carefully preserved and transmitted by Jewish scholars known as the Masoretes from around the 7th to the 10th centuries.*