What are Hebrew values? “My Big Fat Greek Mentality”

Short version … for those on the run …

Jesus implied that traditions can be more powerful than God’s Word (Matthew 15:6). How can that be? Simple – because we interpret (mostly subconsciously) God’s Word by our inherited traditions. We view God’s Word through “coloured” spectacles. If I wore red-tinted glasses my vision of the world about me would be “tainted” red. Likewise (yet far more ominously), our worldview – inherited traditions or life philosophy or default disposition – taints our view of God and His ways.

Western-world Christianity (and its pervasive influence into much of the rest of the world) is unquestionably built on a Greek view of life. While we may have much to thank the Greeks for – God reveals Himself in and through most cultures – the ancient Greek worldview is at fundamental odds with Hebrew thinking on many substantial lines. And the phrase “Hebrew values” captures the worldview God downloaded into His people from the start.

Unless we grasp a Hebrew mindset, we view God and His ways with glasses tainted with Greek philosophy. And thus, our picture of “church” and “leadership” – among other things – will be distinctly out of focus.

In the “long version” (below) we look at why Christianity slid off a Hebrew foundation, swallowing Greek philosophy hook, line and sinker. We also look at core distinctions between Greek and Hebrew thinking in an attempt to help the refocus on God and His ways required.