Rabbi Berkson,

On Tuesday August 9th I met two young gentlemen at the farmers’ market on Peerless Road and got into a wonderful conversation. Their names are Ryan and Chris, if I recall correctly. As someone who is 66 it is my habit to engage the young in serious dialog and for a while that happened. We started with the joys and importance of buying local food, but quickly got into theology.

It has formed into a habit when a dialog starts with someone who claims to be Christian to simply ask why? My purpose is to encourage as if they cannot handle a man trying to love them, they will never handle the world. Some delightful relationships have formed because of this, and there are those that simply run.

These two gentlemen did engage me, for which I was encourage, but there was a reluctance to fully answer questions. I did reference 1st Peter 3:15 and state that I was asking, but the response was that it was not the right circumstances. Paul in the marketplace in Athens was then mentioned, as we were in the marketplace, but while acknowledging that it is the model of Paul, for them it remained not the right place.

In general I was encouraged that they seemed better equipped than most of their age, but I couldn’t stop. Then a question was responded by something like “you should ask our rabbi”. That brought up two obvious things. I did ask if they were at least somewhat affiliated with Hebrew Roots, and was given a tentative acknowledgement. I also asked about the prohibition in Matthew 23 about the title of Rabbi, Rabboni, didaskalos, or teacher. The response was a mention of also not calling someone father, but we still do to our dads. I did let it go, but it is not a satisfying answer.

So I did some research on your website and watched some of the videos. From that cursory examination what I heard was better substantiation for many positions, but remain concerned that they cannot stand when examined. If you are willing, I would like to examine some things.

You will find that I have a constant refrain that I am not the reference, the Lord is. I will take a stand on what I understand, but remain willing to be corrected. That correction may be delivered by another man, but it is not the authority of man, but the Lord via the Scripture, that must do the correction.

Perhaps the obvious thing is the title of Rabbi. Two years ago I did some short videos to my family that was made public on my site and BitChute. One addressed the idea “You Are Not To Be Called Teacher”, which was followed by “You Are Called To Teach” (http://Kozlowski.org/2020-04-24+1, http://Kozlowski.org/2020-04-25+1). After reviewing them I still stand on the idea that the title of rabbi is not to be taken by a man. If I am wrong, are you willing to correct me with evidence from Scripture?

In listening to some of your videos, some lessor things came up. For example you state that John 14:6 does not include the definite article. So I checked the Greek and see the definite article. Why do you make that claim?

In perhaps a broader dialog it seems you referred to the unworthy servants in Luke 17 as essentially a starting point and that we must do things to make us worthy. It seems to be based on what might be a mischaracterization of grace. This might lead us into more foundational issues, but it is set on the table.

There are numerous things we could get into, but this is my introduction to see if you are interested and willing.

Perhaps one tangential issue in that my field is communications security and am very concerned about communities of followers of Christ making use of things like Facebook, Twitter, etc. These organizations, on the current path, will become one of the worst enemies of the followers of Christ. Most simply don’t know why. I suggest there is a real similarity to handing your children to Molech, and have gone into some detail on that, and willing to do so with interested parties.

It has been my joy to go into detail with many I foundationally agree with, with those with different conclusions from the same foundation, and with those who don’t share the same foundation with me. I welcome a dialog with you as brothers.

Respectfully,

John Kozlowski