A messianic Jew who keeps some mitzvos should also keep them; that does not mean he s practicing Judaism at all – even though as stated above, he believed in much more of judaism than a reform jew does.
Whatever they say on their website does not change the fact that they do not believe in the divinity of the torah as a binding, completely divine document. This ‘affirmation’ means nothing if they believe it has changed(which they do) that it is not historically accurate, or that it maybe changed to fit society – divine laws are immutable and cannot be changed.
They used to say the only thing that mattered was that yo believe in one g-d; they got rid of every aspect of halacha, then about 10 years ago, they announced that in order to be jewish, they need to do some jewish things, so they started telling people to do(not as an obligation) things like davening, bentching – a reform siddur has a lot of ‘meditations’, but almost no tefilos.
I think everyone knows what reform used to be, and what they are now, confused and tinokos shenishbu as they might be, does not at all represent judaism. They used to be anti-zionist and say that germany is the new yerushalayim; now they say israel is their core – these people change more than donald trump, but what remains is their lack of emunah in hashem as understood by judaism, or in the torah.
One of the ikarim is also that the torah cannot be changed, and that moshe rabbeinu’s nevuah was the most direct – they simply believe the torah to be ‘inspired’ by g-d, which can just as easily be said about the constitution(they say this too) or any other thing they like. How is torah central, if they do not keep any of the laws, or if they say you can pick which ones you like?
The reform idea of ‘keeping holidays’, might mean eating some matzah on pesach, fasting for half a day on yom kipur while exiting often to check their email…the only advantage is that they might maintain some sort of identity in doing these things
although…reform even encourage intermarriage!!! so whats the point of doing these mitzvos at all? They’re not done at all according to halacha(i.e., matzah – do you think they will eat a kazayis in kdei achilas pras? this is not just a brisker chumra, this is crucial to the mitzvah, if it is not done, the mitzah has not been acomplished)
please, this forum should not be a place for the justification of a heretical movement that has abandoned judaism since its inception. we all know the fight that people like rav hirsch had against the reform – he said to have a complete secession from them in every way shape and form; he often would emphasize the distinction and the need to understand that Judaism is not a combination of different ‘movements’.