Reply to Dhimmi no more

Submitted by Seamus MacNemi (United States), May 10, 2007 at 19:27

I don't suppose you ever heard of the Ebionite Community. Close but no cigar. Lets just say we are a collection of closely related individuals who just happen to believe in the G-d of Israel as absolutely as does any orthodox Jew although few of us are Jewish according to Halacha, The Rabbinical Law

We've been around for quite some time now. At least since the destruction of the Second Temple. But for fairly obvious reasons we have prefered to keep a low profile. But today a different wind is blowing and many of the older folk amongst us think it's time to come out of hiding. We have been called by some "HaNistarim" meaning "The Hidden Ones" or "Those Who Hide Themselves." It is our belief that should the Jewish beople ever be decimated to such a measure that they might not survive it would be our mission and duty to restore their number so that the People of G-d would never be absent from our world. We consider ourselves G-ds second choice after Jacob. We consider ourselves as guests in the Tent of Jacob but we do not presume to sit at the head of the table in the place of honor.

We reject the teaching of Paul and the doctrines of the Council of Nicea, the trinity and the divinity of Jesus who we call Yeshua and not Christ. We regard Christianity along with Islam as diverging from the path of the G-d of Israel and that there is only ONE testament to G-d though out time and not two. We do not believe in conversion and we do not practice prostelization amongst any people. We do not accept outsiders in our midst, we don't have to to keep up our numbers. There have been those who sought refuge amongst us and after a time were accepted into the community but they remained as guests until the second generation. Until that time they were free to return to their former lives if they could.

We do not require that anyone believe as we do in order to be acceptable to G-d. We believe that each individual must come to G-d in his or her own time and in his or her own way. We do not believe in the dammnation of the unbaptized or that the ordinances of the church are required for acceptance by G-d.We do not pray in the Name of Jesus nor do we invoke his name at any time or for any reason

We do "NOT" utter the Holy Name of G-d even in a whisper at any time or for any reason. Nor do we speak the name of the Evil One. We do not curse in the name of G-d for it is said amongst the Elders that if a man should curse his neighbor in the name of G-d, G-d will curse that man in the name of his neighbor. We maintain a strict oral tradition along side the written texts which guides our interpretation of the written words. Any interpretation of the texts that is not congruent with our oral tradition is rejected by us.

We believe that the only way an individual can "KNOW" G-d is through direct personal experience and we endeavour through various means to create that experience in our dealings with each other though we keep our secrets to ourselves lest they become perverted by unscrupulous indivduals.

Much more I am not at liberty to tell.

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