introduction

[emerod]

Hello,

I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I wasn't raised Christian but came to Him because He spoke to me through the New Testament when I challenged Him to prove Himself.

I would characterize my theology as fairly typical of 20th century conservative, evangelical, independent Protestantism. I don't have allegiance to any particular denomination or creed, although I do think it is important to be part of a local church of believers who search the Word for truth.

Although I am rather conservative, I hate politics, so I am practically an anarchist.

I have come here at this time primarily to research the subject of the Messianic Christian movement. I know some people who have started following this, and I know other people who are being torn apart because of it.

I am trying to be objective and fair in constructing an outline of their beliefs and practices, although I am admittedly prejudiced against their outlook. One of the bad signs, to me, is the fact that it has been difficult to categorize their distinctive doctrinal positions because they are coy about their underlying assumptions and philosophical roots. At least the institutional creeds are upfront about their history and rationale.

Thank you for the opportunity to participate in these forums.

--emerod

[Rose of Shushan]

Hi emerod welcome!!
thanks for your intro and for sharing a bit about yourself.

I can identify with your feelings about politics.It really is such a shady business across the board ,regardless of what country we come from.
I also agree that with the messianic movement it is often hard to discern what views and doctrines they hold since they do tend to be coy and obscure.
The more familiar that you become with it, the easier it will be to discern faster what they are about.
I tend to feel really sad and burdened for such people because many times they are deceived by false pseudo scholarship and at the same time so convinced that they have found what is now to them truth.
I hope that you will join in the various discussions and benefit from the many threads available.

God bless!

[emerod]

The hardest part was the denial by people I know that they are part of a "movement" or church, or subscribe to any particular belief system, or follow any particular teacher. They say they are just reading the Bible and trying to be accurate about God's will. Yet, when I tried searching for information in trickier ways, I found that they are hiding their affiliation with certain heretical teachers. Very troubling, and similar in tactics to the cult called The Way.

[Ekklesia]

Hello emerod. Welcome to SeekGod. (I too am new here.)