Comments on: Speechless

By: Ismael Gonzalez-Silva

Ismael Gonzalez-Silva — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:40:34 +0000

Of course Dr. Moen. I’m including both references

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)

By: Skip Moen

Skip Moen — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:13:46 +0000

Thank you, Carmen. You hit it right on the head. It’s me. I’m the one who stands in the way of real understanding.

By: Skip Moen

Skip Moen — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:12:46 +0000

Dear Ismael,
Would you, for the sake of most readers, be willing to offer the Greek in translation? I am sure many would love to follow this discussion, but I know that most do not read Greek. So, if you wouldn’t mind? Thanks.

By: Ismael Gonzalez-Silva

Ismael Gonzalez-Silva — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:49:23 +0000

Points in tension. Two opposites points that we must learn how to balance it. There are no contradiction. True knowledge guide us toward harmony…harmony with Ha Shem, with Ha Shem’s creation, with my neighbor and with myself. We must remember Yeshua’s words: καὶ γνώσεσθε τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια ἐλευθερώσει ὑμᾶς. Keep on searching because that knowledge is the cause of what Paul’s talk about in Romans 12:2 “καὶ μὴ συσχηματίζεσθε τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, ἀλλὰ μεταμορφοῦσθε τῇ ἀνακαινώσει τοῦ νοός εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν ὑμᾶς τί τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ, τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ εὐάρεστον καὶ τέλειον.”

By: Carmen

Carmen — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:00:35 +0000

Emet. ‘The problem is not with “gnosis”, the problem is with me!!’

I tell the ladies in our Beit Midrash that we cannot simply acquire knowledge for knowledges’ sake and stop there…it must be transforming by the Ruach HaKodesh or it puffs up and blinds.

Afterall, the Adversary knows more [Scripture] than we do, but there is no transforming power of Love…no chochmah…just vanity.

That’s why we are to perpetually ‘examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith’ [2 Cor. 13:5] because ‘whatever does not proceed from faith is sin’ [Rom. 14:23].

Shalom

By: Ismael Gonzalez-Silva

Ismael Gonzalez-Silva — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:23:18 +0000

Greetings!!
Just one verse to think in what our Rabbi Yeshua thinks about knowledge (gnosis):
καὶ γνώσεσθε τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια ἐλευθερώσει ὑμᾶς. (John 8:32)

Based on what Yeshua teach, can we move on to find out if “knowledge” and “liberty” are companions in the journey? If they are, how they interact? The problem is not with “gnosis” the problem is with me!!! (I’m not talking about gnosticism) This is “The Fear Factor” Don’t do it because you will fall. But where is the promise of our Master that if we fall seven times, He will raise us up??? Where is the promise that the Spirit of God that live within us will guided us??? It is our Lord, Saviour and Rabbi that says “that we will know (γνώσεσθε) the truth, and that truth will set us free.”
Let’s keep on searching that truth!!! Both verbs are in future tense (γνώσεσθε and ἐλευθερώσει)

By: Carmen

Carmen — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:00:07 +0000

No amount of knowledge – no matter how gloriously intriguing it appears on the surface – may substitute for transformation and predestination of our being conformed to the Mashiach’s image. That’s the finality of it all, and foremost, the will of our Father. And HE alone is able to give the increase [1 Cor. 3:7] – to LOVE AS CHRIST [loves].

It’s good that we seek, but in our seeking may HE give us discernment as to not be drawn away by the desires of our own sick hearts and begin to substitute the glory of God [and His mishpachah] for my own self-glory. That is the danger, as you all have pointed out….to make much of myself [in my seeking] at the expense of His mishpachah. In that manner, we end up just as we set out – alone.

Shalom aleichem and may His radiance boil over from within us all and spill out for the glory of HaShem and the good of those around us!

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:27:35 +0000

“The mystic experience is man’s turning toward God; the prophetic act is God’s turning toward man.”

I think Abraham Heschel perfectly states what I am in the process of learning and what I have been trying to understand for a very long time.

In my view, it is far easier to turn toward God and find the “mystical” experiences (often Dead Ends) than to go down the path that God wants, when He calls us.

BTW for those of you who don’t know who Abraham Heschel, he was a true Action Hero as well as an extraordinary scholar and spiritual leader.

Please see the following URL:
http://www.squidoo.com/Heschel

By: Ismael Gonzalez-Silva

Ismael Gonzalez-Silva — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 02:02:11 +0000

Let’s keep on quoting… “Everything, absolutely everything about the Teaching must be experienced in ourselves and assimilated in our own being before we attempt to guide others. Calls this mysticism, if you wish, real mysticism. Once, the Church understood this; there must be a perpetual mysticism, perpetual experience. This is the origin of the Church’s distrust of so-called “mystics.”Mysticism in the real sense is the natural state of the human mind. “Mystics” who have occasional “experiences” often end by mocking the human creature through treating these experiences as extraordinary. But was is extraordinary is the reality of this level of experience. The Church once knew about this. One of the consequences of its forgetting has been the fear and hatred of hierarchy among Western people. The organization of the Church originally reflected the organization of man and the universe. This organization had to be experienced within ourselves, constantly, “without ceasing” “Pray without ceasing” means pray “now”, in the present moment. In the present moment, now, seek the organization of the universe, of God in ourselves.” (Jacob Needleman in “Lost Christianity” p. 80)

By: Skip Moen

Skip Moen — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 01:29:47 +0000

“The mystic experience is man’s turning toward God; the prophetic act is God’s turning toward man. The former is first of all an event in the life of man, contingent on the aspiration and initiative of man; the latter is first of all an event in the life of God, contingent on the pathos and initiative of God.” Abraham Heschel