Post by Mishkan on Dec 3, 2005 13:57:53 GMT -8
Shalom all,
I've been hanging out here a few weeks, now, so I figured it was about time that I introduce myself.
I started out life in a Roman Catholic family. My teenage "rebellion" consisted of first turning atheist, and then beginning an intense religious pursuit. From the time I was 12 until I was 16 I had investigated the teachings of RCC, materialism, EST, Buddhism, and Church of Christ. I finally accepted God's call upon my life through "Christ" when I was 16.
For many, that would be the end of the story. However, I was never satisfied to simply memorize and parrot a set of denominational teachings. I continued to probe and dig. This lead me on through further study of various Christian denominations, including Methodist, Presbyterian, Church of God, and Baptist.
While attending a fundamentalist Baptist church, a few things were said from the pulpit that deeply affected me. The main one was, "A text without a context is a pretext." In other words, without proper contextualization, any verse can be made to say just about anything. This, in conjunction with the book, "Manners and Customs of the Bible", lead me to increasing discovery of the significance of the Jewish cultural and historical background of the Bible.
Now, many Christians get to that point. But for some reason, the pursuit of Jewish thought and culture became a driving force in my life. I couldn't get enough of Jewish art, Jewish music, not to mention Jewish theology. I have now been part of the Messianic Jewish movement for some 25 years, and in all that time, I have never looked back.
I have served for most of my believing life as an elder at Emmanuel Messianic Jewish Congregation, near Baltimore, Maryland. Most of that time, I have also been an adult Bible teacher. Right now, though, I am on sabbatical from both positions, owing to some family difficulties that have arisen this year.
I enjoy discussion on a variety of Biblical and theological topics, including both practical and mystical elements. Hopefully, we can all share on both sorts of topics here.
Well, on that note...
Shalom to all, and to all, shalom!
Mishkan David
I've been hanging out here a few weeks, now, so I figured it was about time that I introduce myself.
I started out life in a Roman Catholic family. My teenage "rebellion" consisted of first turning atheist, and then beginning an intense religious pursuit. From the time I was 12 until I was 16 I had investigated the teachings of RCC, materialism, EST, Buddhism, and Church of Christ. I finally accepted God's call upon my life through "Christ" when I was 16.
For many, that would be the end of the story. However, I was never satisfied to simply memorize and parrot a set of denominational teachings. I continued to probe and dig. This lead me on through further study of various Christian denominations, including Methodist, Presbyterian, Church of God, and Baptist.
While attending a fundamentalist Baptist church, a few things were said from the pulpit that deeply affected me. The main one was, "A text without a context is a pretext." In other words, without proper contextualization, any verse can be made to say just about anything. This, in conjunction with the book, "Manners and Customs of the Bible", lead me to increasing discovery of the significance of the Jewish cultural and historical background of the Bible.
Now, many Christians get to that point. But for some reason, the pursuit of Jewish thought and culture became a driving force in my life. I couldn't get enough of Jewish art, Jewish music, not to mention Jewish theology. I have now been part of the Messianic Jewish movement for some 25 years, and in all that time, I have never looked back.
I have served for most of my believing life as an elder at Emmanuel Messianic Jewish Congregation, near Baltimore, Maryland. Most of that time, I have also been an adult Bible teacher. Right now, though, I am on sabbatical from both positions, owing to some family difficulties that have arisen this year.
I enjoy discussion on a variety of Biblical and theological topics, including both practical and mystical elements. Hopefully, we can all share on both sorts of topics here.
Well, on that note...
Shalom to all, and to all, shalom!
Mishkan David