*sighs* Ok Chief.. lol.. yesss, yes you are an Essene alright. Do I dare ask for the list of other religious orders you belong to? Gnosticism, Unitarianism, Essene Theosophy Mormonism? Kabbalah of course? ChiefCowPie... Oi Vey!
Brocktoon, since you seem to have such a strong grasp of the subject, I suggest that you explain to the rest of the class just what is the difference between the belief system of the modern-day Essene as compared to that of the "average non-denominational Christian" (that is, a "good" Christian who claims to be neither Gnostic, Unitarian, Theosophist, Mormon, nor a follower of Kabbalah). You needn't go into extreme detail, a simple one page comparison/contrast designed to enlighten those of us in the forums will fit the bill nicely. I'm sure we will all be amazed and delighted with the depth of your knowledge on the subject.
No. You can do your own research and when you understand the basics then, join in for lively discussion. However, you might want to ask CheifCow about such things since he seems to belong to approx 4-5 of the sects mentioned (or some mixture of each?) Another place to start would be the Essene resources Grnm23 posted: www.sevenfoldpeace.com www.essenespirit.com www.essene.com www.essene.org www.thenazareneway.com Site with mainline orthodox Christianity hmmmm? (no particular favouritism, these are just 'typical' mainline Christians) http://www.equip.org/ http://www.ccci.org/ http://realanswers.net/realanswersdeity1.html A good 'allround' example might be the ELCA statement of Faith (which is pretty comparable to most 'orthodox' Christians): http://www.elca.org/co/faith.html (hint: notice statement #3) No1knowzme, If its not obvious to you where the fundamental differences are then you probably dont need to be commenting on the subject . Thanks. [not to confuse the subject but a denomination in my city which has 'origins' in Essene teachings has recently began to change its statements of faith and become 'orthodox' ........ So you can say they are now, the same as Mainline Christians. However - because of that, they are not 'Essenes' anymore so this isnt really what we're discussing]
golly, i can't recall the last time the congregation recited together the athanasian creed during a worship service ... heh... ~ essenes: historically, a splinter sect within judaism... associated with monastary-like communities, known for mealing arts, high-yield farming, strict adherance to the law, knowledge of angelic forces, practiced theraputic fasting & hygenic enemas... were called _theraputaue_ in alexandria (egypt)... felt that the temple was profaned & the calendar was corrupted... the dead sea scrolls of qumran were likely hidden in a cave to protect them from being destroyed by some invader-types (romans? or earlier?)... (& may have picked up some of their theological interest in the cosmic struggle between good & evil, the end times, and legions of angels & demonic forces from the era of the babylonian captivity...)
