Who do you think you are . . .

Image from arouda.blogspot.com

[In 2010 at the start of our Sinaite’s spiritual pilgrimage to biblical Mt. Sinai, i.e., the Revelation of YHWH, we encountered a lot of opposition and criticism from our Christian colleagues, understandably. This article —first posted in 2012, was in answer to the exact words in the title. We add this to our current series explaining our beginnings on our 7th year.—Admin1.]

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WHO do you think you are . . . to question centuries of biblical scholarship attesting to the veracity, divine source, and canonicity of the New Testament, “the very words of God”?

This is a question commonly asked by Christian colleagues who are incredulous at our proclamation that we have left Christianity based on our conviction that the New Testament is man-sourced, not divinely-authored. We have explained how we have arrived at this conviction [and all its implications] in many articles posted in this website. Visitors to this website do not know Sinaites on a personal level, only what we project in the articles that declare the basics of our belief. Some know who we are, specifically the other person who debates one of us in posted discourses.

Our Christians friends echo the same questions, the same counter-arguments, the same verses as prooftexts. Our Christian colleagues would know that we are not blind, unthinking, spoon-fed, disciples who just swallow teachings without question. If we journeyed through previous stages in various sects within Christianity, it is only because it has been our nature to seriously examine beliefs we have embraced at each stage of our spiritual growth. They would know that we would not resort to a “drastic” turnabout in direction without having thoroughly weighed the consequences.

Indeed, who are we to think we know better than the theological giants of the Christian faith, all of whom confirm just the opposite of what we question? Actually we are nobodies compared to them, but these are what we Sinaites share in common:

1. Just like our Christian colleagues, we love God so much we continue to seek Him in all the sources, we deem, best teach us about Him.

2. Just like our Christian colleagues, we are independent-minded, will rely on teachers only to a certain extent, but also and at the same time do our own research and study, checking out the teaching as well as the scriptural basis for it.

3. Just like some of our Christian colleagues, we do not limit our research to books and sources from Christian bookstores; we venture out into perspectives and opinions outside of Christian thinking, outside of the box.

4. While we settled into each religious persuasion for a time [Catholicism, Protestantism, Evangelicalism, Messianism], when we were confronted with more truth about the questionable foundations of beliefs we embraced, we unhesitatingly moved on, once convinced there was more to explore or something to take out of our belief system.

5. We are not afraid of transition, paradigm shift, loss of all former religious affiliation and association, as long as we are convinced we are moving toward the right direction and that is toward the One True God.

6. We agree on the following:

How can anyone go wrong, lose one’s salvation, when one returns to the GOD revealed in the foundational scriptures of Israel, the Tanakh?
Once you get to know the God of the Hebrew Scriptures from His own declarations about Himself, any deviation cannot possibly be of HIM.
HE has spoken very clearly, making sure anyone who seriously undertakes a Truth quest will end up right at His doorstep.
What HE is like. His attributes and characteristics HIS ONE-ness are all associated with the NAME HE reveals —YHWH —“I will be who I will be.” Christians might jump at that translation of THE NAME with “aha, see, YHWH can be anything He wants to be, even a trinity!” No way.

Who do we think we are to challenge the best of Christian scholarship through centuries?

Image from www.spiritualresearchfoundation.org

We are simple truth-seekers, wondering why the most brilliant minds in Christianity did not see what we saw simply by reading the history and roots of Christianity.

Perhaps information was not available to them;
perhaps they were convinced as we once were so as not to look any further;
perhaps they knew but were not convicted;
perhaps they were convicted . . . but chose not to change course.

Ultimately each of us are accountable to our Creator for how we react to and act on His revelation. Christians and Sinaites will never see eye to eye as long as we are arguing from two differing scriptural bases. On our part, we are certain that we cannot ever return to Christianity and worship a Jew transformed by Christian scriptures into the Creator God, YHWH Himself. Or, worship the “Father” in the Trinitarian Godhead, who shares his throne with two other divine ‘persons’; that is not the God we have come to know in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Who do we think we are?

Grateful, humble Truth-seekers who have arrived at the sanctified place of divine revelation, Spiritual Sinai —, and therefore have become worshippers of YHWH, the Law-giver, the Author of the TORAH.
When God seeks us out asking the same question he asked Adam and Eve, and Cain, “Where are you?”
- We can confidently say: We have found the Way, retracing our steps back where the forked road misled us to the wrong direction.
- We have gotten on the road less travelled, the same pathway long trodden by the chosen people of Israel.
- Yes, we are starting over and yes, as our messianic teacher has mockingly suggested, we’re taking a few more laps toward and around Sinai because it IS good for our spiritual health which enhances our physical health;
- in fact we’re taking as many laps as are needed to get into our thick skulls the long neglected truths issued by the God Who spoke on Sinai.

What is there to be afraid of? We’re going back to the Source of the historic, one-time, complete Revelation and that Source is YHWH.

We are grateful to Israel, the Jews, for preserving the Ten Words, and more. Truly Israel has lived up to its anointing as YHWH’s light to the gentiles, to the nations. They left their legacy to the world, the Hebrew Scriptures for all to learn from, closely examine, make a decision whether to believe or not, live or not. Their light as biblical people surviving to this day continues to shine simply by their very presence today, in the Land promised to them by their God, by the God of Abraham, the Revelator on Sinai.

Any world religion that uses the Hebrew Scriptures as the foundation and base of their beliefs must be true to the original and not spin off from it any strange doctrines that do not conform with YHWH’s foundational truths.

If they do, who do they think they are?

for Sinai 6000

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Source: Exodus/Shemoth 24 – "the sight of the Glory of YHVH (was) like a consuming fire" -- We gentiles living in this 21st century are able to experience that climactic moment [God appearing on Sinai] by reading and studying this portion of the TORAH. Indeed, we see YHWH not quite as dramatically as the mixed multitude did, but perhaps even better through these accounts recorded in Exodus. There is a saying that hindsight is 20/20 vision, i.e., we begin to see and understand the question marks in our past only later in our lives, as we mature and hopefully become wiser and more introspective about the meaning or seeming meaninglessness of happenings in history, whether personal, national, or universal. Søren Kierkegaard adds a twist to this: “Only 20:20 vision is hindsight. Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” As we endeavor to understand each portion in the TORAH of YHWH, much of it will seem irrelevant to our current situation but if we see beyond the time-bound cultural and religious situations and begin to understand what truly has not change—human nature and the Great Revelator who designed the perfect blueprint for living in peace, happily and contentedly with family, community, country and the nations, the unquestionable conclusion is: TORAH is relevant to ALL humankind, not just to Israel, to this very day.

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