Essenes

[Soma-Sight]

Anybody research these believers and how different they are/were from the Pauline Christians?

It amazes me more and more how many different "inspired by the Holy Spirit" groups there were in 0 - 200 AD and how DIFFERENT a lot of the creeds were.

More and more I see that what is supposedly the "Truth" of today to be just an evolution of thought dictated by men in power with biased notions.

Why else would you need to "burn" other scriptures and "kill" heretics in the early Church?

If your way is Truth you should not fear right?

Wrong.

Since the archaeological discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1946, the word "Essene" has made its way around the world--often raising a lot of questions. Many people were astonished to discover that, two thousand years ago, a brotherhood of holy men and women, living together in a community, carried within themselves all of the seeds of Christianity and of future western civilization. This brotherhood--more or less persecuted and ostracized--would bring forth people who would change the face of the world and the course of history. Indeed, almost all of the principal founders of what would later be called Christianity were Essenes--St. Ann, Joseph and Mary, John the Baptist, Jesus, John the Evangelist, etc.


http://essenes.net/bnei1.htm
http://www.crystalinks.com/dss.html
http://www.essene.com/History/AncientHi ... senes.html
http://www.essenespirit.com/who.html
http://paganizingfaithofyeshua.netfirms ... tament.htm
http://www.essene.org/Yahowshua_or_Paul.htm
http://www.dreamscape.com/morgana/carme.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Essenes

 

[Soma-Sight]

Like them, Jesus opposed the slaughter of animals at the Jerusalem Temple (John 2:13-16). Like them, he included women as disciples and said that for females, as well as for males, their most important function was spiritual, not biological (Luke 11:27,28). And like these Essenes, Jesus taught, and lived by, the principle of nonviolence. He even went to his death refusing to overcome violence by violence, telling his disciples that those who lived by the sword would die by the sword (Matt. 26:52)

From the beginning, there were always groups of Christians who sought to follow the example of Jesus. But as the centuries went by, principles of nonviolence and the equality of women--along with various other teachings--were expunged from mainstream Christianity. Those who insisted on living out these principles, claiming that only they were the true followers of Christ, were branded as heretics. The churches eliminated their influence by killing them--in a variety of ways.



http://www.all-creatures.org/hr/hrajesus.htm

 

[Soma-Sight]

Today, there is a growing movement towards nonviolence in mainstream Christianity. This is reflected in the pacifism of some believers. For them, as for the Christians who lived during the first few centuries after the crucifixion, military service is not an option. For them, the Gospel message of nonviolence rules out killing other human beings--for any reason. And, more recently, there are those Christians whose nonviolence extends to animals, and includes the practice of vegetarianism.

However, many of their fellow church members consider such people to be eccentrics, or troublemakers who are trying to introduce "New Age" lifestyles into Christianity. But as more and more information from sources like the Dead Sea Scrolls is circulated outside academia, it becomes increasingly apparent that nonviolence, a concern for animals and the question of vegetarianism are not "New Age" at all. They were principles of concern among the earliest Christians.