04-30-2009, 09:08 PM
Shlama Khati Havah,
Yes I have, but I wouldn't call them Nazarenes. There seem to be several varieties of faith under this title. At a minimum, they seem to venerate the Baptist more than Messiah. Other varieties seem more Gnostic in nature, and still others from what I have read are openly hostile to Y'shua.
Because of this last and perhaps most extreme form of this faith, they cannot be "Nazarenes" because they don't venerate Y'shua of Nazareth!
On the other hand, I cannot claim to be an expert on this topic. There may be some calling themselves "Mandeans" who have a whole different way of explaining these beliefs. I hesitate to be more definitive because I know this type of title repetition is rampant in this area, such as how some Ebionites for example believe in a virgin birth and are closer to Nazarenes but others are not. I have found at least four different versions of what this or that group with the same name believes, and the same seems true of the Mandeans.
Of course some say the same of us Nazarenes....
Yes I have, but I wouldn't call them Nazarenes. There seem to be several varieties of faith under this title. At a minimum, they seem to venerate the Baptist more than Messiah. Other varieties seem more Gnostic in nature, and still others from what I have read are openly hostile to Y'shua.
Because of this last and perhaps most extreme form of this faith, they cannot be "Nazarenes" because they don't venerate Y'shua of Nazareth!
On the other hand, I cannot claim to be an expert on this topic. There may be some calling themselves "Mandeans" who have a whole different way of explaining these beliefs. I hesitate to be more definitive because I know this type of title repetition is rampant in this area, such as how some Ebionites for example believe in a virgin birth and are closer to Nazarenes but others are not. I have found at least four different versions of what this or that group with the same name believes, and the same seems true of the Mandeans.
Of course some say the same of us Nazarenes....
Shlama w'burkate
Andrew Gabriel Roth
Andrew Gabriel Roth