From:    heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
Date:    Mon, 1 Dec 1997 23:52:55 +0000
To: 	 Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup
Subject: Messianic Jews / Bnai Noah / Netzarim Movements

From:          Sharon Spicka
To:            heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject:       "Messianic Jews"

Dear Mishpachah (family):

I got into a conversation last night with some people who call themselves
"Messianics."  They believe Jesus is the Messiah, but I don't think they
believe He is God.  They keep the Torah and do not want to be identified 
with Christians.  Have you heard of these people?  I'm not totally sure 
what they believe, but am going to talk with them further.

Sharon Spicka

>From Eddie:
**************

       Sharon,

       We have talked about some of these groups and their beliefs on 
this newsgroup in the past. Two of the most prominent groups which 
come to mind are: "Bnai Noah" and the "Netzarim Movement". 

Generally speaking they:

1) Don't believe that Jesus is God
2) Don't believe that the NT is authorative scripture
3) Are very anti-Christian in their writings
4) Believe in keeping both the Oral and Written Law
5) Do not believe that Jesus was born of a virgin
6) Do not believe in "converting" religious Jews to
     accept Yeshua/Jesus as Messiah

     Many would view because they reject some of the fundamentals of 
the faith  that they would be regarded as a "cult" yet they 
embrace their "Hebraic Roots". While embracing their Hebraic Roots, 
they diminish emphasizing the role and place of the Messiah in their
religious worship and follow a worship style which is more closely
associated with Rabbinic Judaism. They try to distance themselves from 
anything "Christian".

     A "Messianic Jew" is a term which Jews who believe that 
Yeshua/Jesus is Messiah gave themselves because they  wanted to 
worship in a  Messianic Synogogue, keep the sabbath, keep the Biblical 
Festivals, have a Torah based worship service and keep their Jewish 
identity while still believing that Yeshua/Jesus is Messiah.

    A "Messianic Jew" shouldn't be confused with "Bnai Noah" and the
"Netzarim Judaism movement". The "Bnai Noah" and 
"Netzarim Judaism"  movement consists mostly of non-Jews. While
they embrace their Hebraic/Jewish Roots, they do so in an unbalanced 
way and reject some of the most fundamental aspects of faith in 
Messiah and the God of Israel as explained above.

    Around 85% of the members of this newsgroup are non-Jews who are 
discovering, studying and embracing their Hebraic/Jewish roots also. 
We love the Jewish people and the land of Israel.  We believe in 
examing the scriptures (both OT and NT) from a Hebraic perspective. 
We believe in embracing the sabbath and the Biblical Festivals and 
studying to understand the role of the Torah in the life of a 
non-Jewish believer in Yeshua/Jesus as Messiah. We believe that 
Yeshua/Jesus is God manifested in the flesh. We believe that He was 
born of a virgin. We believe that the NT is an inspired book of 
scripture even though the translation of the text may be faulty in 
some instances. We believe that Messiah should be the center of all 
that we do in worship to the God of Israel.  We believe in 
encouraging all believers in Yeshua/Jesus as Messiah to embrace their 
Hebraic/Jewish roots but to do so in the spirit of BOTH truth and 
love toward other believers in Yeshua/Jesus as Messiah.

         Sharon, I hope that this explanation will help to alleviate 
some of your confusion in trying to understand these
different groups.

************************************************************************