Knowing and Experience

Knowing and Knowing, the Arguement and the Experience

There are 2 ways of knowing.

1. The Greek "Gnosis" which refers to intellectual knowledge. Knowledge gained through logic, memorization, reason and revelation. The kind of knowing that you can get from an encyclopedia or an autobiography or a lecture.



As a teenager for example, you can know your father's social security number, middle name, height and weight, but not know HIM fully. Since you only know the facts about Him, someone could come along and take His place in your heart.



2. The Hebrew "Yadah" which refers to intimate knowledge. Knowledge gained through time and experience.



As a 5 year old, you can know the face your father makes when He is uncomfortable, how His hand feels on your shoulder, His voice on the phone. Since you don't know any facts about Him, someone could easily fake a letter from Him to you.



These 2 words reveal the huge gap between the Greek mindset and the Hebrew mindset, the Greek translations vs the Hebrew originals.

These 2 words also reveal the huge gap between the 2 legs of my spiritual journey.



The first part of my spiritual journey was Gnosis pure and simple.

When I was 14 my mom died and the Southern Baptist Preacher who came to tell me that she had died (Brother Tim West) gave me an old Greek-English New Testament because I had been using the encyclopedias at my elementary school to try and learn Greek root words.

My 8th Grade Teacher (Ms. Hugholene Barnes) who went to his church gave me a Teen Study Bible, which I read 3 times cover to cover, beginning in Genesis and ending in Revelations.

Then I met my Great Aunt Linda and she gave me a copy of the "Great Controversy" for X-mas when I stayed at her house for a week.



I learned many valuable things from studying Greek, like Pharmakea being the Greek word for sorcery and it actually referred to psycho-tropics and drug dealers.

I also learned from studying the Bible beginning in GENESIS that the 2nd half of the Book can't contradict the First and G-d promised that He doesn't change and His Law is forever.

Additionally, I learned from the "Great Controversy" the History of how the Church became responsible for the deaths of more Christians than all of the world's governments combined, as well how the Church became paganized.



While this Gnosis would be useful 10 years later when I became a Christian, at the time it was just cold and empty head knowledge, like reading the encyclopedia for comfort. People would try to get me to say the "Sinner's Prayer" and I would explain to them that anybody can say a set of words or have an intellectual belief, but that won't save them (at the time I believed that G-d chose certain people to bless and save and everyone else was just screwed no matter how often they said the prayer). I would also discuss Scripture with many Christians and ask them why they didn't keep the Sabbath, why they ate pork, why they painted Easter Eggs? They would ask me what Church I went to and I would tell them that I don't go to a church because I'm not a Christian.

Ofcourse I was then asked why I was giving them such a hard time, and I would say that if you claim to live by a Book, you should live by the Book and not pick out certain pages you don't like and tear them out. Christ taught the WHOLE Bible and the Church teaches PART of the Bible and they should decide if they are CHRIST-ians or CHURCH-ians.



Eventually I fell into Gnosticism, which is based on a set of "Secret Gospels" that Christ supposedly gave to only 4 of His Apostles. The Gnostics believed that one could reach salvation by the discovering of "Truth" and the pursuit of "Truth", those that had this secret knowledge revealed to them were given it as a reward for their searching.

In Rome everything came down to Glory Vs. Shame, in Hebrew culture it came down to Light Vs. Darkness, but in Gnosticism it came down to Knowledge Vs. Ignorance. More brainy Gnostics take this knowledge to be of the intellectual sort, studying out hidden truths. While the more Charismatic Gnostics believe that having "Visions" or "Dreams" or other spiritual encounters shows they had the light, in Christian Gnosticism this comes out as speaking in tongues, visions or falling on the floor being proof of Salvation. The difference between the Real Gifts of the Spirit and the Gnostic impersonation is that the REAL is in line with the Scriptures while the Gnostic is one's own vain imaginings.



In the course of events I began to identify more with Christians than Gnostics. Knowledge increased in my life but so did the emptiness. I argued more and loved less. I became increasingly aware intellectually and increasingly numb spiritually and emotionally. This showed me that knowledge won't save you, and salvation isn't a reward for seeking out the deep truths. The deep truths are a reward for those who have done the very first thing required, submitting to Yeshua.



The Christians usually knew next to nothing about Scripture (no Gnosis) but they had the experience, (the Yadah knowledge.)

Most of my life had been spent running from Yahweh whom I viewed as indifferent to those He had not chosen to be His favorites, He loved the Jacobs of the world and hated the Esaus, and I believed myself to be an Esau. So the best I could do was just stay out of His way and not do anything to bring additional wrath on myself.



In time however, I discovered that when hiding from Yahweh there is no place to run. I began to search for Yadah. I got back into Yoga which I had learned in Ninjutsu, began listening to Christian Music, tried to get drunk once but the alcohol just made me sick instead, and went through most things under the sun as Solomon so eloquently described his experience, or in the words of Johny Cash "I went out walking, I went out searching for experience, I went out walking, with nothing but the thought of you. I went wandering." I looked into Wicca since I had a Wiccan friend.



I wanted the Spiritual Experience. This is where most Churches lose their young people btw. They give them some Gnosis, they intellectually know the memory verse, the doctrines, the statement of Faith, but they have no spiritual experience and the Church not only denies it exists (no prophecies, no visions, no healings) but it is hostile to the thought. Ofcourse everyone has an innate sense for the spiritual, so they go looking for something spiritual and something real. This is where we lose them to witchcraft. Churches argue apologetics and the fight the battle of Gnosis all day, but that won't fill the spiritual void and the need to see and experience the miraculous, so nobody shows up to the battlefield of the Yadah.



While relying on Gnosis alone can leave you cold and empty, relying on Yadah alone can leave you dazed and confused, but with the warm fuzzies to go along with it. Yadah alone can be more dangerous because you don't realize anything is wrong, you think that the experience is all you need and all there is. While with Gnosis, you are always aware that it is lacking. I saw this in many Charismatic Churches, a mass hysteria of sorts in which whatever someone claimed to see was accepted without question, falling in the floor or jumping up and down made you more spiritual than someone else, the voices and visions you see MUST be from G-d because Satan isn't allowed to deceive believers somehow.



The Yadah, experience, without the Scriptural knowledge/Gnosis to test it, proved to be equally as dangerous as relying on pure facts.



This going in search of experience left me weary of both the cold, empty ice box of Gnosis without Yadah, and dazed and confused by the rollercoaster out of control ride of Yadah without Gnosis.



I eventually found my way into a Messianic Jewish Congregation by way of a friend whose mom was Jewish but lived too far away from a synagogue to drive there so the Messianic Congregation was as close as she could get. She gave me a Kippah and I bought a Star of David with the cross in the middle. So I jumped full into Messianic Judaism because it filled both voids. Through learning some Hebrew, the Jewish context in which the Scripture was written, and the context of Paul's writings, I found a source of true and useful Gnosis. I also found a Yadah knowledge in the prayers spoken in Hebrew, the community feel of the Congregation, keeping Passover together as a community.



For the first time in my life I had a spiritual relationship that I could feel (despite being baptized and having said the sinner's prayer several times as a child).

Unfortunately, I had a relationship with a religion.

I tried to just coast through life on enough Gnosis about the Bible to get by, and just enough Yadah through the Sabbath to get by. I had just enough of G-d through the medium of Messianic Judaism to get by on, so I thought, without having to actually Walk with the Creator instead of just celebrate what He celebrated and study about Him and His life.



When many leave the pagan traditions in Christianity, they jump right into pagan traditions in Judaism and Messianic Judaism, thinking that the Jews kept all of the paganism out (we all need heroes right?). We leave Egypt (Sin and the world) and get into Christianity only to discover that it is bordered by Babylon (has a mix of Christ and Baal). So we leave the standard Christian Church in search of something deeper and more ancient (Gnosis), as well as a relationship with the Creator unhindered by the vestiges of former lovers (X-mas trees, Easter Eggs, etc). Then over time we find that many Messianic Congregations don't keep the Torah, some place the Talmud on an even par with the Torah, some still put up X-mas Trees.



This was my experience. While I was learning more Truth than I ever did around a Church, and I was walking closer than I ever had. I still needed to go deeper than Messianic Judaism, waiting on a Rabbi to tell you what a Scripture means in the same fashion that most Christians wait on a preacher to tell them.



It became evident in time that the only Gnosis that would fulfill is the truth of Yeshua, what He REALLY TAUGHT, how He REALLY LIVED, His REAL MESSAGE. All of the nuances of history, sociology, psychology, etc. just leave you empty. The knowledge (Gnosis) of Yeshua's message is the only knowledge that satisfies.



It also became evident in time that the only Yadah that would fulfill is a genuine experience with Yeshua, who He REALLY IS, How He REALLY FEELS about things, and what REALLY PLEASES Him. Yoga, Meditation, Alcohol, religious fervor, jumping up and down at Christian Concerts, just won't do.



We must have both the Facts about Yeshua and the Experience with Yeshua, not one or the other.



So I leave you with these admonitions from Scripture.



"Knowledge puffs up but Love Builds Up"



Paul speaking of his great Gnosis apart from Yeshua "I Count it all as Dung"



"Test the Spirits" (with the Scripture/Gnosis).



"My People Perish for Lack of Knowledge, Because you have rejected my Laws I will reject you as a my Priests"



"Aware from me your workers of Lawlessness, for I NEVER KNEW YOU."



"My Sheep will HEAR My Voice."



"The Father desires those who worship in SPIRIT (Yadah Knowledge) and TRUTH (Gnosis Knowledge)" TOGETHER