You may have noticed that I haven’t been posting much here on the Congregation Shema Yisrael blog lately. This isn’t to say that I haven’t been blogging on matters of faith, but something has changed.

Some of you may have been following the conversation in the comments section of one of my recent blogs called Does God Love Gentiles, Too? as well as the parallel conversation about the article on Judah Gabriel’s blog. As a result of these debates, I determined to re-examine the assumptions of my own faith.

This isn’t as dramatic or dire as it seems. I’ve been following the “Messianic” path for roughly ten years and believe I have been growing in my knowledge and my faith, but some of the awe and wonder I first had when I became a believer has been diluted. In my efforts at learning and teaching, I find I’ve become so surrounded by information and details, that it’s become difficult to see the “forest for the trees”, so to speak.

To that end, I’ve “gone back to basics” in my personal studies. I felt I didn’t have the right to publish the chronicle of my journey under the umbrella of Congregation Shema Yisrael, particularly as a teacher or leader, since the examination I’m undertaking is completely from my own perspective and can be applied only to me. That said, it’s not like anything I’m currently experiencing won’t influence how I teach or write for the congregation. Since this also involves my investigation of Gentiles in relation to the larger Messianic and One Law/Torah movements, I thought I owed everyone a word of explanation and at least the opportunity to share the journey with me. For that reason, I invite you to read the saga of the road I am currently walking. I call it Searching for the Light on the Path.

I just want to remind you before you click that link and start reading, that what I have said there is a reflection of my own personal experiences and cannot be attributed to any other person or group, including Shema Yisrael.

What may be more interesting than what I’ve written are the comments other people are making in response to some of my articles. The tone of some of the statements isn’t always considerate or kind, but I believe it does communicate the current state of the larger Messianic and One Law communities in the nation (as far as I know, no one is commenting from a faith community outside the U.S.).

If you choose to read this blog (you don’t have to, obviously), start with the first article at the bottom, called Fractured Fellowship and work your way up. As of this writing, my most recent article on my personal blog is Would I Die for You? which hopefully represents the most basic of Yeshua’s teachings for anyone who follows him.

I may not blog here again for a bit until I’ve sorted some things for myself. I am not doubting God and I am not doubting Yeshua but, since I frequently call upon others to question their own assumptions about faith and theology, it’s only right that I take the journey myself.