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Why is the worship of any human [or any human institution] a vile form of idolatry?
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Why is the worship of any human [or any human institution] a vile form of idolatry?
By rendering toward any man (Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Rashi, Baal Shem Tov, etc) or toward any man-made establishment (Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, Islam, etc) the absolute submission & allegiance owed only to the Creator, a person commits a brazen form of idolatry.
And why would the idolatry of human personalities be viewed as a dirty and objectionable thing? Because, in the final analysis, man is little more than a movable leather bag, full of urine and feces. And that’s why ancient Hebrew believers associated places of idolatry with public dung heaps. As is written: “and they tore down the pillar of Baal. Then they tore down the temple of Baal and made it a latrine—which it still is today ”- 2 Kings 10: 27, Christian Standard Bible
“Beware of wishful thinking, as impartial and objective truth is always less interesting than self serving deception! ”
Reformed Samaritanism isn’t a religious establishment; it is rather the moral perspective of those whom, regardless of race or creed, love Torah enough to perceive themselves as being “Benei Moshe” (Moses spiritual children)"
Before the start of the Christian era, the Hebrew sage named Hillel (peace and blessings be upon him) summed up true faith saying the following: “ What is hateful to you, do not to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah [The Law, The Prophets, and the Writings]; the rest is [just] commentary. Go [now] and study it ” - Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a.
Then came Jesus of Nazareth (peace and blessings be upon him), and reformulated the same faith saying the following: “ Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them, for this is [all the message of] the Law and the Prophets ” - Matthew 7: 12.
Finally, the prophet of Islam (Muhammad, peace be upon him) came, and summed it up again saying the following: “ A man is not a true believer, until he does not love for his brother, what he loves for himself ” - Sahih Muslim (Authentic Hadith) narrated by Annas.
Thus, those of us who follow the faith preached by all of the great prophets and messengers must aspire to do good to everybody (obeying what God had commanded Moses upon the two stone tablets). And, if we cannot do good, we must at least do our best effort not to [unjustly] harm anybody.
At the present time, many of those who consider themselves to be “Benei Moshe” (“Spiritual Sons of Moses”) refer to this ancient faith with the name of “Reformed Samaritanism”.
God’s moral perfection prevents Him from discriminating either in favor or against anyone
One of Reformed Samaritanism basic tenets states that the Creator is a being of moral perfection (“He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He ”- Deuteronomy 32: 4, KJB).
Thus, the God of Abraham will never choose to arbitrarily discriminate against [or in favor] of anyone, as He judges each man according to his personal obedience (or rebellion) to the Divine commandments-- In other words, If a man follows Moses Law, the Creator considers such man to be an Israelite; a person with a clean heart [regardless of his race]; but if such man refuses to follow Moses, then God considers him to be a Gentile [again, regardless of his race].
And from whence do we get the idea that [regardless of his race] he who has a clean heart (free of rebellion against God’s commandments) is considered to be an Israelite? We get it from the verse that goes on to say: “Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart ”- Psalm 73: 1, KJB.
Thus, it makes sense to discover that the covenant of the Law wasn’t made with the Israelite generation coming out of Egypt [as they rebelled against Moses]. Rather, it was made with those who [regardless of their race] were still alive 40 years later. Why? Because they had remained faithful to Moses! As is written: “ The lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day - Deuteronomy 5: 3, King James Bible.
And from whence do we get that, as soon as ethnic Israel turns away from God (openly parading it’s rebellion), it ceases to be blessed Israel (those who have a clean heart), and become instead accursed Sodom? We know it from the verse that goes on to say:
“ Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers… they have provoked the holy one of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward... except the lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. hear the word of the lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the Law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah ”- Isaiah 1: 4-10, KJB.
May the Almighty bless and preserve Israel!
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What do Reformed Samaritans believe?
1) We believe that there’s only one book that has absolute and uncontaminated Divine inspiration: the book of God, which י ה ו ה (the Creator and Judge of the Universe) wrote with “his own finger” upon the two stone tablets (the Ten Commandments).
2) We believe that, in order to clarify the correct interpretation (and implementation) of his ten commandments, the Creator inspired prophet Moses (with the possible help of the prophet Joshua), who wrote the prophecy contained in his five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (the Torah).
3) We believe that Moses prophecy (the Torah), wasn’t written upon stone, but rather upon papyrus scrolls (or upon sheepskins).
4) We believe that. if the book of God (the ten commandments) was written upon stone, while Moses prophecy was written upon papyrus (or on sheepskins), it was only to teach us that just as the stone has much greater weight than the papyrus (or the sheepskins), so is obeying the ten commandments much more important than than believing in any prophecy (the future restoration of Israel, the future reconstruction of the temple, the future manifestation of the Messiah, etc. )
5) As a result of the above, we believe that obedience to God’s ten commandments is the means by which a man enters into the Creator’s covenant [thereby obtaining the Divine favor, and becoming part of the holy people allegorically portrayed by the ancient Hebrew nation]. As is written: “And He (Yah) announced to you His covenant, which he commanded you to do; the ten commandments, and he wrote them on two stone tablets »(Deut. 4: 13) 6).
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Therefore, we believe that God’s book (the ten commandments), as well as Moses five books of Torah (containing Moses prophecy), are the totality of the Divine revelation. And all other books can’t be considered anything but optional commentary.
Thus, adding to the former books would amount to stealing a part of the Divine territory that, in the heart of the believer are God’s ten commandments supposed to carve.
In other words, it would amount to using something else (the restoration of Israel, the reconstruction of the temple, the coming of the Messiah, etc. ) as an excuse to diminish, divide, or dilute the zeal that, for keeping the commands of the covenant, ought to characterize all Hebrew believers: As is written: « You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor diminish from it, so that you may keep (without the unnecessary distraction that would arise from adding additional books) the commandments of Yah your God, which I command you ” (Deut. 4: 2).
“People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care”
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