{"id":19272,"date":"2009-06-24T21:56:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-25T02:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=19272"},"modified":"2024-11-13T21:31:32","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T03:31:32","slug":"did-jesus-tell-the-essenes-not-to-eat-breakfast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-jesus-tell-the-essenes-not-to-eat-breakfast\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Jesus tell the Essenes not to eat breakfast?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

Is it true that Jesus told the Essenes not to eat breakfast? If so, why?<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

I was puzzled by the nature of the question since the Essenes are not mentioned in the Bible, though some claim that the Zealots (of which one apostle was once a member) were a branch of the Essenes, just as the Essenes were a branch of the Pharisees. To claim that Jesus told them anything would be only the figment of someone’s imagination. Even the Jews recognized that much of Jesus’ teachings contradicted the Essene belief. (“Essenes,”\u00a0Jewish Encyclopedia<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n

Besides Jesus would not be instructing people to avoid something that he himself did. “Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?” –knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish. This is now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead. So when they had eaten breakfast, …<\/em>” (John 21:12-15).<\/p>\n

There is a false book called “The Essene Gospel of Peace.” Many ridiculous claims are attributed to Jesus, among them that one should only eat when the sun is at its highest point and in the evening (leaving out breakfast). Obviously, if such were true, then Jesus violated his own command, which cannot be true. Thus, “The Essene Gospel of Peace” is false. Just to give you an idea, the book also claims that you cannot eat the flesh of animals — a contradiction of the Old and New Testament and again something that Jesus did do (see “Was Jesus a Vegetarian?<\/a>“). It also forbids cooking all foods; only raw vegetables are allowed! But again, this contradicts the New Testament, where we know Jesus not only ate bread but cooked it for breakfast in John. Throughout the book, it teaches the worship of Earth as a goddess, calling the false deity “our Earth Mother.”<\/p>\n

This comes from Edmond Szekely, a radical vegetarian who died in 1980. “Proof that Jesus was a vegetarian is based on The Essene Gospel of Peace<\/em>, which Szekely claims to have translated from an ancient text he supposedly discovered in the 1920s. Szekely alleges that this ancient gospel text is authentic and that the canonical gospels are forgeries. However, no one besides Szekely has ever seen the manuscript. This and other reasons prompt scholars to conclude that\u00a0The Essene Gospel of Peace\u00a0<\/em>is a disreputable forgery.” [Is God a Vegetarian?<\/em>\u00a0by Richard A. Young, page 5<\/a>].<\/p>\n

“There are three problems with Szekeley’s claims. The first and most significant point is that no one has actually seen any of these manuscripts except Szekeley. The second is that there are serious inconsistencies and other problems in Szekeley’s description of the manuscripts. The third is the content of the manuscripts themselves. As a whole, we can say that not only is there no evidence that the manuscripts are genuine, but most likely Szekeley’s claims are fraudulent.” [“Strange New Gospels” by Keith Akers<\/a>]. This author documents that the Vatican does not possess the claimed Aramaic originals. There is no record of Szekeley visiting some of the libraries he claimed to have visited (where records of visiting scholars are kept). There is no evidence that Szekeley knew Aramaic, let alone was able to translate it.<\/p>\n

The people taunting “The Essene Gospel of Peace” are living illustrations of “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables<\/em>” (II Timothy 4:3-4).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: Is it true that Jesus told the Essenes not to eat breakfast? If so, why? Answer: I was puzzled by the nature of the question since the Essenes are not mentioned in the Bible, though some claim that the Zealots (of which one apostle was once a member) were a branch of the Essenes,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[660,130,1154,34,73,239],"class_list":["post-19272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-apocrypha","tag-canon","tag-essenes","tag-false-teaching","tag-jesus","tag-vegetarianism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32961,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-bible-is-the-work-of-men-essenes-were-vegetarians-jesus-was-an-essene-so-jesus-could-not-have-eaten-meat\/","url_meta":{"origin":19272,"position":0},"title":"The Bible is the work of men. Essenes were vegetarians. Jesus was an Essene, so Jesus could not have eaten meat","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Have you read a book on the Essenes by Edmond Bordeaux Szekely? This shows his original research to show that the Essenes (thus Jesus) were pro-vegetarian. My own personal views on meat-eating are as follows: The Bible should not be taken literally - man has changed\/edited over the years;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69093,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jewish-sects-essenes\/","url_meta":{"origin":19272,"position":1},"title":"Jewish Sects: Essenes","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Fred A. Shewmaker Origin, Name, and Organization via Truth Magazine, XVI: 12, pp. 6-7 January 27, 1972 There is no record in the Bible that the Essenes ever existed. Their importance as far as Christians are concerned can probably be easily gauged by this fact. Certain scholars have speculated\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1030,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-jesus-a-vegetarian-did-jesus-eat-meat\/","url_meta":{"origin":19272,"position":2},"title":"Was Jesus a Vegetarian? Did Jesus Eat Meat?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton On March 17, 1999, the Omaha World-Herald reprinted a hilarious article by Bill Broadway of the Washington Post. It seems the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have launched a campaign to claim that Jesus was a vegetarian. Billboards stating \"Jesus was a vegetarian.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0011-6-300x296.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":69070,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jewish-sects\/","url_meta":{"origin":19272,"position":3},"title":"Jewish Sects","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Fred Shewmaker via Truth Magazine Some Terms Considered Pharisees Sadducees Essenes Zealots and Herodians","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10563,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-jesus-a-vegetarian\/","url_meta":{"origin":19272,"position":4},"title":"Was Jesus a Vegetarian?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Genesis 9:1-7 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Back in 1999, the Omaha World-Herald had a hilarious article on a then new advertising campaign by PETA. [Bill Broadway, \u201cJesus Used in Latest PETA Ads,\u201d Omaha World-Herald, 17 March 1999] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They claimed that Jesus was a vegetarian. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Their \u201cevidence\u201d? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A belief\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69073,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jewish-sects-some-terms-considered\/","url_meta":{"origin":19272,"position":5},"title":"Jewish Sects: Some Terms Considered","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Fred A. Shewmaker via Truth Magazine XVI: 6, pp. 9-11 December 9, 1971 Available sources of information on this subject are quite limited, and much of the information available is questionable regarding its accuracy. Nevertheless, I believe that studying this subject will be profitable. Those who pursue such a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19272\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}