Thank you so much for this enlightening article. It brought home to roost, the things I was taught as a child and ventured away from. It reminded me to 'test' and 'be discerning' of teachings (claims). After much soul searching, the crux of the matter is solved in John 4:16, for me. Beautifully simple. Thank you for the sharp, yet gentle, reminder. Bless you!
--Lisa ( lisa at homeopathyhome dot net ) on 1/14/2005; 3:02:16 PM

Thank you so much for this enlightening article. It brought home to roost, the things I was taught as a child and ventured away from. It reminded me to 'test' and 'be discerning' of teachings (claims). After much soul searching, the crux of the matter is solved in John 4:16, for me. Beautifully simple. Thank you for the sharp, yet gentle, reminder. Bless you!
--Lisa ( lisa at homeopathyhome dot net ) on 1/14/2005; 3:01:13 PM

Joanne: Thank you for reading thru my article and your post. I used (like many authors) the celebrity angle to get readers interest to look further than just the celebrity and to the heart of Kabbalah - its teaching. As you read in my conclusion my problem with Kabbalah is the fact that it sets out a way to God through knowledge and meditation without Jesus Christ, which according to the Bible is impossible. You state that Kabbalah has made you a better person, but being a better person is not ultimately going to save you from your sin and the judgment to come. Only faith in the gospel - i.e. the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ -will. As you seem to be on a spiritual journey, I would encourage to pick up the Bible and some books on Christianity. If you're dealing with a recent tragedy, I would reccomend CS Lewis' "The Problem with Pain" or "A Grief Observed".

Joanne, you say that the Kabbalah Center has been kind and friendly toward you. If you've spent some time studying cults, you will know that this is the standard practice of most cults at the outset - when you're dabbling and showing some interest. But when you are emotionally, psychologically, relationally and theologically caught up in it and actually serving the cause of the cult, you will find that the treatment you receive from its leaders will change drastically. I would encourage you to investigate and speak with some former members of the Kabbalah Center via the web to get a firsthand account. God bless you on your search for meaning and truth, Joanne. May you find it Jesus Christ, who is the source of all life, wisdom, peace and love.
--Brian Thomas ( brian at kaleochurch dot com ) on 1/12/2005; 7:58:53 AM

I am studying Kabbalah, I am not a celebrity I am not studying it because of celebrities. I left the city and moved to te country to do some self reflection after a personal tragedy in my life. my self reflection led me to a quieter more spiritual place and i want some answers, where do I go from here? I discovered Kabbalah through a friend and i put the practical day to day teachings of Kabbalah to good use. I am becoming a better person because of it. I have never been asked for money or donations. I have paid for the books as you do when you buy a book, I have paid to take courses as you do when you take a course. I believe people are anti Kabbalah because they feel it is an exclusive cult and they cant feel a part of it , this is what the press would have you believe, but its for EVERYONE. You dont have to be a religious scholar to learn Kabbalah we all want answers we all want to find purpose in our lives and we should all want to become better individuals. The teachers at the Kabbalh centre have been kind and helpful and have given much of thier time free of charge to me and many others. IT IS FREE TO GO TO THE KABBALAH CENTRE, you may wish to donate money to the various charities Kabbalah supports but it is of your own free will. Is this a new concept? Donating money to charitiy is a fantastic thing. The churhes are the richest institutes in the world, no one bangs on about that anymore. Kabbalah is being made the new fad because the press have just picked up on it and are giving it so much publicity, in a way this is good because it makes people curious and will bring open minded people with questions to the centres. I am a very new student and i also have many questions for Kabbalah not all the answers i hear are perfect thats OK we dont live in a perfect world and i am asking human beings questions not Gods. So far everything I have read about Kabbalah in the press is negative WHY who are they hurting? I find it typical of small minded uninformed people to believe all the nonsense they read in the papers about Kabbalah without any insight or any first hand experience. Clebrities, tragedies, disaster and scandal sell newspapers and at the moment Kabbalah is a great selling point because the press are focusing on the celebrity angle and trying to create scandals, so far unsuccesfully. There will be some people who have had negative experiences with Kabbalah because they arent ready for some of the ideas and concepts, thats OK, thats normal and slag it off and they leave. Nothing is forced upon you everything you do is of your own free will. I for one am enjoying my study of Kabbalah immensly, I am calmer,happier and a lot more positive, if it changes i promise to let you know!!
--joanne ( dustydcosta at hotmail dot com ) on 1/11/2005; 4:56:49 AM

This offers people a form of spirituality without challenging thier lifestyles, without requiring accountability for thier life choices. "God" without personal cost.
--Scott ( scottandjoy at gracecommmunitychurch dot com ) on 10/20/2004; 11:50:57 AM

Thanks for the work you put in on this. This is important.
--bill ( bill at beanbooks dot com ) on 10/12/2004; 9:20:10 PM