Hieromonk Job answers "What is Kabala"?
The question is:
If possible, please tell us about Kabbalah. I would like to hear your opinion about this teaching.
http://www.pravoslavie.ru/answers/6905.htm
Hiermonk Job answers:
He adds:
He next goes into detail explaining it and how it differs from Christianity, concluding "Kabbalah represents a fantastic blend of esoteric occultism, mixed with pagan religious and philosophical ideas."
The question is:
If possible, please tell us about Kabbalah. I would like to hear your opinion about this teaching.
http://www.pravoslavie.ru/answers/6905.htm
Hiermonk Job answers:
This is the esoteric teachings of Theosophy completely alien to the spirit of the Scriptures, because the Divine truth contained in the Holy Bible, seeks the salvation of all mankind. Therefore, some secret knowledge cannot be in issue.
Not in secret I have spoken, not in a dark place of the earth I did speak to the seed of Jacob, 'ye seek me in vain.' I am the Lord that speak in righteousness, speaking the truth' (Is.45: 19).
The Word of God is a revelation of the way to our salvation. Scripture remains secret to the extent that when we begin to read it, we do not cleanse the conscience from sin, are not free from prejudice, false ideas and prejudgments. Only to the degree of spiritual perfection is a person able to put into himself the high spiritual contents of Scripture. The mystery of the Lord - is to those who fear Him, and His covenant He will show them (Ps.24: 14).
He adds:
He then goes on to say that the Zohar was composed around 1300 and that specialists showed that the Aramaic language in the book showed consistent writing styles of the single author, and that medieval Hebrew ran through it, despite it being attributed by the Kabbalists to a 2nd century Rabbi bar Yohai.The claim by the Kabbalists themselves about the existence of the book Sefer Yetzirah from the time of the patriarch Abraham is mythical and has no evidence. On the contrary, the presence in these books of the philosophical ideas of late antiquity (Gnosticism, neoplatonism, etc.) completely refutes this view.
He next goes into detail explaining it and how it differs from Christianity, concluding "Kabbalah represents a fantastic blend of esoteric occultism, mixed with pagan religious and philosophical ideas."