The Christian Bible

Tagged with bible, christianity, faith, religion on October 13, 2024

Although I’m a Christian, I’m not very religious. I don’t attend church services regularly, and I never have. Moving from place to place before, during, and after military service is one of the many reasons. Every time I find a place of worship that I really like, I end up leaving that community. I prefer non-denominational Christian organizations.

Now, while I prefer non-denominational Christian organizations, I’m not totally against specific protestant denominations. As long as I’m not required to get involved with every facet of the organization, I can enjoy fellowship with others. My wife, Josie, found a place of worship nearby in Olongapo City. She’s been there twice, and I’ve been there once. It reminds me of the place I went to while I was in Washington State.

Although being a Christian doesn’t require attendance at worship services, fellowship is always recommended. I use the term “place of worship” instead of “church” most of the time. A place of worship can be a temple, a synagogue, or other building. A “church” refers to believers in Christ. It’s commonly misused as a type of building without specifically stating it as such, like “going to church”.

The Books

The Protestant bible contains 66 books. The Catholic bible contains 73. The Jewish bible contains only 24. I don’t know the differences, but I read modern translations of the Protestant bible in American English.

Most of the stories in the bible can be interpreted in multiple ways. I don’t know if it’s because the meanings have been lost in translations, or if they were ambiguous in the original languages written in.

People smarter than me have figured out how much time has taken place since the creation of Adam in the Book of Genesis. The time span is more than 6000 years, but less than 7000.

Transliteration

People will argue with me about some of this. The word “God”, which is used like a name, is actually a title. In some cultures, people say “the god”. His actual name is the tetragrammaton, YHWH. Ancient Hebrew didn’t include vowels. I have read it spelled and heard it pronounced Yahweh, Yahuwah, and Jehovah. The letter “J” did not exist in any language before the 14th century.

Jesus was born a Jew and the language that was spoken at the time was Aramaic, a derivative of Hebrew. The proper pronunciation of his birth name is “Yeshua”, which is most likely “Joshua” in English. It was translated into Greek before being translated into English. In Spanish, “Jesus” is pronounced “heyzuse”.

I don’t like using names when referring to the father or the son. Many of the prayers I’ve heard state “in Jesus’ name” or “in Jesus’ holy name”. I think it’s wrong to use a name that is clearly a transliteration. Perhaps the next time someone asks me to lead a prayer, I might say “in Yeshua’s holy name”. I bet that will freak some people out, especially those who haven’t done any research.

Reading the Bible

I’ve read parts of the bible, but not all parts of the bible. It’s difficult to read, even in American English. I’m currently reading the bible in a slow and methodical fashion. I want to make sure I understand what I’m reading before I continue to the next verse, chapter, or book.

If there’s something I don’t understand, I’m not against “googling” to find the opinions of other people. I will eventually read the entire bible because I’ve made it one of my life goals. I’m 63, and I’m running out of time.

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