What is Easter?

a reply to: DeathSlayer

Prove you wrong, I don’t care if you are right or wrong

If your god is so petty to get all upset over a few vague dates, upset that some people get dates wrong from some 2000 years ago
If it would condemn humanity for such pettiness

My God, loved all of humanity so much, to show us how much, He allowed His son to die to show us His love. Even knowing we would constantly fail Him after accepting His Son

Where my God does not condemn anyone who calls on His Son, you, in your gods name condemn everyone who doesn’t agree with you

New International Version

"The multitude of your sacrifices-- what are they to me?" says the LORD. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

As for communion, I think you are wrong, communion is about fellowship, not a ceremony, younare a religious pharisee, placing your personal burdens on others to feel superior

a reply to: DeathSlayer

Easter = Ishtar, Akkadian Goddess of fertility hence the rabbit and the egg symbolism. It's basically just paganism. As for your above date of March 30th, 2 extra months were added into the calendar that's why September translates to '7th Month' and October into '8th Month'.

9/11 = 7/11.

I remember a time when this was common knowledge on ATS, now it seems to be a comedic forum.

originally posted by: beyondknowledge
a reply to: DeathSlayer

Funny that you say astronomy is a forbidden practice. The Vadican has its own official observitory and official astronomer, mainly used to verify dates and times.

Seems to be that you are saying Catholics are not Christian. Just seeking clarification.

Believe as you will but if you did not want to discuss this then why did you make the thread?

If he’s not, I will. Catholics are not christians. The doctrine decrees that they believe the pope is god on earth. They’re as Christian as Jews are.

a reply to: Dalamax

That’s funny, I know many Catholics who show more fruit of the Spirit than many Protestants
You seem to think you are a god, condemning people
Personally, I know Catholics I would prefer associate over many protestants

I was raised in the church, I'm still waiting to meet a christian who is christ-like who was born after 1920.

The J-man seems like he would have been a cool guy, it's too bad about his flock of sheep.

a reply to: wheresthebody

Every enemy of the cross loves threads like this one.

Jesus made things easy to understand for those who read and pray in spirit. Confusion is the enemies weapon.



Matthew chapter 22,, verses 36 through 40. King James Version.

Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love The Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

If you get these verses right then you can rest easy on God's promises and not panic over dates and times etc.

I will add that we don't get to choose how we worship God. He commanded us not to worship him as the pagans worship their gods/demons. I'd leave the eggs and bunnies out if you choose to celebrate Easter at all. Dying eggs is truly an abomination to The Lord. Celebrating children being sacrificed to fertility gods should grieve The Holy Spirit in you and stir up some questions.

Since you are not Christian, let me make it impossible to understand.

The Christian you seek is the meek for they will inherit the earth.

I am not meek.

originally posted by: wheresthebody
I was raised in the church, I'm still waiting to meet a christian who is christ-like who was born after 1920.

The J-man seems like he would have been a cool guy, it's too bad about his flock of sheep.

I will admit this, Gnostics would of been more a school of thought much more akin to philosophy an Atheists, so be very afraid. Might bring back some old skeletons, the God of the O.T, or the said Father, is litterall considered Satan or a flaw, while Jesus is the Serpent in the story of Eden.

With that said, guess that means, its pagan statutory holiday with pay. And anyone celebrating or being payed for it, will feel thy Lords said wrathful fire, an burn in it for eternity?

Better be working, Sunday the only day hard core believers should have off. If they were really zealous, it should 24/7.

Feel those calories burn, or it will be your soul, part time is for the weak.

a reply to: DeathSlayer

Originally posted by DeathSlayer
I checked the internet and according to the internet and Roman Catholic and Protestant leaders, sure enough 4 April is Easter BUT Christ did not rise on 4 April he rose on 17 Nisan......

He died on the cross on 14 Nisan (this year 27 March 2021)

He was dead for three days.

He rose on the third day which was 17 Nisan......14 + 3 = 17

The main problem here is that you need to commemorate 2 events that are uniqley tied together…

Commemorating the entire event makes more sense afterwards…because you can’t celebrate the Death and Resurrection by starting commemorations on Friday the 27th of March, because the Resurrection hasn’t taken place yet… And you don’t want to commemorate the entire event of both Death and Resurrection, just on the one day that Jesus Resurrected (Sunday the 30th March)…So for that reason It’s better to have the commemoration date for both events on the following Friday…

So because you need to commemorate the entire event, you have to start on the following Friday…And Friday the 4th of April makes perfect sense when celebrating it afterwards…because it’s the First Friday after the Sunday the 30th of March date…

Funny thing is, Jesus is only buried for a tiny back end section of the entire Friday…just going by the Jewish day ending at Sundown… Which mathematically speaking means… he was only buried for 2 days and so many hours…

I’m pretty sure that Jesus death and Resurrection story is really just a symbolic re-telling of the Story of Jonah…and that both stories symbolize a Spiritual awakening…

3 Key symbolic aspects and similarities of both Stories…

1 Jonah was buried inside the whale and was deep down in the depths of the ocean; Jesus body was buried in the tomb while his Spirit went into the depths of Sheol… Both symbolise a dead Spiritual state of being…

2 Jonah Rises up from the Ocean after 3 days; Jesus Rises up from out of the Tomb after 3 days… This represents a spiritual Resurrection…

3 The Number 3 is symbolic of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and is used as a time element in both stories (3 days etc) because It represents the past, present and future… It about the journey from not knowing God, seeking him and then finding him… It’s a symbolic 3-day journey from death to life imo…


- JC

First of all, Jesus asked his followers to commemorate, not his resurrection, but his death. The apostle Paul called this occasion “the Lord’s Evening Meal.”—1 Corinthians 11:20; Luke 22:19, 20.

Additionally, many of the Easter traditions “have little to do” with Jesus’ resurrection, states The Encyclopædia Britannica, “but derive from folk customs.” For instance, regarding the popular Easter symbols the egg and the rabbit, The Encyclopedia of Religion says: “The egg symbolizes new life breaking through the apparent death (hardness) of the eggshell.” It adds: “The rabbit was known as an extraordinarily fertile creature, and hence it symbolized the coming of spring.”

Philippe Walter, a professor of medieval literature, explains how such customs became part of the Easter celebration. He wrote that “in the process of the Christianization of pagan religions,” it was easy to associate the pagan festival that celebrated “the passage from the death of winter to the life of springtime” with Jesus’ resurrection. Walter adds that it was a key step in introducing “Christian commemorations” to the pagan calendar, thus smoothing the way to mass conversion.

This process of “Christianization” did not occur while the apostles were still alive, because they acted as a “restraint” against paganism. (2 Thessalonians 2:7) The apostle Paul warned that after his “going away,” men would “rise and speak twisted things to draw away the disciples after themselves.” (Acts 20:29, 30) And late in the first century, the apostle John wrote that some men were already misleading Christians. (1 John 2:18, 26) The way was open for the eventual adoption of pagan customs.

During the Easter season bakeries display hot cross buns, and candy counters feature butter-cream eggs and chocolate rabbits. There are also Easter music, Easter perfume, Easter jewelry, Easter clothing for men and women and Easter dinners. And not to be overlooked is the Easter parade, in which hundreds of thousands parade on New York City’s Fifth Avenue alone, to be seen or just to see. In the United States the Easter festival may be said to come to an end on Monday with the egg-rolling contest on the presidential White House lawn, which in times past was a decorous affair but of late appears to have deteriorated into a boisterous egg-throwing affair.⁠(1)

The ostensible purpose of Easter is to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This being so, it may well be asked, What do hot cross buns, eggs, rabbits, new clothes, and so forth, have to do with Easter? Little, except that both for long have been associated with the spring of the year. As An Encyclopedia of Religion, by Ferm, says: “Pagan practices were introduced into the Christian observance of Easter at an early age on account of the fact that the feast coincided with the beginning of spring. . . . At that season of the year, the New Year and the creation of the world were celebrated in ancient times by an exchange of gifts (Easter eggs) and by generous hospitality to friends, to the poor, and so forth.”

YES, PAGAN ORIGINS

Did you know that the very name “Easter,” is of pagan origin? Says an early eighteenth-century Catholic scholar, a Benedictine monk, in a work that may well be said to have been the forerunner of the modern Bible dictionary:

“Easter is a word of Saxon origin; and imports a goddess of the Saxons, or rather, of the East, Estera, in honor of whom sacrifices being annually offered about the passover time of the year (spring), the name became attached by association of ideas to the Christian festival of the resurrection which happened at the time of passover; hence we say Easter-Day or Easter Sunday, but very improperly; as we by no means refer to the festival then kept to the goddess of the ancient Saxons.”⁠(2)

To the same effect testify other authorities, from the eighth-century English historian Bede to the lastest encyclopedias.

Concerning the use of hot cross buns at Easter time we are told:

“Like the Greeks, the Romans ate bread marked with a cross . . . at public sacrifices, such bread being usually purchased at the doors of the temple and then taken in with them—a custom alluded to by St. Paul in 1 Cor. x. 28. The cross-bread was eaten by pagan Saxons in honour of Easter, their goddess of light. The Mexicans and Peruvians are shown to have had a similar custom. The custom, in fact, was practically universal, and the early Church adroitly adopted the practice, grafting it on to the Eucharist and so giving us the hot crossbun.”⁠(3)

What about the Easter eggs? It is a well-known fact that in the ancient pagan cosmogonies, or theories about the origin of the universe, the egg looms up prominently. One tells of the “Egg of Light,” another of the “World-Egg.” From one or another of these eggs was supposed to have issued the first god, the Maker and Ruler of the World. Eros, the god of “love,” is also said to have issued forth from an egg.⁠(4)

True, some claim that the use of eggs at Easter is due to the fact that at one time eggs were banned during Lent, but this does not explain the featuring of eggs on Easter ever since that ban was lifted and now when eggs can be eaten all during Lent. Neither does it explain why the same prominence is not given to other foods that are still banned during Lent and that may be eaten only beginning with Easter. The eating of ham on Easter does not prove the contrary, for it began to be featured in Easter dinners for an entirely different purpose. Says one authority: “Many American Catholics have a boiled ham for dinner on Easter without being aware of the origin of the custom. It is a survival of the ancient habit among the English of eating a gammon of bacon on that day to show their contempt for the Jewish custom of not eating pork.”⁠(5)

The more pertinent explanation for eating eggs on Easter is that found in The Catholic Encyclopedia: “The custom may have its origin in paganism, for a great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter. The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring.”⁠(6)

Concerning the Easter bunny, this same religious authority states: “The Easter Rabbit lays the eggs, for which reason they are hidden in a nest or in the garden. The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility.”(⁠6)

Even the early Easter sunrise service is not without pagan antecedents. “According to old superstition, the sun rising on Easter morning dances in the heavens; this belief has been traced to old heathen festivals of spring, when the spectators danced in honor to the sun.”(⁠7)

And the same must be said of the impressive ceremony that takes place throughout Christendom on the day before Easter in which new fire is blessed and certain candles and lamps are lit. A detailed description of this ceremony includes the following: “The obtaining and blessing of the new fire is probably a rite of Celtic or even pagan origin, incorporated in the Gallican* Church service of the eighth century.”(8) (*: The Roman Catholic Church in France as distinguished from the church in Italy.)

[continued in next comment]

References:

1. New York Times, April 24, 1962.

2. Dictionary of the Bible—Calmet, p. 363.

3. The Encyclopædia Britannica (1959 Edition), Vol. 4, p. 381.

4. Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics—Hastings, Vol. 4, pp. 147, 148.

5. The American Book of Days—Douglas, pp. 200-202.

6. Vol. 5, pp. 225-227.

7. The Encyclopædia Britannica (1959 Edition), Vol. 7, p. 531.

8. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 7, p. 438.

ITS HISTORY

How did all this originate? Certain it is that it does not go back to the beginning of Christianity, for as The Encyclopædia Britannica states:

“There is no trace of the celebration of Easter as a Christian festival in the New Testament or in the writings of the apostolic fathers. The sanctity of special times or places was an idea quite alien from the early Christian mind; too profoundly absorbed in the events themselves to think of their external accidents [nonessentials]. ‘The whole of time is a festival unto Christians because of the excellency of the good things which have been given,’ writes Chrysostom. . . . Origen [urges] in the same spirit . . . The ecclesiastical historian Socrates . . . states with perfect truth that neither Christ nor his apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival. ‘The apostles,’ he writes, ‘had no thought of appointing festival days, but of promoting a life of blamelessness and piety;’ and he attributes the introduction of the festival of Easter into the church to the perpetuation of an old usage, ‘just as many other customs have been established.’ This is doubtless the true statement of the case.”(⁠9)

This should not surprise us, for had not both Jesus and his apostles foretold a falling away from the pure worship? This is what Jesus had reference to when in one of his parables he said: “While men [the apostles] were sleeping [in death], his [Christ’s] enemy [Satan] came and oversowed weeds [false Christians] in among the wheat [true Christians], and left.” And the apostle Paul warned: “I know that after my going away . . . from among you yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things to draw away the disciples after themselves.” The apostle John likewise foretold a falling away, in fact, said that it had already begun in his day.—Matt. 13:25; Acts 20:29, 30; 1 John 2:18, 19.

History shows that these prophecies have been fulfilled, and the facts regarding Easter are an illustration of it. Before the end of the second century there was much disputing as to just when Christ’s resurrection should be celebrated, Victor, the bishop of Rome at the time, unsuccessfully attempting to impose his views on the rest of the then professedly Christian world.⁠(10) To end this conflict was one of the purposes for which the Council of Nice was called. It ruled that Christ’s resurrection should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox, or after March 21.(⁠11) It appears that antipathy to the Jews played a part in determining this date.(⁠12)

Concerning this trend in early Christendom Sir James G. Frazer, a historian, revealingly states:

“Taken altogether, the coincidences of the Christian and heathen festivals are too close and too numerous to be accidental. They mark the compromise which the Church in the hour of its triumph was compelled to make with its vanquished yet still dangerous rivals. The inflexible Protestantism of the primitive missionaries, with their fiery denunciations of heathendom, had been exchanged for the supple policy, the easy tolerance, the comprehensive charity of shrewd ecclesiastics, who clearly perceived that if Christianity was to conquer the world it could do so only by relaxing the too rigid principles of its Founder, by widening a little the narrow gate which leads to salvation.”⁠(13)

However, let it be noted that nowhere did Jesus command his followers to conquer the world by conversion or by force of arms. His Kingdom gospel was to be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations.—Matt. 24:14.

In this connection it will no doubt be news to most Protestants that just as at one time Christmas was forbidden by law in certain Protestant lands because it was held to be a pagan festival, so “with the rise of Puritanism in England and its abhorrence of religious ceremonial the Protestants for a long time took no note of Easter, or of any other of the church festivals. . . . It was during the Civil War [1861-1865] that the non-ritualistic churches [of the United States] began to observe Easter.”(⁠5)

THE SCRIPTURAL POSITION

In view of all the foregoing what should be the attitude of those who would please God toward the celebration of Easter together with all its pagan appendages? As already noted, neither Jesus nor any of his apostles established any Christian festival days. Nor was this any mere oversight, as shown by Paul’s rebuke to the Christians at Galatia: “How is it that you are turning back again to the weak and beggarly elementary things and want to slave for them over again? You are scrupulously observing days and months and seasons and years.”—Gal. 4:9-11.

Even more strongly condemned in the Scriptures is the comingling of paganism with the worship of the one true God: “Flee from idolatry. . . . What, then, am I to say? That what is sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No; but I say that the things which the nations sacrifice they sacrifice to demons, and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers with the demons. You cannot be drinking the cup of Jehovah and the cup of demons; you cannot be partaking of ‘the table of Jehovah’ and the table of demons. Or ‘are we inciting Jehovah to jealousy’? We are not stronger than he is, are we?” Paganism is the product of Satan and his demons, and to mix it with Christianity is an affront to Jehovah God that he will not permit to go unnoticed, for he is “a God exacting exclusive devotion.”—1 Cor. 10:14-22; Ex. 20:5.

The adopting of pagan appendages in Christian worship is also ruled out with these words: “What fellowship does light have with darkness? Further, what harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what portion does a faithful person have with an unbeliever? And what agreement does God’s temple have with idols?” None whatever. “‘Therefore get out from among them, and separate yourselves,’ says Jehovah, ‘and quit touching the unclean thing”’; “‘and I will take you in.’” Godless paganism is part of this unclean world, and Christians must keep themselves “without spot from the world.”—2 Cor. 6:14-18; Jas. 1:27.

Yes, what a discredit to associate such pagan appendages as hot cross buns, eggs, rabbits or hares, eternal fire and suchlike with the greatest of all miracles, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, from the dead, one of the paramount truths of Christianity! True, children need entertainment—and adults too—but surely there are better forms than those that make a pagan caricature of the great truths of God’s Word!

Christians show appreciation for the miracle of Christ’s resurrection, not by celebrating a certain day set aside by some ancient council of men, and doing so with pagan appendages, but by accepting by faith the fact of Jesus’ resurrection and by letting it give them hope for their dead loved ones and for themselves and then letting that hope spur them on to serve Jehovah God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength.—Mark 12:30; 1 Cor. 15:58.

References (the ones I didn't already list in my previous comment):

9. Ninth Edition, Vol. 7, p. 531. (that was The Catholic Encyclopedia, see 8)

10. History of Christianity—The First Three Centuries—Neander, Vol. 1, pp. 523-537.

11. The Encyclopedia Americana, Vol. 9, p, 507.

12 Ecclesiastical History—Socrates (Bohn’s Edition), pp. 37, 38.

13 The Golden Bough—Frazer, p. 361.

originally posted by: whereislogic
...
Christians show appreciation for the miracle of Christ’s resurrection, not by celebrating a certain day set aside by some ancient council of men, and doing so with pagan appendages, but by accepting by faith the fact of Jesus’ resurrection and by letting it give them hope for their dead loved ones and for themselves and then letting that hope spur them on to serve Jehovah God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength.—Mark 12:30; 1 Cor. 15:58.

Mark 12:28-30 (in an honest translation that does not replace God's name with "the Lord" to obscure the first and foremost commandment, being inconsistent with the Hebrew Scriptures that Jesus was referring to, in essence insinuating that Jesus also said "the Lord" instead of "Jehovah" or giving that impression; as the earlier translation quoted by Illumimasontruth does when quoting the parallel account in Matthew 22:36-40 from the King James Version. And then ironically says "If you get these verses right ...". Well you didn't get them right cause you quoted them from a translation that does this little replacement trick using the lame excuse elaborated on in the videos below to justify that replacement, and makes good use of people having been given the impression that it's no big deal, that there's no big difference between "the Lord" and "Jehovah", or that God's name means "the Lord" or that it's an honest rendering because they are unsure about how best to spell God's name in English translations, so it's supposedly OK to just swap it out and render it as "the Lord" instead, conveniently ignoring that that is also inconsistent with the rendering "the LORD" in the Hebrew portion of the Scriptures in the KJV where the translators are signalling that God's name was actually used there rather than the Hebrew word for "lord", that signal then disappearing by rendering it as "the Lord" in the Christian Greek portion of the Scriptures in the same translation, allowing for easier conflation with the Lord Jesus Christ. Very cunningly misleading and obscuring who it is that Christians should actually worship and love with all their heart, mind, soul and strength.):

One of the scribes who had come up and heard them disputing, knowing that he had answered them in a fine way, asked him: “Which commandment is first* [Or “most important.”] of all?” 29 Jesus answered: “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah, 30 and you must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind and with your whole strength.’

That was the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition).

Of course, Jesus was referring to Deuteronomy 6:4, 5 where in the KJV they use "the LORD" to signal that God's name is used there. Suddenly, that's no longer clear in Matthew 22 and Mark 12 in the KJV when they sneakily switch to "the Lord" (note the lack of all caps), because the ancient Greek copyists of the Christan Greek Scriptures already swapped it out for the Greek word for "lord" (see videos for details, cause there are a lot of deceptive arguments and red herrings thrown around concerning this point, cause they like to use the argument that the Greek uses the word for "lord" in the Christian Greek Scriptures, a.k.a. the New Testament, but they already swapped it out and we have clear evidence for this as well as that the Bible writers writing in Greek there, actually used God's name rather than the Greek word for "lord"; this evidence is swept under the carpet as they make their arguments why it's OK to render it as "the Lord" at Matthew 22 and Mark 12, and hundreds of other places in the Christian Greek Scriptures). It's already dishonest to replace God's name with "the LORD", but this just takes the cake. And what excuse do they use to render it that way (also other modern translations, some of whom have also replaced "the LORD" with "the Lord" in the Hebrew Scriptures, cause no one cares anymore about the translators signalling or not that God's name was actually used there, and to distinguish from those instances when the actual Hebrew word for "lord" is used in the Bible, or Greek word if we're talking about the places where God's name was used by the writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures; otherwise you make them out to be the same liars misquoting the Hebrew Scriptures as the Trinitarian bible translators who despise Jehovah have proven to be)?






Convenient how they obscure the first and foremost commandment Jesus emphasized there at Matthew 22:37 and Mark 12:29,30, demonstrating the behaviour also described at Jeremiah 23:27,28:

They intend to make my people forget my name by the dreams they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot my name because of Baʹal. 28 Let the prophet who has a dream relate the dream, but the one who has my word should speak my word truthfully.”

“What does the straw have in common with the grain?” declares Jehovah.

Which is also speaking of everything that name stands for, the meaning of that name and understanding why God is called by that name, and the singular individual/person* that goes by that name. *: not 3-in-1, not 3 persons in one God, or Godhood, not ‘one God in three Persons’, not 3 persons making up one God, or 2 for that matter as in Binitarianism.

According to the Athanasian Creed, there are three divine Persons (the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost), each said to be eternal, each said to be almighty, none greater or less than another, each said to be God, and yet together being but one God. Other statements of the dogma emphasize that these three “Persons” are not separate and distinct individuals but are three modes in which the divine essence exists. Thus some Trinitarians emphasize their belief that Jesus Christ is God, or that Jesus and the Holy Ghost are Jehovah. Not a Bible teaching.

The New Encyclopædia Britannica says: “Neither the word Trinity, nor the explicit doctrine as such, appears in the New Testament, nor did Jesus and his followers intend to contradict the Shema in the Old Testament: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord’ (Deut. 6:4). . . . The doctrine developed gradually over several centuries and through many controversies. . . . By the end of the 4th century . . . the doctrine of the Trinity took substantially the form it has maintained ever since.”—(1976), Micropædia, Vol. X, p. 126. (note how they favor a translation that replaces God's name, Jehovah, with "The Lord" and "Lord", no capitals, i.e. a pro-Trinitarian translation using the replacement and the 'no-captials-trick to obscure the fact that God's name is actually used there that I mentioned before using the verb "signalling"; and they, the producers of this particular encyclopædia, present themselves as an unbiased objective source that does not favor a particular theological doctrine such as Trinitarianism, yet they don't like quoting from a Bible translation that is more honest in what it really says at Deut. 6:4 either, also demonstrating a form of what's described at Jeremiah 23:27,28)

The New Catholic Encyclopedia states: “The formulation ‘one God in three Persons’ was not solidly established, certainly not fully assimilated into Christian life and its profession of faith, prior to the end of the 4th century. But it is precisely this formulation that has first claim to the title the Trinitarian dogma. Among the Apostolic Fathers, there had been nothing even remotely approaching such a mentality or perspective.”—(1967), Vol. XIV, p. 299.

Continuing with a response to the argument, notion or false impression given by some bible translators that the Jewish writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures (a.k.a. NT) used the Greek word for "lord" rather than God's name in hundreds of instances in the Christian Greek Scriptures. A false impression given by means of their choice of rendering it from later copies of the Christian Greek Scriptures where that replacement was already made by those copyists and the superstition against the use of God's name had taken hold of these self-professed Christians or Jewish Christians as well (the Jewish religious leaders that Jesus condemned for making God's word invalid by means of their traditions were first in gradually popularizing this superstituous tradition, which has now culminated into some of them writing "G-d" instead of "God" as well, further demonstrating the damaged states of their minds and hearts when it comes to understanding and speaking the truth about Jehovah God, and Jehovah God himself, and giving credit where credit is due, the desire to honestly restore God's name in his own Word to its rightful locations, before Satan did his replacement thingy using his human pawns to play that hand).

Did the early Christians use God’s name?

The name of God appears thousands of times in the Hebrew Scriptures, where it is represented by the four consonants יהוה (YHWH, the Tetragrammaton). Archaeological finds suggest that in preexilic Israel, before 607 B.C.E., the name was in common use, and in the postexilic Bible books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, and Malachi, it appears frequently. Gradually, though, as the time for the appearance of the Messiah drew closer, Jews became superstitiously reluctant to use the name.

Did Jesus’ disciples use God’s name (normally rendered “Jehovah,” or “Yahweh” in English)? The evidence says yes. Jesus taught his followers to pray to God: “Let your name be sanctified.” (Matthew 6:9) And at the end of his earthly ministry, he himself prayed to his heavenly Father: “I have made your name manifest to the men you gave me out of the world.” (John 17:6) Besides, early copies of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures used by Jesus’ disciples, contained God’s name in the form of the Hebrew Tetragrammaton.

What about the Gospels and the rest of the Christian Greek Scriptures (the “New Testament”)? It has been reasoned that since God’s name appeared in the Septuagint, it would also have appeared in the earliest copies of these Scriptures​—at least where the Septuagint was quoted. Thus, the name Jehovah appears more than 200 times in the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures. Some have criticized this as unwarranted. However, there seems to be support for the New World Translation in an unlikely source: the Babylonian Talmud.

The first part of this Jewish religious work is entitled Shabbath (Sabbath) and contains an immense body of rules governing conduct on the Sabbath. In one section, there is a discussion as to whether it is proper to save Bible manuscripts from a fire on the Sabbath, and then the following passage appears: “It was stated in the text: The blank spaces [gil·yoh·nimʹ] and the Books of the Minim, we may not save them from a fire. R. Jose said: On weekdays one must cut out the Divine Names which they contain, hide them, and burn the rest. R. Tarfon said: May I bury my son if I would not burn them together with their Divine Names if they came to my hand.”​—Translation by Dr. H. Freedman.

Who were the mi·nimʹ? The word means “sectarians” and could refer to the Sadducees or the Samaritans. But according to Dr. Freedman, in this passage it most likely refers to Jewish Christians. So, what were the gil·yoh·nimʹ, translated “blank spaces” according to Dr. Freedman? There are two possible meanings. They could be the blank margins of a scroll or even blank scrolls. Or​—in an ironic application of the word—​they could be the writings of the mi·nimʹ, as if to say that these writings are as worthless as blank scrolls. In dictionaries this second meaning is given as “Gospels.” In harmony with this, the sentence that appears in the Talmud before the above-quoted portion reads: “The Books of Minim are like blank spaces [gil·yoh·nimʹ].”

Accordingly, in the book Who Was a Jew? by Lawrence H. Schiffman, the above-quoted portion of the Talmud is translated as follows: “We do not save from a fire (on the Sabbath) the Gospels and the books of the minim (‘heretics’). Rather, they are burned in their place, they and their Tetragrammata. Rabbi Yose Ha-Gelili says: During the week, one should cut out their Tetragrammata and hide them away and burn the remainder. Said Rabbi Tarfon: May I bury my sons! If (these books) would come into my hand, I would burn them along with their Tetragrammata.” Dr. Schiffman goes on to argue that the mi·nimʹ here are Jewish Christians.

Is this portion of the Talmud really speaking about the early Jewish Christians? If so, then it is strong evidence that the Christians did include God’s name, the Tetragrammaton, in their Gospels and writings. And it is extremely likely that the Talmud is discussing Jewish Christians here. There is scholastic support for such a view, and in the Talmud the context appears to add further support. The section following the above quote from Shabbath relates a story involving Gamaliel and a Christian judge in which parts of the Sermon on the Mount are alluded to.

It was only later, when apostate Christianity deviated from the simple teachings of Jesus, that God’s name ceased to be used by professing Christians and was even removed from copies of the Septuagint and from the Gospels and other Bible books.

In Jesus’ day, God’s name appeared in the “Septuagint”. So think about it, when Jesus was quoting from the Septuagint and he got to the part where God's name appeared, do you really think Jesus would say the Hebrew or Greek word for "lord" instead? In essence misquoting God's word. What about Paul? Would he follow Jewish superstitious tradition to make God's word invalid and demonstrate the behaviour described at Jeremiah 23:27,28, or would he and Jesus “speak my [Jehovah God's] word truthfully”? As Jeremiah puts it when describing what Jehovah said honestly/truthfully. Or how about the other writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures?

Or what about when any of them are quoting from the Hebrew Scriptures from the Hebrew (not a Greek translation like the Septuagint)? Would they stick with what it actually says or would they do the replacement/substitution thingy?

Speak God's word truthfully, don't silence God's name as Satan's pawns have promoted throughout the centuries by quoting from Bible translations that do not use God's name (not any version or particular spelling of it) in all the places where it belongs, trying to make people forget what it was all about and who it really is that we're talking about here. To whom belongs the honor, glory and praise, and the credit for all creation?

Jehovah Witnesses are a Christian cult based upon false beliefs and teachings.

a reply to: whereislogic