Servus Christi

Shalom, Amen!!! I get tickled when people use "Jehovah" when in fact, that is a man-made name and as was said, a linguistic MISTAKE! The word Jehovah, yaweh with Adonai occurs more often than any other divine name. The conc. of Furst "Vet. Test. Concordantiae" Leipzieg 1840, and mandelkern "Vet. Concordantiae" Lepzieg 1896, don't agree on how often Jehovah is used, however it is roughly about 6,000 times in the OT. The Septuagint the oldest translation of the OT, used Kyiros, and the Vulgate the first translation of the entire Bible, uses Dominus. Remember that though 'Jehovah' is used 6,000 times in the OT, it's not a proper name, it's YHWH, with Adonnai supposed to be read. -Berachoth 9:5, uses YHWH in the form of salutation. -In Sanhedrin 10:1, Abba shaul, refuses any in the 'future world' to those who pronounce YWHW, as it is written, with Adonai. -Thamid, 7:2 the Priests in the temple were aloud to say YHWH, however those outside of Jerusalem had to say Adonai. -according to Maimonides "More neb. i, 61 and Yad Chasaka 14:10, the true name of God was only used by the priests in the sanctuary who imparted the blessings and by the high priest on the day of atonement. -Phil. De mut. nom., n. 2 (ed. marg., i, 580) Vita Mos 3,25 (2,166) supports the Priests saying the true name of God, but..only in a low voice. -Josephus antiq. 2,12,4 say's that he is not 'allowed' to treat the divine name. He also say's that a monument was built for the great name of God. This reverance for the name YHWH is hard to date. In the Septuagint every where Jehovah is found in the Hebrew versions, Kyrios is found. Lev. 24:16 "and he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord dying let him die." the Hebrew noqedh is rendered 'blasphemeth', and is translated as Honomazon in the Septuagint, which means to 'denote' or to 'determine' by means of it's proper vowels. -the consonants of Jehovah are 'alway's accompanied in the Hebrew texts by the vowels of Adonai, unless adonai stands in direct opposition to Jehovah, then the vowels of Elohim are submitted. The use of a simple shewa in the first syllable of Jehovah, instead of the compound shewa in the corresponding syllable of Adonai and Elohim, is 'required' by the laws of hebrew grammar governing the use of 'shewa'. -Jehovah is composed of the abbreviated forms of the imperfect, the participle, and the perfect of the Hebrew Verb to be. ye=yehi; ho=howeh; wah=hawah, this means, 'he who will be, is and who has been' there has not been an analogy of the word formation in the Hebrew Langauge. The name of Yaweh was too sacred to pronounce so they substituted the vowels of Adonai, when you read it with out the knowlege that your supposed to read Adonai and not the two combined it comes as Jehovah. This argument goes deep, many take it to the next level, of 'Javeh', or 'Yaveh'. However i'm sure on any level of argument, the essential point that Jehovah is a lingustic mistake, is universally understood, by many scholars. Hope that kind of clarifies a bit. Beatus Dei, ave Christos! Si Deus pro nobis, quis contra nos?

Excellent question L4J, Without causing dessessension amoung believers, allow me to first say that as a person raised in the "Catholic" denomination I saw at a very young age that there were many discrepencies in what I knew in my mind and heart to be TRUTH and what the religion wanted us to know and taught us. Also, there are many denominations that are "branch-offs" from Catholic Church and other older churches world wide. But you have to go back quite a ways to find the likenesses and differences. The first thing I want to say that for the most part, in ones' walk with God, God will CONVICT your spirit within you , if you choose to follow HIM ! This should make you very comfortable with HIS Word from the start. Another words, generally that first feeling of doing something wrong with many issues in your life, are usually the correct feeling/intuition. Later, you must learn to discern the differences from the experiences you take in during your walk with God and use those experiences to determine if satan is actually trying to "trip you up," or whether it is God who is guiding you.... When you have collected much information/wisdom and experience, it then becomes very easy to discern if God is present in any situation. But always stay on your guard. This information may not necessarily be for you, but you can bet there are many young that are tuning in to see and hear if we are taking our beliefs from the Bible and walking the proper walk. We all know that we will always fall short of HIS grace, and we also know that because of this, God is always there to help guide us even in our most "ill" of sins. Even when we are in the lowest of lows, and we are too ashamed to share them with anyone......HE IS THERE! And we also know that all we have to do is CALL HIS NAME in sincerity and genuinness and when God sees our efforts HE will help us through our toils and torments. So to sum up what you've originally asked, YOU KNOW THE TRUTH BECAUSE THE TRUTH LIES WITHIN YOU! Ask yourself this question, " Do I honestly believe that any religion/denomination who believes it is there right to kill, torture, and terrorize others, are following the true walk with God??? Do you think any "man-made denomination" who goes against the grain of life, as in a homosexual sector who believes that God is going along with their lifestyle, and allows same-sexed parteners to dwell and co-habitate together. You only have to search your heart and mind to know that God would and could not allow this type of living in its simplist form to exist with the heterosexual sector in life. In another way, I ask you to view Jesus' walk in life as a measure or example to how we should live. Although, Jesus walked alone, because HE knew HE was following HIS Father's requests/instructions He too spoke out on the many defiled and disordered ways that people tried to change life. And this is exactly what satan wants to accomplish. I hear all too often when homosexuals are trying to defend their side against heterosexuality, or pro-homosexuality , one of the first statements that is thrown out there is, " do you really think if God didn't make them that way, that they would want to BE or LIVE that way, or do you think if God didn't support and encourage it that they would have a better choice." All this only points to a WEAKER walk with God in my personal opinion. Many are so determined to find total happiness and contentment within themselves, they don't even take quality time in their lives to examine their own true conscious and remain in the consciousness of the "demon" within them! Even though it can mirror the likeness of god .......IT IS NOT! LET HIM IN! Cajunboy "I AM thankful though that Luther separated from the Catholic church. Because of Luther, the average person is able to read Scripture on his own..... and fight and bicker over it's meanings." - Oops Martin........LOL

Sorry, I should have specified. Biblicist gave us definitions of denominations and religions. So I guess you could say they were different Christian denominations that were confused on the subject of Jesus being Jehovah. Now, what I would like to know is who classified Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses as "non-Christian?" Anyone who makes that assumption is misinformed. But, as a Mormon, I enjoy being in my own "category." I realize that Morman's do not believe in the Trinity and believe that Jehovah is Jesus. So with that in mind and knowing you believe that God is separate, my simple question is "Where is God in the Hebrew Scriptures?" I am not trying to be smart, but no one has ever answered that question for me. Your question is strange to me. The God in the Hebrew Scriptures is right there, smack dab in the middle of it all! the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit are right there on every page. i'm surprised no one pointed this out. Jehovah is a linguistic mistake. Jehovah did not appear until 1530 first off. The written Hebrew did not use vowels until a bit later, the originals read YHWH, that's the expression in English for God. The name of God, "YHWH" became too sacred to pronounce among many Hebrew's, so where ever YHWH appeared, the scribes added vowel marks signaling the reader to say, "Adonai", ( Greek= Kyrios, Latin Dominus, English Lord) which was substituted for the unspeakable YHWH, instead of yaweh. The result of this, is if your not aware that your supposed to read "Adonai" it sounds like "Yahowah", or Jehovah. Jehovah is not the name of God, it's a mix of yaweh, and Adonnai. As for Christ being like yaweh, I believe so. They are of the 'same substance', one nature three persons, which I believe was adressed earlier. I can't emphasize enough though that, "Jehovah" is a linguistic mistake lol. God bless all, Beatus Dei, ave Christos! Si Deus pro nobis, quis contra nos?

The only thing that Catholics have or will ever have in common with Protestants and Evangelical sects is the common belief in Christ. Beatus Dei, ave Christos!

The existence of the monotheistic God of Christianity, is too logical to ignore. i.e. the argument of God's existence uses Theor"ems" and logic, that can not be ignored. Beatus Dei, ave Christos!

I read the Douay version. I am learning Latin, and should be reading a version of the Vulgate soon, but I love the Douay the most. Beatus Dei, ave Christos!

There is no point asking for forgivness if we are going to Heaven no matter how much we sin....

So is the king of Tyre being refered to here as Lucifer? Lucifer in Hebrew, Helel, Latin Lucifer, is mentioned, in Job 11:17, Jo. 38:17, Psalms 109:3, in the Vulgate anyways. Helel is a noun, derived from the verb Yalal, which means to lament. So many of the early Christian's held that Lucifer was not a proper name of Satan but the state in which He is. A constant state of lammentation for his choice, and his loss. This is not the king of Tyre, but Satan. Tyre, or "Tyrus" in Hebrew Zor, in Aramaic Sour, was founded and established in 2800 B.C. In Isaiah 28:3, Zor, or Tyre is called the "Queen of the Seas", this is due to their inexcusalbe pride in their wealth and ships. It was the Tyranians that actually founded "Carthage" in 814 B.C. Tyran once being allied with the Jew's fell. It began seeling Jewish prisoners of war, and went entirley corrupt. The prophet lashed out against Tyran, and predicted it's demise. Isaiah 23, Ezechiel 26, Joel 3:4-8, Amos 1:9. I believe that God would not refer to the current King of Tyran, but rather use Tyran as a symbol of babylon and evil, and was speaking of Lucifer who had taken the world by surprise. In Ezechial 26:17, people are lammenting over the fall of Tyre. Yala in hebrew is teh verb of lammenting, and Helel is the noun of Lamentation. So these people are of satan, or of Lucifer, and thus Lamment, over his fall. The scripture you gave could also show that Satan had such a hold over the world, ecpecially over Tyrus, that fall of Tyrus was paralled with it's leader Lucifer. Who knows? lol Beatus Dei, ave Christos!

So is the king of Tyre being refered to here as Lucifer? Lucifer in Hebrew, Helel, Latin Lucifer, is mentioned, in Job 11:17, Jo. 38:17, Psalms 109:3, in the Vulgate anyways. Helel is a noun, derived from the verb Yalal, which means to lament. So many of the early Christian's held that Lucifer was not a proper name of Satan but the state in which He is. A constant state of lammentation for his choice, and his loss. This is not the king of Tyre, but Satan.

Lucifer is a Latin term, designating Satan's name as an angel, meaning "Light bearer" it is mentioned in the Latin text the "Vulgate" Beatus Dei, ave Christos!

First off, Purgatory is mentioned in Maccabees. Now whether you believe in the legitamacy of this in relavancy to God-inspired is of no consequence. Historically Judas Maccabees was a leader of the Jewish people. This book was composed in 175B.C.-135B.C., and mentions the selucid dynasty which was dated back to 312 B.C. The point is the Jew's believe in a purgatorial place, long before the Roman Catholic Church named it. The belief that you cannot enter heaven unworthaly dates back to B.C. Second, you can definently go to hell if you are baptized, and the Church say's nothing other wise. If you could give me the quotes of the Church, or leaders of the Church that said anything other wise I would be very happy. Aristotle?? Purging is through out the entire Bible. We see in Hab. 1:13, that God is too pure to behold evil. what is this evil? In 1st John 5:16-17, two types of sin are mentioned. What happens if we die, with the "not deadly sin"? 1st Cor. 3:15-16, speaks of Purgatory undesputably, in fact check out all of these Church Fathers that argue the existence of Purgatory based off of this scripture. St. Ambrose (commentary on text, Sermo xx in Ps. cxvii.), St. Jerome, (comm. in Amos, c. iv.) St. Augustine, (comm. in Ps. xxxvii.) St. Gregory, (Dial., IV xxxix.) Origen, (Hom. vi. in Exod.) St. Ambrose gives the best example. In the 4th century St. Ambrose spoke on 1st Cor. 3, at the emporeres funeral, praying that Theodosius, would be admitted into heaven through St. Ambroses "prayers and lammentations." Jesus speaks of Purgatory as a "prison" in Luke 12:58-59, in which you will not get out until the last penny is paid. This same "prison" is seen in 1 Peter 3:19. The ignorant assumption that Purgatory was invented by Roman Catholics, is far off kilter. The Jew's believed in Purgatory long before Roman Catholicism, we just gave it a name and enforced it with scripture. In fact Martin Luther debated it's existence with hesitation, because it was believed by the Jew's by the Roman Catholic's it's existence is undepsputable, however the other reformists, wanted complete rebellion, ignoring logic, they disbanded Purgatory as anti-Scriptural. However Martin Luther did debate with hesitation, as see in the Leipzig disputation. Now modern Protestants are resurrecting the Purgatory abandoned by the Protestants so long ago. They call it the "middle state" as seen in Christian dogmatics, Edinburgh 1890 p. 457. Beatus Dei, ave Christos!

I must say however.... though none of these can take your salvation away, does not eliminate you from this falling away. I mean it is scrumptulescent that none of these can, this just enforces the fact that none can take your free will, not even God. So in turn you can choose to walk away. I once heard a friend say, God will never leave me. This is true, God will never leave you, but you can leave Him. Beatus Dei, ave Christos!

"Apocryphal" has many meanings. For instance the Roman Catholic Church has her own set of Apocryphal books, which encompass all of the Gnostic gospels and spurious writtings. The Protestant "Apocrypha", or the Catholic "Deuterocanonical" books, should not even be disputed, seeing the overwhelming flood of history and logic, that utterly refutes the idea of the Protestant "Apocryphal" books, as being spurious. Beatus Dei, ave Christos!

No, the concept of Purgatory (where the soul goes to be purged of the sins they took with them when they died) is not taught in Scripture. Paradise is taught in Scripture and was the place where all souls who believed in God before Jesus paid their sin debt waited for the appointed time. When Jesus paid their sin debt, they then were ready to enter into Heaven with Him. Paradise was emptied by Jesus and does not exist today because it is totally unnecessary. For when an individual accepts Jesus as their Savior his or her sin debt is paid in full by the shed blood of Jesus, so no holding area for souls looking forward to redemption is now needed. LOL, where is "Paradise" taught in scripture, I do not recall this term being used in scripture in the context ever! I do believe you just made a man made doctrine....I pose a question, if our debt is paid in full, at what point does this illogical gift become valid, and can it become void. Please do not answer that it cannot become void, if you leave you were never saved, because then you have no assurance of your salvation. Seeing that anyone can leave Christianity, and often they do, does not mean they were never Christians, it means they are human, and ineed have free will. The only proper term for Paradise, is true happiness, however waiting for God, for hundreds, thousands of years, is that happiness? Beatus Dei, ave Christos!

It is not found in the Bible and it is a tradition of man perpetuated by the RC church which upholds church traditions as having equal validity to the Scripture. The very reason that the Reformation martyrs died - to re-establih the primacy and sufficiency of Scripture and challenge the priestly hierarchy and traditions of men that were being perpetuated by the RC church, of which Purgatory was one, and Indulgences another, and the doctrine of Transubstantiation, to name but a few. None has Scriptural backing. Ruth Where to start....First off, the RCC did not make Purgatory, they named it and enforced it. The jew's believed in Purgatory thousands of years before the "RCC" came around. Second, the RCC being the Church that Jesus Christ instituted, and being composed of the True Body of Christ, has the authority to teach scripture, and is equal in all aspects to scripture. Without an equal authority to teach the Holy Scriptures, you end up with Personal interpretation, which results in a million screaming voices preaching the "absolute truth" all lead by the "Holy Spirit" all contradicing eachother and scripture. The Priestly Hierarchy, is entirley Biblical, "Universal Priesthood of all believers" is utterly anti-scriptural. "Traditions"? Here is a good example of tradition you might follow. In the ten commandments, God say's "remember and keep holy the sabbath", yet no where in the entire Bible, 73 books, or the slaughtered 66, is ever mentioned a calender, of six day's resulting in the sabbath on a "Saturday". No where. Instead we rely on the tradition of "men", as the "sole" source of this belief that the sabbath is on saturday... That is funny...."and the doctrine of Transubstantiation, to name but a few. None has Scriptural backing." This is interesting, seeing John Wycliffe, and Martin Luther said the "mass" was idolatry, but stronlgy held the prescence in the eucharist i.e. transubstantiation. Do not follow some of the reformists beliefs, and not all of them. the Eucharist is the most scriptural sacrament in the Bible, and I would be most happy to debate this with you. Indulgences again, are very scriptural. Beatus Dei, ave Christos!