JESUS IS CUTE BUT JEHOVAH’S A BRUTE?

Can you follow the Teachings of Jesus without knowing Who He is?

unsplash.com

Housekeeping

If you have already read a Holy Hormones article you know what to expect. If this is your first visit, it is advised that you read THIS before proceeding. However, if you like what you read, there is more to be found in this LIBRARY.

Introduction.

Inclusiveness and tolerance have become the New Gospel. Everyone, especially the Atheist, seems to know that, “The New Testament (NT) Jesus is a God of Love,” and incessantly lecture Christians who do not passionately embrace the ‘enlightened morality’ in order to educate them to become better, less bigoted, human beings.

The Old Testament (OT), where the 10 Commandments are written, is on the wrong side of history. Comments like, “I like your Jesus but I don’t think much of his dad,” and “Jesus is cute but Jehovah’s a brute,” abound. It seems that, in the eyes of the World, Christians just don’t understand Christianity because they are confused about which God is in charge.

I’m open to correction but, unfortunately, that applies to many well-meaning Christians. Possibly because they are Torah-fied of the Old Testament and are afraid of, “Falling under the Law.”

It is high time to sort this confusion out for Christians. If Atheists (or Apathy-ists because we are in Australia) care to follow on that is good, but you are not the focus. My concern is saving the Saved who are stumbling about in the fog.

ARE YOU BAD MOUTHING YEHOVAH BECAUSE YOU DON’T KNOW WHO JESUS IS?

It is expected that anyone reading this would have a working knowledge of the Bible — OT and NT.

Background

There has been quite a bit of traffic on Medium recently about the deplorable practice of slavery. (Only despicable persons would condone such a concept.)

The text of concern is Leviticus 25:39–55, The Law Concerning Slavery.

A suite of articles on the topic, Revenge and Slavery, shows the scallywag Hebrew word is עבד (H5650 — ‘eḇeḏ) which occurs 803 times in 714 verses in the WLC Hebrew — the Hebrew text used by both Hebrew and Gentiles as the reference for the Tanakh/Old Testament.

THERE IS NO ENGLISH WORD THAT IS A SEAMLESS TRANSLATION AND “SLAVE” IS ABOUT AS BAD AS IT CAN GET.

It is interesting that the same Bible Text is read by two demographics and each one interprets it the polar opposite to the other. One group sees God as condoning (even mandating) slavery and the other sees Him as declaring it an abomination.

More than one person who saw that God’s Law was nasty made the comment along the line, “I am pointing out that some laws in the Bible are incompatible with following Jesus of Nazareth.”

So we now have a situation.

In the beginning God. . . (Genesis 1:1) God rescued Israel from Egypt. God gave the Law. But some laws in the Bible are incompatible with following Jesus of Nazareth?

THE BURNING QUESTION IS, “WHO IS JESUS IN THE SCHEME OF THINGS?”

Is He God or, as the Jehovah’s Witnesses say, a god?

To sort this out it is necessary to bring the Hebrew of the Tanakh, the Greek of the Septuagint, and an English translation together.

As it turns out, in this case the best English translation is the New World Translation (NWT) of the Jehovah’s Witnesses because they are adamant that Jesus is not God. The admission of evidence against interest from their translation ensures the elimination of bias on my part.

But first

It is necessary to link the major Names of God in Hebrew and Greek to English. At least a rudimentary knowledge of both the Old and New Testaments is required. As well as the knowledge that the Septuagint is an ancient translation of the Hebrew Tanakh into Koinonia Greek by well qualified Hebrew Scholars. (But you knew that.)

This can be done with Deuteronomy 6:4

|| Hear, O Israel: The Lord [1] our God [2] is one Lord [1]:

[1] Lord . Hebrew: H3068 — Yehovah [יהוה]. Greek: G2962 — kyrios [κύριος].

[2] God. Hebrew: H430 — ‘ĕlōhîm [אלהי]. Greek: G2316 — theos [θεός].

Obviously, Jesus isn’t mentioned here. But you are quick on the uptake so will pick up on what is about to happen.

Now jump to the final Book of the Bible, The Revelation.

The NWT uses the Morphological Greek New Testament, which is a perfectly valid document.

In Revelation 1 it is clear that John is speaking to The Christ. In 1:8 The Person speaking describes Himself as the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. While in 1:17 He uses a slight variation on the same metaphor, I am the First and the Last, gluing both personages to be the same.

And He specifies exactly Who He is in 1:18, I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. The choice of the word, forever, is important. It separates Him from Lazarus.

There are several phrases in the text which must be clarified because of the implications of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. These are:-

• Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last

• Lord God

What does, “The First and the Last,” mean?

In discussion on the front lawn one day (Covid has obviously passed) my JW friends argued that first means he is the first created by Jehovah.

LOGIC TEST

In a queue, how many people are in front of the first?

In the same queue, how many people are behind the last?

If the same person is both the first and the last, how many people are in the queue?

Jesus Christ is identified as the first of a number of things but the addition of last is unique.

In this case the word First is G4413 — prōtos (meaning “first in rank”) which is a superlative adjective — best described thus:-

JESUS IS DESCRIBING HIMSELF AS NOT ONLY UNIQUE BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT.

Lord God

In the Morphological Greek New Testament it is written in Revelation 1:8 || “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

It has been established above that this could be written || “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord (G2962 — kyrios = H3068 — Yehovah) God (G2316 — theos = H430 — ‘ĕlōhîm) . . .

This is where the Jehovah’s Witnesses come to our aid.

It is written in the latest version (2013) of the NWT, Revelation 1:8, (pasted directly from the website) || “I am the Alʹpha and the O·meʹga,”*+ says Jehovah* God, “the One who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty.”

Obviously Lord/kyrios is replaced by Jehovah.

The NWT Bible Translation Committee explain why.

JW reference A5:

The Divine Name in the Christian Greek Scriptures

Bible scholars acknowledge that God’s personal name, as represented by the Tetragrammaton (יהוה), appears almost 7,000 times in the original text of the Hebrew Scriptures. However, many feel that it did not appear in the original text of the Christian Greek Scriptures. For this reason, most modern English Bibles do not use the name Jehovah when translating the so-called New Testament. Even when translating quotations from the Hebrew Scriptures in which the Tetragrammaton appears, most translators use “Lord” rather than God’s personal name.

The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures does not follow this common practice. It uses the name Jehovah a total of 237 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures. In deciding to do this, the translators took into consideration two important factors: (1) The Greek manuscripts we possess today are not the originals. Of the thousands of copies in existence today, most were made at least two centuries after the originals were composed. (2) By that time, those copying the manuscripts either replaced the Tetragrammaton with Kyʹri·os, the Greek word for “Lord,” or they copied from manuscripts where this had already been done.

The New World Bible Translation Committee determined that there is compelling evidence that the Tetragrammaton did appear in the original Greek manuscripts.

FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH FROM ME, I COULD NOT AGREE MORE!

But they go only half the way. What about the associated word, God?

It was shown in the discussion on Deuteronomy 6:4 that Lord God → kyrios theos → Jehovah Elohim. So the NWT Revelation 1:8 should be written || “I am the Alʹpha and the O·meʹga,”*+ says Jehovah* Elohim, “the One who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty.”

Where else are the words Jehovah, Elohim, first and last clustered in a Bible Verse?

Again, the NWT is the chosen Translation.

It is written in Isaiah 44:6 || This is what Jehovah says,The King of Israel + and his Repurchaser,+ Jehovah of armies: ‘I am the first and I am the last.+ There is no God (Elohim) but me.+

And in Isaiah 48:12|| Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I have called. I am the same One. I am the first(G4413); I am also the last.

G4413 — prōtos = first → Contracted superlative → most important.

IN ISAIAH 48:12 YHVH IS DECLARING HIMSELF TO BE BOTH THE ONLY AND THE MOST IMPORTANT.

So, in Isaiah 44:6 & 48:12 AND Revelation 1:8 & 1:18 it appears there are two people claiming the same title.

Fundamental Laws of Logic

a) The law of (non-)contradiction: A cannot be A and not-A at the same time. What this means is that a statement cannot be true and false at the same time. For instance, it cannot be raining and not raining at the same time.

b) The law of identity: everything is what it is. A is A, that is, identical with A. A=A. If any statement is true, then it is true.

c) The law of the excluded middle: A is either A or not A. A cannot equal non A or be non A.

Initial Conclusion

ALL THE FUNDAMENTAL LAWS OF LOGIC ARE BROKEN IF THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IS NOT THE GOD OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Are you telling me that Christ is Yehovah?!!!

No. The Holy Spirit is telling you.

But Jesus is cute and Jehovah’s a brute.

It’s in the Book. Test me on this.

PERHAPS YOUR PRECONCEPTIONS HAVE BEEN FAKE NEWS ALL ALONG?

BUT BE CAUTIOUS! CHECK ME OUT! IF YOU ACCEPT THIS EVIDENCE IT WILL REQUIRE A DIFFERENT PARADIGM ON THE TRINITY [WHICH REMAINS THE TRINITY] FOR TRINITARIANS THAN THE CONCEPT PREVAILING IN THE PULPITS/PEWS.

Final Conclusion

There is more on the God/Jesus connection in here, Did Jesus say He was God? In it, Jesus said He was God. That is, the God of the New Testament AND the Old Testament.

How can any clear minded person say, “I am pointing out that some laws in the Bible are incompatible with following Jesus of Nazareth,”?

You can’t blame God if you don’t read the Bible.

“THIS IS MY FAVOURITE BOOK IN ALL THE WORLD, THOUGH I HAVE NEVER READ IT.”

The forgoing evidence has not been presented to convince any reader but to allow a personal decision to be made. There is much more to know about this subject. Perhaps you’ll pay another visit, sometime. If you have seen something you like, I encourage plagiarism. So, always check everything I say first, then please re-cycle, re-brand, re-structure, re-issue, re-label, or re-gurgitate in any manner you please. No need to acknowledge me because it is the Holy Spirit Who holds the Intellectual Rights.

All Glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

(We all have a plank in our eye. It’s bigger than we think.)

ネ