Just when I thought I'd heard everything.....

[Ellen]

I’d like to know some of your opinions (and refutations) of the following “accusations”. On another Christian board a woman (not Catholic; I don’t know what denom. she belongs to) was pontificating that we shouldn’t be calling Jesus “Jesus”, b/c his name is actually “Yahushau” or “Yahshua”, and that “Jesus” is actually from the Greek word “Iesous”, which is the masculine of “Ieso”, who is the Greek goddess of healing, the granddaughter of Apollo. And of course, the argument was made that Constantine changed Jesus’ name in an effort to merge paganism w/ Christianity . Furthermore, whenever we see pictures of Jesus w/ rays of light around him, it’s also a reference to the pagan sun god.

She also believes we shouldn’t use the word “Christ”, b/c, although it is a Greek translitaration for “Annointed one”, it can be easily confused w/ “Chrestos”, which means “good”, and is also associated w/ the sun god Osiris . Rather, we should say “Messiah” at all times instead of Christ.

She also went on about worshipping on Sunday rather than Saturday (she doesn’t believe scripture justifies this), and that Christmas is a pagan holiday, but I’ve heard both of those arguments many times, and know how to answer them .

So, all you wise, learned folks , what is our Savior’s real name?

Ellen

 

[Catholicforlife]

Karl’s book covers some of the pagan issues but not all you mentioned. Sorry I don’t know much to help you out.
I do know that yes, there are some pagan customs that were cleaned up and made Catholic.
Ask her if she wears a wedding ring, this was also pagan (I think Karl mentions that one specifically)

 

[John_Mortell]

She also believes we shouldn’t use the word “Christ”, b/c, although it is a Greek translitaration for “Annointed one”, it can be easily confused w/ “Chrestos”, which means “good”, and is also associated w/ the sun god Osiris

:ehh: Right…

So, all you wise, learned folks , what is our Savior’s real name?

It’s Jesus. Especially considering the reference to ‘Jesus’ by the Jewish historian Josephus:
religiousstudies.uncc.edu/jdtabor/josephus-jesus.html

 

[Peace-bwu]

Is she seventh Day Adventist? Has she been reading books like the Da Vinci Code?

 

[wet-rat]

Ellen:

So, all you wise, learned folks , what is our Savior’s real name?

In what language?

 

[UlyssesX]

I have always understood Jesus to be another form of Joshua, next she will insist Moses and Solomon be called Moshe and Slomo.

 

[Ellen]

Peace-bwu:

Is she seventh Day Adventist? Has she been reading books like the Da Vinci Code?

She didn’t specify what she is, said she’s just been “thinking” about these things (that’s what private interpretation of scripture will get ya!).

I always thought that “Jesus” was was just the English translation of Mary’s son’s name, which, according to “The Passion” sounded something like “Jeshua”, in Aramaic.

Ellen

 

[AmandaPS]

If she really wants to get nitty gritty, why is she speaking/using Germanic based English, and not Hebrew or Aramaic?

 

[Praise_Singer]

Ellen:

… b/c his name is actually “Yahushau” or “Yahshua”, and that “Jesus” is actually from the Greek word “Iesous”, which is the masculine of “Ieso”, who is the Greek goddess of healing, the granddaughter of Apollo.

Though I at one time read about the Greek gods & goddesses, I don’t remember “Iesous” or Ieso or whoever. I believe “Yeshua” is Hebrew, but I don’t speak that either, though if someone refers to Jesus by that name, I understand who he/she is talking about. I’ve never heard anyone refer to Jesus as “Iesous”.

I also know Jesus is another form of Joshua, which means “he saves” (someone correct me if I’m wrong).

Ellen:

She also believes we shouldn’t use the word “Christ”, b/c, although it is a Greek translitaration for “Annointed one”, it can be easily confused w/ “Chrestos”, which means “good”, and is also associated w/ the sun god Osiris . Rather, we should say “Messiah” at all times instead of Christ.

Uhm, I’ve never confused “Christ” with “Chrestos” or “Osiris”. What area of the world or type of community does she live in that this might be a problem?

Christ and Messiah are both titles, in different languages. If she wants to avoid all confusion, she should use the English translation, Anointed One. In fact, I didn’t know what “Christ” meant until I was an adult. Messiah didn’t mean anything to me either…

 

[Archbishop_10-K]

This person you’re talking about sounds like a Messianic Jew to me (essentially the same as a Jew, except believes in Jesus as Messiah. Some accept Trinity, some don’t.)

 

[Bernard_Jones]

I’m not sure about your friend, but these ideas sound similar to the beliefs of some of the more extreme “messianic Christian” groups. I would never dream of denigrating Jewish Christians as a whole, but some of the Protestant ones hold to some pretty funny ideas.

As you can understand, many of them are pretty keen on a form of Christianity which emphasises Hebrew pronounciations (which are historically correct, by the way); worship on the Shabat; and saying Messiah instead of Christ, as it emphasises Jesus’ importance to a Jewish hearer.

Unfortunately, some Jewish Christians go beyond accommodating their faith to their cultural background, and believe that those of us who practice traditional Christian piety (Protestant and Catholic) are mistaken, and they can tend to become very insular.

 

[nucatholic]

Jesus and Joshua are close in that they both mean Messiah. Yeshua is the Hebrew. This woman is off her rocker if she thinks that she knows Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin better than the 2,000 year old true Church…

 

[Todd_Easton]

Your friend has been led astray. Next she will say that when Spanish-speakers call on the name of Jesus, they are really calling on the pagan Greek god, Hey Zeus!

According to my dictionary: the English word ‘Jesus’ is from the Latin ‘Iesus’, from the Greek transliteration ‘Iesous’, from the Hebrew transliteration ‘Yeshua’, a shortened form of ‘Yehoshua’ (Joshua), Yahweh saves. As you can see, there is nothing here about any Greek godesses, just an effort to spell out Jesus’ name in different languages using different alphabets.

According to the my dictionary, the English word ‘Christ’ is from the Latin ‘Christus’, from the Greek transliteration ‘Christos’ (the anointed) from ‘chriein’, to anoint. And the English word ‘Messiah’ is from the Greek transliteration ‘Messias’, from the Aramaic transliteration ‘meshiha’, from the Hebrew transliteration ‘mashiah’, anointed. As you can see, ‘Christ’ (originally from a Greek word) and ‘Messiah’ (originally from a Hebrew word) both mean ‘the Anointed’.

Todd

 

[gomer_tree]

I absolutely agree with the woman. But “Yahushau” sounds too much like my great Uncle’s Indian mistress who did a rain dance to a cloud god, so I think that is entirely inappropriate.
Please ask her for a better alternative, so we are not all drawn into the fires of perdition.

Does it amaze anyone else that there are actually people who sit around and worry about these kinds of things?

 

[space_ghost]

boy, you got me… can’t help you with this one… say it ain’t so, but your right about the uniqueness of it, i had never heard this either… which really isn’t saying a whole lot for me…

peace…

 

[meep]

Ellen:

She also believes we shouldn’t use the word “Christ”, b/c, although it is a Greek translitaration for “Annointed one”, it can be easily confused w/ “Chrestos”, which means “good”, and is also associated w/ the sun god Osiris . Rather, we should say “Messiah” at all times instead of Christ.

Osiris was not the Egyptian sun god–that was Ra. Osiris was the god of the dead. I suspect thatyour friend has been reading Jack Chick’s (amusing) tract “The Death Cookie,” which perpetuates that mistake, along with other misinformation about Catholicism and history.

As for the Jesus vs. Joshua stuff, you will note that many Bible figures go by both Hebrew and Greek forms of their names. Jesus is no exeption. Our ‘J’ sound was a ‘Y’ sound for Greek/Latin speaking peoples, but in Germanic languages (I believe–I’m no linguist) the letter ‘J’ came to be pronounced like our ‘J’ today, rather than ‘Y’. Don’t let someone use the ‘J’ vs. ‘Y’ thing to prove that it’s a different name. The difference is in the transliteration.

Is the Hebrew or the Greek version of the name found in the Greek text of the New Testament? (I highly suspect that the New Testament predates Constantine )

 

[fulloftruth]

Just look in the Catechism. I don’t really think any of her points matter. She is listening to the noise and missing the message. She must be bored. It amazes me how off track one can become if one is not grounded in the truth. So much noise in her head it must be horrible. I thank God for the grace to believe what the church teaches. Not everyone gets that grace and we must not boast but be gracious and share it where possible. Lord help me to reflect your truth with humility and not be condecending or full of myself

 

[Hesychios]

Meep is probably right.

I think this person is learning theology from the University of Jack Chick!

The textbooks are really small!

 

[Ellen]

fulloftruth:

Just look in the Catechism. I don’t really think any of her points matter. She is listening to the noise and missing the message. She must be bored. It amazes me how off track one can become if one is not grounded in the truth. So much noise in her head it must be horrible. I thank God for the grace to believe what the church teaches. Not everyone gets that grace and we must not boast but be gracious and share it where possible. Lord help me to reflect your truth with humility and not be condecending or full of myself

I agree, like I said, that’s what happens when you try to interpret scripture on your own. Unfortunately, she’s likely to mislead some other (nonCatholic) Christians who also don’t look to the Church or history for guidance in these matters.

By the way, she’s not my “friend”, I don’t even know her, really, she posts on another bulletin board I frequent. I didn’t even argue w/ her, there were some others there (Catholic and Protestant), who disputed her statements. Good enough, I was just wondering if anyone had heard this particular anti-Catholic argument (the Jesus/Christ name thing), as it was a new one to me. Thanks for all your answers .

Ellen

 

[metal1633]

Ellen:

.

So, all you wise, learned folks , what is our Savior’s real name?

Ellen

How about GOD since that who He IS?

She is being SILLY. I bet anything his family and friends called him the Aramaic equivalent of “Josh”.

Mary (or is it Maryam?) would say something like… “Hey JOSH, Clean up before you come in for dinner!!!”