Friday, November 6, 2009

Was her name really "EVE"?

Part of the ministry that God has called me to is a revival of critical thinking. This entails the urging and pleading to others to ask the necessary questions about things in life to test whether or not it is truth that they follow. My goal is that everyone i come in contact with would start to question their world and lives and never just follow what has always been.

This means we have to establish truth. That part has been done for us. It is the Scriptures. Now i am not advocating the translators or interpretations of Scripture, but the message seen in the original languages. Men will always have a propensity towards error this side of the kingdom of heaven. Thus as you study the original languages of the Scriptures, you find biases in translation where there is a choice of translation. This does not mean that we throw the whole out and say we cannot know, but rather it means we approach it with caution and the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom.

i will now start a series of blog posts challenging all that has been held true about our holidays, days of the week, months, and culture in the hopes that some, even one, might discover the truth and be set free. God expects us to obey His commandments (Torah) and we cannot do that if we are trapped by a lifetime of lies that have been taught for years and we have grown up with. May God grant eyes to see and hearts to believe.

i ma in the process of reading a fascinating and disturbing book by a man named Lew White. It is called Fossilized Customs and is available at http://www.torahzone.net/. A word of warning: it will shake your foundation. But as i have always said, test everything to Scripture, keep what lines up and chunk what does not. Much of what i have learned has come from this book and other sources. And so we now come to the name of Adam's wife. Was it really "EVE"? If not where did the name "EVE" come from?

The Hebrew word for Adam's wife's name in חַוָּה or transliterated as "Chawah" which is a derivative of the word חַיִּים which transliterates "chai" and means life. She is the mother of the living. There is no one in the Hebrew named "Eve". Where does "Eve come from? A great amount of syncretism has happened in the church over the centuries in which pagan traditions have been absorbed into Christianity and have never been stripped from it so they have become part of it and have been propagated for centuries. Anyone in Seminary is taught this in Church History and this information is readily available. Since the fall, people have had a propensity towards mixing the worship of God with the worship of foreign gods. This is strictly forbidden by God in His commandments, but still has made its way into the modern church.

The question now is, where did the name "Eve" come from and why did the translators choose that name if it is not found in the Hebrew? Remember that Scripture needs to translate Scripture and even when there is a fork in the proverbial translation road. It is a dangerous road to impose Pagan, Greek, English, or any other disposition onto the text for the sake of internal intention or readability. The name "Eve" was readily associated with Asherah or Mother Earth in Babylonian history. Mother Earth had a son name Baal which most are familiar with from the Scriptures. Interestingly, the name "ba' al" in Hebrew means "lord". This brings up a whole host of questions concerning the correct translation of "Adonai" in the Scriptures.

i write all this not to discourage, but rather to encourage us to take a look at the Scriptures and test what we are being taught and reading. A lifetime of promoting error is hard to recover from, but necessary for all believers in Messiah. Think critically. God is not afraid of questions and His word can stand up to scrutiny. It is not too late to turn from evil ways and worship the true God of the Bible.

Do the research. Dig for silver (Proverbs 2) and find out what God has said about God.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

A "call" back to Godology

Theology is the buzzword today in Christian circles and Seminaries. It is the technical term for man's study of God. It is in vogue to study systematic theology which is basically the systematizing of the doctrines of Scripture. Nothing wrong so far. But what happens when theology becomes what we preach, teach, and believe instead of Scripture?

Remember that it is "man's" study of God and thus it is subject to biases and interpretive motives known or unknown. Therefore, it is dangerous ground to herald theology in such a high manner. We have a great many problems in Christendom these days and bad theology has added to them. Well founded theology is the kind that yields to Scripture and revises itself based upon what God has actually said about Himself.

Godology is the revelation of God by God; it is what God has said from the mouth of the One who said it. The Church has abandoned feast, festivals, and commandments from the Scripture that are commanded by God. The reason? They believe their own traditions and theology over what God has actually said. Steven Curtis Chapman has a new album out that chronicles his reactions to the tragic death of his five year old daughter. In the song "Questions", the first line goes like this:


Who are you God?
Cause you are turning out to be
so much different than I imagined.
Could it be that the Church believes in a God that they have imagined? What if all that they have practiced, taught, and known for the past 500 years was not based on Scripture, but traditions of men? These questions must be asked because each man will give account and he will not be able to say that his pastor mislead him or he just did not know. We each must know what God has said about Himself and what He has commanded us to do.

If you fail to study Godology, you will be led astray and may find yourself at the end of your life having practiced that which is actually an abomination to the Lord. Are the feasts and festivals that you observe really biblical? Are you ignoring the ones that God has given as eternal statutes? God did not design it so that we would have to make up things to honor Him; He told us what is right and good. Think on this as we enter the holiday season and celebrate a holiday that is pagan in origin and not sanctioned by God.

Only by studying what God has actually said are we able to keep from going to the right or to the left. Hear O Israel and choose life today.





About me

i am a man changed from day to day as i willingly surrender to God's call. God has shown me many things since He called me to be a child of light, but as of recent months He has destroyed my foundation so that my life would be built on the truth of His word and not what i had always been doing or been taught. Truth is all about where it comes from and truth that comes from the Bible is to be stood on and proclaimed. Nothing else matters, but God's opinion. His word is what will stand the test of time. Never rest on the words of men, but test all things by God's word and make sure that what you do daily is what God requires and not what is contrary to His desires.