Hamas War

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

There is No "New Testament;" Don't Use the Term, Please

I try to be very careful about my terminology. One of the things we learn in Judaism is that words have power. A couple of popular rhymes of my childhood from my childhood are in direct opposition to Jewish theology and values:
sticks and stones can break my bones,
but words can never harm me

losers weepers
finders keepers
We Jews are "the People of The Book," and that has two lessons for us. One is that every word and word choice has power. It is possible to destroy a person with the wrong word, even if only intended as a "joke" or to "tease." Also, "The Book" is our Tanach, Bible, the Jewish one, and it has never been revised, added to, by Gd.

There is No "New sic Testament." The meaning behind that term, especially as it's used in conjunction with the "Old sic Testament," sic, is that Christianity is the Gd sanctioned revision of Judaism, which no good Jew accepts.

Judaism is the only religion of the True Gd. The basis of Judaism in in the Tanach, Bible. And the basis of Judaism is that we have only One Gd and are forbidden to worship a human.

There is a Christian bible, and there is the Tanach, Bible. I'm not shy about pointing it out, even when the speaker is a renown Jewish lecturer/expert. We must be very careful in the terminology we use, because words have multiple meanings. Just because a term is the "accepted" one by the general public, does not make it Kosher.

Chanukah is the Jewish Holiday during which we celebrate our victory over the Ancient Greeks and Hellenists, the assimilated Jews of the time. It's the perfect time to inspect our language and rid it of foreign anti-Jewish terms.

Chag Urim Sameach
May You have an Enlightened Holiday


Chanukah, day #3

18 comments:

Mr. Cohen said...

The Greek Testament is filled with pagan influences:

“And some Romans believed that there
was a single god from which all other
gods and goddesses got their powers.

This god was Sol, or the sun god.

Sol’s believers celebrated
his birthday on December 25.”

SOURCE: The Fall of the Roman Empire
(chapter 1, page 22) by Rita J. Markel,
year 2008, Twenty-First Century Books,
ISBN: 0822559196 ISBN: 9780822559191

Anonymous said...

Just saying regarding the saying:

sticks and stones can break my bones
but words can never hurt me ( your wrote harm me)_

sticks and stones will break bones,yes, but bones can heal and mend eventuallyl...

while words.. especially those that hurtful ones, shot out of ones mouth like poison arrows, they can go straight to your heart, and your soul, and then you hurt, and you can swallow and try to overcome it... but the wound remains, like its covered with a scab, and some memory or some such thing comes back to and you remember, and the scab peels back.. and the hurt is still there...

i would rather the sticks and stones... but not hateful and spiteful words.

just my thinking...

Batya said...

Mr Cohen and a, yes

Sharbano said...

I've never used the term "bible" in any of my conversations. Whenever referencing I would use the term Xtian "text". The word "bible" denotes some type of authenticity.

Batya said...

I always connected bible wth book

Sharbano said...

Understandable. But I've heard all too often how someone will say, "This is the bible of...", whatever. It is therefore assumed there is validity to it.

Batya said...

According to Wikipedia:
The Bible is a collection of sacred texts or scriptures that Jews and Christians consider to be a product of divine inspiration and a record of the relationship between God and humans.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible

Let the Christians have their bible, but it shouldn't be given a name/label that downplays the authenticity of the Tanach/Jewish Bible. There is very little in common with the two theologies.

Anonymous said...

That is why rabbis and Jews, in general, should not use the word 'Bible' because this is the non-Jewish version and how they call their Book of laws. We should only use the proper noun/title which is 'Torah' and which is Divine. Torah is what H' gave us, the Jewish people on Har Sinai

Batya said...

The Tanach is more than the Torah. It is the Jewish Bible. It is a book/anthology of holy writings chosen by Jewish scholars.

Anonymous said...

But no matter...

and you are right, but no once can tell others what they believe or what to call what they think is their belief and how and why. Yes the NT may be given that name and a lot is taken from the Tanach, but telling them they are wrong or for that matter others too have come out with their further version from Tanach, and claim that is now the true one..

You cannot change their thinking... if only it were possible to tell them...


"There is No "New Testament;" Don't Use the Term, Please"

Try all you wish... it will not change... they might get more angry at you..

the onlyl one to change that is Hashem when Hashem sends the Mashiach...

Nu?

Batya said...

It is Christian theology, and they can call it what they wish.
Jews must not use the term, goes against principles of Judaism.

Anonymous said...



touché.. Batya...

Batya said...

I hope I've made it clear.

Anonymous said...



Yes you did Batya...

Thank you and Hashem bless you..:)

Anonymous said...

No, Jews should not use the term Bible; that is an English word that was made by the Xtians for their version of the original, which is the Torah given to us over 3300 years on Har Sinai. Torah encompasses all the books of the Tanach. When one thinks as they do, it's just the five books of Moshe (the chamishei chumshei Torah) but Torah is all the 24 books and all the writings, commentaries, etc., etc. which make up both the Written and Oral Torah. This is Torah that is taught and learned in the Yeshivot. L'havdil, the 'Bible' is a copy of the 'five books' of Moses as they interpret it plus their additions to it making 'their new testament' which has no affiliation with our holy Torah!

Batya said...

You're mixing it up a bit.
Bible is a general word, just means "holy book."

Liatris Spicata said...

Christianity is the Gd sanctioned revision of Judaism, which no good Jew accepts.

My understanding is that no less than Rabbi Hillel’s grandson, himself a rabbi, claimed that Christianity was an acceptable form of Judaism. Now had the younger rabbi lived a century or more later, he likely would not have made that claim, but it suggests to me that the chasm may not be so impassable as this comment indicates.

Batya said...

The early years of Christianity were not the same as how the new religion developed. Many sages were confused and mistaken. There were many heretics among the Jewish People and leaders who left true Judaism, and their followers aren't Jews today.