Posting because religion got hijacked too
Because of the comments re Israel, Jews, Jesus, praying and bibles.
"[Hebrew] A dynamic language
The Hebrew language works different from ours [English, etc]. That makes it very difficult to translate, and that causes translations to be often poor and lacking. One of the differences is that the Hebrew language is much more dynamic than ours. Hebrew is all about action. Something is reckoned after what it does, not after how it looks. This principle is quite fundamental in Scriptures; it is applied all over. Probably most drastic in the Second Commandment where the Lord prohibits the making of graven images. A graven image after all does not move, and a statue that, for instance, tries to display a calf is not showing typical calf-behavior but static appearance.
[The principle even occurs in the New Testament, which is written in Greek but with a Hebrew way of thinking. The second chapter of James, for instance, explains that a believer is not someone who looks like one, or even says she's one, but rather someone who acts like one. To be is to do."] http:// www.abarim-publications.com/ToBeIsToDo.html
"Names in Biblical times actually meant something, and in the Yahwist tradition, they usually indicated some kind of theological thought." [like Israel for example….there was very little pure Jewish about the early theology of Israel, and very little pure Jewish about any of the Temples of YHWH in Jerusalem. In fact, it's more than obvious that the signature names Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were the names of global social movements, and that the names Israel and even Jerusalem were only later applied to physical locations. The country called Israel today relates to the Biblical Israel the way a hypothetical village named Internet, Montana, would relate to Google and Wikipedia.]
"Another persistent folly is the belief that the Hebrew Bible is a local product of a minority sect operating predominantly in Jerusalem; a religious movement that competed with other religions, telling the story of their pet deity YHWH (Yahweh) versus the "other gods," projected on a dubious national history of Israel. It positively isn't. As many mythologists have noted, the Hebrew Bible reflects a collective effort of pretty much the whole Semitic language area, from Babylon to Egypt and possibly beyond, and describes an endeavor that is wholly separate from religion and politics at large. It tells the history of Yahwism, which roughly describes a dedication to truth in its broadest sense."
"Natural Yahwism (not to be confused with any formal religion) describes a social movement devoted entirely to being truthful. It's not organized, it has no leader and it is not confined to any particular culture or people. It's dedicated to creation and the Creator, and results not in religious mumbo-jumbo but in a set of practical and demonstrable skills (technological, social, psychological, medical, etcetera; Deuteronomy 13:1-5). The Bible mostly focuses on both Yahwism's development and its relation to political government. Usually Yahwism was enslaved by military or commercial powers (as science is today), but sometimes it enjoyed periods of "Yahwism for YHWH"; the pursuit of truth for the sake of Truth."
http:// www.abarim-publications.com/
[Etymology of the word Jesus
The name Jesus means "Yah Will Save". The name Joshua is the Hebrew form of the Greek name Jesus, and most probably the name by which Jesus was known by His contemporaries. Jesus was fascinated by the Book of Isaiah, possibly because this Book appears to be entirely about Him, but perhaps also because the name Isaiah (ישעיה) is almost identical to the name Joshua with the two segments reversed.
http:// www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Jesus.html]
“Yahwism reached Rome, and gruesomely clashed with Rome's demand that all should bow to the imperial cult, basically demanding that Truth should bow down to whatever the emperor said it was (the Nazis would later do the exact same thing with their absurd Ahnenerbe). The signature phrases of Rome's national cult were merged with the signature principles of the movement and spawned a political monstrosity that had very little to do with the service of Truth or the Creator. Yahwism, the pursuit of truth for the sake or Truth, did not resurface until the scientific revolution of the Renaissance.
“Presently, Yahwism in all sorts of guises is rising with a pace that the world hasn't seen for millennia. Books that have been closed for eons are opened again and read by thousands of enthusiasts. Nations that have been buried for centuries are getting dug up and revived. Yahwism is rising over borders, breaking with traditions, and escaping commerce on a massive scale. Most people don't even know what's going on, but not even that will stop it.”
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http:// www.abarim-publications.com/