Saturday, 24 March 2018
The river dries up?
'Christianity as default is gone': the rise of a non-Christian Europe
Figures show a majority of young adults in 12 countries have no faith, with Czechs least religious
Europe’s march towards a post-Christian society has been starkly illustrated by research showing a majority of young people in a dozen countries do not follow a religion.
The survey of 16- to 29-year-olds found the Czech Republic is the least religious country in Europe, with 91% of that age group saying they have no religious affiliation. Between 70% and 80% of young adults in Estonia, Sweden and the Netherlands also categorise themselves as non-religious.
The most religious country is Poland, where 17% of young adults define themselves as non-religious, followed by Lithuania with 25%.
In the UK, only 7% of young adults identify as Anglican, fewer than the 10% who categorise themselves as Catholic. Young Muslims, at 6%, are on the brink of overtaking those who consider themselves part of the country’s established church.
The figures are published in a report, Europe’s Young Adults and Religion, by Stephen Bullivant, a professor of theology and the sociology of religion at St Mary’s University in London. They are based on data from the European social survey 2014-16.
Religion was “moribund”, he said. “With some notable exceptions, young adults increasingly are not identifying with or practising religion.”
The trajectory was likely to become more marked. “Christianity as a default, as a norm, is gone, and probably gone for good – or at least for the next 100 years,” Bullivant said.
But there were significant variations, he said. “Countries that are next door to one another, with similar cultural backgrounds and histories, have wildly different religious profiles.”
The two most religious countries, Poland and Lithuania, and the two least religious, the Czech Republic and Estonia, are post-communist states.
The trend of religious affiliation was repeated when young people were asked about religious practice. Only in Poland, Portugal and Ireland did more than 10% of young people say they attend services at least once a week.
In the Czech Republic, 70% said they never went to church or any other place of worship, and 80% said they never pray. In the UK, France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands, between 56% and 60% said they never go to church, and between 63% and 66% said they never pray.
Among those identifying as Catholic, there was wide variation in levels of commitment. More than 80% of young Poles say they are Catholic, with about half going to mass at least once a week. In Lithuania, where 70% of young adults say they are Catholic, only 5% go to mass weekly.
According to Bullivant, many young Europeans “will have been baptised and then never darken the door of a church again. Cultural religious identities just aren’t being passed on from parents to children. It just washes straight off them.”
The figures for the UK were partly explained by high immigration, he added. “One in five Catholics in the UK were not born in the UK.
“And we know the Muslim birthrate is higher than the general population, and they have much higher [religious] retention rates.”
In Ireland, there has been a significant decline in religiosity over the past 30 years, “but compared to anywhere else in western Europe, it still looks pretty religious”, Bullivant said.
“The new default setting is ‘no religion’, and the few who are religious see themselves as swimming against the tide,” he said.
“In 20 or 30 years’ time, mainstream churches will be smaller, but the few people left will be highly committed.”
The book of Leviticus :The Watchtower society's commentary.
LEVITICUS
The third book of the Pentateuch, containing laws from God on sacrifices, purity, and other matters connected with Jehovah’s worship. The Levitical priesthood, carrying out its instructions, rendered sacred service in “a typical representation and a shadow of the heavenly things.”—Heb 8:3-5; 10:1.
Period Covered. Not more than a month is covered by the events given in the book. Most of Leviticus is devoted to listing Jehovah’s ordinances rather than recounting various happenings over an extended period of time. The tabernacle’s erection on the first day of the first month in the second year of Israel’s departure from Egypt is mentioned in the final chapter of Exodus, the book preceding Leviticus. (Ex 40:17) Then, the book of Numbers (immediately following the Leviticus account) in its first verses (1:1-3) begins with God’s command to take a census, stated to Moses “on the first day of the second month in the second year of their coming out of the land of Egypt.”
When and Where Written. The logical time for the writing of the book would be 1512 B.C.E., at Sinai in the wilderness. Testifying that Leviticus was indeed written in the wilderness are its references that reflect camp life.—Le 4:21; 10:4, 5; 14:8; 17:1-5.
Writer. All the foregoing evidence likewise helps to identify the writer as Moses. He received the information from Jehovah (Le 26:46), and the book’s closing words are: “These are the commandments that Jehovah gave Moses as commands to the sons of Israel in Mount Sinai.” (27:34) Besides, Leviticus is a part of the Pentateuch, the writer of which is generally acknowledged to be Moses. Not only does the opening “And . . . ” of Leviticus indicate its connection with Exodus, and therefore with the rest of the Pentateuch, but the way in which Jesus Christ and the writers of the Christian Scriptures refer to it shows that they knew it to be the writing of Moses and an unquestionable part of the Pentateuch. For example, see Christ’s reference to Leviticus 14:1-32 (Mt 8:2-4), Luke’s reference to Leviticus 12:2-4, 8 (Lu 2:22-24), and Paul’s paraphrasing of Leviticus 18:5 (Ro 10:5).
Dead Sea Leviticus Scrolls. Among the manuscripts found at the Dead Sea, nine contain fragments of the book of Leviticus. Four of them, believed to date from 125 to 75 B.C.E., were written in ancient Hebrew characters that were in use before the Babylonian exile.
Value of the Book. God promised Israel that if they obeyed his voice they would become to him “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Ex 19:6) The book of Leviticus contains a record of God’s installing a priesthood for his nation and giving them the statutes that would enable them to maintain holiness in his eyes. Even though Israel was only God’s typical “holy nation,” whose priests were “rendering sacred service in a typical representation and a shadow of the heavenly things” (Heb 8:4, 5), God’s law, if obeyed, would have kept them clean and in line for filling the membership of his spiritual “royal priesthood, a holy nation.” (1Pe 2:9) But the disobedience of the majority deprived Israel of filling exclusively the place of membership in the Kingdom of God, as Jesus told the Jews. (Mt 21:43) Nevertheless, the laws set down in the book of Leviticus were of inestimable value to those heeding them.
Through the sanitary and dietary laws, as well as the regulations on sexual morality, they were provided with safeguards against disease and depravity. (Le chaps 11-15, 18) Especially, however, did these laws benefit them spiritually, because they enabled them to get acquainted with Jehovah’s holy and righteous ways and they helped them to conform to His ways. (11:44) Furthermore, the regulations set out in this portion of the Bible, as part of the Law, served as a tutor leading believing ones to Jesus Christ, God’s great High Priest and the one foreshadowed by the countless sacrifices offered in accord with the Law.—Ga 3:19, 24; Heb 7:26-28; 9:11-14; 10:1-10.
The book of Leviticus continues to be of great value to all today who desire to serve Jehovah acceptably. A study of the fulfillment of its various features in connection with Jesus Christ, the ransom sacrifice, and the Christian congregation is indeed faith strengthening. While it is true that Christians are not under the Law covenant (Heb 7:11, 12, 19; 8:13; 10:1), the regulations set out in the book of Leviticus give them insight into God’s viewpoint on matters. The book is, therefore, not a mere recounting of dry, inapplicable details, but a live source of information. By getting a knowledge of how God views various matters, some of which are not specifically covered in the Christian Greek Scriptures, the Christian can be helped to avoid what displeases God and to do what pleases him.
[Box on page 243]
HIGHLIGHTS OF LEVITICUS
God’s laws, especially concerning the service of the priests in Israel, with emphasis, for the benefit of the nation as a whole, on the seriousness of sin and the importance of being holy because Jehovah is holy
Written by Moses in 1512 B.C.E., while Israel was camped at Mount Sinai
Aaronic priesthood is installed and begins to function
Moses carries out the seven-day installation procedure (8:1-36)
On the eighth day, the priesthood begins to function; Jehovah manifests his approval by displaying his glory and consuming the offering on the altar (9:1-24)
Jehovah strikes down Nadab and Abihu for offering illegitimate fire; subsequently the use of alcoholic drinks when one is serving at the sanctuary is forbidden (10:1-11)
Requirements are outlined for those who will serve as priests; regulations are laid down about eating what is holy (21:1–22:16)
Use of sacrifices in maintaining an approved relationship with God
Laws are given regarding animals acceptable as burnt offerings and how they should be prepared for presentation (1:1-17; 6:8-13; 7:8)
Kinds of grain offerings are stipulated as well as how they are to be presented to Jehovah (2:1-16; 6:14-18; 7:9, 10)
Procedure is laid down for handling communion sacrifices; the eating of blood and fat is forbidden (3:1-17; 7:11-36)
Animals are specified for sin offering in the case of a priest, the assembly of Israel, a chieftain, or one of the people; procedure for handling this offering is outlined (4:1-35; 6:24-30)
Laws are given on situations requiring guilt offerings (5:1–6:7; 7:1-7)
Instructions are handed down regarding the offering to be made on the day of the priest’s being anointed (6:19-23)
All offerings must be sound; defects making an animal unfit for sacrifice are listed (22:17-33)
Atonement Day procedures are outlined involving the sacrifice of a bull and two goats—one goat for Jehovah and the other for Azazel (16:2-34)
Detailed regulations to safeguard against uncleanness and to maintain holiness
Certain animals are acceptable as clean for food and others are prohibited as unclean; uncleanness results from contact with dead bodies (11:1-47)
A woman should be purified from her uncleanness after giving birth (12:1-8)
Procedures for handling cases of leprosy are detailed (13:1–14:57)
Uncleanness results from sexual discharges, and purification is required (15:1-33)
Holiness must be maintained by respecting sanctity of blood and by shunning incest, sodomy, bestiality, slander, spiritism, and other detestable practices (17:1–20:27)
Sabbaths and seasonal festivals to Jehovah
Sabbath days and years as well as regulations and principles touching the Jubilee are laid down (23:1-3; 25:1-55)
The manner of observing the annual Festival of Unfermented Cakes (following Passover) and the Festival of Weeks (later called Pentecost) is detailed (23:4-21)
The procedure for observing the Day of Atonement and the Festival of Booths is outlined (23:26-44)
Blessings for obedience, maledictions for disobedience
Blessings for obedience will include bountiful harvests, peace, and security (26:3-13)
Maledictions because of disobedience will include disease, defeat by enemies, famine, destruction of cities, desolation of land, and exile (26:14-45)
All in the family?
Computer Software Sheds Light on Human and Chimp DNA Similarity
Walter Myers III
Walter Myers III
Recently I had the opportunity to hear Discovery Institute’s Stephen Meyer provide an update on the progress and current state of the theory of intelligent design. At the end of Meyer’s lecture, he took questions from the audience. Inevitably, the question came up about humans and chimpanzees with their “98 percent” similarity in DNA. Isn’t that evidence in favor of evolution and against design?
Meyer’s reply was to compare DNA code to differing computer programs that share an underlying code base. As a professional software engineer over more decades than I care to express here, I can attest to the accuracy of Meyer’s comparison. As he demonstrated in his book Signature in the Cell, the cell is a microscopic factory bustling with the activity of thousands of tiny machines built from the instructions provided by DNA code in the nucleus of the cell.
I am not going to enter into the debate about what precisely is the percentage of similarity in DNA between humans and chimps. That is wholly immaterial to the point I want to make. Instead, let’s see how the analogy that Meyer presented holds up by providing more depth and color using a practical example from the hardware and software most of us use in everyday life. Everyone reading this post (I suspect) is using a browser on either a computer, tablet, or smartphone. The device you are using has something installed on it called an operating system (OS). That is defined as “the collection of software that directs a computer’s operations, controlling and scheduling the execution of other programs, and managing storage, input/output, and communication resources.” The operating system provides all of the underlying functions necessary for the browser or any other application software (program) you may access on your device. Whatever the device you are using, the OS consists of tens of millions of lines of code. For example, the Windows operating system is estimated to have in excess of 50 million lines of code.
The diagram below represents the architecture of Windows NT, which is the line of operating systems produced and sold by Microsoft. Actually this diagram is a bit dated as Windows has “evolved” quite a bit with new features since 2000, but the fundamental concepts have not changed. It’s not essential that you understand this in full, but note the various subsystems that make up a modern OS.
Specifically, you have the “kernel” which is the core of the OS connecting application software to the underlying hardware. The kernel exercises complete control over the system and is fully protected from user applications, providing a set of well-defined interfaces by which an application can interact with the underlying services. You can liken the kernel here to the nucleus of a cell, which maintains the security of DNA and controls the functions of the entire cell by regulating gene expression. On top of the kernel, you have a “user” mode coordinating with the kernel that provides higher-level services such as your user interface, authentication mechanism (for logging in), and the environment in which your application code runs (in this case, your browser). This would be analogous to the working proteins in the cell which would be the running code performing the everyday work of the cell.
Now let’s focus further on application code. While the OS is code that an OS company writes, such as Microsoft, Apple, or various open-source Linux distribution companies, applications are written by software developers. Applications themselves can also run to millions of lines of code. It depends upon the complexity and functionality of the application itself. What software developers have discovered over the decades, however, is that there are specific functions or patterns that developers perform over and over, and thus a considerable part of the software business consists of “third-party” developers writing and selling reusable “libraries” that make work easier for other developers. For example, in a typical application, you might have a library that assists with building the user interface, a library for database access, or a library for communications over a wireless network.
Applications on a smartphone, such as Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat, can be thousands of lines of code, accessing component libraries that provide services made up of thousands or millions of lines of code, and of course accessing the aforementioned millions of lines of code in the underlying OS.
Now, comparing this to humans and chimps, what do we find? While much of the DNA code may be the same, the parts that are not the same have significant differences. The programs I described above, such as Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat, have different purposes, yet they all depend on the same OS that consists of tens of millions of lines of code. To be specific, let’s say you are using an iPhone with iOS 11 (the Apple mobile OS) installed. iOS is estimated to take up about 4 GB of space on your iPhone. Facebook takes up about 297 MB. Snapchat is about 137 MB. Instagram is about 85 MB. Respectively, that’s 7.4 percent, 3.4 percent, and 2.1 percent of the size of iOS. Now would anyone say that Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat are pretty much the same thing since they are each well over 90 percent the same? Of course not. It’s not so different with humans and chimps. In the case of these programs, the vast majority of their total code base is shared, yet each is a distinct creative expression that leverages a shared base of code. In the case of humans and chimps, one would expect a designer to use shared code where functions are the same, and different (new) code where functions are different. When we examine computer programs, which are the inventions of human minds, why would they not reflect the mind of the designer that wrote the code to produce humans, chimps, and every other biological organism?
There is a further relevant analogy between application software and DNA code. In biological organisms, not all genes are expressed in every cell. For example, there are specific genes active in liver cells, specific genes active in heart muscle cells, and specific genes active in brain cells. Different cell types express themselves in both appearance and function. So not all of the DNA code is in use in each cell. Additionally, environmental factors affect what genes are expressed in a group of cells, allowing an organism to respond in various ways to the situations in which it finds itself. Similarly, with software programs, not all pathways to all code are in use. There are “settings,” whether set by the user or programmed automatically in the application by the developer, that determine how a program will individually function. For example, when a user changes the privacy, language, or chat settings in the Facebook mobile app, it modifies the many pathways the code may execute. Or if a malevolent user tries to log in to a program multiple times, attempting to hack into a user account, the program will itself execute a code pathway to lock the malevolent user out and notify the legitimate user.
Again, the functions in a computer program reflect the mind of the human designer. In the same way, the functions in the human being programming a computer reflect the mind of the designer of both humans and chimps.
On the evolution of a Darwinist.
How Scott Turner Evolved
David Klinghoffer | @d_klinghoffer
David Klinghoffer | @d_klinghoffer
On a new ID the Future episode, Rob Crowther talks with biologist J. Scott Turner about his book Purpose and Desire: What Makes Something “Alive” and Why Modern Darwinism Has Failed to Explain It. Crowther wants to know how Turner and his thinking on evolution…evolved. Turner, of the State University of New York and currently a visiting scholar at Cambridge University, is a really interesting and sympathetic case of a scientist who straddles design and evolutionary thinking. How did he get to be where, intellectually, he is today?
He explains the impact that media coverage of the Dover trial had on in him, the smears directed at ID proponents, the trite attacks on “creationism” that seemed to have been preserved in vinegar from the Scopes Monkey Trial eighty years before. Turner met Stephen Meyer and other advocates of intelligent design. He was startled to find that they were quite a different crowd from what you’d imagine based on press coverage and published comments from Darwin defenders. Listen to the podcast or download it here.
Rob Crowther asks Dr. Turner what he’s learned since his book came out, and Turner mentions that it’s been a lesson in how “worldviews” shape and limit thinking. Do they ever.
What is a worldview, though? Sometimes I think the concept is not applied broadly enough. We all tell a story to ourselves about who we are, what kind of people we are, what kind of people it must be who would disagree with us on emotionally charged matters. This goes beyond controversies in biology, of course.
I was listening to an NPR report about — naw, I’m not going to say what it was about, it doesn’t matter. But I was listening to all these voices, the reporter and the people she was interviewing, and I was thinking about how they all sound so remarkably alike. Same manner of speaking, which is echoed by the distinctive production style. The reporter was telling a story, and everyone else was in her story, and she was in theirs, and they were all, transparently, just as pleased with themselves as they could be. That quality of almost giddy self-satisfaction is highly diagnostic. It is diagnostic of someone telling himself a tale, living in the world generated by his tale, but not realizing he is doing so.
Joan Didion famously said that “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” The problem comes when you cannot identify your personal narrative, cannot step back and see it and yourself objectively. A tendency to uncontrolled storytelling continually molds Darwinist responses to Darwin skeptics. That, I think, is another way of stating the lesson Scott Turner has taken away from the experience of publishing Purpose and Desire.
Octopi v. Darwin and it's not even close.
More on Octopus RNA Editing — A Problem for Neo-Darwinism
Evolution News | @DiscoveryCSC
Eric Metaxas at BreakPoint is one of our favorite popular commentators on evolution. In a broadcast, he takes note of our commentary here. As we noted last month, “Octopus Genetic Editing — Animals Defy Their Own Neo-Darwinism.”
From Metaxas on how “The Octopus Outsmarts Darwin Again”:
The Tel Aviv researchers found “tens of thousands” of such RNA recoding sites in cephalopods, allowing a creature like the octopus to essentially reprogram itself, adding “new riffs to its basic genetic blueprint.” In other words, these invertebrates don’t care that they didn’t inherit the smart genes. They make themselves smart, anyway.
Of course, an animal can’t be the author of its own intelligence, and this is not a process anyone believes cephalopods perform consciously. Rather, it is a marvelous piece of “adaptive programming” built-in to their biology.
Darwinists have tried to spin this feat as “a special kind of evolution.” But the folks at Evolution News cut through this nonsense and identify RNA editing for what it is: “non-evolution.”
“Neo-Darwinism did not make cephalopods what they are,” they write. “These highly intelligent and well-adapted animals edited their own genomes, so what possible need do they have for…blind, random, unguided” evolution?
This is also an emerging field of research, which means it’s possible, in theory, that other organisms make extensive use of RNA editing, and we’re just not aware of it, yet.
If, as one popular science website puts it, other creatures can “defy” the “central dogma” of genetics, the implications for Darwin’s “tree of life,” and his entire theory, are dire.
But if cephalopods and the complex information processing that makes them so unique are in fact the result of a Programmer — of a Designer — the waters of biology become far less inky.
A friend asks if this phenomenon is an example of Lamarckism, according to which organisms evolve by adapting to their environments and then passing on newly acquired characteristics to their offspring. We wouldn’t call it that, but we do call it a problem for neo-Darwinism. Among other reasons, that’s because it reveals that organisms need much more information than is provided by DNA sequences. Therefore, DNA mutations cannot provide sufficient raw materials for evolution.
This latest research is impressive, but RNA editing is not new. As Eric Metaxas smartly anticipates, there is indeed extensive RNA editing in other organisms, too — including humans.
Care for documentation? Find it here:
Peng Z, Cheng Y, Tan BC, Kang L, Tian Z, et al. (2012) Comprehensive analysis of RNA-Seq data reveals extensive RNA editing in a human transcriptome.Nature Biotechnology 30:253-260
Bahn JH, Lee JH, Li G, Greer C, Peng G, et al. (2012) Accurate identification of A-to-I RNA editing in human by transcriptome sequencing. Genome Research 22:142-150
Sakurai M, Ueda H, Yano T, Okada S, Terajima H (2014) A biochemical landscape of A-to-I RNA editing in the human brain transcriptome. Genome Research (January 9, 2014)
That would make the problem for Darwinism even more acute than Eric suggests.
Evolution News | @DiscoveryCSC
Eric Metaxas at BreakPoint is one of our favorite popular commentators on evolution. In a broadcast, he takes note of our commentary here. As we noted last month, “Octopus Genetic Editing — Animals Defy Their Own Neo-Darwinism.”
From Metaxas on how “The Octopus Outsmarts Darwin Again”:
The Tel Aviv researchers found “tens of thousands” of such RNA recoding sites in cephalopods, allowing a creature like the octopus to essentially reprogram itself, adding “new riffs to its basic genetic blueprint.” In other words, these invertebrates don’t care that they didn’t inherit the smart genes. They make themselves smart, anyway.
Of course, an animal can’t be the author of its own intelligence, and this is not a process anyone believes cephalopods perform consciously. Rather, it is a marvelous piece of “adaptive programming” built-in to their biology.
Darwinists have tried to spin this feat as “a special kind of evolution.” But the folks at Evolution News cut through this nonsense and identify RNA editing for what it is: “non-evolution.”
“Neo-Darwinism did not make cephalopods what they are,” they write. “These highly intelligent and well-adapted animals edited their own genomes, so what possible need do they have for…blind, random, unguided” evolution?
This is also an emerging field of research, which means it’s possible, in theory, that other organisms make extensive use of RNA editing, and we’re just not aware of it, yet.
If, as one popular science website puts it, other creatures can “defy” the “central dogma” of genetics, the implications for Darwin’s “tree of life,” and his entire theory, are dire.
But if cephalopods and the complex information processing that makes them so unique are in fact the result of a Programmer — of a Designer — the waters of biology become far less inky.
A friend asks if this phenomenon is an example of Lamarckism, according to which organisms evolve by adapting to their environments and then passing on newly acquired characteristics to their offspring. We wouldn’t call it that, but we do call it a problem for neo-Darwinism. Among other reasons, that’s because it reveals that organisms need much more information than is provided by DNA sequences. Therefore, DNA mutations cannot provide sufficient raw materials for evolution.
This latest research is impressive, but RNA editing is not new. As Eric Metaxas smartly anticipates, there is indeed extensive RNA editing in other organisms, too — including humans.
Care for documentation? Find it here:
Peng Z, Cheng Y, Tan BC, Kang L, Tian Z, et al. (2012) Comprehensive analysis of RNA-Seq data reveals extensive RNA editing in a human transcriptome.Nature Biotechnology 30:253-260
Bahn JH, Lee JH, Li G, Greer C, Peng G, et al. (2012) Accurate identification of A-to-I RNA editing in human by transcriptome sequencing. Genome Research 22:142-150
Sakurai M, Ueda H, Yano T, Okada S, Terajima H (2014) A biochemical landscape of A-to-I RNA editing in the human brain transcriptome. Genome Research (January 9, 2014)
That would make the problem for Darwinism even more acute than Eric suggests.
On the war against the sacred name:The Watchtower Society's commentary.
The Fight Against God’s Name:
HIS name was Hananiah ben Teradion. He was a Jewish scholar of the second century C.E., and he was known for holding open meetings where he taught from the Sefer Torah, a scroll containing the first five books of the Bible. Ben Teradion was also known for using the personal name of God and teaching it to others. Considering that the first five books of the Bible contain the name of God more than 1,800 times, how could he teach the Torah without teaching about God’s name?
Ben Teradion’s day, however, was a dangerous time for Jewish scholars. According to Jewish historians, the Roman emperor had made it illegal under penalty of death to teach or practice Judaism. Eventually, the Romans arrested Ben Teradion. At his arrest he was holding a copy of the Sefer Torah. When responding to his accusers, he candidly admitted that in teaching the Bible, he was merely obeying a divine command. Still, he received the death sentence.
On the day of his execution, Ben Teradion was wrapped in the very scroll of the Bible that he was holding when arrested. Then he was burned at the stake. The Encyclopaedia Judaica says that “in order to prolong his agony tufts of wool soaked in water were placed over his heart so that he should not die quickly.” As part of his punishment, his wife was also executed and his daughter sold to a brothel.
Although the Romans were responsible for this brutal execution of Ben Teradion, the Talmud* states that “the punishment of being burnt came upon him because he pronounced the Name in its full spelling.” Yes, to the Jews, pronouncing the personal name of God was indeed a serious transgression.
The Third Commandment:
Evidently, during the first and second centuries C.E., a superstition regarding the use of God’s name took hold among the Jews. The Mishnah (a collection of rabbinic commentaries that became the foundation of the Talmud) states that “one who pronounces the divine name as it is spelt” has no portion in the future earthly Paradise promised by God.
What was the origin of such a prohibition? Some claim that the Jews considered the name of God too sacred for imperfect humans to pronounce. Eventually, there was a hesitancy even to write the name. According to one source, that fear arose because of a concern that the document in which the name was written might later end up in the trash, resulting in a desecration of the divine name.
The Encyclopaedia Judaica says that “the avoidance of pronouncing the name YHWH . . . was caused by a misunderstanding of the Third Commandment.” The third of the Ten Commandments given by God to the Israelites states: “You must not take up the name of Jehovah your God in a worthless way, for Jehovah will not leave the one unpunished who takes up his name in a worthless way.” (Exodus 20:7) Hence, God’s decree against the improper use of his name was twisted into a superstition.
Surely, no one today claims that God would have someone burned at the stake for pronouncing the divine name! Yet, Jewish superstitions regarding God’s personal name still survive. Many continue to refer to the Tetragrammaton as the “Ineffable Name” and the “Unutterable Name.” In some circles all references to God are intentionally mispronounced to avoid violating the tradition. For example, Jah, or Yah, an abbreviation for God’s personal name, is pronounced Kah. Hallelujah is pronounced Hallelukah. Some even avoid writing out the term “God,” substituting a dash for one or more letters. For instance, when they wish to write the English word “God,” they actually write “G-d.”
Further Efforts to Hide the Name
Judaism is by no means the only religion that avoids using the name of God. Consider the case of Jerome, a Catholic priest and secretary to Pope Damasus I. In the year 405 C.E., Jerome completed his work on a translation of the entire Bible into Latin, which became known as the Latin Vulgate. Jerome did not include God’s name in his translation. Rather, following a practice of his time, he substituted the words “Lord” and “God” for the divine name. The Latin Vulgate became the first authorized Catholic Bible translation and the basis for many other translations in several languages.
For instance, the Douay Version, a 1610 Catholic translation, was basically a Latin Vulgate translated into English. It is no surprise, then, that this Bible did not include God’s personal name at all. However, the Douay Version was not just another Bible translation. It became the only authorized Bible for English-speaking Catholics until the 1940’s. Yes, for hundreds of years, the name of God was hidden from millions of devoted Catholics.
Consider also the King James Version. In 1604 the king of England, James I, commissioned a group of scholars to produce an English version of the Bible. Some seven years later, they released the King James Version, also known as the Authorized Version.
In this case too, the translators chose to avoid the divine name, using it in just a few verses. In most instances God’s name was replaced by the word “LORD” or “GOD” to represent the Tetragrammaton. This version became the standard Bible for millions. The World Book Encyclopedia states that “no important English translations of the Bible appeared for more than 200 years after the publication of the King James Version. During this time, the King James Version was the most widely used translation in the English-speaking world.”
The above are just three of the many Bible translations published over the past centuries that omit or downplay the name of God. It is no wonder that the vast majority of professed Christians today hesitate to use the divine name or do not know it at all. Granted, over the years some Bible translators have included the personal name of God in their versions. Most of these, however, have been published in more recent times and with minimal impact on the popular attitudes toward God’s name.
A Practice in Conflict With God’s Will:
The widespread failure to use God’s name is based strictly on human tradition and not on Bible teachings. “Nothing in the Torah prohibits a person from pronouncing the Name of God. Indeed, it is evident from scripture that God’s Name was pronounced routinely,” explains Jewish researcher Tracey R. Rich, author of the Internet site Judaism 101. Yes, in Bible times God’s worshipers used his name.
Clearly, knowing God’s name and using it brings us closer to the approved way of worshiping him, the way he was worshiped in Bible times. This can be our first step in establishing a personal relationship with him, which is much better than simply knowing what his name is. Jehovah God actually invites us to have such a relationship with him. He inspired the warm invitation: “Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you.” (James 4:8) You may ask, however, ‘How could mortal man enjoy such intimacy with Almighty God?’ The following article explains how you can develop a relationship with Jehovah.
God’s Name in Your Name?
Many Bible names are still popular today. In some cases the original Hebrew meaning of these names actually included the personal name of God. Here are a few examples of such names and their meaning. Perhaps your name is one of them.
Joanna—“Jehovah Has Been Gracious”
Joel—“Jehovah Is God”
John—“Jehovah Has Shown Favor”
Jonathan—“Jehovah Has Given”
Joseph—“May Jah Add”*
Joshua—“Jehovah Is Salvation”
Bible Terms for God
The Hebrew text of the Holy Scriptures uses numerous terms for God, such as Almighty, Creator, Father, and Lord. Yet, the instances in which he is referred to by his personal name far outnumber all of the other terms combined. Clearly, it is God’s will that we use his name. Consider the following list of terms as they appear in the Hebrew Scriptures.*
Jehovah—6,973 times
God—2,605 times
Almighty—48 times
Lord—40 times
Maker—25 times
Creator—7 times
Father—7 times
Ancient of Days—3 times
Grand Instructor—2 times
HIS name was Hananiah ben Teradion. He was a Jewish scholar of the second century C.E., and he was known for holding open meetings where he taught from the Sefer Torah, a scroll containing the first five books of the Bible. Ben Teradion was also known for using the personal name of God and teaching it to others. Considering that the first five books of the Bible contain the name of God more than 1,800 times, how could he teach the Torah without teaching about God’s name?
Ben Teradion’s day, however, was a dangerous time for Jewish scholars. According to Jewish historians, the Roman emperor had made it illegal under penalty of death to teach or practice Judaism. Eventually, the Romans arrested Ben Teradion. At his arrest he was holding a copy of the Sefer Torah. When responding to his accusers, he candidly admitted that in teaching the Bible, he was merely obeying a divine command. Still, he received the death sentence.
On the day of his execution, Ben Teradion was wrapped in the very scroll of the Bible that he was holding when arrested. Then he was burned at the stake. The Encyclopaedia Judaica says that “in order to prolong his agony tufts of wool soaked in water were placed over his heart so that he should not die quickly.” As part of his punishment, his wife was also executed and his daughter sold to a brothel.
Although the Romans were responsible for this brutal execution of Ben Teradion, the Talmud* states that “the punishment of being burnt came upon him because he pronounced the Name in its full spelling.” Yes, to the Jews, pronouncing the personal name of God was indeed a serious transgression.
The Third Commandment:
Evidently, during the first and second centuries C.E., a superstition regarding the use of God’s name took hold among the Jews. The Mishnah (a collection of rabbinic commentaries that became the foundation of the Talmud) states that “one who pronounces the divine name as it is spelt” has no portion in the future earthly Paradise promised by God.
What was the origin of such a prohibition? Some claim that the Jews considered the name of God too sacred for imperfect humans to pronounce. Eventually, there was a hesitancy even to write the name. According to one source, that fear arose because of a concern that the document in which the name was written might later end up in the trash, resulting in a desecration of the divine name.
The Encyclopaedia Judaica says that “the avoidance of pronouncing the name YHWH . . . was caused by a misunderstanding of the Third Commandment.” The third of the Ten Commandments given by God to the Israelites states: “You must not take up the name of Jehovah your God in a worthless way, for Jehovah will not leave the one unpunished who takes up his name in a worthless way.” (Exodus 20:7) Hence, God’s decree against the improper use of his name was twisted into a superstition.
Surely, no one today claims that God would have someone burned at the stake for pronouncing the divine name! Yet, Jewish superstitions regarding God’s personal name still survive. Many continue to refer to the Tetragrammaton as the “Ineffable Name” and the “Unutterable Name.” In some circles all references to God are intentionally mispronounced to avoid violating the tradition. For example, Jah, or Yah, an abbreviation for God’s personal name, is pronounced Kah. Hallelujah is pronounced Hallelukah. Some even avoid writing out the term “God,” substituting a dash for one or more letters. For instance, when they wish to write the English word “God,” they actually write “G-d.”
Further Efforts to Hide the Name
Judaism is by no means the only religion that avoids using the name of God. Consider the case of Jerome, a Catholic priest and secretary to Pope Damasus I. In the year 405 C.E., Jerome completed his work on a translation of the entire Bible into Latin, which became known as the Latin Vulgate. Jerome did not include God’s name in his translation. Rather, following a practice of his time, he substituted the words “Lord” and “God” for the divine name. The Latin Vulgate became the first authorized Catholic Bible translation and the basis for many other translations in several languages.
For instance, the Douay Version, a 1610 Catholic translation, was basically a Latin Vulgate translated into English. It is no surprise, then, that this Bible did not include God’s personal name at all. However, the Douay Version was not just another Bible translation. It became the only authorized Bible for English-speaking Catholics until the 1940’s. Yes, for hundreds of years, the name of God was hidden from millions of devoted Catholics.
Consider also the King James Version. In 1604 the king of England, James I, commissioned a group of scholars to produce an English version of the Bible. Some seven years later, they released the King James Version, also known as the Authorized Version.
In this case too, the translators chose to avoid the divine name, using it in just a few verses. In most instances God’s name was replaced by the word “LORD” or “GOD” to represent the Tetragrammaton. This version became the standard Bible for millions. The World Book Encyclopedia states that “no important English translations of the Bible appeared for more than 200 years after the publication of the King James Version. During this time, the King James Version was the most widely used translation in the English-speaking world.”
The above are just three of the many Bible translations published over the past centuries that omit or downplay the name of God. It is no wonder that the vast majority of professed Christians today hesitate to use the divine name or do not know it at all. Granted, over the years some Bible translators have included the personal name of God in their versions. Most of these, however, have been published in more recent times and with minimal impact on the popular attitudes toward God’s name.
The widespread failure to use God’s name is based strictly on human tradition and not on Bible teachings. “Nothing in the Torah prohibits a person from pronouncing the Name of God. Indeed, it is evident from scripture that God’s Name was pronounced routinely,” explains Jewish researcher Tracey R. Rich, author of the Internet site Judaism 101. Yes, in Bible times God’s worshipers used his name.
Clearly, knowing God’s name and using it brings us closer to the approved way of worshiping him, the way he was worshiped in Bible times. This can be our first step in establishing a personal relationship with him, which is much better than simply knowing what his name is. Jehovah God actually invites us to have such a relationship with him. He inspired the warm invitation: “Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you.” (James 4:8) You may ask, however, ‘How could mortal man enjoy such intimacy with Almighty God?’ The following article explains how you can develop a relationship with Jehovah.
Hallelujah:
What comes to your mind when you hear the term “Hallelujah”? Perhaps it reminds you of Handel’s “Messiah,” a musical masterpiece from the 1700’s that features the dramatic Hallelujah chorus. Or you may think of the famous American patriotic song “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” also known as “Glory, Hallelujah.” Surely, from one source or another, you have heard the word “Hallelujah.” Perhaps you even use it from time to time. But do you know what it means?
Hallelujah—The English transliteration of the Hebrew expression ha·lelu-Yahʹ, meaning “praise Jah,” or “praise Jah, you people.”
Jah—A poetic shortened form of the name of God, Jehovah. It appears in the Bible more than 50 times, often as part of the expression “Hallelujah.”God’s Name in Your Name?
Many Bible names are still popular today. In some cases the original Hebrew meaning of these names actually included the personal name of God. Here are a few examples of such names and their meaning. Perhaps your name is one of them.
Joanna—“Jehovah Has Been Gracious”
Joel—“Jehovah Is God”
John—“Jehovah Has Shown Favor”
Jonathan—“Jehovah Has Given”
Joseph—“May Jah Add”*
Joshua—“Jehovah Is Salvation”
Bible Terms for God
The Hebrew text of the Holy Scriptures uses numerous terms for God, such as Almighty, Creator, Father, and Lord. Yet, the instances in which he is referred to by his personal name far outnumber all of the other terms combined. Clearly, it is God’s will that we use his name. Consider the following list of terms as they appear in the Hebrew Scriptures.*
Jehovah—6,973 times
God—2,605 times
Almighty—48 times
Lord—40 times
Maker—25 times
Creator—7 times
Father—7 times
Ancient of Days—3 times
Grand Instructor—2 times
On Darwinism's latest revision of the family album.
Another Day, Another “Rewrite” on Human Origins
No doubt others will weigh in on the significance, or lack of it, of the latest ballyhooed news from the world of human origins research: the dating of remains identified as archaic Homo sapiens to 300,000+ years ago, which is about 100,000 years older than the previously known oldest specimens.
The cache of fossils, meager as usual, were found in North Africa — Jebel Irhoud, Morocco – which was one surprise. From the story at
Newly discovered fossil discoveries in Africa have pushed back the age we know modern humans roamed the Earth by roughly 100,000 years — and injected profound doubt into what we thought we knew about where humanity first arose.
Newly discovered fossil discoveries in Africa have pushed back the age we know modern humans roamed the Earth by roughly 100,000 years — and injected profound doubt into what we thought we knew about where humanity first arose.
“This material represents the very roots of our species — the oldest Homo sapiens ever found in Africa or elsewhere,” said Jean-Jacques Hublin,, an anthropologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, in a press conference this week. Hublin was the lead researcher for one of the two studies published on the discoveries in yesterday’s issue of the journal Nature.
Up until now, the oldest definitive modern human fossils were known to be around 200,000 years old, and had been found in modern-day Ethiopia. These discoveries helped cement the dominant theory among anthropologists in recent decades that modern humans, Homo sapiens, evolved in East Africa and then migrated north into Asia and Europe. This region has therefore been dubbed the “cradle of humankind” (though South Africa also lays claim to the title ).
“Our results challenge this picture in many ways,” Hublin said. The fossils his team studied come from a cave in central Morocco, thousands of miles away from East Africa. They suggests that, by 300,000 years ago, modern humans had already spread across Africa. Recall that the continent that was much easier to cross then, with lush grasslands and lakes residing where the forbidding Sahara Desert lies today.
In the mainstream science venues I don’t see any direct acknowledgment of the challenge that, given conventional assumptions about human ancestry, that means considerably less time, 100,000 years less, for unguided evolutionary processes to accomplish the transition to us. Pushing origins back in time – whether of our species, whales, or life itself – is rarely good news for evolution.
The hive mind of science journalism tends not to notice such things. Speaking of which, do you ever observe how many headlines on stories like this all seem to have been written by the same person?
“Oldest Fossils of Homo Sapiens Found in Morocco, Altering History of Our Species” — New York Times
“Earliest fossil evidence of Homo sapiens found in Morocco, rewriting the story of our species” – Los Angeles Times
“A new fossil discovery in Morocco will rewrite the history of human evolution” – Quartz
“New Fossil Discovery Rewrites History of First Human Beings” – Extreme Tech
“The story of human evolution in Africa is undergoing a major rewrite” – Vox
“Oldest Homo sapiens fossil claim rewrites our species’ history” – Nature
It would be an interesting study for another time to dig down and figure out who gave them this language about “rewriting” history to begin with, which, once given, is taken up and repeated by a range of publications.
The word choice, though, is ironic. In a normal editorial process, “rewriting” is done typically to bring enhanced clarity. But when it comes to human origins, the truth is much closer to what biologist Jonathan Wells reminded us of the other day.
The problem with such fossil finds is that they never provide the lasting clarity about human origins that scientists, and the public, crave. “Instead of ending up with a nice clean line from an apelike creature, a chimpanzee-like creature,” says Dr. Wells, a U.C. Berkeley-trained embryologist, “each discovery complicates matters even more than they were complicated before.”
The more that experts on human evolution know about our origins, the less they seem to actually understand. Given evolutionary presuppositions, the direction of research and learning is not from lesser to greater clarity, but just the opposite. The result is, as Scientific American more candidly puts it, a “mess” (“Ancient Fossils from Morocco Mess Up Modern Human Origins”). If that is the case, maybe the problem is with the presuppositions.
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