Questions / Answers / Questions

My sisters, since returning to New York City, have started on a quest to find a Messianic Congregation.  They have several on their list that they intend to visit in the greater New York area.  It is amazing to see how the list of Messianic Jewish Congregations has grown over the past several years.  It proves to me how the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) is moving to bring His people to a deeper understanding of who He is. 

My sisters visited a Sephardic Messianic Congregation on Shabbat.   They were overwhelmed with the teaching.  The Rabbi is originally from Venezuela.  Among many of the things he taught them was the error we make in using the name "Jesus" to refer to our Messiah.  Can you feel the shake-up they experienced.  One of them wrote, "I'm in limbo" about her beliefs after learning from him that the scriptures have been changed.  Mary is really Miriam.  James is really Jacob...Even the use of the word "Lord" is in question. 

As "good" researchers will do, we started searching at once.  What we found keeps us bewildered.  Oh my, can all this be true?  Is some of it true?  If so, what do we do?

One web site had all the etymology for how the word Jesus in Latin means "earth pig," Another site gave even more information on the Sacred Name or True Name, and at the end of the post, there is a call to those who want to receive "Jesus as Lord." That was a little confusing to me.  Another site has the word Adonai having its roots in the Phoenician/Caananite cult of Adonis.  Who knew? 

The questions persist.  Can all this be true?  Is some of it true?  What do we do?  When you are trying to live a life honoring the King of the Universe, the Savior, how we address Him matters.

For now, I have decided to play it safe.  I will continue to refer to my Messiah, as Yeshua (salvation).  I have asked HaShem to forgive me if the use of the other words for him are wrong.  I have asked that He guide me to the truth and change my ways to His ways.  And of course,  I will speak with my Rabbi and get his perspective on this.

Here are links to some of the sites I visited.

http://www.sabbathcovenant.com/doctrine/sus_is_latin_for_pig.htm
http://seekgod.ca/htwhatsinaname.htm
http://www.sacrednamemovement.com/InvitationEssayC.html
http://jesusisajew.org/YESHUA.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_God_in_Judaism
http://www.myredeemerlives.com/namesofgod/adonai-elohim.html
http://phoenicia.org/adonis.html


UPDATE

After speaking with Rabbi I was reassured that the use of the name Jesus is not wrong.  In English, Jesus does not mean "earth pig."  A member of our congregation, who is Jewish, made a good point by using the word "gift."  In Germany, gift means poison.  In English, gift means present. 

In other words, languages are complex. 

The following is part of an article by Dr. Daniel Botkin on the name Yeshua versus Yahshua.  In it he discusses the English form of Jesus:

The English form Jesus is derived from the New Testament Greek name Ihsouß, pronounced "Yesous." According to Strong’s, Yesous (Strong’s #2424) is "of Hebrew origin" and can be traced back to Joshua’s Hebrew name, Yehoshua (#3091, [wvwhy). But how do we get the Greek Yesous from the Hebrew Yehoshua? Someone armed with nothing more than a Strong’s Concordance may have difficulty answering that question. Someone who reads the Bible in Hebrew, though, knows that the name Joshua sometimes appears in its shortened form, Yeshua ([wvy) in Neh. 8:17 it is apparent even in English: "Jeshua the son of Nun." (The letter J was pronounced like a Y in Old English.) Strong does not tell the reader that the Greek Yesous is actually transliterated from this shortened Hebrew form, Yeshua, and not directly from the longer form Yehoshua. The process from "Yehoshua" to "Jesus" looks like this:

Hebrew Yehoshua à Hebrew Yeshua

Hebrew Yeshua à Greek Yesous

Greek Yesous à English Jesus

There is no "sh" sound in Greek, which accounts for the middle "s" sound in Yesous. The "s" at the end of the Greek name is a grammatical necessity, to make the word declinable.

In Neh. 8:17, Joshua’s name is 100% identical to the name which today’s Messianic Jews use for the Messiah, Yeshua ([wvy). Strong’s confirms this pronunciation, and tells us that there were ten Israelites in the Bible who bore this name (#3442). Therefore the shortening of Yehoshua to Yeshua predates the Christian era by at least 500 years, and cannot be the result of a Jewish conspiracy to hide the Savior’s true name.[4] To claim that the shortened form Yeshua is the result of a Jewish conspiracy is to ignore the facts of history and the facts of the Hebrew Scriptures. The form Yeshua existed for several hundred years before the Messiah was even born. Even in the pre-Christian Septuagint, we see the Greek form IHSOUS (Yesous) in the title of the Book of Joshua. (This is also proof that Yesous has no connection to the pagan god Zeus.)
http://www.yashanet.com/library/Yeshua_or_Yahshua.htm

Bottom line, better we should use our Messiah's given name, Yeshua. Technically, calling him Jesus is not an insult.