Curious Statements by Irenaeus on Jesus by John Denham Parsons

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Curious Statements of Irenaeus by John Denham Parsons 1896

The special importance of the evidence of Irenaeus, is due to the fact that of all the Fathers whose undisputed works have come down to us he is the only one who can be considered to have been anything like in touch with the Apostles. As an acquaintance of the aged Polycarp, who is said to have been in his youth a pupil of the aged Evangelist and Apostle St. John and to have met yet other Apostles, Irenaeus had opportunities for ascertaining facts concerning the life and death of Jesus which the other Fathers upon whose works we rely did not possess.

What, then, does this important witness have to say, which bears upon the points at issue? As a matter of fact, very little.

There are, however, two passages in the works of Irenaeus which it would not be right to altogether ignore.

In the first of these passages Irenaeus mentions that some Christians believed that Simon of Cyrene was executed instead of Jesus, owing to the power of Jesus to metamorphose himself and others having been exercised with that object in view. This power is referred to more than once in our Gospels, for instance in the account of the so-called "Transfiguration" upon the Mount; the Greek word rendered in our Bibles as "transfigured" being the word which in translations of the older Greek classics is rendered "metamorphosed."

Even if we pass by this belief of certain of the early Christians that Jesus was never executed, a question here arises which should at least be stated, and that is the question how, if Jesus was metamorphosed upon the Mount, as the Gospels tell us, he can be said to have died as a man at Calvary? For if upon the Mount of Transfiguration, or at any other time previous to the scene at Calvary, Jesus was metamorphosed, the form which was the result of the process of re-metamorphosis necessary to make him recognisable again cannot be said to have been born of the Virgin Mary, and can have been human only in appearance.

The other passage in the writings of Irenaeus which deserves our notice, is neither more nor less than an emphatic declaration, by Irenaeus himself, that Jesus was not executed when a little over thirty years of age, but lived to be an old man. Explain it away how we will, the fact remains; and it certainly ought not to be ignored.

At first sight this statement of Irenaeus would decidedly seem to support the theory advanced by some, that, as the Roman Procurator Pontius Pilate admittedly did not want to carry out the extreme penalty in the case of Jesus, though he reluctantly consented to do so in order to pacify the Jews and allowed Jesus to be fixed to a stauros and suspended in public view, he took care to manage things so that Jesus should only appear to die. The idea of course is that if Pilate wished to preserve the life of Jesus he could easily have had him taken down while in a drugged condition, have had the farce of burial carried out at the earliest possible moment, and then have had him resuscitated and removed to some region where he could dwell in safety.

What Irenaeus says concerning Jesus is that

"He passed through every age, becoming an infant for infants. . . . So likewise he was an old man for old men, that he might be a perfect Master for all, not merely as regards the setting forth of the truth but also as regards age, sanctifying at the same time the aged also and becoming an example to them likewise. Then, at last, he came on to death itself. . . . From the fortieth and fiftieth year a man begins to decline towards old age, which our Lord possessed while he still fulfilled the office of a Teacher; even as the Gospel and all the elders testify, those who were conversant in Asia with John the disciple of the Lord affirming that John conveyed to them that information. And he remained among them up to the times of Trajan. Some of them moreover saw not only John but the other apostles also, and heard the very same account from them, and bear testimony as to the statement. Whom, then, should we rather believe? Whether such men as these, or Ptolemæus, who never saw the apostles and who never even in his dreams attained to the slightest trace of an apostle?"

The reader must decide for himself or herself whether Irenaeus believed that Jesus was never executed; or that he was executed but survived; or that he was born when we suppose, but executed thirty years or so later than we suppose; or that, though executed when we suppose, he was then an old man, and was born, not at the commencement or middle or end of the year A.C. 1, or B.C. 4, or whenever the orthodox date is, but thirty years or more before what we call our era began. Anyhow he mentions neither cross nor execution, and here seems to assume that Jesus died a natural death. And in any case the fact remains that, however mistaken he may have been, Irenaeus stated that Jesus lived to be an old man; and stated so emphatically.

Even granting that Irenaeus must have been mistaken, his evidence none the less affects one of the most important points debated in this work. For it is clear that if even he knew so little about the execution of Jesus, the details of that execution cannot have been particularly well known; and the affirmation that the stauros to which Jesus was affixed had a transverse bar attached may have had no foundation in fact, and may have arisen from a wish to connect Jesus with that well-known and widely-venerated Symbol of Life, the pre-Christian cross.

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The Bible and the Word "Hell"

by J.W. Hanson, D.D. 1888 

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THE BIBLE HELL
Does the Bible teach the idea commonly held among Christians concerning Hell? Does the Hell of the Bible denote a place of torment, or a condition of suffering without end, to begin at death? What is the Hell of the Bible? Manifestly the only way to arrive at the correct answer is to trace the words translated Hell from the beginning to the end of the Bible, and by their connections ascertain exactly what the divine Word teaches on this important subject. It seems incredible that a wise and benevolent God should have created or permitted any kind of an endless hell in his universe. Has he done so? Do the Scripture teachings concerning Hell stain the character of God and clothe human destiny with an impenetrable pall of darkness, by revealing a state or place of endless torment? Or do they explain its existence, and relieve God's character, and dispel all the darkness of misbelief, by teaching that it exists as a means to a good end? It is our belief that the Bible Hell is not the heathen, nor the "orthodox" hell, but is one that is doomed to pass away when its purpose shall have been accomplished, in the reformation of those for whose welfare a good God ordained it.

THE ENGLISH WORD HELL
The English word Hell grew into its present meaning. Horne Tooke says that hell, heel, hill, hole, whole, hall, hull, halt and hold are all from the same root. "Hell, any place, or some place covered over. Heel, that part of the foot which is covered by the leg. Hill, any heap of earth, or stone, etc., by which the plain or level surface of the earth is covered. Hale, i.e., healed or whole. Whole, the same as hale, i.e., covered. It was formerly written whole, without the w, as a wound or sore is healed, or whole, that is, covered over by the skin, which manner of expression will not seem extraordinary if we consider our use of the word recover. Hall, a covered building, where persons assemble, or where goods are protected from the weather. Hull, of a nut, etc. That by which a nut is covered. Hole, some place covered over. 'You shall seek for holes to hide your heads in.' Holt, holed, hol'd holt. A rising ground or knoll covered with trees. Hold, as the hold of a ship, in which things are covered, or the covered part of a ship."

The word was first applied to the grave by our German and English ancestors, and as superstition came to regard the grave as an entrance to a world of torment, Hell at length became the word used to denote an imaginary realm of fiery woe.

Dr. Adam Clarke says: "The word Hell, used in the common translation, conveys now an improper meaning of the original word; because Hell is only used to signify the place of the damned. But as the word Hell comes from the Anglo-Saxon helan, to cover, or hide, henee the tiling or slating of a house is called, in some parts of England (particularly Cornwall), heling, to this day, and the corers of books (in Lancashire), by the same name, so the literal import of the original word hades was formerly well expressed by it."---Com. in loc.

FOUR WORDS TRANSLATED HELL
In the Bible four words are translated Hell: the Hebrew word Sheol, in the original Old testament; its equivalent, the Greek word Hadees, in the Septuagint; and in the New Testament, Hadees, Gehenna and Tartarus.

SHEOL AND HADEES
The Hebrew Old Testament, some three hundred years before the Christian era, was translated into Greek, but of the sixty-four instances where Sheol occurs in the Hebrew, it is rendered Hadees in the Greek sixty times, so that either word is the equivalent of the other. But neither of these words is ever used in the Bible to signify punishment after death, nor should the word Hell ever be used as the rendering of Sheol or Hadees for neither word denotes post-mortem torment. According to the Old Testament the words Sheol, Hadees primarily signify only the place, or state of the dead. The character of those who departed thither did not affect their situation in Sheol, for all went into the same state. The word cannot be translated by the term Hell, for that would make Jacob expect to go to a place of torment, and prove that the Savior of the world, David, Jonah, etc., were once sufferers in the prison-house of the damned. In every instance in the Old Testament, the word grave might be substituted for the term hell, either in a literal or figurative sense. The word being a proper name should always have been left untranslated. Had it been carried into the Greek Septuagint, and thence into the English, untranslated, Sheol, a world of misconception would have been avoided, for when it is rendered Hadees, all the materialism of the heathen mythology is suggested to the mind, and when rendered Hell, the medieval monstrosities of a Christianity corrupted by heathen adulterations is suggested. Had the word been permitted to travel untranslated, no one would give to it the meaning now so often applied to it. Sheol, primarily, literally, the grave, or death, secondarily and figuratively the political, social, moral or spiritual consequences of wickedness in the present world, is the precise force of the term, wherever found.

Sheol occurs exactly sixty-four times and is translated hell thirty-two times, pit three times, and grave twenty-nine times. Dr. George Campbell, a celebrated critic, says that "Sheol signifies the state of the dead in general, without regard to the goodness or badness of the persons, their happiness or misery."

FIVE OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS CLAIMED
Professor Stuart (orthodox Congregational) only dares claim five out of the sixty-four passages as affording any proof that the word means a place of punishment after death. "These," he says, "may designate the future world of woe." "They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to Sheol." "The wicked shall be turned into Sheol, and all the nations that forget God." "Her feet go down to death, her steps take hold of Sheol." "But he knoweth that the ghosts are there, and that her guests are in the depths of Sheol." "Thou shalt beat him with a rod, and shall deliver his soul from Sheol. He observes: "The meaning will be a good one, if we suppose Sheol to designate future punishment." "I concede, to interpret all the texts which exhibit Sheol as having reference merely to the grave, is possible; and therefore it is possible to interpret" them "as designating a death violent and premature, inflicted by the hand of Heaven."

An examination shows that these five passages agree with the rest in their meaning:
Ps. 9:17: "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." The wicked here are "the heathen," "mine enemies," i.e.; they are not individuals, but "the nations that forget God," that is, neighboring nations, the heathen. They will be turned into Sheol, death, die as nations, for their wickedness. Individual sinners are not meant.

Professor Alexander, of the Theological Seminary, Princeton, thus presents the correct translation of Ps. 9:17, the only passage containing the word usually quoted from the Old Testament to convey the idea of post-mortem punishment. "The wicked shall turn back, even to hell, to death or to the grave, all nations forgetful of God. The enemies of God and of his people shall not only be thwarted and repulsed, but driven to destruction, and that not merely individuals, but nations." Dr. Allen, of Bowdoin College says of this text: "The punishment expressed in this passage is cutting off from life, destroying from the earth by some special judgment, and removing to the invisible state of the dead. The Hebrew term translated hell in the text does not seem to mean, with any certainty, anything more than the state of the dead in their deep abode." Professor Stuart: "It means a violent and premature death inflicted by the hand of heaven." Job 21:13: "They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave."

It would seem that no one could claim this text as a threat of after-death punishment. It is a mere declaration of sudden death. This is evident when we remember that it was uttered to a people who, according to all authorities, believed in no punishment after death.

Proverbs 5: 5: "her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell." This language, making death and Sheol parallel, announces that the strange woman walks in paths of swift and inevitable sorrow and death. And so does Prov. 9:18: "But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell." Sheol is here used as a figure of emblem of the horrible condition and fate of those who follow the ways of sin. They are dead while they live. They are already in Sheol or the kingdom of death.

Proverbs 23: 13-14: "Withhold not correction from the child; for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell." Sheol is here used as the grave, to denote the death that rebellious children experience early, or it may mean that moral condition of the soul which Sheol, the realm of death signifies. But in no case is it supposable that it means a place or condition of after-death punishment in which, as all scholars agree, Solomon was not a believer.

MEANING OF THE WORD
The real meaning of the word Stuart concedes to be the under-world, the religion of the dead, the grave, the sepulcher, the region of ghosts or departed spirits. (Ex. Ess.): "It was considered as a vast and wide dominion or region, of which the grave seems to have been as it were only a part or a kind of entrance-way. It appears to have been regarded as extending deep down into the earth, even to its lowest abysses. . . . . In this boundless region lived and moved at times, the names of departed friends."

But these five passages teach no such doctrine as he thinks they may teach. The unrighteous possessor of wealth goes down to death; the nations that forget God are destroyed as nations; lewd women's steps lead downward to death; their guests are on the downward road; the rod that wisely corrects the unruly child, saves him from the destruction of sin. There is no hint of an endless hell, nor of a post-mortem hell in these passages, and if not in these five then it is conceded it is in no passage containing the word.

That the Hebrew Sheol never designates a place of punishment in a future state of existence, we have the testimony of the most learned of scholars, even among the so-called orthodox. We quote the testimony of a few:

Rev. Dr. Whitby: "Sheol throughout the Old Testament, signifies not a place of punishment for the souls of bad men only, but the grave, or place of death." Dr Chapman: "Sheol, in itself considered has no connection with future punishment." Dr. Allen: "The term Sheol itself, does not seem to mean anything more than the state of the dead in their dark abode." Dr. Firbairn, of the College of Glasgow: "Beyond doubt, Sheol, like Hades, was regarded as the abode after death, alike of the good and the bad." Edward Leigh, who says Horne's, "Introduction," was "one of the most learned understanding of the original languages of the Scriptures," observes that "all learned Hebrew scholars know the Hebrews have no proper word for hell, as we take hell."

Prof. Stuart: "There can be no reasonable doubt that Sheol does most generally mean the underworld, the grave or sepulchre, the world of the dead. It is very clear that there are many passages where no other meaning can reasonably be assigned to it. Accordingly, our English translators have rendered the word Sheol grave in thirty instances out of the whole sixty-four instances in which it occurs."

Dr. Thayer in his Theology of Universalism quotes as follows: Dr. Whitby says that Hell "throughout the Old Testament signifies the grave only or the place of death." Archbishop Whately: "As for a future state of retribution in another world, Moses said nothing to the Israelites about that." Milman says that Moses "maintains a profound silence on the rewards and punishments of another life." Bishop Warburton testifies that, "In the Jewish Republic, both the rewards and punishments promised by Heaven were temporal only-such as health, long life, peace, plenty and dominion, etc., diseases, premature death, war, famine, want, subjections, captivity, etc. And in no one place of the Mosaic Institutes is there the least mention, or any intelligible hint, of the rewards and punishments of another life." Paley declares that the Mosaic dispensation "dealt in temporal rewards and punishments. The blessings consisted altogether of worldly benefits, and the curses of worldly punishments. Prof. Mayer says, that "the rewards promised the righteous, and the punishments threatened the wicked, are such only as are awarded in the present state of being." Jahn, whose work is the textbook of the Andover Theological Seminary, says, "We have no authority, therefore, decidedly to say, that any other motives were held out to the ancient Hebrews to pursue good and avoid evil, than those which were derived from the rewards and punishments of this life." To the same important fact testify Prof. Wines, Bush, Arnauld, and other distinguished theologians and scholars. "All learned Hebrew scholars know that the Hebrews have no word proper for hell, as we take hell."

[Footnote: Encyc. Britan., vol. 1. Dis. 3 Whateley's "Peculiarities of the Christian Religion," p.44, 2d edition, and his "Scripture Revelations of a Future State," pp. 18, 19, American edition. MILMAN'S "Hist. of Jews," vol. 1, 117. "Divine Legation," vol. 3, pp. 1, 2 & c. 10th London edition. PALEY'S works, vol. 5. p. 110, Sermon 13. Jahn's "Archaeology," 324. Lee, in his "Eschatology," says: "It should be remembered that the rewards and punishments of the Mosaic Institutes were exclusively temporal. Not an allusion is found, in the case of either individuals or communities, in which reference is made to the good or evil of a future state as motive to obedience."]

Dr. Muenscher, author of a Dogmatic History in German, says: "The souls or shades of the dead wander in Sheol, the realm or kingdom of death, an abode deep under the earth. Thither go all men, without distinction, and hope for no return. There ceases all pain and anguish; there reigns an unbroken silence; there all is powerless and still; and even the praise of God is heard no more." Von Coelln: "Sheol itself is described as the house appointed for all living, which receives into its bosom all mankind, without distinction of rank, wealth or moral character. It is only in the mode of death, and not in the condition after death, that the good are distinguished above the evil. The just, for instance, die in peace, and are gently borne away before the evil comes; while a bitter death breaks the wicked like as a tree."

SHEOL RENDERED GRAVE
Consult the passages in which the word is rendered grave, and substitute the original word Sheol, and it will be seen that the meaning is far better preserved: Gen. 37: 34-35: "And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sack-cloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him." It was not into the literal grave, but into the realm of the dead, where Jacob supposed his son to have gone, into which he wished to go, namely, to Sheol.

Gen. 42:38 and 44: 31, are to the same purport: "And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave." "It shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave." The literal grave may be meant here, but had Sheol remained untranslated, any reader would have understood the sense intended.

I Samuel 2: 6: "The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up." I Kings 2: 6-9: "Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace. Now therefore hold him not guiltless: for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him; but his hoar head bring thou down to the grave with blood." Job 7: 9: "As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more." Job 14: 13: "Oh that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me."

Of Korah and his company, it is said, "They and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the congregation."-Num. 16: 33. Job 17: 13-14: "If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister." Job 21: 13: "They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave." Job 33: 21-22: "His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen: and his bones that were not seen stick out. Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his lie to the destroyers." Ps. 6: 5: "In the grave who shall give thee thanks?" Ps. 30: 3: "O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit." Ps. 88: 3: "For my soul is full of troubles, and my soul draweth nigh to the grave." Prov. 1: 12: "Let us swallow them up alive as the grave." Ps. 20: 3: "In the grave who shall give thee thanks?" Ps. 141: 7: "Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth." Song Sol. 8: 6: "Jealousy is cruel as the grave." Ecc. 9: 10: "There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Isa. 38: 18: "For the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth." Hos. 14: 14: "I will ransom them from the power of the grave-O grave, I will be thy destruction." Job 33: 22: "His soul (man's) draweth near unto the grave." I Kings 2: 9: "But his hoar head bring thou down to the grave with blood." Job 24: 19: "Drought and heat consume the snow-waters; so doth the grave those which have sinned." Psalm 6: 5: "For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks." Psalm 31: 17: "Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave." Psalm 89: 48: "What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Prov. 30:16: "The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not. It is enough." Isa. 14: 11: "Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols; the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee." On Isa. 38: 18: "For the Grave (Sheol, Hadees) cannot praise thee; death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth." Prof. Stuart says: "I regard the simple meaning of this controverted place (and of others like it, e.g., Ps. 6: 5; 30: 9; 88: 11; 115: 7; Comp. 118: 17) as being this namely, "The dead can no more give thanks to God nor celebrate his praise among the living on earth, etc." And he properly observes (pp. 113-14): "It is to be regretted that our English translation has given occasion to the remark that those who made it have intended to impose on their readers in any case a sense different from that of the original Hebrew. The inconstancy with which they have rendered the word Sheol even in cases of the same nature, must obviously afford some apparent ground for this objection against their version of it."

Why the word should have been rendered grave and pit in the foregoing passages, and hell in the rest, cannot be explained. Why it is not grave or hell, or better still Sheol or Hadees in all cases, no one can explain, for there is no valid reason.

SHEOL RENDERED HELL
The first time the word is found translated Hell in the Bible is in Deut. 32: 22-26: "For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest Hell, Sheol-Hadees, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap mishiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. The sword without and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs. I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men."

Thus the lowest Hell is on earth, and its torments consist in such pains as are only possible in this life: "hunger," "the teeth of beasts," "the poison of serpents," "the sword," etc.; and not only are real offenders to suffer them, but even "sucklings" are to be involved in the calamity. If endless torment is denoted by the word, infant damnation follows, for into this hell "the suckling and the man of gray hairs go," side by side. The scattering and destruction of the Israelites, in this world, is the meaning of fire in the lowest hell, as any reader can see by carefully consulting the chapter containing this first instance of the use of the word.

Similar to this are the teachings wherever the word occurs in the Old Testament: "For thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell nor suffer thine holy one to see corruption." Ps. 16:10. Here "corruption" is placed parallel with Sheol, or death.

"Though they dig into Hell, thence shall my hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down." Amos 9:2. "If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in Hell, behold, thou art there." Ps. 139: 8. "It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than Hell; what canst thou know." Job 11:8 The sky and the depths of the earth are here placed in opposition, to represent height and depth. A place of torment after death was never thought of by any of those who use the word in the Old Testament.

If the word means a place of endless punishment, then David was a monster. Ps. 55:15: "Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into Sheol-Hadees!"

Job desired to go there. 14:13: "Oh, that thou wouldst hide me in Sheol-Hadees.

Hezekiah expected to go there.-Isa 38:10: "I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of Sheol-Hadees.

Korah, Dathan and Abiram (Numbers 16: 30-33) not only went there "but their houses, and goods, and all that they owned," "and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into Sheol-Hadees, and the earth closed upon them; and they perished from among the congregation." It is in the dust-Job 17: 16: "They shall go down to the bars of Sheol-Hadees, when our rest together is in the dust."

It has a mouth, is in fact the grave, see Ps. 141: 7: "Our bones are scattered at Sheol's-Hadees' mouth , as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth."

It has gray hairs, Gen. 42: 38: "And he said, my son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him by the way in which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol-Hadees."

The overthrow of the King of Babylon is called Hell.-Isa. 14: 9-15, 22-23: "Hell, Sheol-Hadees, from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming; it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall speak and say unto thee, art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols; the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. For I will rise up against them saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the Lord. I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts." All this imagery demonstrates temporal calamity, a national overthrow as the signification of the word Hell.

The captivity of the Jews is called Hell.-Isa. 5: 13-14: "Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Therefore Sheol- Hadees, hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure; and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

Temporal overthrow is called Hell.-Ps. 49: 14: "Likesheep they are laid in the grave, death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in Sheol-Hadees, from their dwelling." Ezek. 32: 26-27: "And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to Sheol-Hadees with their weapons of war, and they have laid their swords under their heads." Men are in hell with their swords under their heads. This cannot mean a state of conscious suffering.

Hell is to be destroyed. Hos. 13: 14: "Oh grave I will be thy destruction." I Cor. 15: 55: "Oh grave I will be thy destruction." Rev. 20: 13,14: "And death and Hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire."

Sheol is precisely the same word as Saul. If it meant Hell, would any Hebrew parent have called his child Sheol? Think of calling a boy Sheol (Hell)!

Nowhere in the Old Testament does the word Sheol, or its Greek equivalent, Hadees, ever denote a place or condition of suffering after death; it either means literal death or temporal calamity. This is clear as we consult the usage.

Hence David, after having been in Hell was delivered from it: Ps. 18: 5; 30: 3: "O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave; thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. When the waves of death compassed me the floods of ungodly men made me afraid." "The sorrows of Hell, Sheol-Hadees compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me," so that there is escape from Hell."

Jonah was in a fish only seventy hours, and declared he was in hell forever. He escaped from Hell. Jon. 2: 2, 6: "Out of the belly of Hell (Sheol-Hadees) cried I, and thou heardest my voice, earth with her bars was about me forever." Even an eternal Hell lasted but three days.

It is a place where God is and therefore must be an instrumentality of mercy. Ps. 139: 8: "If I make my bed In Hell (Sheol-Hadees), behold thou art there."

Men having gone into it are redeemed from it. I Sam. 2: 6: "The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave (Sheol-Hadees) and bringeth up."

Jacob wished to go there.-Gen. 37: 35: "I will go down into the grave Hades unto my son mourning."

The Misplaced Comma at Luke 23:43

The Mistaken Comma at Luke 23:43

From an 1882 Pamphlet

Verily, I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise. Luke xxiii. 43.

This is often quoted as conclusive evidence that the righteous, at death, go immediately into heaven to dwell with Christ. But, strange as it may appear, this evidence hangs on the position of the little comma placed before the word to-day, making the word to-day qualify the verb shall be, in the second member of the sentence. Now, suppose we move the place of the comma, so as to make it read— Verily, I say unto thee to-day, shalt thou be with me in Paradise—This destroys the evidence that good men go to heaven at death. Now, the location of the comma is no part of inspired testimony, but is a thing of modern invention. But, says one, if the word to-day is made a part of the first member of the sentence, and qualifies the verb say, instead of shall be, it is not good sense; for the thief could not think Christ was saying it yesterday or to-morrow. This leads us to examine more closely the word. It is not a noun, in the original; but an adverb, semeron, and does qualify the first expression—I say, and is the same in other instances translated now; which is frequently used without the least regard to definite time. As I should say to my opponent—Now, you are mistaken with regard to what the Saviour said to the thief. Here I do not use the word now, to let my opponent understand he was not mistaken yesterday, to-day or to-morrow; but to give a force to that indicative form of expression. This appears to be the use of the word semeron in the text. Now verily, I say unto thee shalt thou be with me in paradise. When? Listen to the thief's prayer, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Not when thou goest into thy kingdom, at death. But when thou comest into it." Now, according to the assurance Christ gave the thief, when he comes in his kingdom, the thief must be with him. And, when will that be—at the death of a Christian? No. Read Matt. xxv. 31 to 34.

There are other instances where the word To-day and this day are used without regard to definite time. In Deut. xxvii. 8: This day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God. But God declares them his people long before that, in many places, Exod. v. 1—Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, let my people go. Deut. ix. 1—Hear, O Israel! Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself. It was many months after this before they passed over Jordan.

Now whether the thief and our Saviour were together, in paradise, on the precise day this promise was made, depends on other circumstances of more importance than the comma. One we shall notice. Our Saviour died on a certain day, at three o'clock, P. M., or the ninth hour of the Jewish day, and the two thieves did not die until the next day. Here it should be borne in mind, that the evening and the morning made the day, and that the day commenced at evening, at six o'clock, P. M., our time. Now since our Saviour died at three o'clock, P. M., three hours more finished that day, and another commenced at six o'clock or evening, and this was the preparation day, the day before the Sabbath. That the legs of the two thieves were broken on the preparation day, to hasten their death, is evident from John xix. 31 to 33. And that the Saviour was dead before the preparation day commenced, is also evident from Mark xv. 42 to 44. Joseph of Arimathea did not beg the body until the evening of the preparation day, and it had certainly been dead at least three hours before that day commenced, which was at six o'clock in the afternoon, our time, and Christ died the day before at three o'clock in the afternoon, our time.

Again, according to the sign he gave the Jews of his Messiahship, he was to be in the grave three nights and three days. But if he died on Friday, the day the two thieves did, he was but two nights in the grave, which would not prove him the Messiah; but he died on our Thursday, and was in the grave that night and the two following, which proved him the true Messiah according to the sign he gave. Matt. xii. 39, 40.

See also More on the New World Translation and Luke 23:43

Deleted Verses in the New World Translation

There is a Catholic website at http://www.catholicapologetics.info/scripture/translations/neworld.htm that details many of the Bible verses deleted from the New World Translation Bible. I wouldn't even bother with this drivel if it wasn't for the fact that I see this page shared a lot.

One of the first passages this website notes as being deleted is Matthew 17:21.

Take note of the image above. Those captions are from three different Catholic Bibles and all of them have "deleted" the same passage that the NWT Bible did.

Why?

The oldest manuscripts did not have these verses. The King James Version Bible was released in 1611 and it was based primarily on late manuscripts, not older ones. Older mss were discovered AFTER the release of the KJV Bible. Codex Sinaiticus, one of the four great ancient uncial codices wasn't discovered until the 1840's. The value of the Codex Vaticanus and Alexandrinus was not realized until quite some time after 1611.

There is even a wikipedia entry for the deleted verses at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_Testament_verses_not_included_in_modern_English_translations

So it is not that certain verses were deleted, it is just that they were added at a later date.

The Subordinationist Trinity of Hippolytus By Alvan Lamson

This Kindle book, The Dark History of the Trinity, is now available on Amazon by clicking here...and it is only 99 cents

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Hippolytus' Subordinationist Trinity By Alvan Lamson 1865

Hippolytus, a Roman presbyter, and Bishop of Portus, the harbor of Rome, near Ostia...lived and wrote about the year 220. (Christian Charles Josias von) Bunsen makes him Origen's senior by twenty-five years, and pronounces him "one of the leading men of ancient Christianity," —"one of those Christian teachers, governors, and thinkers, who made Christianity what it became as a social system, and as one of thought and ethics." He places him "among the series of leading men of the first seven generations of Christians." The title of the work is, "A Refutation of all Heresies." The tenth book contains what Bunsen calls "the confession of faith of Hippolytus"; which he pronounces "the real gem of his writings," — "his sacred legacy to posterity."

The history of Hippolytus has been involved in great obscurity; and all is not yet perfectly clear. Photius makes him a scholar of Irenaeus. He wrote numerous works, the titles of which are preserved hy the old writers. He is styled bishop, and both Eusebius and Jerome more than once mention him; but neither of them knew where he had his abode or see. Some have assigned him a residence at Portus Romanus in Arabia, that is, Adan or Aden; others at the port of Rome, where Bunsen places him. It is not improbable that he might have resided at both places at different periods of his life. He wrote in Greek. His death by martyrdom is referred to the early part of the third century. In 1551, a statue in marble was dug up in the vicinity of Rome, representing a venerable man seated in a chair, and having the title of several of Hippolytus's works engraved upon it; and there can be little doubt that it is his. Few of his writings have been supposed to remain.

The fragments we before possessed, however, showed the opinions he entertained on the subject of the Trinity. He was no believer in a co-equal Three. His Trinity, says (August) Neander, was "strictly subordinational." He asserted that "God caused the Logos to proceed from him when he would and as he would." In regard to the words, "I and my Father are one," he observes, that Christ "used the same expression respecting his own relation to the disciples." [Hist. Christ. Dogm., p. 168]

But he comes to us now, since the discovery of this work, as a new witness against the antiquity of the modern doctrine of the Trinity. The confession just referred to, as given by Bunsen, clearly exhibits the superiority of the Father, and the dependent and derived nature of the Son. The Father, according to the confession, is "the one God, the first and the only One, the Maker and Lord of all," who "had nothing coeval with him, no infinite chaos, no measureless water or solid earth, no thick air or hot fire or subtile spirit; not the blue vault of the great heaven. But he was One, alone by himself; who, willing it, called into being what had no being before, except that when he willed to call it into being, he had full knowledge of what was to be." Here is the One Infinite Father, who is above all, without co-equal, the Originator of all things. But, like the other ante-Nicene Fathers, Hippolytus believed, that, in creating the world, God made use of a subordinate being, or instrument, which was the Logos, or Son. "This sole and universal God," Hippolytus says, "first by his cogitation begets the Word (Logos), . . . the indwelling Reason of the universe." "When he (the Logos) came forth from Him who begat him, being his first-begotten speech, he had in himself the ideas conceived by the Father. When, therefore, the Father commanded that the world should be, the Logos accomplished it in detail, pleasing God." Again: this or that effect took place, "so far as the commanding God willed that the Logos should accomplish it." Here is subordination as unequivocally expressed as language can declare it. God is the Original: he commands, and the Son, or Logos, performs. "These things he (God) made by the Logos," the "only-begotten child of the Father, the light-bringing voice, anterior to the morning star." In common with the other Fathers, Hippolytus applies to the Son the title "God," because begotten of the substance of God, and not created out of nothing, as other things were; but he clearly distinguishes him from the Supreme, Infinite One. We discover in the confession, as Bunsen gives it, no mention of the Spirit as a distinct manifestation. Bunsen quotes G. A. Meier as asserting "the fact, that Hippolytus decidedly ascribes no personality to the Holy Spirit." [See Meier's Lehre von der Trinitat, i. 88; Bunsen's Christianity and Mankind, i. 464. — Ed.]

The creed of this old bishop, who, as we are told, "received the traditions and doctrine of the Apostolic age from an unsuspected source," is certainly not Athanasian. Well might Bunsen pronounce the "doctrinal system of the ante-Nicene Church," among the teachers of which he assigns to Hippolytus so elevated a place, "irreconcilable with the letter and authority of the formularies of the Constantinian, and, in general, of the Byzantine councils, and with the mediaeval systems built upon them." He subjoins, "I say that it is irreconcilable with that letter and that authority, as much as these are with the Bible and common sense; and I add, it would be fully as irreconcilable with the Byzantine and Roman churches if Arianism had prevailed."

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Contents:

Adonis, Attis, Osiris - studies in the history of oriental religion by Sir James Frazer 1907

The mystery religions and the New Testament by Henry C Sheldon 1918

The Ancient Mysteries and Modern Masonry by Charles Vail 1909

St. Paul and the Mystery Religions by H.A.A. Kennedy 1913

St. Paul and the mystery Religions by John Franklin Troupe 1917

A Dissertation on the Ancient Pagan Mysteries by John Towne 1766

Mysteria - History of the secret doctrines and mystic rites of ancient religions and medieval and modern secret orders by Dr Otto Rhyn 1895

The Gospel of Osiris by William N Guthrie 1916

The Egyptian Book of the Dead 1904

The Book of the Dead by George Boker 1882

The Book of the Dead 1920

On the Origin of Freemasonry by Thomas Paine 1810

The Great Pyramid and the Book of the Dead 1893

The Mysteries, pagan and Christian by Samuel Cheetham 1897

Essay on the mysteries of Eleusis by Sergei Uvarov 1817

The Worship of the Dead - The origin and nature of pagan idolatry and its bearing upon the early history of Egypt and Babylonia 1909 by John Garnier

The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume 1 by Sir James Frazer 1913

Rome: Pagan and Papal by Mourant Brock 1883

The Obelisk and Freemasonry + Egyptian symbols compared with those discovered in American mounds by John Weisse 1880

The Myth of Ra - the Supreme Sun-god of Egypt 1877 by William Ricketts Cooper

The Non-Christian Cross by John Denham Parsons 1896

Sex Worship - an exposition of the phallic origin of religion by Clifford Howard 1909

The Masculine Cross and Ancient Sex Worship by Sha Rocco 1904

The Old Testament in the light of the ancient East by Alfred Jeremias, Volume 1 1911

The Old Testament in the light of the ancient East by Alfred Jeremias, Volume 2 1911

The Masculine Cross - A history of ancient and modern crosses, and their connection with the mysteries of sex worship 1904

Nebopolassar and the Temple to the Sun-God, article in The American Journal of Semitic Languages 1899

Divine Service in Ur (Sumerian), article in Journal of the Society of Oriental Research 1921

A history of Sumer and Akkad by LW king 1910

Sex and Sex Worship by O.A. Wall 1922

A Glossary of Important Symbols in their Hebrew, pagan and Christian forms by A.S. Hall

Paganism and Christianity by James Anson Farrer 1891

Phallic Miscellanies - facts and phases of ancient and modern sex worship as illustrated chiefly in the religions of India - an appendix of additional and explanatory matter to the volumes, Phallism and Nature worship 1891 by H Jennings

The Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism by Gerhard Uhlhorn 1901

The fallen angels and the heroes of mythology by John Fleming 1879

The Origin of Pagan Idolatry BY George Stanley Faber Volume 1, 1816

The Origin of Pagan Idolatry BY George Stanley Faber Volume 2, 1816

The Origin of Pagan Idolatry BY George Stanley Faber Volume 3, 1816

The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism by Franz Cumont 1911

The Sex Worship and Symbolism of Primitive Races by Sanger Brown 1916

An Exposition of the Mysteries - Religious dogmas and customs of the ancient Egyptians, Pythagoreans, and Druids. Also, an inquiry into the origin, history, and purport of Freemasonry by John Fellow 1835

The Origin and Evolution of Freemasonry connected with the origin and evolution of the human race 1920

The Great Secret by Maurice Maeterlinck 1922 (India, Egypt, Persia, Chaldea, Greece Before Socrates, The Gnostics and the Neoplatonists, The Cabala, The Alchemists, The Modern Occultists, The Metapsychists)

Comparative studies in Orphic and early Christian cult symbolism by Robert Eisler 1921

Sacred mysteries among the Mayas and the Quiches -  Their relation to the sacred mysteries of Egypt, Greece, Chaldea and India. Freemasonry in times anterior to the temple of Solomon by Augustus Le Plongeon 1886

The Worship of Baalim by H Oort 1865

Primitive symbolism, as illustrated in phallic worship or the reproductive principle by H.M. Westropp

Names of God in the Bible, article in the Free Review 1894

The Creation of God by Jacob Hartmann 1893

The Import of the Name Jehovah, article in The Biblical Repository 1833

Serpent-worship and other essays by Charles Wake 1888

An Exposition of the Mysteries - Religious dogmas and customs of the ancient Egyptians, Pythagoreans, and Druids by John Fellows 1835

Tammuz and Ishtar, a Monograph on Babylonian Religion and Theology by S Langdon 1914

Tammuz, Pan and Christ by Wildfred Schoff 1912

The Evolution of Religion by Edward Caird, Volume 1 1894

The Evolution of Religion by Edward Caird, Volume 2 1894

Israel and Babylon; the Influence of Babylon on the religion of Israel by Hermann Gunkel 1904

The Evolution of Religions by Everard Bierer 1906

The significance of ancient religions in relation to human evolution by E Noel Reichardt 1912

The Social Evolution of Religion by George W Cooke 1920

Mithras Worship, article in The Monist 1900

Mythical Elements in the Samson Story, article in The Monist 1907

A Symbolic Figure of the Queen of Heaven, article in The Biblical World 1901

Our own religion in ancient Persia by Lawrence Mills 1913

The Buddhist Concept of Death, article in The Monist 1907

The revelation and incarnation of Mithra 1829

The Semitic gods and the Bible by D.M. Bennett

The Story of Samson and its place in the religious development of mankind by Paul Carus 1907

Zarathustra and the Bible, article in The Monist 1907

Christmas and the Nativity of Mithras, article in The Open Court 1906

The Two Babylons, or, The Papal Worship proved to be the worship of Nimrod and his wife by Alexander Hislop 1871

The Gods of the Egyptians by EA Wallis Budge 1904

A Catechism of Mythology; Containing a Compendious History of the Heathen Gods and Heroes by William Darlington 1832

False Gods - The idol Worship of the World, a Complete History of idolatrous worship throughout the world, ancient and modern, describing the strange beliefs, practices, superstitions, temples, idols, shrines, sacrifices by Frank Dobbins

Calendar of the Gods in China by T Richard 1906

The Master's Carpet - Masonry and Baal-worship identical by Edmond Ronayne 1879

The religion of the Semites by WR Smith 1889

Tooke's Pantheon of the Heathen Gods by F Pomey 1833

Greece and Babylon - a comparative sketch of Mesopotamian, Anatolian and Hellenic religions by Lewis Farnell 1911

Studies of the Gods in Greece by Louis Dyer 1891

The Secret Societies of All Ages and Countries, Volume 1 by Charles William Heckethorn - 1897

The Secret Societies of All Ages and Countries, Volume 2 by Charles William Heckethorn - 1897

Esoteric Christianity Or The Lesser Mysteries by Annie Besant 1905

The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, Volume 1 by R.C. Thompson 1903

The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, Volume 2 by R.C. Thompson 1903

The Worship of the Serpent traced Throughout the World by John B Deane 1833

Serpent and Siva worship and Mythology in Central America, Africa, and Asia and The origin of serpent worship by Hyde Clarke 1877

The Serpent Symbol and the worship of the reciprocal principles of nature in America by EG Squier 1851

The Sun and the Serpent - a contribution to the history of serpent-worship by Charles F Oldham 1905

The Serpent Myths of Ancient Egypt by WR Cooper 1873

History of the Cross - the Pagan Origin, and idolatrous adoption and worship, of the image by Henry Dana Ward 1871

The Fairy Tale Element in the Bible by Paul Carus 1901 (The Monist)

The Cross in the life and Literature of the Anglo-Saxons by William O Stevens 1904

Staurolatry, article in The Open Court 1899
(The cross triumphed, but it was no longer the cross of Calvary. The old Pagan symbol of intersecting lines was re-adopted with a new interpretation. It was adopted by the Christian church in an age of superstition and ignorance, leading to image-worship and staurolatry which was not much better than the Paganism which it replaced.)

The Cults of the Greek States, Volume 1 by Lewis R Farnell 1896

The Cults of the Greek States, Volume 2 by Lewis R Farnell 1896

The Cults of the Greek States, Volume 3 by Lewis R Farnell 1896

The Cults of the Greek States, Volume 4 by Lewis R Farnell 1896

The Cults of the Greek States, Volume 5 by Lewis R Farnell 1896

Early Christianity and paganism by H.D.M Spence-Jones 1902

Pagan Christs - studies in comparative hierology by JM Robertson 1911

The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria by Morris Jastrow 1898

Legends of Our Lady Mary the Perpetual Virgin and her mother Hanna by E.A. Wallis Budge 1922

Christianity and the Mystery Religions by Shirley Jackson Case 1914

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities by William Smith 1884

Mithraism and the Religions of the Empire 1902

Notes on the Scientific and Religious Mysteries of Antiquity by John Yarker 1872

Mithras and Christmas 1904

The Mysteries of Mithra 1922

Departed Gods - The Gods of our Forefathers by J.N. Fradenburgh 1891

The Oriental Mystery Religions and the Christianity of St Paul, article in the Union Seminary Magazine 1914

The Religion of Mithra 1888

A Dissertation on the Mysteries of the Cabiri - The great gods of Phenicia, Samothrace, Egypt, Troas, Greece, Italy, and Crete by George Stanley Faber, Volume 1 1803

A Dissertation on the Mysteries of the Cabiri - The great gods of Phenicia, Samothrace, Egypt, Troas, Greece, Italy, and Crete by George Stanley Faber, Volume 2 1803

A Description of the Antiquities and other Curiosities of Rome by Edward Burton 1821

A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life by William Rounseville Alger - 1864

The Gnostics and Their Remains by Charles William King - 1864

Christianity and Mythology by John M. Robertson - 1900

The Rosicrucian Mysteries by Max Heindel 1916

The Great Mother of the Gods by Grant Showerman 1901

The Mysteries of Freemasonry by John Fellows 1860

Traditions of Freemasonry and its coincidences with the ancient mysteries by Azaraiah Pierson 1870

The Mysteries of Masonry being the Outline of a Universal Philosophy founded upon the ritual and degrees of ancient freemasonry by LE Reynolds 1870

Religious Systems of the World 1901

History of all Religions by Samuel M Smucker 1881

Signs and Symbols Illustrated and Explained by George Oliver - 1857

Sod - the Mysteries of Adoni by SF Dunlap 1861

The Symbolism of Freemasonry by AG Mackey 1869

The History of the Devil and the Idea of Evil by Paul Carus 1899

The Hellenic Origins of Christian Asceticism by Joseph W Swain 1916

The True Origin of the Christian Religion by Dupuis 1841

The Christian Eucharist and the Pagan Cults by William Mansfield Groton - 1914

After Life in Roman Paganism by Franz Cumont 1922

Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans by Franz Cumont 1912

The Lords of the Ghostland by Edgar Saltus 1907 (Brahma, Ormuzd, Amon-Ra, Bel-Marduk, Jehovah, Zeus, Jupiter)

The Birthday of Mithra and Jesus Christ, article in the Contemporary Review 1921

Historical commentaries on the state of Christianity during the first 325 years, Volume 1 by John Laurence von Mosheim 1854

Historical commentaries on the state of Christianity during the first 325 years, Volume 2 by John Laurence von Mosheim 1854

Comparative Religion by FB Jevons 1913

The Cult of the Heavenly Twins by J Rendel Harris 1906

The Devil's Pulpit by Robert Taylor 1857

The Knowledge of God and Its Historical Development, Volume 1 by Henry Melvill Gwatkin 1906

The Knowledge of God and Its Historical Development, Volume 2 by Henry Melvill Gwatkin 1906

Bible Folk-lore - a Study in Comparative Mythology by James E Rogers 1884

The Ways of the Gods by Algernon S Crapsey 1921

The Religious Life of Ancient Rome by Jesse B Carter 1911

The Pauline idea of faith in its relation to Jewish and Hellenistic religion by Kirsopp Lale 1917

Pagan Ideas of Immortality During the Early Roman Empire by Clifford Herschel Moore 1918

The Spiritual Interpretation of History by Shailer Mathews 1916

The Golden Bough - a Study in Magic and Religion by Sir James George Frazer 1922

Religious Cults Associated with the Amazons by Florence Mary Bennett 1912

Ancient Legends of Roman History by Ettore Pais 1906

Origin and Meaning of Apple Cults by J Rendel Harris 1919

The Religion of Ancient Rome by Cyril Bailey 1907

Cults, Myths and Religions by Salomon Reinach - 1912

The Preparation for Christianity in the Ancient World by Robert Mark Wenley - 1898

A History of the Ancient World by George Stephen Goodspeed 1912

The Religious Experience of the Roman People by William Warde Fowler - 1911

Survivals in belief among the Celts by George Henderson 1911

The Religion of the Ancient Celts by J.A. MacCulloch 1911

Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions by T.W. Doane 1883

Egypt's Place in Universal History, Volume 1 by Christian Bunsen 1848

Egypt's Place in Universal History, Volume 2 by Christian Bunsen 1848

Egypt's Place in Universal History, Volume 3 by Christian Bunsen 1848

Egypt's Place in Universal History, Volume 4 by Christian Bunsen 1848

Egypt's Place in Universal History, Volume 5 by Christian Bunsen 1848

The Veil of Isis - Mysteries of the Druids by William Winwood Reade - 1861

Thoth, by J Shield Nicholson 1889

The Egyptian Element in the Birth Stories of the Gospels by W.St. Chad Boscawen 1913

The Horus Myth in Its Relation to Christianity by William Ricketts Cooper - 1877

The Origin of Pagan Idolatry, Volume 1 By George Stanley Faber 1816

The Origin of Pagan Idolatry, Volume 2 By George Stanley Faber 1816

The Origin of Pagan Idolatry, Volume 3 By George Stanley Faber 1816

An Exposition of the Mysteries by John Fellow - 1835

A Dissertation on the Calendar and Zodiac of Ancient Egypt by William Mure - 1832

Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt by James H Breasted 1912

The Dawn of Civilization - Egypt and Chaldea by G Maspero 1894

Ten Great Religions - An Essay in Comparative Religion by James Freeman Clarke 1886

The History of Egypt Under the Romans by Samuel Sharpe 1842

Prehistoric religion: a study in pre-Christian antiquity by Philo Loas Mills - 1918

The Religious Ideas of the Ancient Egyptians, article in The Westminster Review 1898

The Twelve Egyptian Obelisks in Rome by John Henry Parker 1879

The Golden Age of Myth & Legend by Thomas Bulfinch 1915

Religions of the Past and the Religion of the Future by Senex 1906

Mythological Ínquiry Into the Recondite Theology of the Heathens by Isaac Preston Cory 1837

Religion and Conscience in Ancient Eqypt by WM Flinders Petrie 1898

Life Symbols as related to Sex Symbolism, a brief study into the origin and significance of certain symbols which have been found in all civilisations, such as the cross, the circle, the serpent, the triangle, the tree of life, the swastika, and other solar emblems by Elisabeth Goldsmith

The Image of the Cross and lights on the altar in the Christian church and in heathen temples before the Christian era 1879

The Cross and the Serpent by William Haslam 1849

History of the Cross of Christ by William R Alger 1858

Our Sun-God - Christianity Before Christ by John Denham Parsons 1895

Christianity before Christ by Charles John Stone 1885

Frazer's Theory of the Crucifixion, article in The Fortnightly Review 1901

The Cross Ancient and Modern by Willson W Blake 1888

Holy Cross - a history of the invention, preservation, and disappearance of the wood known as the True Cross by William C Prime 1877

Phallism - with an account of ancient & modern Crosses particularly of the Crux Ansata, or handled cross, and other symbols connected with the mysteries of sex worship by Hargrave Jennings 1892

Sex Worship - an exposition of the phallic origin of Religion by Sanger Brown 1897

The Cross and the Steeple - Their Origin and Significance by Hudson Tuttle 1875

Phallicism - celestial and terrestrial, heathen and Christian, its connexion with the Rosicrucians and the Gnostics and its foundation in Buddhism, with an essay on mystic anatomy by Hargrave Jennings 1884

The Cross in Tradition, History and Art by William Wood Seymour 1898

Handbook of Christian Symbolism by W Audsley 1865

Pagan Origin of Partialist Doctrines by John Claudius Pitrat - 1871

History of the Celtic Language (deals at length with the Cross) by Lachlan Maclean 1840 ("To trace the emblem of the cross no farther back than St Andrew, or even the crucifixion, is a glaring error.")

The Diegesis - being a discovery of the origin, evidences and early history of Christianity, never yet before or elsewhere so fully and faithfully set forth by Robert Taylor 1834

The Ethnic Trinities and their relations to the Christian by Leonard Levi 1901 ("It may be a surprise to some of my readers to be told that this symbol of the cross is as old as history itself. Indeed, its origin is hidden in prehistoric times. The Greek or Maltese cross, with its four arms of equal length, which is worn by Roman Popes on the breast, appears on the breasts of Assyrian kings nine or ten centuries before the birth of Christ")

Phallic Symbolism by Lee Alexander Stone MD 1920

Before Abraham Was....Abner Kneeland on John 8:58

"Before Abraham Was, I Am."—John 8:58.  by Abner Kneeland 1828

Although all translators and commentators have admitted (or seem to have admitted) the correctness of the common version in the above text, so far as relates to the verb was, yet I suspect, after all, that it does not exactly convey the meaning of the text. I am aware that the difficulty may be got over, by the construction given by Mr. Wakefield; which is, as if he had said "My mission was settled and certain before the birth of Abraham." With this construction the text does not favor the idea of the pre-exisience of Christ to that of Abraham: but it is certain that the text does not necessarily imply so much as is here admitted; neither does the common version hardly make sense. To make out the pre-existence of Christ from this text it should read, "Before Abraham was I was." But whatever may be said of genesthai, no one will pretend that eimi can be rendered in the past tense: neither should genesthai, have been rendered, as the following passages will show. Matt. 24:6. "For all things must [genesthai] come to pass." Ch. 26:54—"that thus it must [genesthai] be. Mark 1:17—and I will make you [genesthai] to become fishers of men. Ch. 10:43.44—genesthai megas— to be great—genesthai protos—to be chief. Ch. 13:7—for these things must [genesthai] come to pass. Luke 9:36. And the voice [en to genesthai] being come, Jesus was found alone. John i. 12—to them he gave authority [genesthai] to be, (or to become) children of God. Ch. 3:9—how can these things [genesthai] be? Ch. 5:6.—Dost thou desire [genesthai] to be healed? Ch. 8:58. "Before Abraham [genesthai] be (come), I am:" that is, 'I am come before Abraham."— Compare Matt. 17: 11. Ch. 9:27. "Will ye also [genesthai] be his disciples?" Ch. 13: 19. "Now I tell you before [tou genesthai] it come to pass, that when it [geneetai] shall come to pass, ye may believe that I [eimi] am (he)." Acts 7:39—to whom our fathers would-not [genesthai] become obedient. Ch. 10: 40. Literally— and after [to genesthai me] my being there, I must see Rome. Ch. 22:17.[genesthai me en ekstasei] it happened to me To Be in an ecstasy:(common version,) I was in a trance. Ch. 26: 28. 29 [genesthai] to be a Christian—to be such as I am. Ch. 27: 29—wished day [genesthai] to be. (or to come.) Rom 7:4—[eis to genesthai humas] that it should be to you (to be married) to another. 1 Cor. 7:21—but if thou mayest [genesthai] be made free, use it rather. Philip. 1:13—my bonds in Christ [genesthai] are manifest in all the palace. James 3:10—these things ought not so [genesthai] to be. Rev. 1:1—must shortly [genesthai] come to pass. Ch. 22:6—must shortly [genesthai] be done.

Thus I have given every passage that I find in 'Concordantiae Erasmi Schmidii,' a Greek Concordance of the New Testament, where the verb genesthia is found; which is from ginomai, which signifies to be, to become, to come to pass, to be done, to happen, to be born, and is used in its various modes and lenses upwards of 700 times in the New Testament. It is from this verb that egeneto comes, found in John 1:3, and 14, rendered were made, and was made, in the common version.— But it is never used in the sense of create. In the above texts, it is in the Infinitive mood: Aorist (or Indefinite) tense: and in every one, except the text under consideration and Acts 22:17, (and perhaps Luke 9:36,) it evidently refers to time, present or future. In Acts 22:17, although the event was past at the time Paul gave the relation of it, yet the verb is present. The first verb, egeneto, carries the mind back to the time—" and it was to me, (for it is literally) even on my praying in the temple, (yes) Me, [genesthai] to be in an ecstasy, and [idein] to see him (Jesus) saying to me, &c." As the verb genesthai is here connected with the accusation, Me, something must be understood to govern it. See the rendering above. "It happened to) me tobe (or my being) in an ecstasy, (it was my good fortune) to see him, (namely Jesus, and to hear him) saying," &c.

Let the reader now judge what propriety there is in rendering prin Abraam genesthai, ego eimi, before Abraham was, I am. It is admitted, that there is an obscurity in the text; but to say "before Abraham is to be, (manifested understood) I am manifested," makes good sense, whether it be a full answer to the question or not; whereas "before Abraham was, I am," makes no sense whatever.

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Jewish Theology and the Name of God By Dr. Kaufmann Kohler

Jewish Theology and the Name of God By Dr. K. Kohler 1918

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1. Primitive men attached much importance to names, for to them the name of a thing indicated its nature, and through the name one could obtain mastery over the thing or person named. Accordingly, the name of God was considered to be the manifestation of His being; by invoking it man could obtain some of His power; and the place where that name was called became the seat of His presence. Therefore the name must be treated with the same reverential awe as the Deity Himself. None dare approach the Deity, nor misuse the Name. The pious soul realized the nearness of the Deity in hearing His name pronounced. Finally, the different names of God reflect the different conceptions of Him which were held in various periods.

2. The Semites were not like the Aryan nations, who beheld the essence of their gods in the phenomena of nature such as light, rain, thunder, and lightning,—and gave them corresponding names and titles. The more intense religious emotionalism of the Semites perceived the Godhead rather as a power working from within, and accordingly gave it such names as El (“the Mighty One”), Eloha or Pahad (“the Awful One”), or Baal (“the Master”). Elohim, the plural form of Eloha, denoted originally the godhead as divided into a number of gods or godly beings, that is, polytheism. When it was applied to God, however, it was generally understood as a unity, referring to one undivided Godhead, for Scripture regarded monotheism as original with mankind. While this view is contradicted by the science of comparative religion, still the ideal conception of religion, based on the universal consciousness of God, postulates one God who is the aim of all human searching, a fact which the term Henotheism fails to recognize.

3. For the patriarchal age, the preliminary stage in the development of the Jewish God-idea, Scripture gives a special name for God, El Shaddai—“the Almighty God.” This probably has a relation to Shod, “storm” or “havoc” and “destruction,” but was interpreted as supreme Ruler over the celestial powers. The name by which God revealed Himself to Moses and the prophets as the God of the covenant with Israel is JHVH (Jahveh). This name is inseparably connected with the religious development of Judaism in all its loftiness and depth. During the period of the Second Temple this name was declared too sacred for utterance, except by the priests in certain parts of the service, and for mysterious use by specially initiated saints. Instead, Adonai—“the Lord”—was substituted for it in the Biblical reading, a usage which has continued for over two thousand years. The meaning of the name in pre-Mosaic times may be inferred from the fiery storms which accompanied each theophany in the various Scriptural passages, as well as from the root havah, which means “throw down” and “overthrow.”

To the prophets, however, the God of Sinai, enthroned amid clouds of storm and fire, moving before His people in war and peace, appeared rather as the God of the Covenant, without image or form, unapproachable in His holiness. As the original meaning of JHVH had become unintelligible, they interpreted the name as “the ever present One,” in the sense of Ehyeh asher Ehyeh, “I shall be whatever (or wherever) I am to be”; that is, “I am ever ready to help.” Thus spoke God to Moses in revealing His name to him at the burning bush.

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4. The prophetic genius penetrated more and more into the nature of God, recognising Him as the Power who rules in justice, mercy, and holiness. This process brought them to identify JHVH, the God of the covenant, with the One and only God who overlooks all the world from his heavenly habitation, and gives it plan and purpose. At the same time, all the prophets revert to the covenant on Sinai in order to proclaim Israel as the herald and witness of God among the nations. In fact, the God of the covenant proclaimed His universality at the very beginning, in the introduction to the Decalogue: “Ye shall be Mine own peculiar possession from among all peoples, for all the earth is Mine. And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” In other words,—you have the special task of mediator among the nations, all of which are under My dominion.

5. In the Wisdom literature and the Psalms the God of the covenant is subordinated to the universality of JHVH as Creator and Ruler of the world. In a number of the Psalms and in some later writings the very name JHVH was avoided probably on account of its particularistic tinge. It was surrounded more and more with a certain mystery. Instead, God as the “Lord” is impressed on the consciousness and adoration of men, in all His sublimity and in absolute unity.  The “Name” continues its separate existence only in the mystic lore. The name Jehovah, however, has no place whatsoever in Judaism. It is due simply to a misreading of the vowel signs that refer to the word Adonai, and has been erroneously adopted in the Christian literature since the beginning of the sixteenth century.

6. Perhaps the most important process of spiritualization which the idea of God underwent in the minds of the Jewish people was made when the name JHVH as the proper name of the God of the covenant was given up and replaced by Adonai—“the Lord.” As long as the God of Israel, like other deities, had His proper name, he was practically one of them, however superior in moral worth. As soon as He became the Lord, that is, the only real God over all the world, a distinctive proper noun was out of place. Henceforth the name was invested with a mysterious and magic character. It became ineffable, at least to the people at large, and its pronunciation sinful, except by the priests in the liturgy. In fact, the law was interpreted so as directly to forbid this utterance. Thus JHVH is no longer the national God of Israel. The Talmud guards against the very suspicion of a “Judaized God” by insisting that every benediction to Him as “God the Lord” must add “King of the Universe” rather than the formula of the Psalms, “God of Israel.”

7. The Midrash makes a significant comment on the words of the Shema: “Why do the words, ‘the Lord is our God’ precede the words, ‘the Lord is One’? Does not the particularism of the former conflict with the universalism of the latter sentence? No. The former expresses the idea that the Lord is ‘our God’ just so far as His name is more intertwined [pg 062] with our history than with that of any other nation, and that we have the greater obligation as His chosen people. Wherever Scripture speaks of the God of Israel, it does not intend to limit Him as the universal God, but to emphasize Israel's special duty as His priest-people.”

8. Likewise is the liturgical name “God of our fathers” far from being a nationalistic limitation. On the contrary, the rabbis single out Abraham as the missionary, the herald of monotheism in its march to world-conquest. For his use of the term, “the God of heaven and the God of the earth” they offer a characteristic explanation: “Before Abraham came, the people worshiped only the God of heaven, but Abraham by winning them for his God brought Him down and made Him also the God of the earth.”

9. Reverence for the Deity caused the Jew to avoid not only the utterance of the holy Name itself, but even the common use of its substitute Adonai. Therefore still other synonyms were introduced, such as “Master of the universe,” “the Holy One, blessed be He,” “the Merciful One,” “the Omnipotence” (ha Geburah), “King of the kings of kings” (under Persian influence—as the Persian ruler called himself the King of Kings); and in Hasidean circles it became customary to invoke God as “our Father” and “our Father in heaven.” The rather strange appellations for God, “Heaven” and (dwelling) “Place” (ha Makom) seem to originate in certain formulas of the oath. In the latter name the rabbis even found hints of God's omnipresence: “As space—Makom—encompasses all things, so does God encompass the world instead of being encompassed by it.”

10. The rabbis early read a theological meaning into the two names JHVH and Elohim, taking the former as the divine attribute of mercy and the latter as that of justice. In general, however, the former name was explained etymologically as signifying eternity, “He who is, who was, and who shall be.” Philo shows familiarity with the two attributes of justice and mercy, but he and other Alexandrian writers explained JHVH and Ehyeh metaphysically, and accordingly called God, “the One who is,” that is, the Source of all existence. Both conceptions still influence Jewish exegesis and account for the term “the Eternal” sometimes used for “the Lord.”

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The Mystery & Superstition of the Number Three (1890 Article)

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The Mysterious Number Three, article in Ballou's Monthly Magazine 1890

There is much superstitious regard for the number three in the popular mind, and the third repetition of anything is generally looked upon as a crisis. Thus, an article may twice be lost and recovered; but the third time that it is lost it is gone for good. Twice a man may pass through some great danger in safety; but the third time he loses his life. If, however, the mystic third can be successfully passed, all is well. Three was called by Pythagoras the perfect number, and we frequently find its use symbolical of Deity; thus, we might mention the trident of Neptune, the three-forked lightning of Jove, and the three-headed dog of Pluto. The idea of trinity is not confined to Christianity, but occurs in several religions. In mythology, also, we find three Fates, three Furies and three Graces; and coming nearer to our own times, Shakespeare introduces his three witches. In fact, that number of almost anything of which a fertile imagination can conceive a trio. In nursery rhymes and tales this number is not unknown; and if we look back to the days of our childhood, most of us will call to mind the three wise men of Gotham who took a sea voyage in a bowl, not to mention the three blind mice that had their tails cut off by the farmer's wife. Perhaps there is some occult power in the number which governs the division of novels into three volumes, and induces doctors to order their medicine to be taken thrice daily. It is said that some tribes of savages cannot count beyond three; but although they may have no words to express higher numbers, perhaps we should be scarcely justified in assuming that they are incapable of appreciating the value of the latter.

Nine, a trinity of trinities, is the perfect plural, and is credited with mystic properties. As might be supposed, therefore, many superstitions are connected with it. The first unmarried man passing beneath the lintel post of a door over which has been hung a pod containing nine peas, will marry the maid who placed it there; and a piece of worsted with nine knots tied in it is considered a charm for a sprained ankle. Nine is not in every case a lucky number, however, for evil-doers regard the nine tails of the "cat" with very little favor. To see nine magpies is considered an ill-omen; and the nine of diamonds has been called—though no one seems to know why—the "Curse of Scotland."

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