| Avoid This
Word |
Use This Word
Instead |
Reasoning |
| AD and BC |
CE and BCE |
Using “BC” (Before Christ)
and “AD” (Anno Domini, or Year of the Lord) forces a Jew
to speak of time being calculated from the birth of “the Gentile
G-d” in whose name Jews have been persecuted for nearly 2000
years. “Before the Common Era” and “Common Era” are more “neutral” and
therefore less offensive. |
| Christ |
Mashiach or Messiah |
To many Christians,
“Christ” is the “the Gentile G-d’s” “last name.” The word
is an English transliteration of the Greek work christos, which
is a translation of the Hebrew word mashiach, which means
“anointed.” [See Jesus] |
| Christian |
Believer in Messiah or
Messianic Believer |
The “church” and “Christians” have
persecuted the Jews for nearly 2000 years. To many Jews, anybody who
is not a Jew or a Muslim is a “Christian.” Since Jews are born into
Judaism, and Muslims are born into Islam, many Jews simply assume that
everyone else is born into Christianity. To read an anti-Semitic
article written by a person who rather accurately depicts the Jewish
opinion of most “Christians,”
click here.
[ MORE ] |
| church |
Believers in Messiah,
Messianic Believers, or
the Holy Community
(for the Body as a whole) or congregation (for the local assembly) |
| Jehovah |
God, Lord, Adonai, or
HaShem (The Name) |
“Jehovah” is a false
translation of the four-letter Name of G-d that is
considered too sacred to be spoken. The Hebrew language does not
include the sounds that make it possible to say that word, so there is
no possible way that it could be the revealed name of G-d.
You will likely be thought of as a fool if you use this word.
[ MORE ] |
| Jesus |
Yeshua |
“Jesus” is the name of
“the Gentile G-d” in whose name Jews have been persecuted
for nearly 2000 years. “Yeshua” was a Torah-observant Jewish Rabbi of
the First Century CE who proclaimed to the Jews that their Kingdom is
to be restored to them. Some Jews think of Him as a prophet, or at
least a moral teacher. [ MORE ] |
Old Testament or
Old Covenant |
Tenakh or Hebrew Bible |
“Testament” means
“covenant” and “old” means something that has been replaced and is no
longer of any value. The covenants that HaShem made with Israel are
everlasting, and will therefore never be “old.” The
“Christian Bible” contains the Tenakh (Genesis through Malachi) and
the B'rit Chadasha (or “Renewed Covenant”). |
| New Testament or New
Covenant |
B'rit Chadasha,
Renewed Covenant, or Apostolic Scriptures |
See “Old Testament” above. The B'rit
Chadasha is best thought of as a divinely-inspired
midrash,
or commentary, on the Tenakh that was written by
Torah-observant Messianic Rabbis at the end of the Second Temple
Period, primarily to help new Gentile converts to Messianic Judaism
understand the proper interpretation of the Tenakh as they leaned
Torah and
halakah at the
Synagogue. Inasmuch as it provides a wonderful explanation of Olam
HaBa (the world after Messiah comes), it is also appropriate to
use the term “Renewed Covenant” because it emphasizes the idea that
HaShem has renewed and will fulfill all of His covenants with
Israel. |
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