Friday, June 29, 2012

Genesis 1:1



The very first verse in the Bible is one of the most quoted verses of all. To many it is a very simple concept that does not need much thought in order to understand it. But the fact of the matter is that it is so simple because it has lost so much meaning and value when it was translated from Hebrew into the other languages. The result of this is that in every English Bible, this verse is not correctly translated.

The Hebrew language is filled with such a large amount of knowledge and wisdom that cannot be translated into any other language. Every single Hebrew word has a much deeper meaning than anyone could imagine.

In order to really understand the Word of the Almighty, one needs to examine each and every word in detail first. Once you can do this, then you can start seeing the true value of the Word of the Almighty and His true will. You will also start seeing many things that are simply just not in any English Bible at all. This is because it is impossible to translate.

Let us try and examine the very first verse of the entire Scriptures, but in the Hebrew, and let us see how much more we can learn, even from one small verse, by examining it in detail. You might even see truths that you have never seen before in your life. You must also keep in mind that in order to really understand the Hebrew, then you have to read it with a Hebrew mindset and with a Hebrew cultural understanding and not from a westernized mindset. This is because it was written in Hebrew and for the Hebrew people.

Let us first read Genesis1:1 together in the English King James Version Bible, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1 KJV). The idea that almost everyone gets from this verse  is that there was a single beginning of all time and that “God” (who is the only supreme being) created the universe from scratch in this time. Is there anything else that we can understand from this verse, even if we look at it in more detail? Well, I certainly cannot.

Now let us look at this exact same verse in the Hebrew text:
בראשׁית ברא אלהים את השׁמים ואת הארץ׃
 (B’reishit 1:1)
(b’reishit bara Elohim et hashamayim v’et ha’aretz)

Now we are going to analyze every single word and see what the meaning is of every word, and then put it all together again and then see what it really means.

The very first word (בראשׁית) b’reishit

“b’reishit” is a very interesting word, but has simply been translated as “In the beginning,” the word “b’reishit,” however, does not really mean “In the beginning.” Let me explain.

Firstly, we need to break up the word and find its root. Every single Hebrew word has a root word which gives it its particular meaning. The root word of “b’reishit” is the Hebrew word “reishit.” Now if you go throughout the Scriptures, you will notice that the word “reishit” is almost always translated as “first fruit.” This is because this is the meaning of this word and all other uses of this word comes from the concept of “first fruits”

The “beit” or “b’….” in front of the word “b’reishit” is a prefix which means “in” or “in a.” So far we can see that it means “in a first fruit.” Suddenly we can see a whole new concept from the very first word already. Let me explain what I mean.

What is needed for a first fruit? Does it just appear? Or does one need to work the ground, plant the seed, give the plant food and water, prune the plant and protect it from the elements, birds and insects? Only after all the effort of planting and looking after the plant so that it can grow into a tree, then only can it produce a first fruit.

Now there is also the Hebrew word “rosh” found in the word “reishit.” In fact, the word “rosh” is the root word of the word “reishit.” The meaning of “rosh” is head which can also be used for the concept of “top”, “beginning”, “start”, “summit” or even “chief”

So the proper meaning of the first word “b’reishit” is “in the head (start) of a first fruit

Now the question is, what preparations needed to be going on before Genesis 1:1 in order that it speaks of “a first fruit” instead of “the beginning”? Was the earth created out of nothing? Well, let us carry on reading to answer these questions.

The second word (ברא) bara

The Hebrew word “bara” is usually translated as “create” in the English translations. According to most theologians, the word “create” is understood to mean “to make something out of nothing.” This definition is an abstract concept with no concrete foundation and is therefore not a Hebrew concept.

In Genesis 2:7 it states that the Almighty “formed” man. The Hebrew word translated as “formed” is the verb rxy “yatsar” and is best understood as the process of pressing clay together to form an object such as a figurine. We can plainly see from this verse that man was made from something; however, in Genesis 1:27 we read, according to most translators, “God created man.” As we have discovered, man is made from something, therefore the word “create” in Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:27 cannot mean to make something out of nothing.

If the word “bara” does not mean “create” then what does it mean? By examining other passages where this word appears, we can begin to uncover its true meaning.

‘Why do you kick at My slaughtering and My offering which I have commanded in My Dwelling Place, and esteem your sons above Me, to make yourselves fat (bara) with the best of all the offerings of Yisra’ĕl My people? (1 Sam 2:29).

Believe it or not, the word “bara” is translated as “fat” in the verse above and is the original concrete meaning of this word. What does it mean in Genesis 1:1 when it literally says, “Elohim fattened the heavens and the earth”? When an animal is chosen for the slaughter, it is placed in a pen and fed grain so that it can be fattened, or “filled up.” This idea of “filling up” is now more relevant to the next verse.

And the earth became formless and empty (unfilled)… (Genesis 1:2)

With a better understanding of the word bara we can now also see the meaning of Genesis 1:27. “And Elohiym filled (bara) the man with his image, with his image he filled (bara) him, male and female he filled (bara) them

The Hebrew word translated as “image” above is “tselem” meaning an outline of a shadow, a representation or image of the original. Once Elohim “formed” the man, he filled him up with a representation of Himself.

So the Hebrew word “bara” is more accurately translated as “fattened” or in this instance “filled”

The third word (אלהים) Elohim

This is a noun referring to the Almighty. This noun denotes the Almighty in His attribute of Justice, as Ruler, Lawgiver and Judge of this world. By using this Name exclusively in the narrative of “Creation”, the Torah indicates that Justice is the ideal state of this world, meaning that man should be treated exactly as he deserves, according to his deeds. However, because man is not virtuous enough to survive such harsh scrutiny, the Almighty added His attribute of Mercy to the story of “Creation” (Genesis 2:4), so that judgment would be tempered with mercy.

The root word for the noun “Elohim” is hla (Eloah) meaning "power." This word is used for anyone or anything which, has "power" and is often translated as "God" in the English Bibles. The suffix ~My at the end of the noun Myhla (Elohim) is a suffix which denotes a plural for masculine nouns. While English plurals convey quantity (more than one), Hebrew plurals convey quantity or quality (very large or great). The word Myhla can be translated as "mighty ones" (quantity) or "a great mighty one" (quality). The idea of "a great mighty one" is generally written in the English Bibles as "God" which is a perverse translation as the word “God” originates from pagan idolatry.

So the word “Elohim” refers to the Might and Power and Ruler attributes of the Almighty.

The fourth word (את) et

This word ta is used over 11,000 times (and never translated into English as there is no equivalent) to point to the direct object of the verb. It is a sign of the definite direct object, not translated in English but generally preceding and indicating the accusative. Basically it means that the word after this one is the subject of the sentence.

Many people falsely claim that because the Messiah said that he is the alef and the tav, the first and the last (Rev 22:13) that he created the heavens and the earth. They make these claims because of this very little word (et) found in this verse. It is spelled, "alef tav" and is the first and the last letter of the Hebrew language. It does not, in any way, mean that the Messiah created the heavens and the earth, which is not in line with the rest of the Scriptures

What we can say is that the heavens and the earth were created through the Words of the Almighty. It is even an indication of how we know that the original language of the world, and the language of the Almighty, is that of Hebrew. 

The fifth word (השׁמים) hashamayim

This is a very interesting word that is typically translated as “the heavens” which is not really wrong at all. Even though it is correctly translated as ‘heavens’ it has a much more descriptive meaning that explains what and where the heavens are.

The first letter “hey” is the prefix which means “the.” The next two letters (shin and mem) make up the root word “sham” which means “there” referring to the sky. The last two letters (yud and mem) “…iym” is the suffix which makes the word plural.

Now the interesting part of this word is that the Hebrew word “mayim,” which means “water” also appears in this word, which gives the meaning of “between the waters.”

Now this gives us a very different understanding of Revelation 22:1 which says, “And he showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of Elohim and of the Lamb

So the Hebrew word “shamayim” gives a meaning of “there between the waters” but is translated as “heavens” which is not incorrect. The Hebrew word just gives a better understanding of where the heavens are.
The sixth word (ואת) v’et

This word is the exact same word as the fourth word mentioned above. The only difference is that it has the prefix (extra letter in the beginning) “vav.” Now when the “vav” is added to a word as a prefix, it then mean “and.” Therefore, the word “v’et” is translated as “and” because of the “vav” in the beginning of the word.

The seventh word (Xrah) ha’aretz

The last word in this verse is the word “eretz” which means, land, ground, earth, world, country, field or nation. It always depends on the context of the sentence to which one it means at that time. In this verse it means Earth. The word eretz has the prefix “ha” in front of it which means “the” so the word “ha’aretz” means “the Earth.”

Conclusion

So the literal translation on Gen 1:1 is the following, “In the start of a first fruit the Mighty One filled the heavens and the earth

Does this not give us a very different story to the mainstream translations out there? For us to really understand the Word of the Almighty, we need to learn His language as it has a far deeper meanings of words than our other languages.

Just to leave you with a question that you can search for… what first fruit is being spoken of in Genesis 1:1?

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Is The KJV Bible the Word of the Almighty?


 When it comes to a belief system that is based on the writings of a Higher Power, the Almighty Himself, we desire to follow His writings alone. But are the writings of the Almighty still His writings when it has been edited and changed by men? Certainly not, in fact, it then becomes the writings of man instead and cannot be trusted as the writings or Word of the Almighty at all any more.

Many Churches and Christians all claim that the King James Bible is the authoritative Scriptures and the Word of the Almighty. They claim that it is by far the best and most accurate English translation of the original Scriptures and that it can be trusted and used as a reference for sound Scriptural doctrine. But is this true? Is the KJV an accurate account or translation of the original Scriptures?

The only way to answer these questions is to actually compare it to the original, or oldest manuscripts in existence today. For the “Old Testament” this is quite easy as the Hebrew text has been preserved from generation to generation and is 100% perfect (this is discussed below). Anyone who can read Hebrew, can therefore, easily compare the KJV or any other translation to the Hebrew text.

The “New Testament” is however a little harder, as the original Scriptures were destroyed or are being kept hidden. The Church claims that the “New Testament” was originally written in Greek, whereas all the facts and evidence point to a Hebrew original (but denied by the Church). This is however a topic on its own which I have covered in a previous post. There are however, ways to identify errors in translation. We do have the very early Greek manuscripts, the Aramaic text and we can compare the teachings to the Hebrew Tanakh (Old Testament) and we know that the Creator is not a liar that He should give instructions to last for 4,000 years and then change His mind.

Let us start with comparing the KJV with the Hebrew Tanakh (Old Testament)

The “Old Testament” of the KJV Bible is admittedly more accurate than the “New Testament” of the KJV Bible. This is because the “Old Testament” is somewhat based on the Hebrew Tanakh, where the “New Testament” is based on the Greek manuscripts which are not very reliable at all (I will explain this in more detail below). There are however still major errors in the KJV’s “Old Testament.”

Firstly, the term “Old Testament” is an incorrect term and is NOT at all Scriptural. Marcion, who is one of the early church fathers, coined the terms Old and New Testament. BUT: It is written that YHWH would bring a Renewed Covenant to His people and therefore the duty was on His people to extend the invitation of the Kingdom of Elohim to the rest of the world. By replacing the word “Covenant” with “Testament” Marcion and other pagan theologians wrestled Jeremiah 31:31-34 away from the foundational teachings of Y’hoshua and the Schlichim (taught ones). Most Christians had no access to the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures) and would not have know that Brit Chadashah means “RENEWED Covenant” and that Mashiyach would come to write Torah (Law) upon the hearts of his followers. By replacing the word “covenant” with “testament” and the word “renewed” with the word “new”, Marcion theologically divided the Messiah and his followers away from YHWH the Father and turned him into a self sustained deity that opposed the “Old Testament.” Everyone whoever used the terms “Old and New Testament” can thank Marcion the heretic for implanting such contrary values against the Unified and Eternal Word of the Living Almighty.

Polycarp, referred to Marcion as “the firstborn of the devil.” But, Marcion’s “judenrein” (Jew-free, also a well known phrase of Hitler) all-Gentile churches became very popular among early Gentile Christians, and one of the largest Christian denominations on Earth. Marcion was the inventor and/or the major contributor to dispensationalism, supercessionism, and replacement theology – all of which are altogether unscriptural and extremely popular among the vast majority of Christians today, preached in nearly every church.

The Name of the Almighty

The entire Scripture is full of how important and Set-Apart the Name of the Almighty is. It even goes as far as to say that there is no other name by which we can be saved. The Hebrew Tanakh has the Name of the Almighty written more than 6,000 times.

Now if the King James Translation, or any other translation, is truthful and correct, then it too must have the Name, or at least a transliteration (you can never translate a name) of the Name of the Almighty in the same places as those of the original Hebrew Tanakh. If it does not, then it is not the Word of the Almighty any more but rather the word of evil and corrupt men. The Word of the Almighty says that we are not allowed to add to or remove from what is originally written (Deut 4:2). It is also one of the Ten Commandments that we are not to bring His Name to naught.

Now if you have a look at the Hebrew Tanakh, you will not have to look very far to find the Name of the Almighty. The Name of the Almighty looks like this, “יהוה“, but the first thing you notice when you see His Name, is that it is not an English Name, but rather a Hebrew Name.

Now when you do a comparison between the Hebrew Scriptures and the KJV translation, you will see that almost every place that the Name of the Almighty is written, the KJV translation uses the word “LORD.” Now is the Name of the Almighty in English, “LORD”? Is the word “LORD” even a name at all? A little research will tell you that it is not a name at all, but a title that is also given to many men too and has a very dodgy pagan origin, where it actually originates from the name of a pagan deity.

So we can already see that the KJV translation has taken the most important Name in the existence of the Universe, the only Name by which we can be saved, out of its translation and replaced it with something that is hated by the Almighty. Is this not taking away from the Word which is forbidden by the Almighty Himself?

God

And what about the name “God”? Once again, the word “God” was not a name at all, but is rather a term used by other pagan beliefs to refer to their own deity. It later on became a name given to a specific pagan deity. Now ask yourself the following question, “can the Almighty be referred to by the same title that originated from the title for pagan deities?”

The Hebrew Scriptures have the word “Elohim” (Mighty One) in the places where the KJV translation has the word “God.” Once again, the KJV is not a correct translation here, where the translators placed their own words that do not mean the same.

In fact, there is a mention of “God” or “Gawd” in the Hebrew Scriptures, “But you are those who forsake יהוה (YHWH), who forget My set-apart mountain, who prepare a table for Gad (Gawd, God), and who fill a drink offering for Meni” (Isaiah 65:11).

Wow, the Scriptures actually say that those who follow after “God” (who is the pagan deity of good fortune) are those who forsake the Almighty. This is not just a translation error, but rather a direct contradiction of the Word of the Almighty. It is also written, “And in all that I have said to you take heed. And make no mention of the name of other mighty ones, let it not be heard from your mouth” (Exodus 23:13).

Let us look at some more errors

There are some more errors in the KJV’s “Old Testament” but none that are as critical as the errors spoken of above but, they are however still errors and are not Scriptural and changes the meaning of the Almighty's Word.

Eze 20:25 (KJV) Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;

Eze 20:25 (Original) “And I also gave them up to laws that were not good, and right-rulings by which they would not live

Here the KJV suggests that the Almighty gave the evil statutes to the people, where the original text says that He gave them up to the laws that the people turned to on there own.

There are many more differences between the KJV and the Hebrew text, but I am not going to post every single one of them here as we get the idea and it would be a lot of reading.

Now what about the Brit Chadashah (Renewed Covenant) (New Testament)

Every single scholar of the “KJV New Testament” agrees that it is based on the Greek manuscripts which they ignorantly believe to be the original manuscripts.

The KJV “New Testament” translation has MANY more differences and errors in it compared to its “Old Testament” translation. This is because its “Old Testament” is based, somewhat, on the original Hebrew, where the “New Testament” is based on many many Greek manuscripts (about 13,000) that all differ from one another. The problem with this is that the Greek is not the original as the Renewed Covenant was not originally written in Greek, but rather in Hebrew.

Let us have a closer look at these Greek manuscripts:

Both the Hebrew Torah and the “New Testament” contain approximately the same number of words. Which would you expect to be more successful in preserving the accuracy of a text?... The Christian New Testament, for several reasons of course.

Firstly, the Christian “New Testament” is about 1700 (or even more) years younger than the Torah. Secondly, the Christians haven’t gone through nearly as much exile and dislocation as the Jews. Thirdly, Christianity has always had a central authority (the Vatican) to ensure the "accuracy" of their text.

What are the results? The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, a book written to prove the validity of the New Testament, says: “A study of 150 Greek [manuscripts] of the Gospel of Luke has revealed more than 30 000 different readings… It is safe to say that there is not one sentence in the New Testament in which the [manuscript] is wholly uniform.”

Other scholars report there are some 200 000 variants in the existing manuscripts of the New Testament, representing about 400 variant readings, which cause doubt about textual meaning; 50 of these are of great significance which have contradictory meanings to one another.

So how can we know which one, if any, is the correct one? Which one, if any, can we rely on to be the truth?

The Renewed Covenant is where the testimony and fulfillment of the prophecy of the Messiah is recorded. Let us have a look at the verse which speaks of the giving of the Name of the Messiah when He was born, “And she shall give birth to a Son, and you shall call His Name יהושע (Y’hoshua) for He shall save His people from their sins” (Mat 1:21). Now the KJV has the same statement but has the name “Jesus” as the name of the Messiah.

The question we need to ask ourselves, if we want to be honest, is if the KJV and all the other English Bibles that have the name of the Messiah as “Jesus” is correct. If so, then the name “Jesus” has to mean something like “for He shall save His people from their sins” as the verse implies.

In order to determine the meaning of the name “Jesus”, we need to go to its origin and find its meaning. Every single scholar admits the fact that the name “Jesus” comes from the Greek “Iesous” which once again originates from paganism, and NOT from the Hebrew Y’hoshua. I have covered this topic in much more detail in a previous post.

The Name Y’hoshua means “YHWH is our salvation” which fits one hundred percent with what is written in Matthew 1:21.

This difference is a major error that is absolutely the opposite of the Will and the Word of the Almighty. 

What about the name “Christ”?

Here is another example of a word being substituted by another that has the total opposite meaning as to what it should be. The Greek text has the word “Messias” for the word “anointed one” in John 1:41 and John 4:25. Why then does the KJV and other English translations have the Greek word “Christos” all the other times where the word “anointed one” appears?

Why does the KJV Bible use the Greek word “Messias” which is a valid Greek word that means “anointed one” in only a very few places, and the Greek word “Christos”, which does not have the exact same meaning, in the rest of the places? One must once again look for the origin of the word “Christos” from which the title “Christian originates from. If you start investigating the origin of the word “Christos” you will quickly find that it comes from “Chrestos” (the Sun-deity Osiris). Read here to learn more on this topic.

Other Errors

There are many other major errors and additions into the Christian Bible that do not even exist in the oldest Greek manuscripts, never mind the original writings. Some of these are, for example, John 7: 53 – 8:11 where it speaks of a woman caught in adultery that was brought to the Messiah. This event never happened and does not appear in the Aramaic text which is much, much older than the Greek, it is not even found in the earliest Greek manuscripts either. This portion was inserted many years later after the original writing of John. And yet, a large portion of the Christian faith is based on this small piece of writing.

How many times have you heard or even yourself quoted the phrase, “He who is without sin, cast the first stone”? This section is NOT Scriptural at all and cannot be found anywhere else in Scripture. Why was it added? In order to justify that adultery is okay and easily forgivable… do yourself a favor and go see what the Almighty thinks of adultery, and then see if the Messiah agrees with His Father on this point in this section.

Another major error in the KJV Bible that is not found in any other English Bible, even though they are also based on the Greek manuscripts, is found in Acts 12:4.

KJV Bible: "And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people"

Better Translation: "And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Passover to bring him forth to the people"

Here is a major error that does not even match any of the Greek manuscripts at all. The Greek word used for “Passover” is “pascha”. Every other English translation of the Bible has the word “Passover” here. It is only the KJV that has perverted it and used the word “Easter” instead of “Passover”. Now why did the translators do that? And is it correct? If not, then it is not an accurate translation and NOT the Word of the Almighty, but rather the word of men instead.

Easter is the Saxon's fertility deity called “Eostre”. Now the Passover is a testimony of the Messiah Himself. It is by His blood that we are passed over by the Messenger of death. To substitute this wonderful testimony of our Beloved Messiah, with the celebrations of an evil pagan deity that the Almighty hates, is pure evil. I would have no problem with burning a book that does such a thing.

If you would like to know more about Easter… then click here

Another major addition is that of Mark 16:9-20. If you compare it with that of the oldest Greek manuscripts, you will notice that it does not exist until the more modern Greek manuscripts.

Here is another example of a translation error proving that the translator did not have any knowledge of the Scriptures at all.

Hebrews 4:8-9
KJV Bible: "For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God"

Better Translation: "For if Joshua (or rather Y’hoshua) had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a keeping of a Sabbath to the people of Elohim"

But even the Greek word for this "rest" is "sabbatismos", which means "Sabbath keeping".

This verse above actually proves two very important points. Firstly, the translator was not very well versed in the Scriptures at all. He did not know of the second point which is that “Joshua’s”  name in the Hebrew Tanakh is actually spelled as “יהושע” which is the exact same spelling and pronunciation of the Name as that of the Messiah, which is pronounced as Y’hoshua. The above verse is speaking of Y’hoshua son of Nun, where the translator ignorantly put in what he believed to be “Jesus”.

There are so many other errors in the KJV “New Testament” that it would take a very long time to record them here.

There are also many words that have been changed that originate from paganism rather than from the original writings, some of these words and names are, “Christ, holy, grace, glory, church and even the cross” which are all an abomination to the Almighty.

How many errors can be found in the Hebrew Torah?
 
Now for interest sake, we had a look at how many Greek variations existed in the “New Testament” above. Now if we are to compare the Greek “New Testament” with that of the Hebrew Torah, we can start to see which one is the most accurate of the two. Keeping in mind that the Greek “New Testament” contains over 200 000 different variations.

The Hebrew Torah contains approximately the same number of words as the “New Testament.” How many letters are there in the Hebrew Torah? There are 304 805 letters (or approximately 79 000 words).

If you were to guess, how many letters of these 304 805 do you think are in question (or questionable)? (most people guess anywhere from 25 to 1 000 letters.)

Maintaining the accuracy of any document as ancient and as large as the Torah is very challenging even under the best of circumstances.

But, consider that throughout history, Jewish communities were subject to widespread persecutions and exile. Over the last 2000 years, Jews have been spread to the four corners of the world, from Yemen to Poland, from Australia to Alaska.

Other historical factors make the accurate transmission of the Torah all the more difficult. For example, the destruction of the Temple 1900 years ago saw the dissolution of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish central authority which traditionally would unify the Jewish people in the case of any disagreements.

Let’s investigate the facts as we have them today. If we collect the oldest Torah scrolls and compare them, we can see if any garbling exist, and if so, how much.

The fact is, that after all the trials and tribulations, communal dislocations and persecutions, only the Yemenite Torah scrolls contain any difference from the rest of world Jewry. For hundreds of years, the Yemenite community was not part of the global checking system, and a total of nine letter-differences are found in their scrolls.

These are all spelling differences. In no case do they change the meaning of the word. For example, how would you spell the word “colour”? in America, it’s spelled C-O-L-O-R. But in England (and South Africa), it’s spelled with a “u”, C-O-L-O-U-R.

Such is the nature of the few spelling differences between Torah scrolls today. The results over thousands of years are remarkable. And these differences are only found in the Yemenite Torah Scrolls.

The Torah has nine spelling variants – with absolutely no effect on the meaning of the words. The Christian Bible has over 200 000 variants and in 400 instances the variants change the meaning of the TEXT.

These letters of the Hebrew Torah were employed by the Almighty in creating the world, and it is through them that He sustains it. The deletion of even one letter of this sustaining force therefore threatens the existence of the world.

Carefully guarding the words of the Torah has been a Jewish priority throughout the centuries.

Writing a Torah Scroll

To eliminate any chance of human error, the Talmud enumerates more than 20 factors mandatory for a Torah scroll to be considered “kosher”. This is the Torah’s built-in security system. Should any one of these factors be lacking, it does not possess the sanctity of a Torah scroll, and is not to be used for a public Torah reading.

The meticulous process of hand-copying a scroll takes about 2000 hours (a full-time job for one year). Throughout the centuries, Jewish scribes have adhered to the following guidelines:

  • A Torah Scroll is disqualified if even a single letter is added.
  • A Torah Scroll is disqualified if even a single letter is deleted.
  • The scribe must be a learned, pious Jew, who has undergone special training and certification.
  • All materials (parchment, ink, quill) must conform to strict specifications, and be prepared specifically for the purpose of writing a Torah scroll.
  • The scribe may not write even one letter into a Torah scroll by heart. Rather, he must have a second, kosher scroll opened before him at all times.
  • The scribe must pronounce every word out loud before copying it from the correct text.
  • Every letter must have sufficient white space surrounding it. If one letter touched another in any spot, it invalidates the entire scroll.
  • If a single letter was so marred that it cannot be read at all, or resembles another letter (whether the defect is in the writing, or is due to a hole, tear or smudge), this invalidates the entire scroll. Each letter must be sufficiently legible so that even an ordinary schoolchild could distinguish it from other, similar letters.
  • The scribe must put precise spaces between words, so that one word will not look like two words, or two words look like one word.
  • The scribe must not alter the design of the sections, and must conform to particular line-lengths and paragraph configurations.

A Torah scroll in which any mistake has been found, cannot be used, and must be fixed within 30 days, or buried.

Which one can then be considered the Word of the Almighty?

Now the Christian church is based mostly on the supposed teachings of “Paul”. The Church claims that Paul taught that the “Gentile Believers” do not have to keep the Torah of the Almighty anymore. They claim that the Torah of the Almighty was nailed to the “cross” which is a gross perversion and is proof that they are totally ignorant of the Scriptures and the writings of Paul.

So let us see what “Paul” considers to be Scripture and what he teaches about it, “and that from a babe you have known the Set-apart Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for deliverance through belief in Messiah יהושע (Y’hoshua). All Scripture is breathed by Elohim and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for setting straight, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of Elohim might be fitted, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:15-17)

Now what are these Set-apart Scriptures that he is speaking of in this verse? Did the “New Testament” exist when he wrote this letter? Is it even possible that he could be referring to the “New Testament” or even any of his own letters, which make up the majority of the “New Testament” as Scripture? Absolutely not!

Paul stated above to the people that from when they were very young, they have known the Set-apart Scriptures. He is referring to the Hebrew Tanakh which is the only book that can ever be considered as the Word of the Almighty. Let us have a look at another letter that Paul wrote, “For whatever was written before was written for our instruction, that through endurance and encouragement of the Scriptures we might have the expectation” (Rom 15:4).

Paul is once again making it very clear that the Hebrew Tanakh are the Scriptures and is there for our instruction. The fact of the matter is that the Scriptures (Hebrew Tanakh) teaches us how to love the Almighty, it also teaches us how to love one another. The Hebrew Tanakh teaches us who the Messiah is and also what His role and duty is, “יהושע (Y’hoshua) said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner-stone. This was from יהוה (YHWH), and it is marvellous in our eyes?” (Mat 21:42). It teaches us everything we need to know in regards to Salvation and the forgiveness of sins.

Notice above how the Messiah Himself refers to the Hebrew Tanakh as “the Scriptures” and how it refers to Him. Here is another verse that shows the Messiah referring to the Hebrew Tanakh as the Scriptures, “And יהושע (Y’hoshua) answering, said to them, “You go astray, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of Elohim”” (Mat 22:29).

I could go on and quote all the places in the “New Testament” and all the people therein who testify that the Hebrew Tanakh is the Scriptures, but that would take too much time and space here.

The fact of the matter is that the “New Testament” is not considered to be Scripture at all, but is rather just a testimony of the fulfillment of prophecy and letters of encouragement to fellow believers, who have been scattered, for them to stay in the study of the Scriptures.

Therefore, the Word of the Almighty is the Hebrew Tanakh and the Hebrew Tanakh alone. Anyone who speaks otherwise is speaking evil and denying the Word of the Almighty.

And anyone who does not subject themselves to the Instruction of the Hebrew Tanakh does not love the Almighty and there is no truth in them.