Excerpt from Black and Atheist Too: My Journey Living Through Discovery of the Non-existence of God, by Dr. Arthur R. Byrd

An excerpt from Black and Atheist Too: My Journey Living Through the Discovery of the Non-existence of God, by Dr. Arthur R. Byrd.  (Chapter 3, Humor)

What’s in the Name Jesus and Christianity

Not only his image, but the very name of “Jesus” is a substitute (interpretation). Many people are transfixed by the mere sound of the name, “JESUS.  This name Jesus is relatively new.  The name Jesus did not appear in the Bible until 1630, with the second printing of the Kings James Version of the Bible.  The original name of Jesus was Yeshua or Yahshua.  The Old Testament was first written in Hebrew.  At that time there was no “J” in the Hebrew alphabet. Jesus was originally written Yeshua in Hebrew and later written as “Iesous” in Greek.  This fact in itself does not disprove the existence of God or Jesus as the savior, but points out the irony of how people react to the very sound of the name without knowing the true history of how the name came to be accepted and used.  Another good example is the term Christian.   William Dwight McKissic, Sr. refers to Christian as the Forgotten “N” (nigger) Word.  The followers of Jesus or Christ never referred to themselves as Christians.  To the Romans the word Christ and/or Christian was a derogatory word used to refer to a Jewish religious sect who followed the teachings of Jesus.   The word Christ comes from the Greek work Christos, meaning anointed, or the word Messiah or Mashiah (Hebrew).  So the word that so many people hold sacred is really not so sacred at all, but translations of other terms used to label people.  In the mind of many Romans, the word Christian or the followers of Jesus was much the same as “nigger” to African Americans.  I guest this says something for the current use of the word, primarily by young Blacks, especially rappers and other popular culture devotees.  Of course, probably representative of my generation I view the “N” word with abhorrence, and stand by my convictions that it has no place in the lexicon of world language, unless you wish to insult someone.  Followers of Christ never referred to themselves as Christians.  Christians is only written in the New Testament a few times.  But sometimes names stick and become part of the normal language.

For more details go to:  Black and Atheist Too