IC XC
This past weekend I was visiting a friend in Washington State and, at the church we visited, saw the following cross hanging above the altar:
Cross at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Yakima
…and this reminded me of something else which I came to understand through studying Greek that I had meant to share…
Okay Catholics, what does the lettering “IC XC” at the top of the cross mean?
The altar cross with “IC XC” lettering
As in my previous post, if you don’t know the answer to this, you are certainly not alone…
IC now what it means…
Like the “IHS”, the “IC XC” is a Christogram, a monogram of Jesus’ name. As we saw last time, “Jesus Christ”, when it is translated into Greek, looks like this:
ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ
If we take the first and last letters of ΙΗΣΟΥΣ (“Jesus”) and ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (“Christ”) we are left with:
ΙΣ ΧΣ
The sigma character (“Σ”) was often represented using a lunate sigma which looks like a “C”, thereby giving us:
IC XC
Finally, a line (“titlo”) is often placed over each pair of letters to indicate that it is an abbreviated sacred name. So there we go! “IC XC” is yet another shorthand for writing “Jesus Christ” in Greek.
IC XC, Jesus Christ
Thank you for the explanation through symbols. Very important meaning to know this way of explanation
You’re welcome Rose 🙂
Μy understanding of Attica Greek is that ς is used at the end of a word, not σ or Σ, unless it is a title iεσoυσ χριστοσ. So the “c” naturally kept during the translation of the Greek text to Latin. ic xc..
It is not a case that there´s no Σ (ιν λατιν) in Latin, but that c is used in Greek and recognised as a letter in Latin too. ( although a different “k” , not ” s ” sound)
σ is used at the start od “s” words, Σ when it’s capitalised and ς when the end words in an “s” sound.. thus: ις χς
Hey Paul, welcome to Restless Pilgrim 🙂
It sounds like you’re more experienced with Greek than I am, but I think we might have a few crossed wires here.
> Μy understanding of Attica Greek is…
The Greek used in the New Testament (and therefore in religious icons) is not Attic Greek, but Koine Greek.
> …that ς is used at the end of a word, not σ or Σ, unless it is a title iεσoυσ χριστοσ
Yes, and I believe that this is called a Lunate Sigma.
Having said that, as an aside, we have archeological evidence of the capital sigma being used at the end of the Ichthys acronym.
> So the “c” naturally kept during the translation of the Greek text to Latin. ic xc
But it’s not being translated into Latin though (“Iesum Christum”). Or are you referring to the Latin alphabet?
> It is not a case that there´s no Σ (ιν λατιν) in Latin, but that c is used in Greek and recognised as a letter in Latin too. ( although a different “k” , not ” s ” sound)
While the character Σ isn’t present in the Latin alphabet, the sound certainly is and Greek words can be transliterated into Latin. Again this comes back to the Lunate Sigma.
Are we on the same page?
this is the sign for the antichrist.. As is the 666 reference Cesare Borgias is holding up….
Hi Wilson, do you have any evidence to support your claims?
IC XC in roman numerals is 99 90. flip it and you get 0666.
What do you see as the significance of this? Please don’t say that you think this is a purposeful reference to the Mark of the Beast…
If we went around flipping numbers then the values of those numbers would be up for questioning. The number of 666 is the mark of a beast, not The beast. It’s a gematrick translation of nero caesor. His influences of the past have led alot of people astray in finding truths.
What do you mean by “gematrick translation”?
I think the “transliteration” of ς (s) as a “C” is suspect given that IC XC in roman numerals is 99 90 which is 0666 upside-down. Another thing that bothers me is how the Church acknowledges Christ’s saying and death of three days and yet in the same sentence says He was crucified on a Friday and rose on a Sunday.
Hey Theodore, welcome to Restless Pilgrim. However, I’m not quite sure what you’re suggesting.
I’m suspicious about your calculation because it requires rather ad hoc rules… Firstly, IC is not a valid roman numeral. 99 in roman numerals is XCIX. Even if IC did mean 99, what would motivate you to flip the numbers upside down? Why bother converting them to decimal in the first place?
So, given the rather random transformation you have to do to change “IC XC” into 666, why not just accept that IC XC means “Jesus Christ”? This is how it has always been explained. Why perform mathematical gymnastics, converting text to invalid roman numerals, then convert them to decimal and then turn those numbers upside down? Who stood to gain from all this?
This didn’t have anything to do with the post, but the answer is simple. In the Semitic worldview, any portion of a day counts as a day. If you google this question you’ll find many articles and videos explaining how the ancient Jews counted days. For example:
Pilgrim, since this thread is pointing out a weirdness, that the Western Church in all it’s translations of Greek into Latin only misspelled the ς (s) in the Christogram, monogram of Jesus’ name “IC XC” and the Easterns have just went along with it, could it be that when “IC XC” is translated into Roman numerals and inverted is 666 and given that rabbis love gematria most likely it was fausted onto the Church by infiltrators? As well as was likely the case for the Eastern Orthodox adoption of the caduceus, (for all intents and purposes), which is seen atop the bishop’s staff which sports two snakes flanking a small cross atop it. The brass serpent on a pole and Moses’s rod both only had one serpent. Here’s another troubling matter: Lord Jesus clearly said, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40) yet the Church tradition maintains that Jesus was crucified and laid in a tomb on a Friday, and He was resurrected on Sunday morning which is clearly contrary to the gospel accounts. Two nights and one days is not three days and three nights. Passover in 30 AD was Nisan 15, (April 5th a Wednesday that year), and was seen as a preparation day for the Feast of Unleavened Bread which immediately follows (Lev, 23:4-5).
It’s not a “mistake”, it’s just one of the inevitable choices you make when converting one alphabet into another. Do you make the transition based on one of the sounds a letter can make, or the shape of the character? If you check out the Wikipedia article I linked to, it says: “In handwritten Greek during the Hellenistic period (4th–3rd century BC), the epigraphic form of Σ was simplified into a C-like shape, which has also been found on coins from the 4th century BC onward.” As you can see, this practice long predates the establishment of the Church.
Extremely unlikely given the points that I’ve already made, particularly given that “IC” is not a valid roman numeral (99 in roman numerals is XCIX).
You seem very attached to this theory, but please ask yourself which of these situations is more likely?
(a) That “IC XC” means what Christians teachers have taught for over a millenia.
(b) “IC XC” is a code which, when run through a series of random, nonsensical transformations can be made to evaluate to 666. This was perpetrated by unknown, powerful influences who infiltrated the Christian Church. They thought that leaving this code would be useful for some inexplicable reason. This code remained hidden for nearly all of Church History, until the end of the very end of 20th Century.
Which of these two seems more likely? I’m at a loss regarding the means, motive, and opportunity of (b), even if your transformation could be made to work.
You’re making a similar mistake – assuming similarity means causality. It’s like when an atheist finds some surface-level similarity between some Pagan god and Jesus and therefore concludes that Christianity was simply imitating Paganism.
The Orthodox bishop’s staff has several symbolic allusions: Moses’ staff, the tau, and the call to holy wisdom (Matthew 10:16). It seems bizarre to me to jettison this for a conspiracy theory.
You’ve already brought this up and I answered it in the comment immediately above your most recent comment. As I’ve said before, in the Semitic worldview, any portion of a day counts as a day. Here’s another video explaining it:
Thanks for the video you linked “Timeline Explaining 3 Days & Nights – Easter / Passover” which says exactly what I am saying which disproves what you are saying. Thanks for pointing out that IC isn’t really 99. As for IC XC =ing 999/666, numerology doesn’t cut-it for me but the idea had my interest as a possibility because of the continued blooper which i can see the West contining in but the Greeks also is troubling.
Nice try using scholarly word semantics and the weapon word “conspiracy theory” against my observation of that around 1000 AD the Eastern Orthodox adopted the caduceus atop the bishop’s staff which sports two snakes flanking a small cross atop it. The fact is never were two snakes with the pole nor rod in the OT. I also have seen the Freemasonic all-seeing eye in several churches in Russia.
I don’t know how you can have reached that conclusion since the video’s own description says “It is actually possible to link the scriptures together and plot them on a timeline, proving the three full days and three full nights Jesus was in the grave.”. Either I’ve misunderstood what you’re arguing, or you misunderstood the video.
I’ve got no idea what you mean by “the continued blooper which i can see the West contining[sic] in”. In my previous comment I showed that the lunate sigma predates Christ by several hundred years. Do you think you understand those languages better than those who lived at a time when Koine Greek and Latin were still spoken?
But it is fulfills the definition of a Conspiracy Theory perfectly: “A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable. The term has a negative connotation, implying that the appeal to a conspiracy is based on prejudice or insufficient evidence. The fact is never were two snakes with the pole nor rod in the OT.”
You don’t actually have any evidence connecting the bishop’s staff to the caduceus. You’re leapt to a fanciful conclusion, rejecting historic Christian catechesis because you don’t like the artistic license which was taken in the construction of Bishop staffs.
You’re making the same mistake. You see a similarity and jump to a conspiracy theory. The Eye of Providence first appeared as part of the standard Freemason iconography in 1797. Have you checked when it first appeared in Christian art?
you misunderstand the video which says He was crucified on Passover a Wednesday there by making the standard day which is the full 24 hour. That first video you linked I didn’t even bother when i saw a “pastor Mark” Protestant modern theologian.
Why you so interested in twisting your truth to be copasetic with Jesus’s word’s: 3 days and 3 nights means what it is. Give it up.
Pill Grim,
Ah well, that’ll teach me to share a video without watching it through to the end, I assumed it would just walk through the traditional understanding of Passion Week chronology – my bad.
Admitting that you didn’t watch the previous video reveals that you’re willing to commit the Genetic Fallacy, but I did find your reason for rejecting it interesting though, describing the presenter as a “Protestant modern theologian”. Was your objection to the fact that he’s Protestant or the fact that he’s modern? I ask this because I can’t think of any non-Protestant or anyone from antiquity arguing for Christ being crucified on Wednesday. Who’s the earliest person in history whom you know argued for this?
As for the claim itself, that was a new one to me, I didn’t realise that any groups asserted this. So, I took the time to watch the video in full and write a response to it.
Here’s some discoveries I have made on my own.
The cross is translated into 777 — σταυρὸν 6+1+400+100+70+200 = 777
The rod is translated to 777 — “ῥάβδους” in the Greek Isopsephy system transliterates to “rabdous” and equals 777
And what many have discovered, that the name Jesus is 888
“Ἰησοῦς” in the Greek Isopsephy system transliterates to “Iesous” and equals 888
Also sigma is counted for 6 but could be counted as “ST” which is a greek ligature used in early literature and then could count as S+T, which then is 200+300, but this isn’t used in the translation of “666”, but if it would then it would be
instead of χξς = 600+60+6 = 666
instead χξς = 600+60+200+300 = 1160
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digamma
Which gives the name for man in greek, “ἄνθρωπον” in the Greek Isopsephy system transliterates to “anthropon” and equals 1160 = man
This special spelling of the word is used only once, in here:
Mat 9:9 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a MAN, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.
Which reminds me about the image of the four apostles and only Matthew has been depicted as a man with wings sometimes, the rest as animals… Matthew rose. In his gospel Matt 16:17-19 is given which isn’t as clear in the other gospels.
I’d be careful pushing this too far. For example, you calculation for “cross” doesn’t work out the same if you use “Stauros” with a sigma at the end rather than a nu.
It is wonderful experience for those who did not know. Jesus Christ belongs to all irrespective of their linguistic background. May be we should have some outfit like Google with its unlimited capabilities in design and translations, create this ICONIC MONOGRAM into all the major languages of the world!
Hey Kunnathu, welcome to Restless Pilgrim!
It’s an interesting idea, to modify this christogram for each culture and language, but personally I think it’s far more wonderful for people to dig back into their Christian heritage and discover the history and treasures which can be found there. Besides, I think it’s safe to say that there will always be new expressions of the Christian faith in different cultures, which is great.
Look into orthodoxy
Hi Teresa, welcome to Restless Pilgrim. I’m Eastern Catholic – I belong to a parish which celebrates the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and is also in communion with Rome.
is it me or is no one not seeing black depictions
Hey Alajhaun, welcome to Restless Pilgrim. I’m afraid I don’t understand your comment. What do you mean?
He is asking why there are no African American references to Christ
Why would he expect African American references to Christ? He was from neither Africa nor America…
I HAVE 2 ANCIENT CROSS WITH THAT ON IT, ALSO 1 SAYS “ICXP”…ANYONE KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS? BY THE WAY THISE WERE EXCAVED IN UKRAINE
Hi Vern, welcome to Restless Pilgrim 🙂
If you look in my article, I give the Greek name for Christ: ΙΗΣΟΥΣ (“Jesus”) and ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (“Christ”). I think your cross uses the first and last letters of “Jesus”, ΙΣ (which becomes IC) but then uses the first two letters of “Christ”, XP. Putting this together, we get “IC XP”.
(The letters XP are often found in Christian art and are known by the Greek name, “Chi-Rho”)
I’m not certain that this is the story behind your cross, but that’s my educated guess.
Hope this helps,
David.
Thank you so much for the info David. You seem very informed, I collect these crosses for years, I can never find info about them, the one excavated in Ukraine the owner says its early medieval times, also any info on same cross with a skull head on bottom of it?
Thanks for the info. Vern
In Eastern icons you often see a skull at the bottom of the cross since the crucifixion is taking place at “The place of the skull”:
https://restlesspilgrim.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/crucifixion.jpg
It could also be a reminder to “memento mori”, a Latin phrase popular in the medieval period for Christians to “remember death”. By remembering that death comes to us all prompts us to reorder our priorities.
thank you so much for the info. Vern
is there anyway to post a pic on here?
Not in the comments I’m afraid – you’d have to post it on some other site, like flickr and then paste a link.
good morning thanks for the write up above
. please what of “XL”. Any idea of what it means?
Hey Adolphe, welcome to Restless Pilgrim.
In what context have you seen “XL”? I can only think of clothes where it means eXtra Large! 😉
on someopne seal of the Apostleship in this Christian symbols context
Anyhow I will just suppose is a mistake and he wanted to write XC
Sounds likely, an L and a C can look very similar.
On an icon?
In the picture of the heart with the title “A drawing of the mystical wounds that Jesus imprinted upon the heart of St Veronica Giuliani” which is found here:
http://www.mysticsofthechurch.com/2015/07/st-veronica-giuliani-extraordinary.html , does anyone know he meaning of the letters C V F O on the cross?
This one? I’m afraid not, sorry!
How about the letter appearing to the cross is IC XI? what does it means?
Hey Desiry,
Do you have an example? A link to a picture?
Thanks,
David.
How to send a pic here?
You’ve got to upload to somewhere on the internet (e.g. Flickr) and then paste a link in the comments.
At the back of my rosary cross i noticed a lot of letters symbol what is the meaning of ths?
AAX
OCK
POOHCEOrA
HPA3bIAOO
CA
IPA
BH
CrO
None of these look familiar, but you find this sort of thing on the Benedictine Cross: https://churchpop.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/13615233_1049250655168427_4881681243859765677_n.png
Thank u for the reply.I see the link of st. benedictine but different the letters written on my cross
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Seven months ago, I had no interest in religion, faith, truth, etc. I spent years scoffing people who claimed to have felt a holy presence at times until I experienced it myself, literally overnight I was compelled with an overwhelming feeling to research and I did just that. The things I have found and put together defy all science and can best be put as, all things of the past were out into place by the omnipotent to be discovered and revealed at key times, call it synchronicity, fate or the master plan, but there is knowledge out there not meant to be discovered until our minds can handle it.
I agree. It wasn’t until, my mother invited me to her church for Thanksgiving dinner, and I tried every possible excuse to get out of going. I know it’s shameful, but non the less it wound up that her preacher called me and we talked. His first words were the he had written his own version of the bible,which was just weird. So I did a quick search of famous bible quotes. One of which was that we are not to conform with the masses, that when we have transformation of the mind ,we can for ourself test the word of the lord so that we may ourself know it to be good and true. This preacher told me that no where in the bible die it say we could test it for ourself. I told him to read the book Romans. The preacher then said to me it didn’t matter what I said because he knew he was gonna be saved. I asked him how he knew that. He uttered “John the Baptist saide ye may be saved…” I interrupted and said that that did not say he would be saved. It merely said he “may” be saved but then again he may not. I was called demonic by this man after only repeating his own words. He told me I put the word “may” in the bible. This led to more confusion sincei didn’t put any word in the bible I repeated his words. Then I asked him if I had put the word “may” in the bible then why would that have not been ok. Since he rewrote the entire bible himself. I asked him if he thought he was better than me or God like to rewrite the word of God . Anyways I still had to go to this dinner to apease my mom and just 3 days after being called demonic. My mom said you just have to believe. I then told her that this man is a quack job and that you have to be given something to believe in and not to be led astray by some nut job on a podeum. That was the turning point my life and the things I have discovered since then are mind blowing.
I’d have just asked him on what basis should I trust his renderings of the Greek and Hebrew and not those of other scholars (no doubt with more training and credentials).
Hitler was catholic… wake up
Perhaps you could answer these questions?
How often did he go to Mass?
Who was his confessor?
Why did he send priests, monks, and nuns to the concentration camps. For example, do you know the story of Maximillian Kolbe?
What was the content of the the only Papal Encyclical with a German title?
No answer?
umm gamatria is how you find the son of perditon calculate his name?? it equates to 666 you should look into english sumerian gamatria you’ll find a lot there especially about world figures….and a bunch of other things if you’re wise enough but the one who is just wise enough will find the son of perdition through this form of ancient mathamatics. this was also the only way to do math especially geometry of letters in ancient languages in Jewish, Koine Greeks and the old Roman’s. They all had to know gamatria in order to even do mathmatics because there was no digitized system until the pheonocians theyre devil worshipping priests came up with a 6x6x6 mathamatical multiplication table digitized one a religious coin.
I think you mean Gematria, not gamatria.
I’m not entirely sure why you’re talking about 666, which relates to Nero, not Christ. I’m also not sure why the Phoenicians are being villainised or what you’re referring to with regards to a multiplication table or a religious coin
Hello David. I know the very first thing that you are going to say, “Hello Raquel and welcome to Restless Pilgrim.” It’s actually quite proper and respectful of you to start your conversations that way. I’m going to try really hard to be kind and respectful. After reading a lot of the comments made by the people and reading your comments back to the people, I have to agree with a lot of what the people had to say. I guess the reason why I decided to comment is because I did a little research on most to all of the Popes from the very first one up til now or a Pope or two ago. You know what I found out? They all had sexual problems and most of them were pedophiles. I am not judging here, just stating facts. I was in college (do not have a degree) and decided to do the research on my own. It was not a class or school project. They also were very incestuous. My question to you is, if you were aware of this? To this very day parents all across the world have made written complaints about their children being molested, raped and sodomized while in the hands of catholic priests. I used to be a Catholic for 21 years. Went to catecism, first communion—–all that. It was all meaningless to me. There was nothing personal about it. Nor did I find it fun. When I was 12, I tried learning how to play the guitar until the instructor touched me inappropriately. This was inside the Catholic Church. I am no longer a Catholic.
Hey Raquel, welcome to Restless Pilgrim!
(Had to stay true to form…)
I’m sorry it too me a while to respond – I’m travelling in England with my family at the moment.
What specifically? At least on this post, I’ve found the rebuttals very week and without evidence.
This is a mixture of truth and fact…
It is certainly true that there have been some terrible men who were Popes. However, what conclusion do we draw from this? The Catholic Church doesn’t claim that Popes are sinless, or even good men, although one would certainly hope so!
Consider St. Peter, the first Pope, who abandoned Jesus, denied Him three times, initially didn’t believe in the Resurrection and even afterwards demonstrated hypocrisy when he stopped eating with Gentiles (Galatians 2:11). I think that the very fact that the Papacy has lasted 2,000 years with such men and even been restored to holy Pontiffs speaks to the divine foundation of the institution.
Now, to your specific claims… From St. Peter to Pope Francis, I think there about been about 265 Bishops of Rome. Are you really claiming to have found “sexual problems” with all 265 of them? Have you really found proof that at least 133 of them (“most”) were pedophiles and incestuous? I am extremely doubtful of these claims, but if you’d like to present your evidence, I’d love to see it.
I am well-aware of this and, being a great lover of Church history, I may even know of more instances than you of misbehaviour by clerics throughout Church history.
This is a sad truth and never, ever acceptable.
However I would point out that the same is true of every other religious denomination and public institution (such as schools). The difference is that the Catholic Church is a more visible institution and more liable to be publicly sued.
I would also add that today monitoring for this sort of thing in the Catholic Church is considerably tighter than any other institution. Ask anyone involved in parish ministry and they’ll tell you about all the (stomach-churning) training they’ve had to attend and all the rules they have to follow when dealing with minors.
This is another unfortunate truth – most faith formation in the Catholic Church is extremely poor. Most people who attend Catholic education even through to university have a very tenuous grasp of the faith – this was certainly true for me. For example, even then I thought the Immaculate Conception referred to the birth of Jesus. I couldn’t have presented the proof for the existence of God, the Resurrection or explained why we have a Pope.
I’m heart-broken this happened to you 🙁 Was this person giving lessons on church property? Was the instructor reported and prosecuted?
While I can certainly understand the emotional baggage which comes from a horrendous encounter like that, I would suggest that a bad person (bad Catholic, even) doing a heinous act proves little about Catholicism. It does not disprove that Jesus rose from the dead or that He founded the Catholic Church. In fact, it validates what He predicted, that there would be bad people within the Church. When we talk about the Church being “holy” we look to those who lived lives of heroic virtue like Jesus – Mother Teresa of Maximillion Kolbe.
Hey Raquel,
Do you have any thoughts about my response?
Cheers,
David
DCLXVI are the pre M or a 3rd place holder denote millennium, milli, so i think looks more proper reffered as illunie ela or yuneli or yunel final yenon but one more n and youd have the devils them selves, money, will be gods gift to the worshippers of idols or any other than his son yesuha and john spoke of the comforter that will come, but not if he delays, his heralding, and baptismal iconology was more effective in drawing in rather than the apocalyptical standard of the times version of the future present relation. So the M is what saves god fearing christens from having to war amongst them selfs after a quick revision of a well estaablished culture engine, anyhow with no repeated and shortest way to get the biggest number they could possable make is three scores two and a score and two
three marks. 20+20+20+300+200+100+3+3. so 2 Vs fliped is the old way of moving place and denoting a sub none zero numer to be inputted whenever. plus they already had a longer nnumber system they were hiding with the people the american indain religuious mega center tenchittilan. ps magic is not real, but it can work really good on some people most people. believe or not.
Hey Jacob, welcome to Restless Pilgrim. I’m sorry, but this is pretty incomprehensible.
What does XIC
Where have you seen this?
On the t-shirt I received, it said I bought it, and I searched the internet and received interesting comments ic xc above each word was like this ~~
The – or ~ above IC and XC indicate taht it’s an abbreviated word.
Shalom, and good morning David from the Restless Pilgrim. I was following the curiosity of the orthodox symbology of Jesus Christ, specifically “IC XC.” I am wondering if it is possible to know as an individual that I have come from a place before my existence. Is a great Evil attached to me? Am I being deceived? I fear the LORD, but I feel a certainty inside me that I naturally doubt, the earth provokes me to naturally doubt, and the Devil provokes me to doubt, or possibly believe.
Thank you for attending to me. God bless.
Hey John, welcome to Restless Pilgrim!
I’m sorry, I don’t understand the question. How can you “come from” anywhere if it’s “before my existence”?
Why would you think that?
About what?
Doubt what? Belief in God? If so, I’d point you to Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis:
I am not asking anyone to accept Christianity if his best reasoning tells him that the weight of the evidence is against it. That is not the point at which Faith comes in. But supposing a man’s reason once decides that the weight of the evidence is for it. I can tell that man what is going to happen to him in the next few weeks. There will come a moment when there is bad news, or he is in trouble, or is living among a lot of other people who do not believe it, and all at once his emotions will rise up and carry out a sort of blitz on his belief. Or else there will come a moment when he wants a woman, or wants to tell a lie, or feels very pleased with himself, or sees a chance of making a little money in some way that is not perfectly fair: some moment, in fact, at which it would be very convenient if Christianity were not true. And once again his wishes and desires will carry out a blitz. I am not talking of moments at which any real new reasons against Christianity turn up. Those have to be faced and that is a different matter. I am talking about moments where a mere mood rises up against it.
Now Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes. I know that by experience. Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing looks very improbable: but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable. This rebellion of your moods against your real self is going to come anyway. That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods “where they get off,” you can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion. Consequently one must train the habit of Faith.
The first step is to recognise the fact that your moods change. The next is to make sure that, if you have once accepted Christianity, then some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held before your mind for some time every day. That is why daily prayers and religious reading and church going are necessary parts of the Christian life. We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed. And as a matter of fact, if you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have been reasoned out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?
Ok well since we are talking about translating of biblical references: the bible before it was translated into Greek was written in Hebrew. In the Hebrew language there is no present tense for the verb “to be”. Meaning there was not any “I am” . That being the case; how would it be possible for any language to translate from Hebrew the words I am? When God was asked his name by the Shepard, the only place in the bible, the response was supposedly “I am who I am”. Which is 100% Impossible to be translated to any language from Hebrew!
Hey Dennice, welcome to Restless Pilgrim!
The translation of that passage is actually pretty broad:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_that_I_Am