Template:Churche
Churche
Some say John Wycliffe took “churche” from the old English “kirke” which is often attributed to a pagan temple in earlier times. It is true that there is the word KIRKE (Circe) which was a goddess of sorcery (pharmakeia) who was skilled in the magic of transmutation, illusion, and necromancy. She lived on the mythical island of Aiaia (Aeaea) with her nymph companions.[1] But are these words really the source of the word Church we see in the text today?
Wycliffe always translated ekklesia “churche” even when it was used to describe a governmental assembly in Ephesus or the called out Levites in the wilderness.
In 1526 William Tyndale, and in 1535 Myles Coverdale translated ekklesia as “congregation”. Tyndale only used the word church in Acts 19:37 in reference to that pagan Temple of Diana when he was translating the word hierosulos, robbers of churches. [2]
To understand what a Church is and is not it might be useful to understand that the Temple of Diana was also a Church, one of many Temples that provided a means for the practice of Public religion instead of Pure Religion, and it was a bank?
But even more important why were Christians accused of robbing that temple while many other Romans and Greeks were Investing in Diana?
Christ was preaching one form of government as ancient as Moses and Abraham. He commanded his disciples to make the people sit down in "companies". We see the word "symposium" in the Greek text which was a small gathering of about ten friends. But they were also to connect each circle of friends by ranks of fifty and ranks of one-hundred. The first time Christ is seen commanding this network pattern in Mark 6 there were 5000 people gathered to share loaves and fishes.
The etymology of the word "church" or "churche" is commonly assumed to be from the Greek, kurios as we see in "kurios oikos" (house of the Lord). Or from the name of the Greek goddess Circe. These explanations might be true if it was not for the fact that the word existed in all the Celtic dialects long before the introduction of the Greek. Places of worship among the German and Celtic nations were always associated with a circular gathering from Stone Henge to King Arthur's round table. [3]
Anglo-Saxon 'circe' which came to mean a small church, has its origins in the word 'circol', a circle. It was these celtic words "Kirche" and "Circe" we see in most English versions as a rendering of the Greek word ekklesia.
Religious gatherings were often forming circles. The Druids, Celts, and Saxons all met in circles and often marked those areas with a circle of stones. Before Temples were buildings they were areas to safely meet which included sanctuary. At least twenty-eight of these ancient circles can be found in the area of Yorkshire alone. Many of the early Churches were built from some of the stones which had previously marked those sacred circles. Many people still called these buildings circe in Old English or kirk in Scottish when Wycliffe was translating the scriptures from the Greek into English.
- "the derivation of the word 'church' is uncertain. It is found in the Teutonic and Slavonic languages and answers to the derivatives of ekklesia, which are naturally found in the romance languages and by foreign importation elsewhere. The word is generally said to be derived from the Greek kyriakos, meaning the lord's house. But the derivation has been too hastily assumed. It is probably associated with the Scottish kirk, the Latin circus/circulous, the Greek klukos, because the congregations were gathered in circles."[4]
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.[5]
The Church established by Jesus Christ did not exercise authority one over the other nor did t exercise authority over the people who gathered in free assemblies of faith and love. When Christ commanded his disciples to organize the people in companies of ten and ranks of one-hundred they were not circles of power but of charity and service. God has always desired to set the people free from sin like the covetous practices which makes the people merchandise to the Fathers of the earth like Cain, Nimrod, Pharaoh, and Caesar.
Their offer of benefits and Free bread like Food Stamps, Social Security and welfare all provided through forced contributions not only makes the word of God to no effect they also are a snare and a trap.
- Psalms 69:22 Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.
- Romans 11:9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
Our desire to rule over our neighbor, to live at the expense of our neighbor, to extract security and benefits from others at the point of the sword brings us under the sword. If we are willing to bite one another we will be devoured.
The Modern Christian's imagination is often steeped in a distorted view of the Early Church. They have many ideas about Religion but none of them include "Pure Religion unspotted by the world". They have essentially made Christianity something it was never meant to be. They claim they want to get back to the roots of the early Christians but they hesitate to find out what the early Church was actually doing.
- ↑ Before that Circe was a goddess of sorcery (pharmakeia) who was skilled in the magic of transmutation, illusion, and necromancy. And her name is derived from the Greek verb kirkoô meaning "to secure with rings" or "hoop around"--a reference to the binding power of magic.
- ↑ For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, ...Acts 19:37
- ↑ "The etymology of this word is generally assumed to be from the Greek, Kuriou oikos (house of God); but this is most improbable, as the word existed in all the Celtic dialects long before the introduction of Greek. No doubt the word means "a circle." The places of worship among the German and Celtic nations were always circular. (Welsh, cyrch, French, cirque; Scotch, kirk; Greek, kirk-os, etc.) Compare Anglo-Saxon circe, a church, with circol, a circle." Ebenezer Cobham Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable of 1898.
- ↑ Smith's Bible Dictionary from 1884, page 452.
- ↑ J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (1954–55)