catholic bible dictionary

I'm looking for a dictionary or encyclopedia of the Lutheran church online for free use (like the Roman Catholics and others have theirs).

Does anyone know a URL if there is one?

Thanks,
Debbie

Hi,

Here are a couple of links to lots of info.

Hope this helps.

Hosanna in the highest this Palm Sunday.

Mark.

http://www.lcms.org/ca/www/cyclopedia/02 /
The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod - Christian Cyclopedia
http://www.geocities.com/resourcesforlut herans/
Resources for Lutherans

2008-03-15 22:05:26 by debbiepittman

Dr. Scott Hahn was born in 1957, and has been married to Kimberly since 1979. He and Kimberly have six children and are expecting their fifth ...

The Bible dictionary edited by Westphal says that the Hebrews did not imagine the soul “without a body to support it.” This Protestant authority adds: “Man is therefore an indivisible whole; without the body the soul remains inconceivable, and without the soul the body is only an inert mass.”

Sincere Catholics and Protestants alike, who have assumed that the idea that the soul is immortal is supported in the writings of Jesus’ apostles, may be shocked to read what a major new Catholic reference work says about this. The New Catholic Encyclopedia (bearing the imprimatur of the archbishop of Washington; published in 1967 by the Catholic University of America) admits (Vol. 13, page 467): “The notion of the soul surviving after death is not readily discernible in the Bible.”

Showing how the Hebrew word that the Bible uses for “soul” differs from Christendom’s modern concept, that encyclopedia says:

“Nepes [or néphesh] is a term of far greater extension than our ‘soul,’ signifying life (Ex 21.23; Dt 19.21) and its various vital manifestations: breathing (Gn 35.18; Jb 41.21), blood [Gn 9.4; Dt 12.23; Ps 140 (141). 8], desire (2 Sam 3.21; Prv 23.2). The Soul in the OT [Old Testament] means not a part of man, but the whole man—man as a living being. Similarly, in the NT [New Testament] it signifies human life; the life of an individual, conscious subject (Mt 2.20; 6.25; Lk 12.22-23; 14.26; Jn 10.11, 15, 17; 13.37).”
Thus, the Bible teaches that the soul is the life you enjoy. Your soul is YOU. When you live, you are a living soul. When you die, the soul is dead.

Then,what hope for is there for man?

The soul is the person themselves. In the resurrection we will be given new bodies. Not ethereal bodies that have no substance. God created Adam and Eve with real bodies. Satan is the one who promotes the immortal soul theory because he told Eve that she would positively not die if she ate of the fruit. But Eve did die and so did Adam. So Satan has formed a lie by which they did not die but have an immortal soul that lives on. If people have an immortal soul, then there is no need for a resurrection because they are not dead.

2008-09-20 10:20:50 by arioch

Price: $24.00

Surprising as it may sound, the cross was in use as a religious symbol for thousands of years before Jesus Christ ever walked the earth. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia:

The sign of the cross, represented in its simplest form by a crossing of two lines at right angles, greatly antedates, in both East and the West, the introduction of Christianity. It goes back to a very remote period of human civilization (1908 edition, volume 4, p. 517).

An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols authored by J.C. Cooper confirms the ancient origins of the cross. A universal symbol from the most remote times; it is the cosmic symbol par excellence. It is a world center and therefore a point of communication between heaven and earth and a cosmic axis, thus sharing the symbolism of the cosmic tree, mountain, pillar, ladder etc (p. 45).

Later, the Celtic cross came to symbolize the four roads to the corners of the earth.

Unger's Bible Dictionary confirms the usage of the cross in ancient times as a pagan symbol. The authors write: That the cross was widely known in pre-Christian times as an emblem that was a well-known Heathen Sign. The vestments of the priest of Horus the Egyptian god of light are marked by a cross. At Thebes, in the tombs of the kings, royal cows are represented plowing, a calf playing in front. Each animal has a cross marked in several places on it. Rassam found buildings at Nineveh marked with the Maltese cross. Osiris, as well as Jupiter Ammon, had for a monogram a cross.

The form of the cross now used in Christianity actually had its origin in the letter “T.” This was the traditional symbol for Tammuz, the ancient god of the Chaldeans and Egyptians. Tammuz was the brother of Ishtar, the goddess of fertility who is now unwittingly worshiped by millions of professing Christians on the holiday that bears a form of her name—Easter. The symbol for Tammuz is what the mystery religions call the mystic “T.” It is an emblem of great antiquity, and it is sometimes called “the sign of life.”

The lower case “t”, or cross, was originally used as an amulet over the heart. Sometimes it was inscribed on the garments of pagan priests, and other ancient pagan religions used it as part of the dress of vestal virgins. This Pagan symbol ... the Tau, the sign of the cross, the indisputable sign of Tammuz, the false Messiah ... the mystic Tau of the Chaldeans (Babylonians) and Egyptians—the true original form of the letter T—the initial of the name of Tammus ... (was) the Babylonian emblem of Tammuz.

Buddhists believe that the cross represents both the tree of life and spiritual nourishment.

The Hindus also incorporate the symbol of the cross in their faith. They call the cross the “rajas,” the expansion of being.

The linguistic evidence from the Bible suggests that Jesus was crucified not on a cross, but on an upright stake, or post. The original word that the King James translators rendered as “cross” is the Greek word “stauros.” Found 28 times in the New Testament, the word “cross” in every single case is the Greek word “stauros.” In Strong's Dictionary of the Greek language, the word is defined as “an upright post or stake.”

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words: [Stauros] denotes an upright pole or stake. Both the noun and the verb stauroo, to fasten to a stake or pole, are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two-beamed cross. The shape of the latter had its origin in ancient Chaldea (Babylon), and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name).

Has the "Universal Church" or Catholic Church duped Christians subtley?

It wouldn't be surprising if the cross symbol as we see it now was actually borrowed from paganism (after all, the time of Christmas and bringing in a tree were, the idea of an "easter bunny" was, this is not a new thing). However, the fact remains that Jesus did die on a cross. The method used by romans probably did not look like the cross we see today, however. It was probably attached to wooden scaffolding and made the shape of a capital T or X not the cross shape (similar to a lower case t) commonly used in religious art, jewelry and iconography.

That said, this doesn't mean that the symbol of the cross need be abandoned. The idea of cross does not have these pagan (or buddhist, or whatever else) connotations and meanings for Christians. When they see a cross they are reminded of Christ, and that is the point of a symbol, to direct the worshipper to the thing symbolized. As long as the cross does so, it really doesn't matter it's origin.

Edit:
The "linguistic evidence" is questionable at best. There is no specific term for cross as opposed to tree or wooden stake (they would all be the same Greek word). What is known is that from cultural/historical studies crucifixion, on some type of cross (whether a t or not) was common practice for Romans. Also what is known is the verb used to describe the death ("crucify"). You shouldn't follow the "linguistic experts" when they've all only taken a year or two (at best) of Greek or are enitrely self taught, as is the majority of the Watchtower translators.

2010-01-03 11:19:14 by Tigerstar God and Son Disciple

Price: $0.99

How come there is no "Complete" Bible. Wouldn't it be great to combine all the books of the Christian Bible, Catholic Bible, Orthodox Bible, The Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Quran? It would also be great for words that were hard to interpret be left alone and just have the various meaning of the word put in a dictionary in the back.

I think this would be great since there are words that are mistranslated, due to the difficulties of translating, and the fact that the Quran branches of Abraham's son, Ismael, and their are so many scriptures and books that are just missing but are now found amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Now that we have everything, why not put them all together to read as one accurate Holy Book? Wouldn't that be ideal?

Is there a book out there that is like that, or is this just wishful thinking? If not, wouldn't this be ideal? I think this would be great! I would love to read and study a book like that.

You could just read all of those.

2008-11-18 23:29:00 by Dr Geek: Computer MD

...believe in the trinity when their own reference books admit that it is not a Bible teaching?

A Protestant publication states: "The word Trinity is not found in the Bible . . . It did not find a place formally in the theology of the church till the 4th century." (The Illustrated Bible Dictionary) And a Catholic authority says that the Trinity "is not . . . directly and immediately [the] word of God."—New Catholic Encyclopedia.

The Catholic Encyclopedia also comments: "In Scripture there is as yet no single term by which the Three Divine Persons are denoted together.

"The formulation 'one God in three Persons' was not solidly established, certainly not fully assimilated into Christian life and its profession of faith, prior to the end of the 4th century. . . . Among the Apostolic Fathers, there had been nothing even remotely approaching such a mentality or perspective."—New Catholic Encyclopedia.

Why does anybody believe the things they do? People have created myths of all sorts that have become religions to one extent or another for thousands of years.

Most of Catholic and Protestant beliefs don't come from the Bible. There is no mention of Sunday becoming holy to God or the Sabbath becoming unholy; there is no mention of the Commandments of God being trashed; there is no mention of people going to heaven when they die; there is no mention of a rapture; there is no mention that God gave any man or group of men the authority to change his laws; there is no mention of an immortal soul; etc., etc., etc...

The doctrine of the Trinity is just another one of those man-made myths.

Most of Catholic and Protestant beliefs are contradicted in the Bible. And that goes for the Trinity too.

God has said (in many places in the Bible) that the majority of humanity is blinded to the truth. And that there would be many who would be deceived (either by themselves or by others) into believing they were following Christ. Jesus said, "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19).

People don't want to know the truth, so they invent lies to cover themselves -- like the fig leaves of Adam and Eve.

2007-02-02 01:47:58 by LineDancer