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The Word "amen" And Its Origin - Religion - Nairaland

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The Word "amen" And Its Origin by IDINRETE: 4:42pm On Sep 26, 2006
WHAT AND WHERE IS THE ORIGIN OF THE WORD "AMEN" SAID AT THE END OF THE CHRISTIAN PRAYERS?
Re: The Word "amen" And Its Origin by kiki(f): 4:44pm On Sep 26, 2006
i don't know where the origin is from but i heard it means it shall be so
Re: The Word "amen" And Its Origin by IDINRETE: 5:04pm On Sep 26, 2006
could it be true that it was a short form of one of the gods in ancient egypt (amenhotep)
Re: The Word "amen" And Its Origin by kiki(f): 5:14pm On Sep 26, 2006
well i don't know about that but i don't think its true i think it means it shall be so
Re: The Word "amen" And Its Origin by Wumine(f): 10:14am On Sep 27, 2006
be it the name of a god or anything, as long as you are using it in the context of 'so shall it' be it is 'amen'!
Re: The Word "amen" And Its Origin by Gracchi: 10:51am On Oct 01, 2006
the ancient eygptians used to say , am-mom, at the end of there prays in the temples, where the pyrimad steps to heaven.many christian rituals come from eygpt

as for amen , it just means , Yes Sir.
Re: The Word "amen" And Its Origin by KDK(m): 2:17pm On Oct 01, 2006
The word 'Amen' makes its first appearance in the Bible under the most solemn circumstances. When a husband accused his wife of adultery, and she protested her innocence, and she had not been caught in the act, the matter was settled by God under the test of bitter water (Num 5:12-31). The woman was taken to the priest, and the priest put her under oath. She submitted to a ceremony in which she drank some water containing dust from the tabernacle floor. If she had committed adultery, she was be cursed with a wasting disease, but if she did not get sick, then she was proven innocent and her husband was proven wrong.

During the ceremony, when the priest pronounced the curse, the woman was required by God to say, "Amen, Amen". (Num 5:22). That is the first occurrence of the word in scripture. The Lord commands it to be said by a person who is yielding herself to examination by him in his presence.

The word 'Amen' probably goes back a long way. Some think it is of pagan origin (there was an Egyptian god called Amen-Ra). Perhaps that ancient usage reflects an even earlier existence of the word. As to its use in the Bible, however, we first encounter the word in this commandment spoken by the Lord (Num 5:22).


Why do we say 'Amen'?
The word 'Amen' is almost always the last word of a solemn statement. In the first example, it was said by the woman at the end of the priest's pronouncement of the curse and of her taking the oath. We find the word "Amen" as the last word in several instances in the Bible.

The word is found in the last verses of the Bible (Rev 22:20-21).
The first three books of Psalms end with Amen (Psa 41:13, 72:19, 89:52).
Most books of the New Testament end with it (KJV).
In the land of Israel, when a prayer or prophecy was made, or a law of God was read, "All the people said, 'Amen'" (Neh 5:13, 8:6).
The Lord's example prayer ends with 'Amen' (Mtt 6:13).
Paul uses the word seven times in his letter to the Romans at the end of doxologies or benedictions  ?  (Rom 1:25, 9:5, 11:36, 15:33, 16:20,24,27)
Paul implies that people should say 'Amen' at the end of a prayer in church (1Co 14:16).
The word "Amen" appears therefore to be the fitting last word for solemn utterances made before God.


What Does 'Amen' Mean?
Oddly, to get a scriptural answer to what 'Amen' means, we go to a place where it is used not as the last word but the first word. Jesus would often start a solemn statement by saying "Verily" or "Truly". In John's gospel (eg Jhn 3:3) Jesus is recorded as using the word twice in succession, "Verily, verily, I say to you, ". This is actually the word "Amen".

When we compare an instance of this in Mark, with the same statement in Luke, we find Mark has left the word untranslated (just as αμην "Amen"wink, but Luke has translated it using the word αληθος "Truly". (Mark 9:1, Lke 9:27). This shows us that the underlying meaning of the word "Amen" is truth and verity. It is a solemn affirmation. When we say, "Amen" we are saying, "Yes before God I agree with that, I believe that to be true, I want that to be so".

In some other interesting and helpful passages,

Instead of saying, "Amen, Amen" Jeremiah paraphrased the second Amen in his statement, "Amen, the Lord do so" (Jer 28:6).
One of God's names or titles is "The God of Truth". If we left the last word untranslated, the title would read, "The God of Amen" (Isa 65:16).
Paul uses the word as an affirmation when he says of Christ, "For as many as may be the promises of God, in him they are 'yes' and in him 'amen'" (2Co 1:20).
One of the names of Jesus is "The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness" (Rev 3:14).
These passages show us that the word "Amen" is a solemn affirmation of truth, a special word that we can use whenever we have said (or heard) something that is true before God.

Amen.

Source: Simply christians,Australia (A bible study resource) http://members.datafast.net.au/sggram/f484.htm
Re: The Word "amen" And Its Origin by 4getme1(m): 11:08am On Jan 22, 2007
Very interesting article. Thanks KDK! smiley
Re: The Word "amen" And Its Origin by Horus(m): 10:23pm On Jul 21, 2007
We say Amen at the end of our prayers. The Preacher says " Can I get an Amen ?".The Pastor says, "And everybody said Amen". Yet no one has a clue as to what the word means. Now you say, Amen means "so be it". Not true. We stole the word from an ancient culture and changed it's meaning to suit our purpose. That's how we got most of our religious traditions.
Amen is the Egyptian God of life and reproduction, represented as a man with a ram's head. Amen, Amon, Ammon, and Atum are all the same. Amen-Ra, Amon-Ra, Atum-Ra, the Sun.

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