"in" vs "on"

edited December 1969 in Faith Issues
Hi!

I've been reading a book on Comparative theology by H.H Pope Shenouda and noticed that he says "believe on the Lord" or "believe on God". This is not the first time I've seen this... it's in the Bible and Khologeya too, and at first I thought it was a typo but there can't be a typo everywhere!!

Why does the Church say believe "on" instead of "in" God? (ie. what is the meaning behind it?)

thanks

Comments

  • I noticed that too!!

    Maybe its the way its translated. Like in Arabic, it is "wasek fe Rabina" or "believe in God". In another Arabic way it might portray, "daman ala3 Rabina" meaning believe on God. Maybe the multiple typovers was because of the same translator translating word for word rather than the meaning.

    My Arabic is really, really bad and I maybe wrote something wrong, but I hope I am on the right track.

    :D this reminded me of something, my sisters always make jokes about translating Arabic phrases directly to English dismissing the meaning and we laugh hours on end ;D They're pretty funny.
    Yomak eswed= your day is black
    Yomak matelhoosh shams = your day is the day where the sun didnt rise.
    Ha warek el noogom fe e3z el na7ar= I will show you the stars in daybreak. (I love this one, translated to English, its sounds like something out of a love poem, but in Arabic its meant to be something one says at someone they are angry at!)
    o3od zay el gazma= sit like a shoe

    and so on.. haha


    Again maybe the meaning didn't get translated, just word for word....





  • Hi guys,

    I know "believe on" sounds weird to us, but I'm pretty sure it's an English convention with its own subtle meaning. Check out these two definitions:
    http://www.thefreedictionary.com/to+believe+in
    http://www.thefreedictionary.com/To+believe+on

    Also, the phrase "believe on" is in the Bible ("So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household”" - Acts 16:31), so it has nothing to do with translating from Arabic.

    Adonijah, your blood is light lol
  • Wow! that's great that you found those explanations! you know, I've been wondering about that for a long time and now it all makes sense :)

    thank you so much!
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