While Christians are used to a certain established set of terms, I have chosen to speak using the correct terminology. Here are the terms I use:
- Yahweh: The one and only God of creation introduced Himself to Moses as Yahweh. As a loving God who wants us to know Him, He expects us to use His name. Rather than use the generic term "God," which could refer to any number of false gods, it is preferable that we use His name so that others know precisely Who we are speaking of.
- Covenant: "Old Testament" and "New Testament" are misleading and confusing. You will not find the word "testament" anywhere in the Old Covenant Scriptures, and in the New Covenant Scriptures the Greek word diatheke (διαθήκη), sometimes translated as "testament" and sometimes as "covenant," correctly and accurately means "covenant" and should always be translated as "covenant."
- Congregation: In the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Jewish scholars used the word ekklesia (ἐκκλησία), which correctly means "congregation, assembly, or gathering." William Tyndale correctly rendered this word "congregation" in his translation of the New Covenant Scriptures.
- Church: The word "church" is derived from the Greek kuriakon (κυριακόν), which means "belonging to the Lord." Over time, the word "church" came to refer to "God’s house," meaning a place. William Tyndale used "church" when speaking of pagan places of worship, and so I will continue to use it only when referring to organized religious institutions.
- gentile: This word in both Hebrew and Greek refers to the "nations," to "heathen." It should never be capitalized because it is not a kingdom, an ethnicity, or a "race." It refers to all non-Israelite people and nations.
This list may be added to over time. While my earlier writings do not adhere to these terms (as my adoption of them is fairly recent), as I slowly edit them they eventually will in order to be entirely consistent.