Back in 2017, we reported how Ron Harmon had a meltdown over the use of the word "amen" and disassociated himself from the House of God group. (see: More Upheaval In the COG: Pastor Resigns Over Use of "Amen" at End of Prayers). Harmon had a fit because he says the word "amen" means you are asking the sun god "Aman-Ra" from ancient Egypt to bless your prayer.
We ran another article in 2020 where this idiocy was brought up again, this time claiming the use of amen has Egyptian roots, again rooted in the deity Amun. (see: Saying Amen is Wrong? Missing the point all together.)
While some may say that saying Amen sounds too much like Amon (or that the sun-god’s name is also sometimes pronounced as A-men), we do not stop using words just because they have a similar sound in English as pagan deities.For an example, one of the main Egyptian deities was Ra. People from certain parts of the USA pronounce the English word “raw” as “rah.” When one is speaking about something that is raw, one is not invoking a pagan deity. Ending prayers with Amen is also not invoking a pagan deity.Interestingly, after I wrote all of that for the prayer booklet, my family and I actually visited an Egyptian museum in Northern California last month. And there, I was also able to confirm that the way we say ‘Amen’ is not the way that the Egyptian god is addressed. Those who claim otherwise apparently have not looked at this in sufficient detail and/or have dismissed Hebrew and Greek scriptures.It is appropriate to end prayers with Amen.
So let it be written, so let it be done!
Thought this was funny. What if we said Amen all those times heartening back to the “pagan” god of Amun in a church SO careful not to do anything even remotely of such origins??! I grew up in South Texas and we took a church youth field trip to a museum where we learned that tortillas were originally round in worship of the Sun god in Aztec culture. No ministers stopped chowing down on tacos. š® Tacos continued to show up at every potluck and church picnic where I was from!! My point I guess is that the true roots of a lot of things are convoluted. Many hands have touched, for instance, what a cross means. It’s a very common symbol I’ve see engraved and sculpted by many cultures as I’ve had the opportunity to travel the world. Mrs. Armstrong saw what she thought were Easter eggs engraved in the walls in Egypt and HWA declared them pagan because something that looked like them decorated Ancient Egyptian ruins - I’ve seen those same engravings when I travelled there. Tour guides of multiple cultures have given me so many explanations for the meaning of the exact same symbol. The WCG/COGs not only are hypocritical in this, but they miss the point all together. I think things, symbols, and words hold the meaning we give them. Facebook