Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Jesus H Christ

Now, don't get your panties in a bunch, you Christian folk.  I'm not swearing.  I'm not belittling.  I am simply reporting.  This question has been niggling around in the back of my mind for quite some time and I finally decided it was time to find an answer.  Actually, there are 2 questions:
1.  Did JC have a middle name that started with H?
2.  If not, where did the H come from?
I got online, checked several sources, and here's what I came up with.

The answer to the first question is most certainly 'no.'  I couldn't find any evidence or theories that His middle name was Huey or Hank or Hymie or any name starting with H - nor any name, period.

There is no definitive answer to the second question.  There are, as you can imagine, several theories though, some quite interesting.  Here are 3 of them:

1.  The Holy Monogram, ever heard of it?  I never heard it called that, but have seen it numerous times and you probably have, also.  It's a Christogram, a favored symbol in some Christian faiths, is often found on printed materials and vestments and other paraphernalia.  Here's a picture of it:


IHS comes from the Greek name for Jesus, the first 3 letters of which are iota-eta-sigma.

Sometimes the Christogram is seen with J replacing I, and C replacing S, hence JHC.  So, easy to see how H was considered to be a part of Jesus' name.  I heard somewhere that Catholics believe the Christogram means Jesus Holy Savior.  Anyway, this theory is the most credible.

2.  Another theory is that the H stands for Harold, and originated in The Lord's Prayer (The Our Father).  Most folks were illiterate in Jesus' day, so prayers were passed along verbally instead of in writing.  Apparently, many folks misheard the phrase "hallowed be thy name", thought they were hearing "Harold be thy name."  No, I did NOT make that up!

3.  Last, and in my view, least, is the term 'haploid.'  It means having half the chromosomes normally found in a given organism.  Jesus allegedly had no biological father, so technically he was a haploid.  Jesus Haploid Christ?  Give me a break!  Who the H came up with that one?





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