WHAT DO WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY "AMEN"?

 

How many of you remember in 2021 Democratic Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver, who is a pastor, was tasked with giving the prayer before the opening of the 117th Congress and he ended the prayer with "Amen and A-woman"?

Ludicrous, right?  The uproar after this "prayer" was deafening.  Without getting too deep in politics, I'll just say that the party of the Left is so hung up on gender and the "rights" of women, they (and Mr. Cleaver) make up nonsensical words in an effort to virtue signal the group they want to pander to.

A very important aspect of biblical study is etymology.  Etymology is "the study of the origin of a word and the historical development of its meaning" (Oxford English Dictionary).  If Mr. Cleaver is a true student of the Bible, he would've known what the word "AMEN" means.

The word "AMEN" is a Hebrew word which means, "so be it", or "verily".  The letters of the word "AMEN" come from the root letters of the word "emunah", which means belief or trust.  According to the Jewish site Chadbad.org, "when the court would administer an oath, the person would answer "Amen", and it was considered as if they themselves had sworn.  Likewise, we reply "Amen" after hearing others recite prayers and blessings."

When we pray in a corporate setting, saying "AMEN" at the end of the prayer means we're agreeing and believe what was being prayed.

If you're serious about the study of Scripture, add in "word" studies.  It will help you better understand what you're reading and how to interpret it properly instead of just making it up as you go along or assuming you know what is being said using English grammatical rules.  English grammatical rules don't work with Hebrew/Aramaic and Greek texts.