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aRs3N1c42 · 10-20-2004, 06:26 AM

Funny thing. Reading the account of Moses, when God tells Moses to go free the Hebrews from Egypt, Moses is like, "Who should I say sent me." (paraphrased; New aRs3N1c42 version). God says something to the effect of, "I am who I am." Kinda sounds like Popeye. "I yam what I yam". The original Hebrew holds more of a future tense to the reply making it more like, "I will be who I will be." Any way, I find it interesting that God does not give Himself a name but refers to Himself in essence by saying, "I am the one who exists."

In studying philosophy and the nature of the universe there is a concept called something like "First Cause". Whether you believe in Creationism or the Big Bang, there had to have been a first cause. In Creationism, God is the first cause. The Big Bang theory doesn't exactly answer the first cause question. It just states that this big ball of super condensed matter (or whatever theorists postulate it was) exploded causing the universe to exist as we know it today. The Big Bang theory, as I have heard it, does not necessarily answer the questions of how this ball of material came to exist and what caused it to explode. That's First Cause. My interpretation of God's answer to Moses is, "I am the first cause."

Think about what a name is. It's an identifier. A language construct used to communicate the idea of something from one person to another. Europeans came to this land many years ago and they saw animals here. They gave them names. The indigenous peoples who lived here before the Europeans came already had names for those animals. Neither people group was wrong in the name they gave the animals provided the person they are talking to also uses the same name for the same animal. If I call the animal with four legs, a waggy tail which barks alot a "Dog", I am right in saying so in so much as the people I am talking to also associate that label with the same four legged, waggy tailed, noisy animal.

Names or labels are given upon discovery of something. When the Europeans came to this land, they eventually agreed to call it "America" after some Italian dude (Americo Vespucci, or something to that effect). The indigenous peoples had a different name for the land. In fact, they revered the land as a god. My point is that a name is just a label given to some one or some thing so that when people are talking they can understand each other.

If God is the First Cause, he didn't have a name until someone encountered Him and tried to tell someone else about the experience. I think God kind of laughs at humanity for all the names we give him, kind of like I laugh at my kids when they come up with different variations of daddy or dad. None of them are my name. My name is just a label my parents gave me at birth so that when people talk to me or about me, there will be some understanding of who they are talking about.

Okay, I'm starting to repeat myself now.

My point is that I don't think God cares too much what name or label we use to talk about Him. What matters more, for those of us who believe in His existence, is that we get the characteristics right when we talk about Him. If someone were talking about a tall, athletic, dark skinned woman from the polynesian islands named aRs3N1c42, they wouldn't be talking about me because those are not my characteristics (I'm medium height, slightly overweight due to my desk job and other inactivity, caucasian and male). When I talk about God, I'm talking about the God that is described in the Bible, the God who I believe to be alive today and active in the universe, the God who changes lives, the God who is characterized by His love and mercy for all His creation. If those aren't the characteristics you attribute to the entity you call God, then, perhaps,we're not talking about the same entity.

10-20-2004, 06:26 AM	#35 (permalink)
aRs3N1c42 Upright Location: Somewhere over the rainbow	Funny thing. Reading the account of Moses, when God tells Moses to go free the Hebrews from Egypt, Moses is like, "Who should I say sent me." (paraphrased; New aRs3N1c42 version). God says something to the effect of, "I am who I am." Kinda sounds like Popeye. "I yam what I yam". The original Hebrew holds more of a future tense to the reply making it more like, "I will be who I will be." Any way, I find it interesting that God does not give Himself a name but refers to Himself in essence by saying, "I am the one who exists." In studying philosophy and the nature of the universe there is a concept called something like "First Cause". Whether you believe in Creationism or the Big Bang, there had to have been a first cause. In Creationism, God is the first cause. The Big Bang theory doesn't exactly answer the first cause question. It just states that this big ball of super condensed matter (or whatever theorists postulate it was) exploded causing the universe to exist as we know it today. The Big Bang theory, as I have heard it, does not necessarily answer the questions of how this ball of material came to exist and what caused it to explode. That's First Cause. My interpretation of God's answer to Moses is, "I am the first cause." Think about what a name is. It's an identifier. A language construct used to communicate the idea of something from one person to another. Europeans came to this land many years ago and they saw animals here. They gave them names. The indigenous peoples who lived here before the Europeans came already had names for those animals. Neither people group was wrong in the name they gave the animals provided the person they are talking to also uses the same name for the same animal. If I call the animal with four legs, a waggy tail which barks alot a "Dog", I am right in saying so in so much as the people I am talking to also associate that label with the same four legged, waggy tailed, noisy animal. Names or labels are given upon discovery of something. When the Europeans came to this land, they eventually agreed to call it "America" after some Italian dude (Americo Vespucci, or something to that effect). The indigenous peoples had a different name for the land. In fact, they revered the land as a god. My point is that a name is just a label given to some one or some thing so that when people are talking they can understand each other. If God is the First Cause, he didn't have a name until someone encountered Him and tried to tell someone else about the experience. I think God kind of laughs at humanity for all the names we give him, kind of like I laugh at my kids when they come up with different variations of daddy or dad. None of them are my name. My name is just a label my parents gave me at birth so that when people talk to me or about me, there will be some understanding of who they are talking about. Okay, I'm starting to repeat myself now. My point is that I don't think God cares too much what name or label we use to talk about Him. What matters more, for those of us who believe in His existence, is that we get the characteristics right when we talk about Him. If someone were talking about a tall, athletic, dark skinned woman from the polynesian islands named aRs3N1c42, they wouldn't be talking about me because those are not my characteristics (I'm medium height, slightly overweight due to my desk job and other inactivity, caucasian and male). When I talk about God, I'm talking about the God that is described in the Bible, the God who I believe to be alive today and active in the universe, the God who changes lives, the God who is characterized by His love and mercy for all His creation. If those aren't the characteristics you attribute to the entity you call God, then, perhaps,we're not talking about the same entity. __________________ Imagination is more important than knowledge. ----Albert Einstein Last edited by aRs3N1c42; 10-20-2004 at 06:31 AM..