Tab

I dont know, Ive had some pretty good arguments with this subject. How do we know his name is truely god? Do you know how many different versions of "God" there is out there? Could the bible just be a representation of events from one person? Some of this stuff seems far fetched. Don't get me wrong. I believe in a Higher power. I do NOT believe in the bible. . . I believe its just something to keep us from asking questions. There is a "God" out there. . .but I think we all got it wrong.

tecoyah

No....her name is Phanlogarmatesh.

As if a name could give credence to such a thing as an omnipotent entity.
I would agree that the Bible(s) of Christian doctrine are but an interpretation of a much older Story/Myth, and must be taken in this context. As it is virtually impossible to "Tell" someone who, or what this God thing is....how can we set an accurate name. Instead one must simply use an accepted noun, and allow for personal interpretation of its implied meaning.

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CoachAlan

Even within the Bible there are multiple names ascribed to God. Jehovah, Yahweh, and I think even Elohim are among them.

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Tab

The bible is utter Bs IMO

mirevolver

Looking at the origional Hebrew writing of the Torah (First five books of the Bible, and believed by Jews to be written by God himself). The name of God is written with 4 consanants and no vowels, JHVH. From those four letters, both the names of Jehovah and Yahweh were derived. But because the vowels were not written, nobody knows the true pronounciation of the name of God.

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MSD

It doesn't matter what name you give your higher power. The word "God" has been thrown around and used so much that it's almost completely meaningless these days.

bermuDa

god isn't the only name humans have used to explain the entity into which their spirituality is solidified. it's just the most common christian word used for that purpose.

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Sign Related

God is not here today--Quote from the up coming Exorsist movie. lol

:::OshnSoul:::

it's just a word, just a name- but what I realized is that this "being" has different names in different beliefs and religions, many of which have the same sound....
"aaahhhh"
i.e. Allah, God, Krishna.....
It is to be a healing sound and that is why many use it when they meditate. I do it quite often and I find it so healing and relaxing.
Sounds are powerful on a spiritual level, words are powerful on a human level. No matter what, it is what we define it as, on an individual basis and that is all that matters. We all have our own ideas/visions/feelings/beliefs on what "God" is. What makes it limited is that for most, though, we tend to immediately assume that when we hear the word God, that it is a Higher Being outside of us in some form. But who's really to say that???

smooth

I think it's interesting to note that hei, vav and yud are all semi-vowels. They can represent both a consonant or a vowel, similar to the english y and old double-u (w), which conotes a more ambiguous entity than one name would imply. Back when I was trying to read this stuff, I remember some odd tense uses that we don't have in our current languages--like future perfect tense (something has already occurred in the future).

The term Jehovah, however, was a bastardization of those four letters and the vowels within the hebrew word elohim (generic lord), which the Rabbi's would use in place of the actual name in order to satisfy the requirement that they not use their sovereign's name unworthily.

I also find it interesting that the commandment actually states not to use the name in vain--which means to bring it to not, or make it worthless. In a strange turn of events, the hebrew reluctance to use the word, in order to preserve, has resulted in a loss of the knowledge of its true pronunciation, ultimately resulting in violation of the commandment to not render the name worthless.

Now they will use things like G-d to prevent further spoilage, which I think is perverted but will save for later.

We do still have remnants of the hebrew pronunciation, however, in things like hallelujah, Jonah, Sarah, Yesh'ua (which, lets be honest, if you really believe what's written in that big book, you'd better get at least one name right--and we can be sure that since the dude was Jewish, his name wasn't Jesus!; but meditating on all the names as progressive revelations, even to the point of questioning the craptastic trinity doctrine could prove extremely enlightening), and even Jamaicans give it a hard J and consider themselves his namesake.

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SecretMethod70

Amazing, thanks for that huge, on-topic insight

Anyway, I consider "God" to be a word which has been ascribed to the idea of a higher power in western culture. I don't think that "God" is necessarily *the* name. In fact, I'm not so sure that "God" has a name. Fact is, we, as humans, have some sort of inherent need to name things and, therefore, we find names for "God." In western culture, especially in Christianity, we call it "God" now, but other names have existed such as "Yahweh," etc - as noted above. I don't think that "Allah" is inherently wrong, no more than I think "Krishna" is inherently wrong. Since I don't believe that there is a single "correct" name for what I refer to as "God" - indeed, I'm not sure I believe there is any name at all - I think the whole debate over the issue is pretty pointless. It completely detracts from the real issue of who "God" is when we insist on applying human things such as name and language onto the topic.

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asaris

Wow -- I agree with SecretMethod. God is a term we use to refer to, well, 'that being than which none greater can be imagined'; in other words, an omnipotent, omniscienent, omnibenevolent being. Whether we call that being just God, or Yahweh, or Allah, it's in an important sense the same being.

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"The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm."

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SecretMethod70

I think we agree more than we realize Just different ways of describing the same thing - much like the word "God."

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Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

irateplatypus

i'll buy most of what SecretMethod said...

God seems to be more of a classifying word (even though many consider it to be a class of one, it still often used to designate an entity's status). I think it is akin to calling someone by the title of Doctor or President etc.

We may call our physician "doctor", though we know full well that is not his real name. Rather, it describes his position socially/economically and level of education. Within a context where all are familiar with the physician's position, "doctor" is often the most effective way of acknowledging the pecking order (where it applies) while also serving the dual purpose of a name.

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unoaman

Good point SM70...Hard to put into words, but I was raised in a traditional Christian family, taught traditional Christian beliefs, yep, even went to traditional "Sunday School". I had good, loving, understanding parents. pastors, and Sunday School Teachers. But . Far past childhood now, I realize that the mistake they all made was attempting to make me identify "God" as a person.

I was a pretty good kid, minded and respected my parents, and other adults, and I'm sure that in my mind "son while you're with Mr. Smith, you mind him", was very similiar in my juvenile mind to "Uno, you mind God". Heres where I bog down, I feel that it caused me to think of "God" as a being, rather than a force ...therefore when I gained adulthood I tended to think "nobodys perfect", rather than think that whatever created us did it by igniting a spark, and that the created in turn are bound to do as good a job as possible of maintaining and improving that creation. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they fail...but they are striving nonetheless. If it feels good to call it "God" then I'm sure nobody to dispute it, but to me that entails a far too singular description.

repeater

I agree with everyone in that God is just a name given to a concept that needs a noun. I'm wondering though if the question is perhaps more specific than it seems? It seems like TAb may have had more in mind than just "should we call "it" God?" Maybe not though.

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Sargeman

It's like the Sun. The Sun is the name of our star not the name of all stars. Yet, I hear many people call stars of other solar systems, "suns". Such as "The "sun" in the perriwinkle solar system is a red dwarf."

God is just a term meaning a higher power as many have said like star is a term meaning, well.... stars.

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mirevolver

I see what you're getting at, but just wanted to point out that the name of our star is actually, "Sol." And in scientific terms, "sun" can be used in reference to any star with planets around it.

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Wyckd

God is NOT a name.


And also, If you claim the Bible is BS, why do you care, no, why does it matter if "God" is his real name or not?

Redlemon

Anyone remember "The Nine Billion Names of God" by Arthur C. Clarke?

skills1

I remember it redlemon from awhile ago.

Charlatan

Yaweh, Jehova, El Sheddai... are all names given to the Hebrew God... That same god is also called Allah by others...

In other religions they had many Gods, i.e. they were polytheistic. In having only one god you only have to call him God and nothing else...

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OFKU0

I agree. I believe the bible as much as I believe Harry Potter.

But we all need hope and by the time we realize what life is, we want to live forever, perhaps vicariously through the thought of an ethereal existence in a place called heaven. If you ask me what happens when we die, I will simple say the lights go out and were done. But if it occurs that there is an afterlife, I will be the first to admit it to you all next time around.

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Seer666

No, that is not my real name.

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I am the one you warned me of

I seem to have misplaced the bullet with your name on it, but I have a whole box addressed to occupant.

Paradise Lost

Psalms|83:18 That men may know that thou, whose name alone is
JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.

Btw, if you read texts by Ancient Greek authors, even though it was a time of
polytheism, there are many times when the author will just use the word 'God,'
even though he's probably not Christian.

Also, it seems in the Bible 'they' use God when it seems like they are referring to him
on a personal level, and other terms when using it's name on a more impersonal level.

Just my 2.73 cents (1.86 euroes)

(Oh, btw, whoever mentioned the Jevhovah with the vowels is correct. However, Hebrews
thought the use of the name was in a way to be blasphemis, and subsequently changed it.)

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Karkaboosh1

99 names, ie: Almighty, mercyful, enlightnened, omnipotant, divine.

toxic515

"God" and "Lord" are titles. nothing more, nothing less. presuming (and nothing more than for hypothetical purposes) that a CREATOR exists, does not mean that he, she, it, has a given or assumed name. Jehovah and Yahweh are commonly used in the Bible.. Additionally other cultures and religions, (monotheistic, anyway) have different names, and or SOUNDS attributed to the "name" of "God".

Should he exist, I've always liked the name in a joke I heard somewhere.... Howard... as in "our father, who art in heaven, Howard be thy name".

I'm pretty comfortable that if he does exist in the Judeao-Christian-Muslim sense, then he's aware of who you're talking to, regardless of what you call him. (male nomenclature used only for the sake of convenience.)

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martinguerre

the fact that the question is what is his name...means that you're probably not going to get the best answer you could.

i tend to use descriptive terms in my prayers..."God of Mercy" tends to be my most form of address. The reason for me is that with out some sense of what we claim God to be, there is way too much confusion that can occur. There are so many gods that try to claim our attention, be it wealth, power, etc... and so by trying to describe God's actions in this work we have some way of knowing what we are holding dear.

tarvuz

who doh is another name

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Jay Francis

Allah is actually Al Lah, or, The God, Al being the arabic for 'the', so I guess to the muslim the name of the diety they worship is really Lah.

Willravel

Is calling Him Hoobastank blasphemy?

ravenradiodj

As a pagan minister and armchair religious historian, I wanted to address the whole "Allah" vs "Al Lah" argument. "Allah" is the correct Arabic name for "God". "Allah", in fact, was the name of the cheif pagan deity worshipped in Mecca when Mohammed came along and introduced Islam - similar to the way the Christians replaced Mithras with Jesus a few centuries earlier. Interestingly, Islam was, at its inception, a much more tolerant religion, more so than Christianity. A Jewish or Christian person could live in Mecca, operate a business, etc., and be treated fairly. Like most monotheistic religions, however, Islam soon left tolerance behind. On an unrelated side note, we also have the Arabs to thank for the invention of the number zero, as well as our whole numeric system. And if you think that's nothing special, try doing multiplication or division with Roman numerals.

martinguerre

only 'cause Hoobastank sucks.

chance

OFKU0 =I agree with what you said. I think death is like hitting your head on the the ground and just blacking out. I think our mind and body just shuts off and thats it. I find this whole subject scary.

aRs3N1c42

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.

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MuadDib

The name of God is Yhvh (yud, hey, vav, hey is the phonetic pronounciation of the letters in hebrew)and is known as the tetragammaton. It is the sacred name of the Lord and can not be pronounced in order to avoid profaning it. It is actually from the tetragammaton that Yahveh, Yahweh, and Jehovah come from it's trying to be pronounced or by having vowels inserted into the letters in order to make it pronouncable.

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livingfossil

I don't wish to snipe, but English has a fully functional future perfect: Come friday, I will have finished reading my porno mag.

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solaron1

God isn't a name... Its a title. Much like general. Zeus, Vishnu, Mars are all called god, but God is not any of their names. I think it may have become synonymous with the actually name due to that fact that people weren't supposed to say God's name in "vain" or profane it.