gods name?

aoxo

i never understood what the big deal was with saying gods name jehovah. the jw's say that that's his name and not titles like The Lord or The Creater because those titles describe what he is or does not his name. but don't they also say that the name jehovah means "he who causes to become"? so isn't that also describing what he does or is. how is the name jehovah different than calling him the Creater or The Father?

yaddayadda

You're absolutely right. It doesn't really matter to God whether you use the name or not, otherwise God would have ensured it was contained in the oldest versions of the NT and he would have ensured that at least once Jesus would have been recorded in scripture as using that name, but he never did. Is Jewish superstitious custom more powerful than God?

If the title 'Father' was good enough for Jesus it is good enough for any Christian.

Beeline

Jehovah, God the Father. If the letters JHVH or whatever are a big deal. Then.... a true representation of Jehovah should be a big deal in the same minds also. But really folks, when you ask God his name and he replies: 'I am who is' he is not really giving you his name, any more than a burning bush is the way looks. [img]http://www.copticchurch.org/Pictures/Designed_Pictures/burning_bush.jpg[/img]

peacefulpete

Briefly stated, YHWH was, like Chemosh or Marduke etc., a regional deity. According to the logic of the day the gods,or sons of EL Elyon, were given territories to master and protect. (Number 21:29, Deut 32:8,9 preMT, ect) YHWH was not understood to be a god over other lands but the god of Israel. Of course war often extended the domain of a deity but this was even not the norm. (Judges 11) Even the OT in places retains this idea dispite later universalizing theological developments and editing. The exact origins of YHWH are lost to the deep past but the OT seems to agree with archaelogical evidence that he was originally worshipped in Edom and Midia (Judges 5:4, Deut 33:2, Hab 3:3) and imported north through migration and or trade. The Moses legend includes this detail when it describes his father-in-law as a Midianite priest of Yahweh ( Jud 1:16, 4:11). Naturally as time ensued a near universal increasing of theological sophistication led worshipers of YHWH (and other deities respective their regions) to depict him as god above other gods then eventually as the only god that was real. As the ONLY God he no longer needed a name to identify him. The name YHWH had become obsolete. Interestingly by the Christian era more often than not the Greeks similarly referred to deity simply as "God" rather than naming the individual deity that had traditionally played the role. Hence when Christians referred to deity they used "God" or similar epithet. The identification of the Jesus character as an emanation of the deity led to his being identified with "God" by both writers of the NT and early church fathers. This developement was refined through the developement of the Trinity doctrine of later years.

unclebruce

peaceful pete - that's one of the most interesting posts I've read in a long time. thankyou

free2beme

No one even knows if they are pronouncing it right, anyway.