Originally posted by sumydid Christians use the Islamic name for God? Strange indeed.
It's not strange at all. It is the Arab word for God as opposed to the "Islamic" word. Arab Christians were using the word Allah for centuries before Islam was even founded. In Malaysia, some hard line Muslims have tried to use the courts to prevent Christians from using the word Allah to refer to God. They failed in the end. The Indonesian language has absorbed words from a wide variety of languages including Dutch, Arabic, English, Javanese and Chinese, although its basis is a language called Melayu.
Originally posted by sumydid Thanks for the post! Seems to add a little credence to what I'm getting at. Obviously there was a lot of emphasis placed on avoiding invoking the power of God unnecessarily... so much so, the devout Jews replaced the name with something else.
Is the video clip wrong in ITS assessment of God's true name? And, do you think any of us really know the true ...[text shortened]... agree with me that it is buried and all the names we use are these watered down replacements?
No we do not know the true name of God just as we don't know the true name of many in the past, even Jesus's name.
But that does not keep us from using the name of Jesus as that is the accepted name the world uses. Even the name Jehovah is widely accepted throughout the world even though it may not be the right way to pronounce it.
The Bible makes it very clear that God does have a name and there are scriptures that say "only those who call on his name will be saved" and that "all would know his name" during "his day" in the future and that "he would have a people for his name".
So there are many indications that he does have a name that we all need to know and recognize and use.
Originally posted by galveston75 No we do not know the true name of God just as we don't know the true name of many in the past, even Jesus's name.
A "name" is purely a human construct. It doesn't make any sense that a "God" would give itself a "name" and then keep it secret or forbid it being used. "names" are something humans give to things so they can talk to each other about them. This "we do not know the true name of God" thing sounds too much like a human folk tale or fairy story character rooted in a parochial and rather credulous outlook.
Originally posted by galveston75 No we do not know the true name of God just as we don't know the true name of many in the past, even Jesus's name.
But that does not keep us from using the name of Jesus as that is the accepted name the world uses. Even the name Jehovah is widely accepted throughout the world even though it may not be the right way to pronounce it.
The Bible makes it ...[text shortened]... y indications that he does have a name that we all need to know and recognize and use.
"No we do not know the true name of God..."
Here is a basic question.
Why does this entity some call God, need to have a name?
We use names to pick out an individual from a group of like but not identical individuals. There is no need to pick out the entity some people call God, from a group.
Originally posted by JS357 "No we do not know the true name of God..."
Here is a basic question.
Why does this entity some call God, need to have a name?
We use names to pick out an individual from a group of like but not identical individuals. There is no need to pick out the entity some people call God, from a group.
Why not? He calls himself our Father and is the one who created us. He gave the first humans names and set that standard that we still use today.
So why shouldn't he have a name?
Originally posted by galveston75 Why not? He calls himself our Father and is the one who created us. He gave the first humans names and set that standard that we still use today.
So why shouldn't he have a name?
It isn't so much that he shouldn't have a name, the point I am getting to is that it may be a regression from theological progress to think of the entity we call God, as having a name, or to spend time on what that name is. Names are such mundane things, that by their very nature, limit the entity named. They exist to differentiate an individual from some group to which it belongs, like calling on a student in class. It seems to me that once true monotheism is embraced, the idea that the deity belongs to a group and the idea that the deity has a name, will eventually be dropped. It is a natural theological progression that some recognize when they speak of "the Ineffable" and use words like that. This doesn't require some strict police-state avoidance of words like "God" it only means appreciating the fact that the deity is truly unique and does not need to be "called out by name."
The true name of God
09 Dec '12 06:19
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