What is the Name of the Christian God?

[J.D SilvernailParticipant 383]

One of the ten commandments says not to take the God of Christianity’s name in vain.
http://www.the-ten-commandments.org/the-ten-commandments.html
There is only one name for god listed in the Bible. In Exodus 3:14 God tells Moses that his name is Yahweh(its hebrew for I Am). Which by the way isnt a name. The jewish commandment listed at the top cant be disobeyed if his name is I Am. I use the words i am all the time to describe myself. I heard an interesting theory one time on a radio show called Coast to Coast AM. The guys on that show talked about the theory that the God of christianity and satan were the same being(meaning that God has multiple personality dissorder).People in my highschool class call me ignorant for not believing in christianity, but they know nothing about other religions or philosophies and i do. Ive never seen anyone ask this question before so i just had to bring it up. I hope that I’ve given something for the Christians and Spiritual Satanists(devilworshipers) to think about because after all they might be worshiping the same God.

I'm married to the game,but she broke her vows.

[sidecarParticipant 35837]

Actually it’s supposedly יהוה which roughly converts to YHWH or YHVH.  Nobody really knows how it’s supposed to have been pronounced because the original ancient Hebrew where it was first written didn’t come with any vowels and Jews through the ages have been reticent to speak it out loud.  One possible pronunciation sort of sounds like the Hebrew for “to be” or “existence”, but this is not definitive.  It’s just as likely to have originated as the name of the regional god of the area known as YHW located somewhere in the Sinai near where Moses reputedly saw a burning bush and also climbed a mountain to receive the commandments.  Or the tetragrammaton could have been intentionally picked out as unpronounceable.  Nobody knows for certain.

I’ve heard equally credible sources who claim God’s name is Howard.

[John DoeParticipant 743]

The commandment is about not referencing God as a curse or using any references of Him in any vain form of speech (such as shouting curses, general meaningless conversation, false promises, etc.)   It is about respect in any reference towards God.

When looking at the word name one first comes to the thought of actual “names”.  But also “name” means a reference/reputation/etc.

For example:  In a sport one seeks to make a name for themselves.  They are not seeking a literal name but rather a reputation, to be referred to, etc.

 

[taliensinParticipant 30]

there are also tetragramaton (τετραγράμματον, four letters, added because later jews and christians were not sure how to pronounce YHWH which was later transformed to jehovah,no idea when or why), Adonai (Αδωνάι, lit. lord) and elochim (Ελοχίμ, Lit god or gods depending on who you ask).

[MadScientistParticipant 131]

The short answer is .. no one knows, and it is likely something either lost to history, or never existed in the first place. Lots of folks have tried to prove King Solomon’s existence in history, however only circumstantial evidence exists.. and he was the only one, according to standard canon, to have known it and used it. There is even a legend that it was written on his ring. But all of that, and the research behind it, is probably misguided. The Hebrew name(s) mentioned above is only the name that was used in books.. the True Name was hidden, and never written down. That’s the historical perspective.

The ‘transcendent’ perspective is the mystery is supposed to be a mystery. The name of God is the Word of God. That is to say, when it was said “In the beginning was the Word, and The Word was God” .. it is not talking about lots of words.. it is talking about ONE WORD, which is The Word that started off Creation, and is also the name of God.

Dig deeper into the older writings NOT in Canon, and you find out that God is a concept, not a being or person, and Was/Is the idea/thought of Creation itself, having no substance or form, for to have form would mean there would need to have been something to create IT in the first place. Men then took that concept and interpreted it through their limited frame, which gave rise to the characteristics we all know today, as they ‘anthropomorphized’ God. I wouldn’t say that was wrong, but they took something infinite, said they understood it, and then draped it in the vestments of human form, all while maintaining that it was somehow ‘revealed truth’, when in reality the revelation was their own projection onto a perfect infinity, thus limiting it.

So, the name of God is The Word of God, which is the concept that encompasses all of The Universe and all Creation. It is a Concept, and cannot ever be really real, for that would reduce it from infinite to finite.

We cannot know, is the point. And we never shall, because how can we? The finite cannot comprehend the infinite, and anyone who says they have some sort of special connection to The Infinite is, I believe, engaging in wishful and delusional thinking. What we can do is probe the mystery and continue asking the question, and as we find answers along the way, keep asking more, taking the tiny answers we get and trying to apply them to human happiness. I really wish people would stop reducing God to what is inside one particular book or scripture. Truth is everywhere you look. I don’t think you need a book to see the face of God.. just look at a flower, or an ant, or up at the sky, and with human eyes, allow yourself to wonder.

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