Is Yahweh really God's name?

[Brandall]

I am sorry but this seemes to me to be that kind of logic that is trying to persuade the Holocaust was in fact a great favour and mercy.

If God knows people’s future sins, it means they do not have any free will to do or not to do them. Quite strange.

Do you mean that those people were defaultly bad? I think there were many others civilisations, tribes, or states based on bad and sinful principles in much huger amount than those in discusiion and they were not ordered to be masacred. And if they were so evilly bad, they – any person has a chance to decide what (s)he will do and murder destroys this chance to take and make decisions.

As I am reading I think you should state that abortion is act of the highest possible mercy because you make that child free of his/her future possible mistakes.

How can one investigate if some philosophy or religion is or at least has a chance to be the true one? For example according to its attitudes.
For example, killing people is not good, especially if they are inocent and defendless… abortion is of this tipe so any religion which wants to have a chance to be the right one must be against abortions. So Christianity has a chance.
On the other hand, we have a mercifull and just God whose mercy and justice ordres his people to genocidies and killing babies due this is way how to prevent them to commit sins taking them to hell. This does not seem to me to be sane.

I would like to express that I am a fan of Christianity, more exactly some of its denominations. But I cannot agree with this interpretation of Old Testament. If so, than it would be very probably impossible for me to appreciate Christianity. In fact I consider the OT testament to be one of greatest problems of Christianity.

One of the themes of the old testament is that the Israelites were easily led astray. Every time they mixed with others with different beliefs, they strayed from their holiness. They were being “groomed” to be a priestly nation. Unfortunately, like the rest of us, they were human and failed. Mixing with others exacerbated their ability to fail.

In those situations, I have to trust the creator.

 

[Darryl_B]

I am sorry but this seems to me to be that kind of logic that is trying to persuade the Holocaust was in fact a great favor and mercy.

If God knows people’s future sins, it means they do not have any free will to do or not to do them. Quite strange.

Do you mean that those people were defaultingly bad? I think there were many others civilizations, tribes, or states based on bad and sinful principles in much huger amount than those in discussion and they were not ordered to be massacred. And if they were so evilly bad, they – any person has a chance to decide what (s)he will do and murder destroys this chance to take and make decisions.

As I am reading I think you should state that abortion is act of the highest possible mercy because you make that child free of his/her future possible mistakes.

How can one investigate if some philosophy or religion is or at least has a chance to be the true one? For example according to its attitudes.
For example, killing people is not good, especially if they are innocent and defenseless… abortion is of this type so any religion which wants to have a chance to be the right one must be against abortions. So Christianity has a chance.
On the other hand, we have a merciful and just God whose mercy and justice orders his people to genocides and killing babies due this is way how to prevent them to commit sins taking them to hell. This does not seem to me to be sane.

I would like to express that I am a fan of Christianity, more exactly some of its denominations. But I cannot agree with this interpretation of Old Testament. If so, than it would be very probably impossible for me to appreciate Christianity. In fact I consider the OT testament to be one of greatest problems of Christianity.

Have you ever read the book of Job? It helps a little bit to understand the position of God compared to us. You are generally talking about God as a mere hypothetical entity, who should do that which you would tell Him to do, act the way you would tell Him to act, but even if you did give Christianity a chance, you would probably carry on viewing God that way, even as some Christian denominations do. What would be fair God is if I give you 100 dollars, then you will give me 1000000 dollars. What would be fair God is if I beat this cancer, what would be fair God is if my child didn’t die in childbirth. What would be fair God is if I didn’t lose my house. What would be fair God is if I wasn’t all alone.

Then the extension to this becomes others. What would be fair God is if this other person didn’t die of hunger, this other person was cured of cancer, this other person didn’t lose a son in childbirth.

But still at this point we have not got to Christianity or God, why? Because we have not exhibited any form of trust, only expect.

 

[randirhoades]

Going to Catechism as a child, we were taught that Yahweh also meant God. Referred to God. As is Jehovah.

 

[J.J]

I]CHRISTOS RAZHADAYET’SYA!

Everyone seems to be making more of this than should be made.
The “simple answer” = when confronted by The Burning Bush, the question was asked “Who are you?” ANSWER = “I Am Who Am”. (or, simply put, God’s name is — "GOD)
:byzsoc:

'Nough said …

 

[Gloria_de_G]

I]CHRISTOS RAZHADAYET’SYA!

Everyone seems to be making more of this than should be made.
The “simple answer” = when confronted by The Burning Bush, the question was asked “Who are you?” ANSWER = “I Am Who Am”. (or, simply put, God’s name is — "GOD)
:byzsoc:

'Nough said …

What JJ, you said the last word???

Here is the quote properly… let us put the Hebrew text of Ex 3:14

**וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים אֶל משֶׁה אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה
**

These red words are the verb to be in the future. So it is like if God was a bit bother with Moses for wanting His name to give it to the people of Israel when they ask for it. So He told Him: **I will be who I will be. **

And in verse 15 God adds to Moses and said that he should tell the people that He was (Yehova, change of tense of the same verb, now past) the God (Elohim) of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, etc…

Now in the book of Revelation we have that God is the one Who is, Who was and Who is to come (ie who will be), the Almighty. in Rev 1:4 and 8

Therefore He has not changed His name.

In the love of God,
Gloria

.

 

[Catholic_775]

** A Catholic totally destroys the protestant arguments in this recent Youtube debate. Here is the link…

youtube.com/watch?v=Qn1vC1Ez-OI **

 

[J.J]

Yeah, that ----

 

[Darryl1958]

Yaweh is not really a name. People were given the task of naming animals, and the world that available to their understanding. Yaweh is a means by which people are able to address God even in the face of our total inability to grasp who Yaweh is.

If even people defy the labels and the boxes we like to stick them into,( ie the names that we give them), how much more so must this be the case for our Creator, who is so far beyond his creation that no name would ever be adequate!

It should be no surprise that the things that make us most human, and that transcend our humanity- that is our emotions and our ability to relate to one another with love and with feeling- are attributes of God as well. This is not anthropomorphizing God either. It is through what we share through being made in the likeness of God that anthropomorphizes us, and makes us human rather than mere beast.
Ours is a personal relationship with our creator. Nature is indifferent to us, and the illusionary nature gods of polytheism were indifferent to the people who believed in them. There were forces that people assumed they could manipulate through magic.

That God’s relationship with us is based in feeling and a personal relationship is what
makes morality possible in this universe. Morality cannot be indifferent. It does not exist outside the concept of personhood.

 

[holyreyes]

Thanks for starting this thread on this topic. It shows your interests, curiousities, questions that many people have on the mysterious aspects of God which not all can understand because of our limited human understanding and knowledge. However, it is not impossible to know him and and get closer to him and when He finds you worthy enough he might reveal his name to you. Just ask him like Moses and other prophets did in the past. Just be open and prepare for some trancendental experience. Another thing you can do is to study theology and/or ask religious scholars. My question to you is what purpose is the revelation of his name would do to you and your faith? How are you going to use it? Is it going to benefit you and others?

Yes, “Yahweh” is the closest correct pronunciation of God’s holy name. In the Old Testament, God has revealed himself to the prophets verbally. He was talking to them. He has revealed his name to them verbally. The Aramaic and Hebrew letters are insufficient to be used in writing his name. It is open to interpretation in the Judeo-Christian to do so.

FACT: There is a strict and proper way of writing his name down. It has to be in tetragrammaton form. I am sure many religious scholars have debated and studied this but I am not, however, sure if they have properly in the past defined the word tetragrammaton. I believe that it is not to mean 4 letters. I believe it is meant to have 4 characters containing letters, commas, and dots.

FACT: Now, we are only talking about Judeo-Christian oral traditions. If we look at other religions whom God has revealed himself in the form of written tradition as in Islam and Hinduism, then you can easily see the name written in tetragrammaton form.

FACT: “Yahweh” is just the pronunciation of the name of God. It is the pronunciation of God’s name in initial form containing the Son’s name and the Father’s name [It says so in the book of revelation in the bible and I think in other chapter as well] and also a couple of characters to symbolize the Holy Spirit. So, “Yahweh” is the trinitarian name of God.

FACT: Mysteriously and amazingly, God’s ancient name in the form of tetragrammaton has morphed into the modern day name of JESUS which is still the same name. It is just a little expansion of “Yahweh” but nonetheless it is so perfect and complete. All the letters of the name of JESUS means something. The first 2 letter initials is his very holy name! The proper pronunciation is “Yahweh” You have to consider the location of culture, the language and the proper way of pronouncing letters when God revealed himself verbally. j is the first initial of the Son’s Name and E is the first initial of the Father’s name and the rest are just part of the Father’s name in expanded form

I hope this helps,

God Bless.

 

[jake5675]

Yahweh is the closest translation to the name of God that we have. The Jews felt thst the name of God was to holy and therefore started referring to him as Elohim or Adonai. Meaning Lord or God. In the book of Exodus when Moses is sent by God to Egypt he asks him " when your people ask me who sent me what do I tell them ? The lord replied I Am who Am. This is what you should tell the Israelites : I Am sent me to you ". (Exodus 3 : 13-14 ) All of this leads to God coming to us in human form as Jesus Christ.

 

[Gloria_de_G]

Yahweh is the closest translation to the name of God that we have.

Dear Jake, Yahweh** is not a translation** of the name of God is a transliteration

There is an answer in post #25

Gloria

.

 

[Gloria_de_G]

FACT: Now, we are only talking about Judeo-Christian oral traditions. If we look at other religions whom God has revealed himself in the form of written tradition as in Islam and Hinduism, then you can easily see the name written in tetragrammaton form.

What do you mean that in this other religions you can see easily??? Explain, because if not I go thinking that what are you saying is pure nonsense, these religions do not know our God.

FACT: “Yahweh” is just the pronunciation of the name of God. It is the pronunciation of God’s name in initial form containing the Son’s name and the Father’s name [It says so in the book of revelation in the bible and I think in other chapter as well] and also a couple of characters to symbolize the Holy Spirit. So, “Yahweh” is the trinitarian name of God.

Weird… give quotes in Revelation to see what you mean. In Rev. 1;4 and 1:8 the name of God is the one Who is, Who was and Who is to come… and the name of Jesus is called the Word of God Rev 19:13 and also has other names like King of kings and Lord of lord Rev 19:16. And also it is made a distinction between God and Jesus, when the angel tells John: “These are true words of God.” 10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."Rev 19:9-10

FACT: Mysteriously and amazingly, God’s ancient name in the form of tetragrammaton has morphed into the modern day name of JESUS which is still the same name. It is just a little expansion of “Yahweh” but nonetheless it is so perfect and complete. All the letters of the name of JESUS means something. The first 2 letter initials is his very holy name! The proper pronunciation is “Yahweh” You have to consider the location of culture, the language and the proper way of pronouncing letters when God revealed himself verbally. j is the first initial of the Son’s Name and E is the first initial of the Father’s name and the rest are just part of the Father’s name in expanded form

I hope this helps,

God Bless.

I hope you are not going to get angry with me but are you setting yourself as an authority on this??? To me sounds like pure nonsense… but may be I am the one who need to learn.

If you are going to explain anything, be brief and clear, that is the best probe that you know what are you saying.

Greetings,
Gloria

.

 

[JonathonofOhio]

This seems to have been answered very well by other members, but I feel that this should be addressed just a little more, even if this person was just trolling.

So just God who is justice himself orders genocides and killing of small babies who had no chance to do any bad, of course nothing evil? Seems to be justice of Satan, not of the Good and Loving One.

“Seek not death in the error of your life, neither procure ye destruction by the works of your hands. For God made not death, neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living. For he created all things that they might be: and he made the nations of the earth for health: and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor kingdom of hell upon the earth. For justice is perpetual and immortal. But the wicked with works and words have called it to them: and esteeming it a friend have fallen away, and have made a covenant with it: because they are worthy to be of the part thereof.”

From Wisdom Chapter 1.

 

[Darryl1958]

This seems to have been answered very well by other members, but I feel that this should be addressed just a little more, even if this person was just trolling.

Pasting that to the end of what was an otherwise interesting question did come across as rather trollish, didn’t it?

“Seek not death in the error of your life, neither procure ye destruction by the works of your hands. For God made not death, neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living. For he created all things that they might be: and he made the nations of the earth for health: and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor kingdom of hell upon the earth. For justice is perpetual and immortal. But the wicked with works and words have called it to them: and esteeming it a friend have fallen away, and have made a covenant with it: because they are worthy to be of the part thereof.”

From Wisdom Chapter 1.

Personally, the more that I study the Bible, the more that I find that my first assumptions about it are incorrect.
I think that without an attitude of faith, in that the belief that our Creator loves us and wants what is best for us, reading the Bible becomes a rather useless exercise. Just in terms of literary form, that is the point of view that the Bible wants us to overtly take.
And after that, all sorts of problems and conundrums arise from WITHIN the text.
Those problems are intentionally written into the text, I think; they scream for an answer, and are designed to keep us up at night wondering what that answer could be.

If one reads it with an attitude that God is a monster that delights in eating the gizzards of little babies, well then it is case closed. It is rather useless to read further. But to begin reading it with the attitude of faith, that God is good and seeking him out in the Bible is worthwhile, the treasures of the Bible are both well hidden and well worth the dig.
Seek and ye shall find.

 

[Gold_Star]

Sorry to disappoint you, but the true name of the God you are probably referring to, the one over the entire planet, the solar system and universe, is not presently known. Actually, the English word “God” is of Germanic cultural, linguistic and religious origin and has little or nothing to do with the Hebrew words translated as “God” in the Bible.The true God in this sense has never communicated with human beings. The divine names we have on earth are the names of the lords in religions we pray to and communicate with. It is true that some of the highest lords are also involved in the true God and participate in God functions such as creation and judgment along with their lord functions. The name Yahweh only refers to a particular lord who stands above other lords. A lord’s work is primarily to advance the members of a religion in spirituality. There are also lesser lords concerned with plant and animal life.

The closest we can come to the true God at present is with the word “Elohim” which is involved in creation and judgment processes, but is not a personal name, and does not refer to a particular lord. The Muslim claim that the only true god is Allah, is based on an erroneous substitution of the word “God” for “El’” or “Eloah,” rendering the statement sadly misleading. Future translations of the Bible will hopefully not attempt to translate or paraphrase divine names into common or colloquial language, to avoid the unfortunate misunderstandings we have now.

 

[Havard]

Yahweh is the closest translation to the name of God that we have. The Jews felt thst the name of God was to holy and therefore started referring to him as Elohim or Adonai. Meaning Lord or God. In the book of Exodus when Moses is sent by God to Egypt he asks him " when your people ask me who sent me what do I tell them ? The lord replied I Am who Am. This is what you should tell the Israelites : I Am sent me to you ". (Exodus 3 : 13-14 ) All of this leads to God coming to us in human form as Jesus Christ.

Please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but I had taken this to be a revelation of the “nature” (I use that word loosely here) of the Lord. As in, “I’m not another thing with a name… I AM. I AM “to be” (the unconditional act of being), and much more…” And our usage of YHWH, from Moses to today, communicates this revelation.

 

[holyreyes]

What do you mean that in this other religions you can see easily??? Explain, because if not I go thinking that what are you saying is pure nonsense, these religions do not know our God.

If I can categorize most religions, they only belong to 3 family groups, Abrahamic, Dharmic and Taoic. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Baha’i, etc belong to Abrahamic religion tracing their common origin to Abraham or recognizing a spiritual tradition identified with him.

God didn’t just start revealing himself to the Jews. Hinduism and other religions were already established and practiced in other culture before he rescued the Jews whose prayers and cries reached up to Him. God reveals himself in a manner in which the location, culture, tradition and knowledge that people belong to and understand. The Hindus have been worshipping him even before He revealed himself to a particular group of people, the Jews, which is by the way a derivative name of the Lord. They were named after him because they followed and worshipped Him. And he keeps on revealing Himself today as I speak.

Weird… give quotes in Revelation to see what you mean. In Rev. 1;4 and 1:8 the name of God is the one Who is, Who was and Who is to come… and the name of Jesus is called the Word of God Rev 19:13 and also has other names like King of kings and Lord of lord Rev 19:16. And also it is made a distinction between God and Jesus, when the angel tells John: “These are true words of God.” 10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."Rev 19:9-10

Here is a good explanation for you to read:

feedingonchrist.com/revelation-of-the-father-and-the-son/

Matthew 11:27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Revelation 14:1 Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.

I hope you are not going to get angry with me but are you setting yourself as an authority on this??? To me sounds like pure nonsense… but may be I am the one who need to learn.

Is it that obvious?