Why Yahweh?

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BCven86

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I’m a Catholic that is breaking down his faith and trying to discover the truth and reason behind my beliefs. Right now I’m trying to find a legit reason why the path of Abraham’s god, Yahweh, is objectively the true God of the world. From there I understand the reasoning for Christ and the Church, but I am wondering from an apologetics and reason based standpoint why Yahweh is the one when many of the Eastern religions don’t follow this path.

So in short: Why Abraham? Why Yahweh? Why not any other god?

Thanks!
 
You’re asking from the wrong direction. It’s like asking how you can know that the moon that happens to be full is the real moon. It’s not as if there are many gods and paths and traditions and one happens to be the lucky one that is right. There is Truth and falsehoods. One number is Avogadro’s number. One address is the White House. One spelling spells “vacillate”. There are many mistaken answers to these as well. Likewise, there is God, and He communicates with people Who He is.
Some have listened and some haven’t.
He set apart a people uniquely situated in an area of the world where writing could be preserved and where many other peoples would cross their path yet they could stay apart, and He told them all they needed to know to recognize and bring up the Saviour of the world. Before that, He had written a law in everyone’s heart, so everyone has a chance to seek Him and know how to recognize Truth eventually. When His set-apart people were in the heart of the largest and most literate empire in history, He sent His Son among us. It was the most effective possible time. Yet not everyone wanted to know the Truth. Many preferred multiple gods so they could choose only the ones they identified with most or even try to pit gods against each other. But those gods didn’t exist. Some preferred to continue to await a different kind of Saviour. They wanted a painless and quick military victory, not centuries of martyrdom. Some just couldn’t yet break an attachment to another way of living and thinking. But converts came from many cultures, not just one. God drew them because He doesn’t discriminate. He’s the God of everyone.
Yahweh is one of many ways to transliterate one of God’s names. It means the Eternal or Self-Existent One, among other possible translations. Of course God, who made time, is eternal. Therefore Eternal is a name He has.
 
Hmm, well if we look at it from an OT-NT point of view, what we must realise is that Christ is the Word, IE He is the OT incarnate, right? Everything that has been demonstrated in the OT has been brought together in a very personal and intimate way in Christ. Now, that means that if we were to visit Him, and ask Him about Job, for example, He may well say, ‘Ah yes, I remember that part, he had hardly eaten that day! Boy, that was a shock for him!’ (or something).

I suppose that the reason as to why it is Yahweh is because He is who He is. ‘Yahweh’ means ‘I AM WHO I AM’. It doesn’t matter if we find out the earth and the heavens has a creator, or that there is love in the world, and promises to keep, they all point to Him. I think the dilemma is when someone says, ‘X created the world! He is God!’ and you respond with,
‘Ah no, actually, it was Yahweh.’
‘How can you tell? What proof is there that Yahweh created the world rather than X?’

Ah…

Then I suppose it is a matter of truth. God, IS truth. So, if the earth exists, then it is true, and because God IS truth, He created it. God alone, IS.

Yahweh.

Which is why X couldn’t have created the world. If you have a slight doubt in God’s truth, then ask the person the name of his god. We have truth, and love, as a name. We have someone who simply is who He is, and that is the one Lord, the Eternal Father, one in three and three in one with the Blessed Trinity, along with Jesus Christ, His only Son, who loves us and died for us, and the Holy Spirit, who brings that truth to our lives and hearts. It’s all in a name.

For all we know, they simply got the name wrong. We have Yahweh, and that is a pretty strong name, isn’t it?
 
BCven86 said:
I’m a Catholic that is breaking down his faith and trying to discover the truth and reason behind my beliefs. Right now I’m trying to find a legit reason why the path of Abraham’s god, Yahweh, is objectively the true God of the world. From there I understand the reasoning for Christ and the Church, but I am wondering from an apologetics and reason based standpoint why Yahweh is the one when many of the Eastern religions don’t follow this path.

So in short: Why Abraham? Why Yahweh? Why not any other god?

Thanks!
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In short: Because Jesus said so. You’ve apparently already accepted Jesus, and He was apparently a devotee of Yahweh 😉
 
Spirithound said:
In short: Because Jesus said so. You’ve apparently already accepted Jesus, and He was apparently a devotee of Yahweh 😉
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I know, I understand and believe it. However, since our faith is rooted in objective truth we should be able to apply reason to everything that we believe. What I want to be able to do is to convince somebody who does not believe in the God of the OT why they should, and directly afterward I would add the concept of Christ.

It doesn’t help to prove it all by saying that Christ fulfills the OT and also says “I AM WHO AM” if the person does not accept the OT in the first place.
 
BCven86 said:
I know, I understand and believe it. However, since our faith is rooted in objective truth we should be able to apply reason to everything that we believe. What I want to be able to do is to convince somebody who does not believe in the God of the OT why they should, and directly afterward I would add the concept of Christ.

It doesn’t help to prove it all by saying that Christ fulfills the OT and also says “I AM WHO AM” if the person does not accept the OT in the first place.
Click to expand...
I would actually try to start with Jesus. If you can prove that the New Testament is true, then not only do you prove God exists, but that Jesus is God.
 
BCven86 said:
I’m a Catholic that is breaking down his faith and trying to discover the truth and reason behind my beliefs. Right now I’m trying to find a legit reason why the path of Abraham’s god, Yahweh, is objectively the true God of the world. From there I understand the reasoning for Christ and the Church, but I am wondering from an apologetics and reason based standpoint why Yahweh is the one when many of the Eastern religions don’t follow this path.

So in short: Why Abraham? Why Yahweh? Why not any other god?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
You will have to look into the logic that supports monotheism - versus polytheism. (At the time of Abraham, other religions were polytheistic.)
 
Also, keep in mind that the Church does not hold that the truths of our faith can be proved through reason; but rather that they are not contrary to reason.
 
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