People go by various names
By youdontsay
@youdontsay (3497)
United States
January 15, 2008 8:55am CST
and I believe that God does also. Have you ever made a list of all the names you've gone by? If you are a woman, your list may be longer than the men's because you may have taken a spruce's name. And you probably had some kind of nickname or childhood name.
Do you have a different internal response when someone gets you attention with a different name? For instance, I have a childhood name that no one I have daily contact with every uses. But when I hear someone call out that name I respond, feeling a little apprehensive because so few people use it. And I also have a shortened version of my name that only my mother used. So when I hear that I am immediately connected to my mother, who is deceased.
Well, I've been struggling with what to call God when I pray. As I get older I can see that God has many forms, many ways manifested to humanity. And I think we can approach God from many directions. The name we use seems to be related to the direction we are coming from to approach God.
What are names you use for God? Names you've heard used?
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1 response
@ASL19741978 (319)
• United States
28 Jan 08
God has a name. It is YHWH (in Hebrew). We don't know the vowels for sure because the Jewish people stopped pronouncing God's name because it is so holy, and stopped writing it, as well. In the Hebrew Bible, His name is just the consonants YHWH with the vowels from the word "Adonai" (AOA) which is what the Rabbis say when they come to God's name YHWH in their reading.
God's Son has a name too--Jesus Christ, or Yeshua the Messiah.
I don't believe it is good or proper to call God by any other name than His revealed name YHWH, or God ("Theos" in Greek), because that is what God had said His name is.
Of course there are other names used by people in the Bible to refer to God, or that God has given in answer to, "Who are you?" These names reveal aspects of His attributes, such as "El Shaddai"--God Almighty, "El Roi"--God sees me, "YHWH Tzebaot"--Yahweh of Hosts, "YHWH Jireh"--Yahweh provides, "Ga'al"--Kinsman-Redeemer, etc. I do believe it is acceptable to God for us to call Him by these names (since He allowed other people to do so). However, I don't believe we should go beyond what He has revealed to us in Scripture.
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