Christians Don't Speak the Name of Their God

razor39999 said:
Isn't elohim just the old Hebrew word for god? Although Yahweh probably is a personal name.

Bezaliel said:


Best joke into the month keep it up.

Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"

God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

God never gave his name

Rarusu_ said:
God is a Germanic word for God, Jehovah and the rest are not.

From Old Norse guð, from Proto-Germanic *gudą, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰuto-.

It means "good"

Bezaliel said:



That quote I put is from the bible Exodus 6:2

Bobby2Hands said:
Jehovah's witnesses argue YHWH is translated as Jehovah.

Goofs said:
when they were converting Germanic peoples, they would use terms that made sense to those people, and like I mentioned in my other post, Gaut was a name for Odin, their most high god, so why not refer to the Christian God as the true Gaut?

it's similar to how when converting African tribes, they use terms familiar to those tribes

Sherlupin said:


actually the first rendering of God’s personal name in an English Bible appeared in 1530 in William Tyndale’s translation of the Pentateuch. He used the form “Iehouah.” Over time, the English language changed, and the spelling of the divine name was modernized. For example, in 1612, Henry Ainsworth used the form “Iehovah” throughout his translation of the book of Psalms. Then, in 1639, when that work was revised and printed with the Pentateuch, the form “Jehovah” was used. In 1901, the translators who produced the American Standard Version of the Bible used the form “Jehovah” where the divine name appeared in the Hebrew text.

Explaining why he used “Jehovah” instead of “Yahweh” in his 1911 work Studies in the Psalms, respected Bible scholar Joseph Bryant Rotherham said that he wanted to employ a “form of the name more familiar (while perfectly acceptable) to the general Bible-reading public.” In 1930 scholar A. F. Kirkpatrick made a similar point regarding the use of the form “Jehovah.” He said: “Modern grammarians argue that it ought to be read Yahveh or Yahaveh; but JEHOVAH seems firmly rooted in the English language, and the really important point is not the exact pronunciation, but the recognition that it is a Proper Name, not merely an appellative title like ‘Lord.’”

Goofs said:
probably habit/tradition? they've been doing it ever since their conversion, and probably figured it was acceptable since the Catholics refer to him as Deus in Latin. as for why Catholics used Deus, it's a similar situation with them, since Deus was another common name for Zeus and gods in general

if anything, blame the Greco-Roman influence on Christianity, they seem to have started the trend. Catholicism borrows a surprising amount from Greco-Roman paganism

zombie_pegasus said:
Why do we call our moon "the moon", our sun "the sun", and our earth "the earth"? Since Christianity only has one god "God" seemed like a suitable way to refer to him even though he actually does have a name.

Bobby2Hands said:
Ok, so I know we have seen a few religious topics recently and I promise I'll try to keep my atheist fedora tipping to a minimum here, but I always found something strange about Christians.

Most Christians simple refer to their god as....God. But if you read the Bible you find that there are numerous names by which this deity goes by.
The most direct translation from the original Aramaic is YHWH (Yahweh)
Jehovah's witnesses argue YHWH is translated as Jehovah.
Sometimes the translation is Elohim.

But despite this Christians rarely use these names to describe their god, why is this?
I would honestly appreciate the opinion of any Christians here, I've read the Bible cover to cover, but as a long life atheist I often have trouble understanding how things work among the religious community.

(keep it civil everyone, no flaming please)

ichii_1 said:
>using the jew name

Stick to your atheist religion.

Bobby2Hands said:

I mean, you do know Jesus was a Jew and came to fulfil the prophecy of the old testament...

Yarub said:
Arab Christians refer to God as Allah. The Arabic name for the Abrahamic God. So not all Christians do what you said.

Bobby2Hands said:

And Japanese Christians refer to him as Kami (which also just means god) but once again I'm asking why Christians don't use the name he is given in the Bible.

RedRoseFring said:
It is simply for convenience and out of respect because God's name is considered holy, so it isn't bandied around.

Christians do call Jesus by his name (Yeshua if you want Hebrew), but God the Father is called the Father just like most people don't call their father by his first name.