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God's name

Sand Dancer

Crazy Cat Lady
How many religions call their god "God?" I can only think of Christianity. Why don't they call their god by his name instead of the generic term? Is it because they think he's the only one, so any talk of "God" automatically refers to theirs?
 

Rival

Si m'ait Dieus
Staff member
Premium Member
Well, if there's only one God in your religion you can call Him 'God' and there's never any confusion. In ancient societies we hear Him called 'The God', but 'the' could, paradoxically, imply more. God is also as much a title as a name, as 'Lord' ('Lord help us!'). 'Allah' etymologically literally means 'The God'.

In Kemetic faith, any God can and commonly is, in more mystical and philosophical writings, called 'The God', see:

"Here begin the proverbs of fair speech, spoken by the Hereditary Chief, the Holy Father, Beloved of the God, the Eldest Son of the King, of his body, the Governor of his City, the Vezier, Ptah-hotep, when instructing the ignorant in the knowledge of exactness in fair-speaking; the glory of him that obeyeth, the shame of him that transgresseth them.

6. Cause not fear among men; for [this] the God punisheth likewise. For there is a man that saith, 'Therein is life'; and he is bereft of the bread of his mouth. There is a man that saith, 'Power [is therein]'; and he saith, 'I seize for myself that which I perceive.' Thus a man speaketh, and he is smitten down. It is another that attaineth by giving unto him that hath not; not he that causeth men dread. For it happeneth that what the God hath commanded, even that thing cometh to pass. Live, therefore, in the house of kindliness, and men shall come and give gifts of themselves."


Etc.
 
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wellwisher

Well-Known Member
The more general term, God, does not pretend to know all the sides of an omniscient God. But rather lumps all his variety, including his unknowns sides, into a more general concept.

The analogy is trying to define infinity, as a single thing. It is not a tangible thing, but rather the term infinity is used to express an esoteric concept that is not definitive to humans, since we are too limited to fully grasp or observe it in reality. Infinity has to be intuitively felt, via 3-D and 4-D concepts, that go beyond cause and affect which is only 2-D. This is why the Catholic Church does not get too upset at other religions, since they are part of this infinity of God.

Maybe another analogy is trying to describe a very successful person, when you do not fully understand all the needs for success. You are not aware enough to explain them, but rather much will remain a mystery for you. God is an acceptance of what we do not know, as well as what we can know. If we give him a name, we are trying to limit and dumb him down.

In the fable of Rumpelstiltskin, who can weave straw into gold, if his name could be figured out, one would have power over him. To know and say his name makes Rumpelstiltskin, subservient. As long as it was not known he was someone who could come and go by his own will.

At one time, words were thought to be magical. The term God is not as definitive as the unique name Rumpelstiltskin, so the power of God to surprise and control is left open. One needs to be objective enough to know one's limitations and not believe in magical control over divine things, via words.

The political left, for example, places a lot of power into words. The snow flake culture, even has to hide and censor to avoid power words which can melt them. These words are not Gods, but the superstitions remain and actions remain. Rumpelstiltskin can only be controlled if we can label him by his unique name. Other names will not work or may conjure a demon of fear.

It is believed by many, that words are needed to think, which sort of gives words a type of magic since this matrix of words can influence perception. However, one can also think without words, such as with the sense of vision. This is more fundamental than verbal language.

For example, say we have a large lecture hall with one person for each of the 6500 known languages of the earth. I am on center stage and place various objects on a table and ask each person to tell me what it is. We may get 6500 different noises; one from each language. Human spoken language is not universal, but is quite subjective. Any sound or noise can be used to describe anything if we all choose to agree.

Next, say instead of asking for word noises from the audience, I ask each person through a universal translator, to look at the table of objects and point to the cat. Since vision is universal to all; same photons from the cat and the same optic nerves and brains, they will all see the same things, regardless of the differences in their spoken language. This is how science is able to transcend language; seeing is believing. It not about the noises from any given culture; publication. They will run the experiments to see.

The visionary thinker looks for universal things, that we all can or should be able to see, with God having too much data, we do not know. Rumpelstiltskin is way too subjective like the rest of spoken language.
 
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sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
How many religions call their god "God?" I can only think of Christianity.

"God" is the word in English that refers to the divine. It reads like you are upset at others using the English word and wants them to use the word in another language such as "Allah",

Why is it so important to you that people use other languages to refer to God?
 

Sand Dancer

Crazy Cat Lady
"God" is the word in English that refers to the divine. It reads like you are upset at others using the English word and wants them to use the word in another language such as "Allah",

Why is it so important to you that people use other languages to refer to God?

I was just curious since gods have names. It just seems to be a popular thing to just say, "god," but I was curious why.
 

Sirona

Hindu Wannabe
How many religions call their god "God?" I can only think of Christianity. Why don't they call their god by his name instead of the generic term? Is it because they think he's the only one, so any talk of "God" automatically refers to theirs?

Jehovah's Witnesses are a Christian denomination that insists God's name is Jehovah, probably to distinguish themselves from "the rest" although I've read that this reading of JHWH is grammatically incorrect.

AFAIK Jews refrain from using God's name because there is / was a belief that when you know an entity's name, you had power over it. It's a kind of magical, Rumpelstiltskin thing. I believe that even in Catholic exorcism, a demon must first be forced to reveal its name before it can be exorcised.

Muslims have the 99 Names of Allah, plus the hundredth, which is indescribable.
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
god (n.)
also God; Old English god "supreme being, deity; the Christian God; image of a god; godlike person," from Proto-Germanic *guthan (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Dutch god, Old High German got, German Gott, Old Norse guð, Gothic guþ), which is of uncertain origin; perhaps from PIE *ghut- "that which is invoked" (source also of Old Church Slavonic zovo "to call," Sanskrit huta- "invoked," an epithet of Indra), from root *gheu(e)- "to call, invoke." The notion could be "divine entity summoned to a sacrifice."

But some trace it to PIE *ghu-to- "poured," from root *gheu- "to pour, pour a libation" (source of Greek khein "to pour," also in the phrase khute gaia "poured earth," referring to a burial mound; see found (v.2)). "Given the Greek facts, the Germanic form may have referred in the first instance to the spirit immanent in a burial mound" [Watkins].
god | Etymology, origin and meaning of god by etymonline

What is poured is fat ('Ghritam' Sans., 'Ghee' Hindi, 'Ghiu' Punjabi, clarified butter).

give (v.)
Old English giefan (West Saxon) "to give, bestow, deliver to another; allot, grant; commit, devote, entrust," class V strong verb (past tense geaf, past participle giefen), from Proto-Germanic *geban (source also of Old Frisian jeva, Middle Dutch gheven, Dutch geven, Old High German geban, German geben, Gothic giban), from PIE root *ghabh- "to give or receive." It became yiven in Middle English, but changed to guttural "g" by influence of Old Norse gefa "to give," Old Danish givæ.
give | Etymology, origin and meaning of give by etymonline
 
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mangalavara

सो ऽहम्
Premium Member
I was just curious since gods have names. It just seems to be a popular thing to just say, "god," but I was curious why.

To me, the English term God (with an uppercase g) is more of a theological and philosophical term than a name. Otherwise, I would say Śiva, Nārāyaṇa, Kālī, Durgā, etc.
 

Sand Dancer

Crazy Cat Lady
god (n.)
also God; Old English god "supreme being, deity; the Christian God; image of a god; godlike person," from Proto-Germanic *guthan (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Dutch god, Old High German got, German Gott, Old Norse guð, Gothic guþ), which is of uncertain origin; perhaps from PIE *ghut- "that which is invoked" (source also of Old Church Slavonic zovo "to call," Sanskrit huta- "invoked," an epithet of Indra), from root *gheu(e)- "to call, invoke." The notion could be "divine entity summoned to a sacrifice."

But some trace it to PIE *ghu-to- "poured," from root *gheu- "to pour, pour a libation" (source of Greek khein "to pour," also in the phrase khute gaia "poured earth," referring to a burial mound; see found (v.2)). "Given the Greek facts, the Germanic form may have referred in the first instance to the spirit immanent in a burial mound" [Watkins].
god | Etymology, origin and meaning of god by etymonline

What is poured is fat ('Ghritam' Sans., 'Ghee' Hindi, 'Ghiu' Punjabi, clarified butter).

give (v.)
Old English giefan (West Saxon) "to give, bestow, deliver to another; allot, grant; commit, devote, entrust," class V strong verb (past tense geaf, past participle giefen), from Proto-Germanic *geban (source also of Old Frisian jeva, Middle Dutch gheven, Dutch geven, Old High German geban, German geben, Gothic giban), from PIE root *ghabh- "to give or receive." It became yiven in Middle English, but changed to guttural "g" by influence of Old Norse gefa "to give," Old Danish givæ.
give | Etymology, origin and meaning of give by etymonline

Weird that the Christian god's name is Yahweh/Jehovah (We don't really know since Hebrew doesn't have vowels, and the Y/J is interchangeable), yet he got named generic God.
 

syo

Well-Known Member
How many religions call their god "God?" I can only think of Christianity. Why don't they call their god by his name instead of the generic term? Is it because they think he's the only one, so any talk of "God" automatically refers to theirs?
I think, yes. :)
 

Link

Veteran Member
Premium Member
How many religions call their god "God?" I can only think of Christianity. Why don't they call their god by his name instead of the generic term? Is it because they think he's the only one, so any talk of "God" automatically refers to theirs?

Islam does, but it's not his name, it's a title. God doesn't have a name, what is meant by name in Quran is a parable, the same parable that is referred to as "face of God".

The holy souls chosen by God in their most interior aspect, most unseen aspect, are the beautiful names of God. The holy spirit is a position taken by them, one after another, and it's the position of connecting creatures to God.

"Allah" is not God's Name, neither is "God", they are titles.

God has many titles, there are 1001 in Du'a Jawthan Kabir for example, none of those are his name. His name is that reality by which we come to know titles referring to God are true, and in reality God doesn't have a name (literal) but has something close to it, in the unseen, the perfect chosen humans are the names of God like Samuel (Samuel means name of God).
 
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TransmutingSoul

Veteran Member
Premium Member
How many religions call their god "God?" I can only think of Christianity. Why don't they call their god by his name instead of the generic term? Is it because they think he's the only one, so any talk of "God" automatically refers to theirs?

I personally see God has become known by all the Names and Attributes of the Messengers sent by God.

The diversity of language and culture also adds to the variety of names given to our One God.

That is how humanity will embrace the oneness of humanity, the realisation that the One God is behind all our Faiths.

Jesus offered it as many sheep not of this fold, but a day would come when there will be one fold and One Shepherd, that will be the day all of us choose to embrace the one and only God.

Regards Tony
 

Sand Dancer

Crazy Cat Lady
I personally see God has become known by all the Names and Attributes of the Messengers sent by God.

The diversity of language and culture also adds to the variety of names given to our One God.

That is how humanity will embrace the oneness of humanity, the realisation that the One God is behind all our Faiths.

Jesus offered it as many sheep not of this fold, but a day would come when there will be one fold and One Shepherd, that will be the day all of us choose to embrace the one and only God.

Regards Tony

That's beautiful.
 

Balthazzar

Christian Evolutionist
How many religions call their god "God?" I can only think of Christianity. Why don't they call their god by his name instead of the generic term? Is it because they think he's the only one, so any talk of "God" automatically refers to theirs?

Would "All" suffice? At least in that sense, monotheism would be applicable, as well as the poly aspect alluded to in the bible.
 

Balthazzar

Christian Evolutionist
The origins of all things ... I wonder ... something must have been and I guess all there was, was what it was. So, if all there was is what it was, what would you call what that all was?

Who are you God? I am that I am.

Oh
 

Hockeycowboy

Witness for Jehovah
Premium Member
How many religions call their god "God?" I can only think of Christianity. Why don't they call their god by his name instead of the generic term? Is it because they think he's the only one, so any talk of "God" automatically refers to theirs?
Very good & important question!!
IMO, it’s due to Christendom’s influence of trying to minimize the importance of The Divine Name, aka the Tetragrammaton (Hebrew: Yahweh, English: Jehovah).

It’s importance shouldn’t be denied, though, in light of Scriptures like Romans 10:13 (a quote from Joel 2:32, where the Divine Name is found in the text), and Jesus’ own words @ Matthew 6:9-10,
Revelation 3:12.
Speaking of Jesus ‘having a God’, Mainstream Christendom doesn’t like that idea. They’ve made Jesus ‘God’, destroying the uniqueness of God’s position described at Exodus 20:1-4.

So it suits their purpose to keep God’s Name Yahweh / Jehovah out of the Bible, putting Jesus in His place.

But this practice makes passages like Psalms 110:1, Psalms 8:9, Malachi 3:16, and so many others, very unclear.
 

Soapy

Son of his Father: The Heir and Prince
I was just curious since gods have names. It just seems to be a popular thing to just say, "god," but I was curious why.
You are right to ask the question. Anyone who tries to belittle your question is fearful of the truth.

The term ‘God’ is indeed a title, and as such is rightly fully written as ‘The God [of some aspect].

True again, every belief system that has a divine Being (a Deity) refers to such as their ‘God’, and when they believe in many such divine Being, they give each one a personal identifier - a name.

In fact, the word, ‘God’ is of Germanic origins incorporated into English (but more likely Latin before that) so the word is forced into universal usage by translators.

In Jewish belief, and subsequent Christianity, there is only one such divine Being, one deity, and because it is fully internal to the theology there was no need for the divine Being to have a personal identifier.

When the Israelites were living among the Egyptians, they became enamoured by the many deities that the Egyptians worshipped, and that each deity had a personal identifier, a name. When Moses returned from his exile from the Israelites he brought a message from HIS GOD to them saying they should go into the wilderness to worship their only ‘God’. To ratify this command Moses knew the Israelites would asked him, ‘WHICH GOD has given you this command?’. What could Moses say to them? They were demanding a NAME for THEIR GOD just like the Egyptians. The God of Moses and the Israelites knew that the people would not be satisfied with ‘The God of your forefathers’ so He spelled out TK Moses who He (God) was:
  • ‘I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’
  • ‘I am he who is, was, and always will be’
  • ‘I am everlasting’
  • ‘Therefore tell the people my name is to ‘YAHWEH’ (which expresses the MEANING of ‘I Am’)
Now, I don’t know about others but to me there is no better name (YAHWEH) and meaning to such a word as ‘I Am’ to express the almightiness of the claim of the Israelite God.

HOWEVER…. The Israelites, now called ‘Jews’, used this almighty name to swear oaths and agreements. Soon, some began to default on the oaths and agreements, thus bringing the sanctity of the name of their God (‘Yahweh’) into disrepute. As such they stopped using the name of their God altogether to stop the chance of causing offence to their God (thus itself causing an offence to their God by losing the pronunciation of the name) and as such they simply called upon their deity as ‘GOD’, which cannot cause offence since it is a title, but can if the usage is falsely used. Afterall, who thinks that YAHWEH is offended by an utterance of ‘Oh My God!!?’ as an expression of surprise… ‘Which God is it referring to????!!’. The utterer can say they did not mean the Jewish or Christian God!! Could have been ‘the God of Shocks and Surprises!’

Returning to personal identifier aspect: We do something similar in our own language, for instance, we might refer to the Head Teacher of a school as ‘[The] Principal’. There is only one Principal in any school and in the mass number of situations there is absolutely no need to know the personal name of this Principal. Subordinates, pupils, nearly everyone internal to the school just calls him, “Principal”. Alternatively, he could be referred to with a lesser title of ‘Sir’.

Notice this second lesser title is akin to ‘Lord’ in religious terms. It simply means someone who is in charge over those who call him so, it does not EXPLICITLY refer to the Principal.

This difference is casually ignored in trinitarian Christian belief wherein they claim that ‘God’ and ‘Lord’ refer to the exact self-same deity … clearly in error as much as calling, say, the class teacher, ‘Sir’ means the class teacher is the Principal.

Reality check: All persons in charge can be called ‘Sir’ - the Principal is in charge and so are the subordinate teachers but still there is only one Principal among them all.
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
We have many Gods and Goddesses, therefore it is necessary to name them. Avataras, who were born in human form, were given the name by their elders. Otherwise, the deities may be named according to their attributes or the place where they manifested themselves or some such association. For example, a Goddess who appeared near a water fall is called 'Garjia", or perhaps because it is in a tiger territory. Garjan' means a thunderous noise.

Garjia Devi Temple, Corbett National Park, India.
Screenshot_2022-08-01_00-03-34.png
 
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