God's Name...Truth Is...
How Important is What We Call God?
There is much speculation on the subject of God's name and what we should or should not call him. Is it important what we call him? Some believe it doesn't matter what we call God as long as we are worshipping him from the heart. Others as noted when I posed the question chose to speak quite disrespectful of God who is the one who graciously grants them existence and continued life. Even further, others offered their opinions which amounted to a lot of conjecture and surmises that clearly demonstrated just how uninformed many people really are about the ONE thing the entire human race should know well; who God is! GOD does have a name and it DOES matter what we call him! Truth Is...
We often allow ourselves to accept the easy way of approaching basically everything in life. Such frequently is the case with how we view our Creator and how to approach him. Imagine, would you be satisfied if people were to call you anything they felt like calling you? Even if you know for certain they are talking directly to you, you would be insulted, offended or grow weary of someone insisting on choosing what and how to address you as instead of using your proper name. Well, what's makes you more important than GOD?
If you are a christian believer then you assuredly have to abide by what God says in his word the bible. Given that, I offer that the original bible transcripts sited the name Jehovah, yahweh, or Yah(all the same) well over 6,000 times when referring to Almighty God. Now only two translations of the bible remain that contain the actual NAME of God as it was initially given and as many times*(see below). One reader offered that Allah should be used in referring to God; well with and in the ancient languages, the utterance of the sound "ah", Yah' Jah, all denoted reference to the very same Jehovah as we now pronounce it in modern times. It was initially written YHWH or JHVH, in the original bible transcripts. This rendering is commonly called the Tetragrammaton and denotes the lack of vowels in early languages such as the Aramaic which Abraham and early writers of the bible spoke and wrote. There was more a pronunciation of sound(s) when communicating. The name Elijah for instance, means literally: "My God is Jehovah"; something for you to ponder indeed!
Continuing on, it should be obvious that if God's name initially appeared over 6,ooo times in the bible writings there had to be a deliberate effort put forth to take it out! This is particularly true of later bible translators such as those who transcribed the King James Bible which remarkably, people today do not know was actually written to and for the approval and satisfaction of King James of England!
There are however three places in the King James Bible that the divine name is still written: Psalms 83:18, Isaiah 12:2, and Exodus 6:3 where God first revealed his ACTUAL NAME to mankind by telling Moses:'..I appeared to Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known..." Considering that God later told Pharaoh that He had made him be stubborn solely for the purpose of establishing his name and it's glorification, it would follow that it might be important how we address him, at least to him anyway!
We often note that GOD is a "jealous" God; we read throughout that his "name is to be i scriptures that say make known that his name is to be exalted; even Jesus when giving example of how we should pray (Lord's Prayer), started out by saying :"Let your name be sanctified" or "Hallowed" be thy name, which means hailed or praised. Given the fact that Jesus himself prayed and 1 Corinthians 15"24-28 says that Jesus (the Son) would subject himself to th one who subjected all things unto him; we would be wise to find out exactly who it is we are actually worshipping!
Think about it, if your name is George and you have no particular aversion for your own name, would you rather be called George, or is it OK if everybody called you: "Dude", "hey guy" "Mr. Man", or as the rude young man stated: "Fido or Rover". Is it not so that those who know you or are close to you would address you by your proper name? Is that not a matter of respect as well as endearment? It denotes an intimacy in some ways. How do you really have a close and personal relationship with someone you REFUSE to call by their rightful name which by the way they have given to you so that you could? Hmmm...
Is it not true that we as Christians worship the same God that delivered Israel from Egypt? Well when Pharaoh persistently asked "who" this God of Israel was, God told Moses the words recorded at Exodus 6:3(read them) [Again, it is noted that in newer bibles, the name Jehovah has been removed, but the NIV, King James, and New Jerusalem pre 1985 still has it at least three times]. We are told that God does not change, well if that is so, neither does his name(common sense folks, its a gift from God, USE IT!). The very first thing Jesus said to pray for when he gave the model for prayer was that GOd's name, Jehovah be sanctified, or praised. Now, you may have been taught different in church and by Grandma and your parents, but truth is...don't you think what GOD, Jesus, and the bible says is what you should really pay attention to? Then WHY is it SO hard for us to do that? The fear or aversion to using God's proper name is derived from the devil of course and inspired by the demons that surround you in this corrupted system we live in. Jesus openly spoke God's name, one of the many reasons he was hated by the pharisees who believed in keeping that name secret and sacred around gentiles.
Does it matter what you call God as long as you call on him?
Yes! If his word repeatedly speaks about giving him praise and exalting his name, then yes, it does matter. We seem to have a serious problem when we repeatedly TELL GOD WHAT HE'LL ACCEPT! How ridiculous is that?!!! "Well God, I know you have a name, and I know you told me what it is; but I feel I should be able to call you whatever I want or feel comfortable with and you being God you should accept that"...
How presumptuous!!!Yet we dare tempt God anyway.
I have spoken on this matter in several other articles and encourage all to read them and get a clearer understanding.
Knowledge is good to have, but ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE IS A TREASURE!!!!
TRUTH IS...
