Do you think god was given a name out of fear?

1. 65

   CrescentSkiesposted 11 years ago

   Do you think god was given a name out of fear?
   
   Let me explain my logic, which would you be more terrified of? If a doctor told you that you have a serious case of the Flu or if the doctor told you that you have an unknown illness? Most of you will immediately answer the unknown illness, even if it's something that doesn't even have a symptom, while the flu can be fatal in a lot of cases if it's serious.
   
   Do you think people gave the alleged entity known as "god" the title of god out of fear?

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2. 95

   Phyllis Doyleposted 11 years ago

   Hmmmm .... interesting question. However, I am not sure I fully understand your logic.  I think I know what you are saying -- that fear of the unknown is better than fear of the known. Did I get that right?
   
   What we think about why he was given the name he has is really not that important, in my opinion -- maybe it is important to others.
   
   My understanding, or my belief, is that he was not given the name God, but that he was referred to as A god and then people believed he was the ONLY one true god, so referred to him as God. His true name is like the sound of breath, Yahweh --  a giver of life.

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3. 65

   Ashleignposted 11 years ago

   I think people seek explanation for everything. Therefore, if they cannot explain something, they need something from which to draw conclusion. Therefore, "God" as you put it was put into place. However, "God" is just a translation over time. The orginal word would have been Deus or a diety of some sort. Giving something a name, doesn't register as fear of that thing. We also name colors, animals, people.. It doesn't necessarily mean we fear those things.
   
   In other words, you will only call a girl who is a friend of yours, "a girl who is a friend of yours," until it is easier to call her a girlfriend.

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4. 68

   conradofontanillaposted 11 years ago

   There are people who believe in god or give him/her that name out of fear, or out of reverence, or out of gratitude.
   That there is only one god cannot be proven in the way of science.
   That there is god cannot be proven in the way of science either.
   That people believe in god or in the presence of god is commonplace.
   The Greeks had several gods living in mount Olympus, as i have read. .
   If the harvest is good, the Chinese make a celebration in honor of the god of good harvest by exploding firecrackers.
   If the harvest is bad, they drive away the bad god with firecrackers likewise.
   A doctorate in genetics who "created" new varieties of rice said things that we cannot explain are attributed to god. He used the term "created" referring to his new varieties.
   Belief in god is useful though. It can put some order in life. But it can be tyrannical as in the case of the crusades launched by the Catholics for five centuries.
   One should not believe in a god out of fear.
   The god called Jesus cannot be like a man. He was not the fruit of fertilization that occurs in ordinary man. Joseph did not fertilizer the egg of Mary.
   A man/woman as we know in ordinary life, or by means of science, has chromosomes from the mother and the father. Jesus did not have chromosomes from a father and a mother. One can say that that is part of the mystery and the debate can go in circles.

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      Borsiaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      When I lived in China there was never any mention of any gods. They told me that how well your year will go is helped by the amount of noise you make on the new year and they love fireworks. Fireworks are often included in any celebration.

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5. 0

   CroftRoanposted 11 years ago

   I think it was given to him more out of familiarity and security. Humans give names to everything to make them more familiar. This also adds a sense of security in the relationship between humans and their experiences. It's a necessity to our sanity to known and name.

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6. 77

   Garlonussposted 11 years ago

   Your question is predicated on the concept that we humans named (and thus conceptually created) God, and not the other way around. I can't get behind that so any answer I give here would either be an opinion I can't fully espouse or would ignore the question entirely.
   And I'm sure I'm not the only one who might feel that way.

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      Faith Reaperposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Exactly.

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7. 76

   MSGolden51posted 11 years ago

   No! still don't quite get what your saying, first of all God was not named by man, second, God is a loving God and loves us, that is why he sent his only begotten son, and the questions should be would God heal the sickness of the flu, and the unknown illness that answer would be absolutely yes!!!!!!

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   1. 78

      lanablackmoorposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Why do you assume the question is talking about the God within the Judeo-Christian construct? Also, the question had nothing to do with God healing the flu... the author is making an analogy comparing how nameless things are scarier than named ones.

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   2. 65

      Ashleignposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      God was named by man.. ><

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      LoisRyan13903posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Actually man was named by God

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8. 68

   A Happy Manposted 11 years ago

   What in the hell does this even mean, friend?

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9. 59

   jstfishinmanposted 11 years ago

   God calls Himself, I Am that I Am,  and Jehovah. As well as GOD. The other names for God are characteristics or traits of  God. We actually get Jehovah from JWVH a word the Jews  held in such reverence that it was only used in the Holy of Holies one day a year and we have no idea what the vowels are for this word. God before sin came into the world actually visited Adam and Eve in the garden. The fear comes with the sin, standing before a perfect and just GOD.

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10. 78

    lanablackmoorposted 11 years ago

    Hmm, interesting question. Basically, is God a much broader concept that we're afraid of on a primal level and thus chose to give a name in an effort to simplify and bring that entity down to a level we can comprehend? I think so, to a degree. I see God as a force and a consciousness, not really a person. Maybe God does manifest "Himself" with specific personas, but that doesn't mean the essence of God can be easily packaged and labeled. So I'd largely agree with that.

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11. 36

    edhanposted 11 years ago

    Fear of the unknown exists in our hearts. But I do not believe that God is the name we are given out of fear. We seek out of the unknown so that we can define it. Even though we cannot see in scientific term of God but my heart can sense its existence and not through fear.

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12. 72

    LoisRyan13903posted 11 years ago

    Interesting question, but no-not in my case.  I have always known God

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    delleaposted 11 years ago

    I think that people gave God his name (in English) out of a different kind of fear that you are unfamiliar with. First of all, God named himself and God goes by a number of different names if you research the Bible in it's ancient greek form and in its various versions. But all of the names that we know the God of the Bible by are primarily to show reverence and respect. Fear is a part of that, but it's not the same fear as one would experience from a horror movie or life-threatening event... for us believers it's more of a fear of the greatness and almighty power and infinity of God as our creator, and our love and respect for him. Being that you're not likely a believer, the best comparison I could give you is your respect of a loving and caring father, a father who loves and cares about you, who wants you to love him back, show him respect, and to treat your fellow man with the same respect that you desire to receive. Yes, we believers do fear God's punishment on us, God can punish us if he wishes, but as I said, if you have a loving and caring father who will punish you when you do evil against others then you would also have some amount of fear of him if you did harm other people (take the Boston bombing for example). The fear we believers have for God is part of our love and respect for him because he is our heavenly father and our creator. Believers are not perfect by any means, but true believers try to live their lives in the best way that will be most pleasing to God, most loving and honorable towards other people, and out of complete love and respect for his son Jesus Christ for dying on the cross for all of our sins.

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14. 38

    Borsiaposted 11 years ago

    I think it would be more correct to say that they named their fears god. Almost everything they feared they attributed to a god or gods, as they also did with most things that the couldn't explain.

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       Ashleignposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       That's a good answer.. but "they" still do.

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    KFushaposted 11 years ago

    I don't think fear is the emotion that sparked the name-giving. I think it was the desire to make sense of all the non-sense; the desire to give life some sort of divine meaning, which can be a very spiritually comforting idea.
    
    Before the idea of a single God became popular, the civilized world was dominated by polytheistic religions and the numerous Gods which made up those religions also had names.

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16. 62

    missmarykateposted 11 years ago

    Fear is certainly a very general factor that influenced the development of the concept of "God" and other "gods". The psychological dilemma of not understanding or knowing something is very subconsciously discomforting, especially when it comes to your understanding of your surroundings and using that knowledge to make decisions about your future actions in terms of survival and prosperity. For example, ancient cultures had no concept of the water cycle. They didn't understand what caused the rain to fall to bring water to their crops so that they could survive. Without the seemingly simple scientific knowledge we have today, people concluded that a powerful being or force must control these unexplainable phenomena. This is where worship comes from, pleasing the great force in hopes that it will make things happen the way you want them to. In this case: Rain gods, and rain dances, etc, all because humans did not yet understand that they did not have control over the particular phenomenon of weather. Not surprisingly at all, many of these beings possess human characteristics, as they were conceptually created by the humans themselves. This also enabled people to be able to establish a very personal connection to their 'gods', as they can be viewed as wise elders, as kings, as saviors, as brothers, as another human figure who is superior to them and therefor can make very deep impressions on them.
    
    In conclusion, the concept of any 'god' or 'gods' is a result of the psychological need to find an answer to things we do not understand. It is the nature of your brain to try to understand everything it encounters, and where it cannot understand, it will create an explanation based on whatever knowledge you already possess. It is instinct for you to be discomforted by something you do not know, as this discomfort may ultimately aide your survival. Subconsciously, your brain works tirelessly to minimize this discomfort by using information you already possess to come to a conclusion and make you feel better. In psychology this is known as Cognitive Dissonance, and we do it every day without realizing. "God" was created as the answer to that which we do not know, and until we find all the answers ourselves, humans will continue to believe in and worship "gods" because it fills in the gray area of the unknown.

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    LensMan999posted 11 years ago

    No, I don't think so. But in some cases I agree with you. Whenever a kid does something wrong, he or she is told that God is seeing all those mistakes. It will automatically create a feeling of fear in them. They start thinking that God is a person who we all should fear. But love is the feeling that should come to our minds when we think of God. So children must be taught in such a manner from their early childhood onwards.

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       LoisRyan13903posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Wow!  That is so true.  I don't like it when parents do that.

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