Big stone in the bush!

[kepha]

Let me trow a big stone in the bush here, I know this will offend a lot of people, but here goes.

Why I don't use the title G.O.D

Let us look at the Names of our Creator.

(Exodus 20:7) You shall not take the name of YHWH your Elohim in vain; for YHWH will not leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain.

(HRB Notes)
Exo 20:7
"(157) The Hebrew word “in vain” is “shav” and literally means to “change, falsify or to make common”. Taking the Creator's eternal set apart name YHWH (Exo_3:15) and changing it to 'god', the name of the Babylonian deity is a clear violation of the third commandment, see note on Isa_65:11."

His Family Name is Yhwh
The personal family name of our Creator The Father Yah and The Son, Yhwh, is
called the Divine Name and the Tetragrammaton, or four-letter word because it
has four letters in Hebrew. יהוה. Yud Hey Vav Hey.

The Creator gave His Name to Moses in Exo3:15 in Hebrew so clearly the Creators Name is a Hebrew Name. In Hebrew all names has a root meaning and in Hebrew the Name YHWH means "I AM"
Exo 3:14 And Elohim said to Moses, EHYAH ASHER EHYAH (I AM THAT I AM); and He said, you shall say this to the sons of Israel, EHYAH (I AM) has sent me to you.
If we look in all the original Hebrew Scriptures we will find the Name of the Creator, YHWH as given to them.
If you do a word study on the name of YHWH in the Hebrew scriptures you will find that only the name Yhwh is the personal family name of our Heavenly Father and is used almost 7,000 times in the Old Testament alone, by far almost 70 percent of every reference made to our Creator is with his personal family name, YHWH.


Personal names are transliterated not translated. The word water in English is translated aqua in Italian. There is no connection whatsoever to these two words; they are totally different in two different languages. But personal names, such as George Bush, are not translated, but transliterated, into any given language. This means that the name stays the same; it may just
be phonetically pronounced a little different, in each language. Listen to a broadcast in Spanish and you will hear all Spanish words, and then a name such as George Bush. So, names stay the same no matter what language they are in.
So since names are not translated but transliterated, can the word “G.o.d” be a transliteration of the name YHWH, when they have no phonetic connection whatsoever?
Yet almost 7,000 times in the English translations from the original Hebrew Texts, the translators take out the Sacred name of our Creator, YHWH, and replace it with either the word “G.o.d” or “Lord”.
The word G.O.D or Lord is just generic titles like Mister or Misses or Doctor. It is not a real name. It has no root meaning and G.O.D is only fond once in the original Hebrew Scriptures and it is the name of a Babylonian deity "Gwad" from which the generic title was derived from.
Isa 65:11 But you are those who forsake YHWH, who forget My holy mountain; who array a table for Gawd (The Babylonian Deity of fortune), and who fill mixed wine for Meni (The Deity of fate).

The word for G.O.D in Hebrew is Elohim and is also just a title.

It is also most interesting to note, that to a world that has been blinded to the true personal family name of our Heavenly Father ‘Yhwh: that the name of ‘Satan “ is not lost or contested in any language.

So is it important what we call our Creator?

If you meet someone and you tell your name to them, Let's say my name is John, and the person says "no, no that is not true you don't look like a John to me. Your name can't be John, it is Paul, yes Paul it will be. I shall call you Paul".
What will be your reaction? You will say something like "no my name is John that is what I am christened and that is my name".
If this person then continues to insist on calling you Paul, I can guarantee, at a point you going to get annoyed with him and maybe lose your temper. Why? It is important to us that our correct name will be used and pronounces correctly, because that is what sets us apart and makes us who we are.
Now if that is so important to us how much more must it matter to our Creator?
He is the Holy one and we want to tell Him what we will call Him, or the name we choose to give to Him. It is the breaking of the third commandment.

He gave His Name more than once in the in the Old Testament to us.

(Exodus 3:15) And Elohim said to Moses again, You shall say this to the sons of Israel, YHWH, the Elohe of your fathers, the Elohe of Abraham, the Elohe of Isaac, and the Elohe of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is how I should be remembered from generation to generation

[alon]

(Exodus 3:15) And Elohim said to Moses again, You shall say this to the sons of Israel, YHWH, the Elohe of your fathers, the Elohe of Abraham, the Elohe of Isaac, and the Elohe of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is how I should be remembered from generation to generation

This comes up from time to time. As you pointed out, "The word for G.O.D in Hebrew is Elohim and is also just a title." More than this however, Elohim is the only name for God we are given in scripture until Genesis 14:18 when He is called El Elyon, "God Most High." Some form of the title is used far more often than YHVH. "El" is a singular form of the word, and is also a popular title for gods and men in authority. However when we capitalize it, it's understood to refer to El Elyon. And in fact, if we read the verse you quote in context we'll see Gd Himself refers to Himself by this name/title even after the command to use the name YHVH:

Shemot 3:12-16 (OJB)

12 And He said, Certainly Eh-heh-yeh (I will be [see verse below]) with thee; and this shall be haOt (the Sign) unto thee, that I have sent thee: when thou hast brought forth HaAm out of Mitzrayim, ye shall serve HaElohim upon this Har.

13 And Moshe said unto HaElohim, Hinei, when I come unto the Bnei Yisroel, and shall say unto them, Elohei Avoteichem hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is Shmo? what shall I say unto them?

14 And Elohim said unto Moshe, Eh-heh-yeh ashair Ehheh- yeh (I AM WHO I AM); and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the Bnei Yisroel, EHHEH-YEH (I AM) hath sent me unto you.

15 And Elohim said moreover unto Moshe, Thus shalt thou say unto Bnei Yisroel: Hashem, Elohei Avoteichem, Elohei Avraham, Elohei Yitzchak, and Elohei Ya’akov, hath sent me unto you: this is Shemi l’olam, and this is My remembrance unto all generations.

16 Go, and gather the Ziknei Yisroel together, and say unto them, Hashem Elohei Avoteichem, Elohei Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya’akov, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Mitzrayim;

Exodus 3:12-16 (NASB)

12 And He said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.”

13 Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” 14 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.’” 15 God, furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations. 16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt.

[*] "Related to the name of God, YHWH, rendered Lord, which is derived from the verb HAYAH, to be"- I have also seen this translated as "I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE."

There is more than one way to make a name common. One is as you suggest to replace it with a generic title or an appellative and use that only. But another is to use the name all the time so that it becomes common by overuse and familiarity. We should become familiar with Elohim, but we should never lose the reverence and awe, the respect that is His due. So we allow all those names, including the Anglicized translation of the title "God" in referring to The Most High here. And I do believe it is appropriate to do so. We do however require that anyone using any name for any manifestation of God do so with utmost respect. I don't believe that is a problem for anyone here now, however these threads are up for a long time and you never know who is reading ...

Dan (formally Daniel but we don't want that to be too common  ) C

edit: actually my wife assures me I am "as common as muck"

[alon]

It is also most interesting to note, that to a world that has been blinded to the true personal family name of our Heavenly Father ‘Yhwh: that the name of ‘Satan “ is not lost or contested in any language.

ha'satan- he enemy, the adversary, the opponent ... I am one of a minority who believes this is not a name but just a description. I believe that when ha'satan fell God removed his name. In Near-eastern thought this was one of the greatest insults. It was like taking your identity. When a mighty one transgressed and was banished, it was common to strike his name from all records and from any monuments and to forbid it to be spoken again. That person never existed.

Ha'satan has fooled us into giving him back what he wants most next to the throne and our worship- a name. Why would I honor this vile being by giving him something God took from him?

He is called by many descriptive titles in scripture, but these are not names per-say. Our God is also called by many more descriptive titles which can be used in lieu of a name. However He also has, as  you point out, a proper name; YHVH.

When I tell people this, out of over forty descriptive titles  the one I almost always get asked about is "Well what about Lucifer?"

Isaiah 14:12-14 (NKJV)

"12 How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
'I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.'”

Lucifer means "bringer of light" or "bringing light," "light bearer." This too then sounds like it could be a title used before the fall. It isn't used any place to refer to him after the fall in any case; so if it was a name, this supports my belief it was removed.

But this is majoring in the minors, as they say. Just a side bar to the real point of your post.

Dan (I know, I overthink things) C

[jimmie]

My studies lead me to believe there are no titles or names in the Hebrew of the Bible as we commonly use the terms. Only character traits that describe the person or thing. Everything that we "western thinkers" call a name or title is a word or phase that describes the person or thing to the "eastern thinker".