- Mar 11, 2010
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Hello, I came into Christian Forums within the last couple of weeks, and I am a long time Christian. I had been working on an internet search for a subject that brought me to find a page of a thread relating to it in Christian Forums. I joined to take part, and have looked elsewhere in this forum. It is large and intimidating, there is so much discussion I do not know how others here find what to take part in while having any confidence that they are not missing something else that would be important to them.
I have made some submissions. One, having been related to my search, which has not been responded to, was my response to a position I think is often made, but that is mistaken and which I care should be corrected.
I wrote this, with what I responded to:
I am coming into this thread late, I am just a new member of less than a couple of weeks, ... I wanted to respond to this message ... :
"The reason that the Jewish community would say "Lord" (Aram. adonai) instead of pronouncing the divine name is that they, too, believed they were obeying the third commandment. They did not want to risk pronouncing Yhwh's name in vain. In the ancient world, the name of a deity communicated not only the identity of that deity, but its essence, its being, its personality, its power. If you used the divine name casually, in other words, in a context that did not require an appeal to the full essence of Yhwh (such as a liturgical setting) you were using it in vain. If someone in the crowd of those listening to the Torah being read did not, upon hearing the name, recognize the full and terrible power of Yhwh, it was being read in vain. Consequently, they stopped reading it at all, except (so the story goes) the high priest once a year by himself in the holy of holies. In a show of ultimate respect they read Adonai instead of Yhwh, while preserving intact the sacred text.
Personally, I think that this makes a lot of sense. We don't want to get "casual" with God by always being on a first-name basis with him.
Or do we? Maybe with the incarnation, that distance has been removed? I don't know. This is a tough question to answer."
I want to say that following Jewish tradition of that time is not a good idea without Biblical basis. In old testament times, it is clear from many passages that people of God freely used the name of Yahweh, in speaking of him and to him, and not speaking his name in vain, which would be the case if not really speaking of him or to him. The commandments should really have us speaking Yahweh's name, but not without an attitude of reverence to him. So this question can be answered.
By the way, I am not part of any movement that would have us think that to be saved we need any thing other than to believe and put our faith in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. But we should believe the Bible for the meaning of what was originally written, not settling for anything replacing any actual word, translated or transliterated.
Jesus rejected traditions of men that were not supported by anything in the Bible. God had told Moses, when he first called him and Moses questioned how he could tell Israelites God had sent him and not have the name of God, Yahweh, God of your fathers, has sent you... This is my name, for all generations.
As it was to be remembered, for all generations, and Jewish tradition was going to permit it to be forgotten by not being spoken, but this later than the time the Hebrew scriptures were written, those who promoted the tradition were disobedient to God. Jesus would have nothing to do with this disobedience, and didn't.
Well, as it was not responded to, I was hoping someone would see it who would respond. I take this position, which is right, and can be seen at my yahoo group, Christian Tribe of Yahweh.
I have made some submissions. One, having been related to my search, which has not been responded to, was my response to a position I think is often made, but that is mistaken and which I care should be corrected.
I wrote this, with what I responded to:
I am coming into this thread late, I am just a new member of less than a couple of weeks, ... I wanted to respond to this message ... :
"The reason that the Jewish community would say "Lord" (Aram. adonai) instead of pronouncing the divine name is that they, too, believed they were obeying the third commandment. They did not want to risk pronouncing Yhwh's name in vain. In the ancient world, the name of a deity communicated not only the identity of that deity, but its essence, its being, its personality, its power. If you used the divine name casually, in other words, in a context that did not require an appeal to the full essence of Yhwh (such as a liturgical setting) you were using it in vain. If someone in the crowd of those listening to the Torah being read did not, upon hearing the name, recognize the full and terrible power of Yhwh, it was being read in vain. Consequently, they stopped reading it at all, except (so the story goes) the high priest once a year by himself in the holy of holies. In a show of ultimate respect they read Adonai instead of Yhwh, while preserving intact the sacred text.
Personally, I think that this makes a lot of sense. We don't want to get "casual" with God by always being on a first-name basis with him.
Or do we? Maybe with the incarnation, that distance has been removed? I don't know. This is a tough question to answer."
I want to say that following Jewish tradition of that time is not a good idea without Biblical basis. In old testament times, it is clear from many passages that people of God freely used the name of Yahweh, in speaking of him and to him, and not speaking his name in vain, which would be the case if not really speaking of him or to him. The commandments should really have us speaking Yahweh's name, but not without an attitude of reverence to him. So this question can be answered.
By the way, I am not part of any movement that would have us think that to be saved we need any thing other than to believe and put our faith in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. But we should believe the Bible for the meaning of what was originally written, not settling for anything replacing any actual word, translated or transliterated.
Jesus rejected traditions of men that were not supported by anything in the Bible. God had told Moses, when he first called him and Moses questioned how he could tell Israelites God had sent him and not have the name of God, Yahweh, God of your fathers, has sent you... This is my name, for all generations.
As it was to be remembered, for all generations, and Jewish tradition was going to permit it to be forgotten by not being spoken, but this later than the time the Hebrew scriptures were written, those who promoted the tradition were disobedient to God. Jesus would have nothing to do with this disobedience, and didn't.
Well, as it was not responded to, I was hoping someone would see it who would respond. I take this position, which is right, and can be seen at my yahoo group, Christian Tribe of Yahweh.
I agree with you that CF is a huge site and at first it seems impossible to maneuver around. I'm not sure in which forum you made your post above, but sometimes it takes a little time for someone else to respond. Please do not let that hold you back from exploring the many forums of CF. I enjoyed your post and agree with it. God bless and happy cruising through the threads 
