The Name of God

Anonymous asked: Why do you abbreviate God to G'D? Like it's more keystrokes and the same number of characters lol.

2ndhalfoflife:

In the strictest interpretation of Mosaic Law, it is blasphemy to use the name of the Lord in any context other than prayer. In English, the name of the Lord is spelled with a capital G, a lower case o, and a lower case d. Out of respect for persons who might not want to encounter blasphemy, I use G’D.

Yes, this is uncommon in Christianity. But as I am a person for whom interfaith cooperation is an important part of my ministry, I willingly do the uncommon to be respectful to those persons who live their lives according to the Law given to Moses.

I’ve found it’s not really possible to study Christianity without studying Judaism. Both are Abrahamic faiths, and Christianity could be said to have started as a sect of Judaism. I am somewhat under-educated regarding Islamic traditions in this regard, and I really need to learn more because Islam is also an Abrahamic faith.

Do any of my readers have any comments regarding the best practices to avoid accidental blasphemy with referring to G’D in the Islamic sense?

I very much appreciate this consideration.  As a Christian, I use the “G word,” but YHVH, what I consider the “name” of my God, I do not add vowels to or spell out in full.  It is my belief that YHVH encompasses the mystery and lets each of the letters tell their story (see This Link for more) without confining YHVH to the narratives ascribed to the name that gets spelled out… not to mention the issues I have with those vowels and their placement.

A biblical theme is the power that is in naming.  Names tell people’s stories and give one authority over those named.  Think about how adding particular letters to “Abraham” and “Sarah” gives them new power.  Think about how “Adam” is given permission to name the animals.  Think about how biblical names often describe a character more than they are likely to be actual names of actual people.  

Think about how, even in today’s culture, we refrain from using first names as a form of respect (Mr. or Mrs. or whatever).  For some folks, we don’t even use their last name (Mr. President or Her Royal Majesty the Queen, for instance).  In a culture that likes to label things, often times in ways that disrespect those whom we label and without consideration of their desires, I think it’s important that we only use names that we are given permission to use.  It seems to me that the divinity in my scriptures does not like to be named.  I see “God” as a title, not a name, and it is with that reverence that I use the term.  I hope that my peers of other traditions see this as much as I try to see the ways that they describe God that may not be in line with my understandings.  

Again, that said, I really appreciate your efforts to name divinity in ways are that respectful, whether or not it saves you time typing…