Does God have a name? What Does the Bible Say?

Hello once again, and welcome back, my beautiful readers.
Yes, I am so glad you are here and can join me today.

Welcome to the month of May, where the weather flip-flops. I sit here, unafraid to tell you that I am just so not digging these cooler temperatures. It's cold outside, making me not want to go outside and mow the grass which is starting to get out of control. It's cold in the house and I've got the heaters running. Like, REALLY!?!?!? I am hoping the weather is treating you decent, where ever you may be.

Hey, I just finished up some studying for our Tuesday night meeting, and one of the topics focused on the question: Does God have a name? So that got me to thinking, what do other people have to say about the question. So I thought I'd put the question to ya all. Does God have a name?

When asked if God has a name, SOME PEOPLE SAY that he has no name, others say this it is God or Lord, and still others say that he has dozens of names. What do you think?

Well, WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY? Let's read it together.

18 May people know that you, whose name is Jehovah,+You alone are the Most High over all the earth.- Psalm 83:18

When I reflect back on my childhood, yep, that is where my brain was just at, living in Wyoming, out in the middle of nowhere, (Wyoming is like that) there were occasions when we had visitors to our place on the hill. These visitors were, on a couple of occasions, Jehovah's Witnesses, out in their preaching work. Now, my dad, a Pentecostal preacher, did not like Jehovah's Witnesses, and he would talk with them, but I think it was with the intent of 'proving them wrong,' but I don't know for sure. I know he never had anything nice to say about them. After one visit in particular, I remember my dad coming back into the house saying "I know that God's name is Jehovah." Yet, he never used it! He never called God by his name, Jehovah!


As I reflect back on that memory, my dad saying that he knew God's name is Jehovah, yet never using it, I am left wondering 'why?' Why didn't my dad use God's name? Perhaps I will never know. Perhaps it was just a foreign concept to him. I know it was for me. Yep, when I started studying the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses, that was one of the first topics of discussion, learning God's name. I read that same scripture that I just shared with y'all. So I learned God's name, but using it was foreign to me. It actually felt weird to say 'Jehovah.' I was used to saying God. At first, I was embarrassed to use the name, Jehovah, then I was ashamed that I was embarrassed. Through my continued study of the Bible though, I learned that it is important to 'know' and 'use' God's name, Jehovah.


I guess learning things from the Bible has always been my pleasure. I hope that you have learned something here today as well. WHAT ELSE CAN WE LEARN FROM THE BIBLE?  Well, for starters, concerning God's name, we can learn that:

• Although God has many titles, he has given himself only one name. - Exodus 3:15
• God is not a mystery; he wants us to get to know him. - Acts 17:27
• Knowing God's name can be the first step to having a relationship with him. - James 4:8

Now that we know that God's name is Jehovah, that might bring some to ask, Is it wrong to pronounce God's name? WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?

Yes

No

It depends

Again, WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS is:

7  “You must not take up the name of Jehovah your God in a worthless way,+ 

for Jehovah will not leave unpunished the one who takes up His name in a worthless way.+

- Exodus 20:7

The only time it is wrong to use God's name is if this is done disrespectfully. - Jeremiah 29:9

I give you as an example of mispronunciation: my grandpa lived for some time among the Spanish speaking people, I think doing some type of missionary work. He learned some of the language, though I don't know how much. When grandpa had a stroke, we went to visit him in the hospital. He was not functioning very well. He had no control over the left side of his body, including his facial features. When you walked into the room, you could just see how bad it had effected his body, and he looks so frail and pitiful, laying there on that hospital bed. He had his eyes closed, and someone, my mom, I think, gently touched grandpa to possible wake him so that he could see that we were there. Grandpa opened his eyes, slowly moved his gaze down to the end of the bed were my husband Paul and I were standing. He looked first at me as I was to the left of Paul, and his facial features changed into something of a slight smile. Then his gaze continued on to my husband and Grandpa's features beamed into a big smile, and he uttered the only intelligible words he has spoken since his stroke, "Pablo." 

I say all of this to bring out this point. My husband's name was not 'Pablo' but Paul, but we knew what he meant, as in Spanish, Paul is pronounced 'Pablo.' Grandpa didn't mispronounce Paul's name, he just used the different language pronunciation of it. So it is with God's name. We may not know exactly how to pronounce God's name, but when we call him Jehovah, or any variation on it, Jehovah knows we are talking to him, using his name. (I personally like the name Yahweh.)

So, all of this learning brings me to my last question, WHAT ELSE CAN WE LEARN FROM THE BIBLE? Oh there is so much, but let us focus on just 3 more points, then I'll let cha go.

• Jesus knew and used God's name. - John 17:25, 26
• God invites us to address him by name. - Psalm 105:1
• God's enemies try to make people forget his name. - Jeremiah 23:27

I hope that you have enjoy this. Would you like to learn more? For more information, see chapter 1 of this book, What does the Bible Really Teach?, which is published by Jehovah's Witnesses. It is where I learned many things from the Bible. I even remember how excited I was when I started with this very same chapter, and on the very first page, I was learning things IN the Bible that I never knew were there and was never taught as a child from my dad! IJS...

Why Study the Bible? (video 3:39) 

Also available at www.jw.org

What Is a Bible Study?

What Happens at a Bible Study? (video 2:10)

Now that I have shared this wonderful information with y'all, I am gunna suit up into some warm clothing, and go mow all this acreage. Don't wanna, but haveta. 

Now it's your turn, what did you think about the above information?