 ouyangwulong says: What constitutes a God? Is it a divine creator? Or even a creator at all? If we consider the etymology of the word, God is that which is invoked. The significant point is that our conception of God developed through worship, and that in a sense, worship and invocation seem to have existed before the idea of a God was so clearly articulated. Think about yourself: who or what do you invoke in your daily lives? This is actually providing a citation for some of my comments made while discussing atheism and God in Raelianism. * 1 Names of God o 1.1 The Tetragrammaton + 1.1.1 Pronouncing the tetragrammaton # 1.1.1.1 Hashem # 1.1.1.2 Adoshem o 1.2 Other names of God + 1.2.1 Adonai + 1.2.2 Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh + 1.2.3 El + 1.2.4 Elohim + 1.2.5 `Elyon + 1.2.6 Shaddai + 1.2.7 Shalom + 1.2.8 Shekhinah + 1.2.9 Yah + 1.2.10 YHWH Tzevaot/Sabaoth + 1.2.11 Lesser used names of God o 1.3 In English * 2 Miracles of the divine names o 2.1 Kabbalistic ... The 99 Names of God, also known as The 99 Attributes of God (Arabic: أسماء الله الحسنى transliteration: Asma’ Allah al-Ḥusná), are the names of God revealed in the Qur'an;[1] even though His names (as adjectives, word constructs, or otherwise) exceed ninety-nine in the Qur'an. Muslims meditate on the 99 names of God. Allah (????) God 2 Ar-Rahman (??????) The All Beneficent 3 Ar-Rahim (??????) The Most Merciful 4 Al-Malik (?????) The King, The Sovereign 5 Al-Quddoos (??????) The Most Holy 6 As-Salam (??????) The Peace and Blessing 7 Al-Mu'min (??????) The Guarantor 8 Al-Muhaymin (???????) The Guardian, The Preserver 9 Al-Azeez (??????) The Almighty, The Self Sufficient 10 Al-Jabbar (??????) The Powerful, The Irresistible 11 Al-Mutakabbir (???????) The Tremendous 12 Al-Khaliq (??????) The Creator 13 Al-Bari' (??????) The Rightfull 14 Al-Musawwir (??????) The Fashioner of Forms 15 Al-Ghaffar (??????) The Ever Forgiving 16 Al-Qahhar (??????) The All Compelling Subduer 17 Al-Wa... But still, I am curious, we all have so many names for gods, but when we say them, what are we actually invoking? Who is it we imagine, and what do we expect? Is there some universal a priori concept behind all this, or do we all have fundamentally different concepts masked by a common word? And still, what of the possibility that it was worship that came first, before we had these words to describe that which we worshiped? Nice ponderables! I think it's human nature to try to name something our minds cannot comprehend. Think about yourself: who or what do you invoke in your daily lives?Wisdom and courage. Good answers. To be honest, for better or worse, I think I normally invoke logic, and the force of my own personality. It's not perfect, for sure, but it is my personal nature. A very good clip and a very good discussion ouyangwulong. Actually, etymological roots usually give much more clues about the deity concept, than being just "names". For example, some of the names Skwirl mentioned in his above comments have really interesting roots that reflect the ancient way of thinking about the universe and the supreme being. Take "El Shaddai", for instance. It was the name of the god in Semitic for centuries, including Israel, until the Southern Kingdom took the name of "Judah Kigdom" and shifted to invoke YHVH. Northern Israelite Kingdom continued to worship El Shaddai till the end. The name meant "El of the Mountains", in which "El" meant the "Supreme God" in Ugari... In each name lies the story of each God, and the people who believed, what they cared about, and how they worshiped. Putting so many names on one page, I see the division of theology but the unity of humanity. 道 可 道 ， 非 常 道 。Words are never just words, names are never just names, because they are products of an intesense struggle within our mind, to bring out these nebulous feelings we know so well, yet remain so elusive. Behind each word lies the vast ocean of the unsaid. I think it's human nature to try to name something our minds cannot comprehend.I absolutely agree with this, but at the same time God (I prefer to call it godhead) is transcendent and immanent at the same time. Transcendent through continuous inner contemplation, immanent through appreciation of external attributes. Wow, that's a great way to reconcile a very big dualism very suscinctly. I tip my hat to you. Is this the smartest website on the net or what? You can call God anything you like, just as long as God knows who you mean. The word "God" only carries gender by implication, But I would imagine God would have better things to do than worry about sex.A god is the thing,idea,object, philosophy that is loved, respected, and elevated to a status that engenders aspiration,beyond a present ability, or situation. Beware of Anthropomorphism. Today "God" is a curse, but we are supposed to fall in love with products. |
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