Word of the day

[steelweaver]

Sometimes, a word or phrase pops into my head for no particular reason, sometimes even something that doesn't make much sense to me (the fragment 'ameya, ameya, ameya amat' springs to mind).

Today's word was 'tetragrammaton'.

Don't worry people, *I* had to look that up cause I couldn't remember where I got it from. It is literally something with four letters, but almost exclusively used to denote the letters YHWH/JHVH, being the name of God in the Jewish tradition (sans vowels, which weren't very in vogue at the time).

After looking this up, my incredibly immature side couldn't resist remarking that God is a four letter word and finding this immensely amusing.

We now return to our regular scheduled programming.

Comments

[sna.livejournal.com]

I love the word. Actually found it as someone's password... at which I quirked up my eyebrow at the user and she shyly looked away, probly surprised at a nerd understanding it.

Been diving through religions again lately, mainly for the Vampire sessions where the clash of Faiths is a regular theme. It stays interesting, and very current.

-Sna

[muizenstaartje.livejournal.com]

God is a four letter word
Haha, that's a good one. :D

[ghost-musician.livejournal.com]

I actually used that once in a lyric, but took it out as no one would understand...

at that time I believed writing lyrics was for the masses :S

nowadays, I'm quite content with writing lyrics for myself that only I and those who know me understand...

[coen.livejournal.com]

I find the name of God very intruiging.
At some points in the bible it is stated that God has no name. And this distinguishes Him from the gods of other (polytheistic) cultures and religions, who do have names. Of course, a god belonging to some polytheistic pantheon needs a name. Otherwise, he could not be distinguished from his brothers and sisters. But since the God of the bible is supposed to be the only one, he doesn't need a name. Calling Him "God" should be enough.
This should also accentuate that the god of the bible is universal. He is all and everything, and it should be impossible to think of a name the covers all and everything.

But then, in other parts of the bible, there is mentioning of the name of God. "Do not use my name vainly," "Hallowed be thy name," that would suggest that there is a name.

When Moses asks God for his name, God answers: "I am who I am." To me that sounds like "I don't need a name. The fact that I exist should be enough."
But in old Jewish, "I am who I am" spells like "YHWH" or "JHVH", which the Jews took to be His name. And Jehova's witnesses take that to be His name too.

I find this funny. It's like somebody asks me my name, and I say: "I am not going to tell you my name," and next everyone thinks that my name is "Iamnotgoingtotellyoumyname".
"Hi, Iamnotgoingtotellyoumyname, how are you doing today?"

But then, I tend to find things funny about religion that aren't meant to be funny at all.

Like God is a four letter word. I find that very funny.