The Obsession with Knowing the Name of God

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No One Knows The Name

I AM THAT I AM NAME OF GODNo matter who says what, the actual Hebrew name of God in the Hebrew scriptures, replaced by the all caps LORD in the english Bibles, is not known. It was deliberately not used (or perhaps removed) by the scribes in copying the texts. That is a linguistic and historical fact. All attempts to figure out what the name is are guesses, arbitrary choices or claims of prophetic utterances.
 
The oldest Hebrew texts have no vowels (known as vowel pointers). Just consonants. Even if those are accurate, and there is doubt to that, there are no vowels to complete the proper pronunciation.
 

God IS

Since when God was asked by Moses what His name was, he did not give a “name,” just that “He Was” (I Am that I Am). A fitting answer, since there was no other “gods” but The One. God demonstrated he did not have a “name.”
 
God, not having a name, was “named” by man by attributing deads or position in the perceived hierarchy. Lord of Host, The Most High God, The Almighty God, etc. All of which are taking human hierarchical positions of power and ability and laying them on God (anthropomorphism). WE describe God in human terms. A natural and understandable action, but, it will always fall short of the mark; I.E. be profane.
 
 Jesus is my main source (by choice) of learning about God, to whom he referred to as “My Father.”  There is a very interesting exchange between the disciples and Jesus in John 14:7-11,

If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” Philip *said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus *said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. (NASB)

Missing The Forest by Focusing on the Trees

There are complex theological arguments taken from this passage by those who, in my opinion, cannot see the forest through the trees. Simply put, God, being beyond direct observation, can be seen through humans who allow Him to work through them. By doing this, one gets a personal, intimate “relationship” internally and each can be “God with skin on.”

Obsessing on God’s name or hierarchies in heaven or complex theologies is a distraction from actually being a vessel of God for God.

3 As I urged you [a]upon my departure for Macedonia, [b]remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, 4 nor to [c]pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering [d]the administration of God which is by faith. 5 But the goal of our [e]instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, 7 wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. 1Timothy (NASB)

Be the Name and You Will Know The Name

My advice: Do not worry about God’s “real” name. There are no other Gods to mistakenly call God. BE God with skin on. Read Jesus’s teachings on what being “God with skin on” is. He was/is,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who [b]is to come.” Rev 4:8 (NASB)

-James Arthur Jancik
Feet to the Fire Radio

JAMART