Why do people write G-d in their posts, what, is 'God' offensive or something?

a reply to: jmdewey60
Lol, I am actually hoping someone who recently used G-d in a currently active thread will come and explain why they do it.

originally posted by: Stormdancer777
a reply to: grainofsand

People that are Jewish don't write god

So, would they use G-d, or YEWAH...or something else then?

originally posted by: grainofsand
a reply to: Char-Lee
Ah that is interesting, thank you.
It would seem then that if 'god' is more of a title than a name then the whole 'g-d' thing typed on internet forums is unnecessary?

To me it is more, it is wrong to make a title into something like the NAME of the the god they believe in as an individual. it is like his name has been shanghaied.

a reply to: Char-Lee
That is a perspective I hadn't thought about but I clearly see your reasoning behind it. Even though I don't believe in any gods myself (and we've clashed swords a few times in previous threads), it does seem strange to mutilate the word when presented in text format in an attempt to pacify the particular god under discussion.
I do hope someone who chooses the G-d representation in their posts comes here and throws some light on why they do so.

I used to say 'G-d' all the time...when I was planning on converting to orthodox Judaism...

It's a part of Jewish tradition not to write God. In part I think it's generally understood as being a sign of respect. As far as I know though, the actual scriptural basis of it stems from a verse which says something like...'the names of their Gods have been erased...do not let it be thus for your God.' Which means it is actually technically(well, in that literal interpretation favored by orthodox judaism) a prohibition on erasing God's name. The avoidance of writing it is just a safeguard to make sure you don't accidentally erase it.

Not sure if there's other people who do it for other reasons...

a reply to: TheJourney
Thanks for sharing your interesting perspective, I am learning more from each reply here.

Also, just to add a bit more that is relevant to the discussion. It has been mentioned before as well, that there is a Jewish tradition not to pronounce the name of God. Now, this isn't exactly the same as the prohibition on erasing/writing 'God' that leads to 'G-d,' but is definitely related I would say. The most holy name for God biblically is yud-heh-waw-heh, which popular opinion nowadays says was pronounced yahweh. Really though it's impossible to know for sure how it was originally pronounced, because it was concealed to prevent common people from profaning the name through regular pronunciation.

It was decreed that the name should only be pronounced by the high priest on yom kippur. YHWH was replaced with 'adonai,' which means 'lord,' which is why in the bible every time YHWH is used it says 'the LORD.' Eventually, people came to feel that even 'adonai' was too sacred for regular use. Thus, nowadays it is common practice for Jews to call God 'HaShem,' which means 'the name.'

a reply to: TheJourney

Yehwah comes from the word 'hawah' which means 'to become/exist'. The prefix 'ye' is common in proper names, like Yerushalim (Jerusalem), 'Yehuda' (Judah). Using the prefix 'ye' and the sufix 'uwah', it is probable that Yehwah was the original pronounciation of YHWH. Consider the transliteration Jehovah. The v sound is a modern use of vav. If you elide the o with the vav/waw, and convert j into y, you get Yehwah. Via process of ilimination and depending on how fast you pronounce the syllables, you can narrow God's name down to Yehwah or Yehowah.

Much of the Hebrew text is metered, and YHWH is always counted as two syllables, so I would say Yehwah.

a reply to: grainofsand

Superstition of words. Once someone capitalizes a word, they imagine it is more powerful. You can see this when people start to capitalize words mid-sentence. Of course, such capitalization, or the removal of letters, is Arbitrary and Meaningl-ss.

a reply to: Akragon

His name is Fred.
2nd.

No they just find the word offends G...Almost said it there...Im not falling for that one, and going to hell for it! Lol.

It one of the Ten commandments.

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain".( O look, it Jewish)

Even though God sends his own Son(Sun), and gets beaten and tortured. And supposedly that was planned.

So Idk anymore...Aww crap, I said it.

I thought he was called Enki?

Does anyone think he minds?

Not saying he exists,of course.

a reply to: TheJourney

The avoidance of writing it is just a safeguard to make sure you don't accidentally erase it.

aND IT PROBABLY MEANT "FORGOTTEN". woops caps lock..

originally posted by: Specimen
No they just find the word offends G...Almost said it there...Im not falling for that one, and going to hell for it! Lol.

It one of the Ten commandments.

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain".( O look, it Jewish)

Even though God sends his own Son(Sun), and gets beaten and tortured. And supposedly that was planned.

So Idk anymore...Aww crap, I said it.

And there is the problem... not saying is taking it in vain.

www.thefreedictionary.com...

.

www.thefreedictionary.com...


It is disrespectful to not use someones name. Also when I travel to another country often my name is said in their language which is STILL my name. This is fine with me, but if I am a writer, I would not want to be addressed as "writer" because that places me with a million other writers and does not personalize who I am.

I think the biblical god made it clear he wanted to be personified and known by his own name.

originally posted by: ParanoidAmerican
a reply to: grainofsand

Commandment #4....I believe...
"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain"

I also believe is is predominately a Jewish practice for respect..


Here is a great explanation....

"The tetragramatron name of G-d is both unpronounceable and forbidden to pronounce. But writing the word "God" in English isn't. (See? There I just did it.)

Writing G-d's name on a paper makes that paper have to buried if discarded, and requires that we have to take special care in treating it and disposing of it.

Opinions differ as to how far to take all of this, whether it extends to writings about sanctified topics, etc.

But, for me, writing "G-d" instead of "God" reminds me to be mindful, respectful, and make an attempt at sanctifying G-d's name with my speech, writing, and actions.

Some people take this very, very far, (in my opinion) past superstition and into the realm of the absurd. I have seen "HaSh-m", which is an English transliteration of the Hebrew word for "the name".

There are many (70?) names of G-d. According to my best understanding of mainstream Jewish thought (I know of excpetions) only the tetragramatron, and about two others (only the Hebrew versions) *require* burial/special treatment. The others are optional.

I have read works by major, respected, Orthodox Rabbis, with it written "G-d" and others who write it as "God". "

G-d

Great explaination and pleased you mentioned it I was also going to ask lol, seems there's a few

originally posted by: grainofsand
a reply to: sn0rch
Aw let's all be nice in this thread at least.
I'm genuinely hoping to understand the thinking behind some folks faith and how it influences the way they refer to their deity in online posts.
I've been active in enough dead end/circular threads discussing 'which god is true' 'spaghetti monster' etc, but in this topic I am sincere in wanting to stick to the OP and discovering why dropping the 'o' in god is deemed as some kind of respect.
I am curious, but not wishing to ridicule here, there are plenty of other threads to find amusement in that regard.

If you can't laugh at it, you're already doomed to suffer from it.

It's the same as the (PBUH) stuff you see in every other thing on the net when it comes to people who think their prophets likes the fact they say nice things about him. It's because they really think this thing is watching them, able to see them, looking down from an invisible domain and silently nodding, with a smile, as they do it. Or if they say something bad, oh he will... you .. I dunno, hurricanes?

I suppose it is harmless.. but we live in a time where people should be shedding the safety blankets of our progress into thinking, logical, mature creatures. beings of intellect.

instead, we're wondering why some of them are missing a letter when refering to their imaginary sky wizards..

That just makes me s little sad.. just the other day I saw a 'meme' that relayed the idea that jesus, mohammad and buddha did not teach christianity, islam, or buddhism.. instead they taught love.

you should have seen the arguments about that... The people who would get so angry as to be offended at that sort of thing, are the people who omit the letter o from the word god.

Yeah, we're nor doing it right... and it makes me a little

Could gods name be unpronounceable because he/she/they are an alien and we as humans can not make the sounds which pronounce his/ her / their name. a reply to: ParanoidAmerican

a reply to: Cloudbuster

Seems as good of reason as any. Could be a result of the fall of the Tower of Bable too.

Genesis 11:1-9

New International Version (NIV)
The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward,[a] they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel[c]—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.


Interestingly this passage also appears to refer to multiple gods.

edit on 22-6-2014 by ParanoidAmerican because: (no reason given)

Perhaps we all need a babel fish in our ear, then we can all speak as one and nothing will be impossible.
a reply to: ParanoidAmerican

originally posted by: Cloudbuster
Could gods name be unpronounceable because he/she/they are an alien and we as humans can not make the sounds which pronounce his/ her / their name. a reply to: ParanoidAmerican

It is just as pronounceable as all other words written in the same language, they are ALL written without the vowels, they ARE pronounceable when translated.