Why is the Christian god the only god who can be referred to as "God"?

Question

He wasn't the first god, there were gods 10,000 years before Jehovah, jesus,etc. He isn't the ONLY god, there are thousands of gods if not more. God certainly isn't a proper noun, it's not his first name or anything. Why do people insist on this?

jinenglish: so what makes your god arriving 25000 years later more viable than say , Herne, Gaia, or other pagan gods? How was he "the first god and only god", because he said so?

Answer 1

The Christian God is Jehovah. Christianity originates from the Jewish religion has to so does Islam. They all worship the same god. But Allah and God etc. are just titles. The name of God is Yahweh or in English Jehovah. I have seen old religious art which has the name Jehovah written either has'Jehovah' or 'Jehova' etc or in the Tetragrammaton (הוהי )
Tetragrammaton, are read from right to left in Hebrew and can be represented in many modern languages as YHWH or JHVH.
The name is a form of a Hebrew verb ha·wah' (הוה ) meaning "to become," and actually signifies "He Causes to Become."
(I hope you can read the Hebrew text...it is the best I can do...sorry)
The truth is, nobody knows for sure how the name of God was originally pronounced. The first language used in writing the Bible was Hebrew, and when the Hebrew language was written down, the writers wrote only consonants—not vowels. Hence, when the writers wrote God's name, they naturally did the same thing and wrote only the consonants.

While ancient Hebrew was an everyday spoken language, this presented no problem. The pronunciation of the Name was familiar to the Israelites and when they saw it in writing they supplied the vowels without thinking (just as, for an English reader, the abbreviation "Ltd." represents "Limited" and "bldg." represents "building").

Two things happened to change this situation. First, a superstitious idea arose among the Jews that it was wrong to say God's name out loud; so when they came to it in their reading they uttered the Hebrew word 'Adho·nai' ("Sovereign Lord"). Further, as time went by, the ancient Hebrew language itself ceased to be spoken in everyday conversation, and in this way the original Hebrew pronunciation of God's name was eventually forgotten.

In order to ensure that the pronunciation of the Hebrew language as a whole would not be lost, Jewish scholars of the second half of the first millennium C.E. invented a system of points to represent the missing vowels, and they placed these around the consonants in the Hebrew Bible. Thus, both vowels and consonants were written down, and the pronunciation as it was at that time was preserved.

When it came to God's name, instead of putting the proper vowel signs around it, in most cases they put other vowel signs to remind the reader that he should say 'Adho·nai'. From this came the spelling Iehouah, and, eventually, Jehovah became the accepted pronunciation of the Gods name in English. This retains the essential elements of God's name from the Hebrew original.

Answer 2

The countless God figures over the time, are the products of imagination of man through out the ages. During times when man was vulnerable to the atrocities of nature, he tried to appease her, by personifying the various manifestations of the hostile nature. It resulted in the countless myths and Gods over the time.

But there has been only One God or the supreme power all the time. Hindus worship this sovereign God as Brahma, Muslims Allah, Jews and Christians as Jehovah. Only different names but the same God. Others are mere personifications or mere myths created by man over the time.

Insisting on Jehovah as the Only true God is the result of pure ignoranance. Lack of a proper study or knowledge resulted in this conclusion. Because Jesus was born as a jew, the figure of Jehovah gained prominance. And when the message of Jesus was carried to all over the world, People blindly accepted that Jehovah is the only True God, and the rest are to be discredited.

Answer 3

yeah, there have been many "gods" before Jehovah God. Yet one thing stands between them....they are all just idol gods. In other words not true. Imagined,Hand made, by humans for centuries.
But we can call Jesus, GOD because He is the only True God. He is real, even if some dont believe so. Ive had so many prayers answered, ones that I asked God to help me with. He has never let me down. So out of millions upon millions of "gods" there remains one who stand above the rest: "GOD"

Answer 4

I was under the impression that "Allah" translates as "The God," and I've always wondered if it referred to the same God as the Christian God, as Islam proceeded originally out of a son of Abraham. Similarly, JHVH (G_d of Judaism)--is this not a reference to the same God?

Now, I wouldn't equate the Christian God with a god of the pantheon or other pagan deities; I think it is a mattter of plurality vs. oneness. When there is a god for every aspect of nature/experience, then they must, of necessity, have different names to differentiate their functions. If you have a monotheistic religion, then simply referring to the one higher power as "God" is logical.

Answer 5

In the Judeo/Christian religion, it is a tradition to show respect for God by not speaking His name. Rather the word "Lord" or "God" is used as if it were His name. As such, it should be capitalized. It is being used as a proper noun.

When speaking of a different being that can be referred to as a god, it is not being used as a proper noun and is not capitalized. Simple English grammar.

Answer 6

There were no other gods before the existence of Jehovah God. The gods that have come into existence more recently cannot compare with Jehovah, and any who do not exactly conform to His will will be destroyed.

With regard to the NAME used in the bible, it is true that the Almighty did not say, "Listen, thousands of years from now when a new language called English comes along, they can pronounce my name as 'Jehovah' and that's fine."

Instead, like with any and every personal name, different languages TRANSLATE personal names to fit their lingual tendencies. George becomes "Hor-hey" in Spanish or "Gay-org" in German and no one gets upset.

It's not exactly wrong to call the Almighty by the impersonal "God", just as it's not wrong to call one's offspring "Child". If we want a familiar and close relationship, however, it makes sense to use the personal name of someone we love. The Scriptures encourage us to use God's personal name.

The Hebrew name “Yahweh” (or “Yehowah”) does seem to accurately pronounce the divine name. Just as the Hebrew name “Yeshua” (or “Yehoshua”) is translated into “Jesus” in English, the Hebrew name “Yahweh” is translated into “Jehovah” in English.

The important thing is to use God’s personal name in whatever language you speak, rather than insisting upon the impersonal! The name “Yahweh” is certainly preferable to the non-name “God” or “Lord”, especially if you speak Hebrew. If you speak English, feel free to use the name "Jehovah".

(Psalms 83:18) That people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah, You alone are the Most High over all the earth

(John 17:26) [Jesus said] I have made your name known to them and will make it known, in order that the love with which you loved me may be in them

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/na/

Answer 7

The noun God is the proper English name used for the deity of monotheistic faiths. Various English third-person pronouns are used for God, and the correctness of each is disputed.

Different names for God exist within different religious traditions:

Allah is the Arabic name of God
Yahweh, Jehovah (Hebrew: 'Yud-Hay-Vav-Hay', יה-וה ) are some of the names used for God in various translations of the Bible
Deus is the Latin word for God, and will be used in Latin portions of Roman Catholic masses.
.....and many more

Answer 8

People insist on this because they're ignorant. Judeo-Christian faiths use the word god as a proper name because our western way of thinking requires us to give Him one in order to think about Him. He has no name and for us that's difficult to consider and discuss Him. Therefore, they believe that "god" refers only to their idea of Him.

Answer 9

He is beginning and the end. He is.......He's our creator our provider. You stand here like a spoil child back talking to her Father because,

things were not done exactly the way you want. Grow up and seek the truth, then come here and have a real rational conversation in yahoo.

The truth is your so sure you got it down pack but you have not even scratch the surface yet. God Bless. Love. Amen. (seriously read and study the word you just might find what your looking for) Hope.

Answer 10

It helped with conversion. Everyone called their god "God". It's easier to not have to learn a new name.

Seriously how many Christians know their god's name is Yahweh?

Hardly any of them have even cracked open the Old Testament.