I've never understood this and am in no way interested in starting any sort of theological debate. The grammar freak in me just wonders why in the hell people don't just type out the entire word.
2007-05-24 05:30:58 · 24 answers · asked by Rachel 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
In Jewish Theology G-d is written like that out of respect....
2007-05-24 05:33:20 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
I am not 100% sure about this but I believe that some people feel that God is too sacred of a name to spell it out. I believe that is why. I think it stems back to when they were copying the Old Testament after everytime they wrote God or one of His discriptive names they would have to bow down.
2007-05-24 12:38:40 · answer #2 · answered by lccscmaarschalk 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wow, didn't know people were doing that! How unfortunate caz the bible says, if you are ashamed of God he will be ashamed of you. Unless there is a respectful reason I am unaware of. God loves when you shout his many names because when the praises go up, the blessings come down. That is some man-made stuff, not in the bible.
2007-05-24 12:43:34 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because some people are so afraid of using the name of God in vain that they do not type it for fear of doing so.
In some ways it is a symbol of respect, but they forget that god is not a name but a noun, as is man. The name of god is in the Bible as YHWH; god is merely a noun describing what YHWH is. YHWH said "I am the Lord, thy God", which would be akin to Bush saying "I am your President"; President is "what", not "who". George is the "who".
It doesn't make sense to me, but then again, I'm not a Christian.
2007-05-24 12:37:28 · answer #4 · answered by Deirdre H 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the OT they could not spell out Jehovah- this was done out of respect to the awesome name of God- so G-d is spelled this way by some jews even today.
2007-05-24 12:35:23 · answer #5 · answered by AdoreHim 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It comes from Judaism where writing any name of God [or speaking] is disrespectful [God is sinnless, you are not, etc.]. It's like addressing your boss on a first name basis, but because you can't say "Mr. Creator," [or something equally silly], you just write it in a way that's understandable, but not it.
Essentially, it's just respect.
2007-05-24 12:37:26 · answer #6 · answered by Squishy Mckay 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It started with Judaism, although it is not prohibited to write Gods name, it is prohibited to erase or deface it, so some very observant people to avoid this from happening just right G-d.
2007-05-24 12:35:26 · answer #7 · answered by In Beats We Trust 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In Judaism, you cannot say God unless it is in reverence. Thus, you say / write G-d, or it is considered an insult to god.
My wife works with Chabad Jews - the Super duper Jews (even Jews agree).
2007-05-24 12:35:05 · answer #8 · answered by Big Super 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure exactly, but I think orthodox Jews do that because they want to be very careful not to take God's name in vain, or so some person who just wants to be horrible on purpose doesn't print it out and spit on it or something. I actually think it's a very good idea.
I'm not sure exactly, but that is just my opinion.
2007-05-24 13:54:21 · answer #9 · answered by Independence_Individuality 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's in Judaism belief... it is believed that the name of G-d is most sacred and should never (or at least rarely) be uttered, alone in vain, by the mouth of humans: like Y-h-w-h... it's generally done out of respect.
2007-05-24 12:38:32 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
My girlfriend is Jewish, and she uses G-d. She said because the law not to use God's name is so prohibitive, they are taught to leave our the "o" in order that it might not be written by mistake.
The Ol' Hippie Jesus Freak
Grace, Peace and Love in Christ
Peg
2007-05-24 12:34:24 · answer #11 · answered by Dust in the Wind 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋