Is there a reason for writing G-d instead of God? When I read this, I get a visual image in my head of someone covering their mouth as if they had let out a little burp.
What kind of superstitious crap is this?
2007-10-12 04:54:30 · 7 answers · asked by coralsnayk 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
It's a Jewish thing? I always thought that Jews used Ha-shem "The Name" in place of the Tetragrammaton. YHWH. And I was told by a Jewish friend that the correct vowels are no longer known by anyone living today, so therefore no one could speak God's Hebrew name even if they wanted to.
2007-10-12 05:14:30 · update #1
It is straining a gnat, and swallowing a camel.
2007-10-12 04:58:04 · answer #1 · answered by CJ 6 · 3⤊ 3⤋
I agree with mzJakes. It's not a superstition, and no we don't think that something "bad" will happen to us if we write it out.
Orthodox Jews believe that the prohibition against profaning the Name of God carries over to other languages. I happen not to agree, especially in cases where not writing it out causes confusion and sometimes animosity. If I were on an Orthodox site, though, I would definitely hyphenate.
However, I won't write out the Name of God in Hebrew where it can be easily erased, and won't write it out at all except for religious or academic purposes (even at school I would abbreviate whenever possible.) Neither will I write out the transliterated letters or attempts of others to pronounce the Name.
2007-10-12 12:12:02 · answer #2 · answered by Cathy 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
One of the 10 commandments is not to take God's name in vain. As a result, Jews have adopted the custom of not writing out any of God's names 'correctly' in texts that are not considered 'holy'. The system used is one of letter substitution in Hebrew. This practice has carried over into other languages.
The word 'God', however, is not a name of God and does not NEED to be hyphenated. The practice is continued as a 'fence' so that one doesn't come to profane the Name when writing in Hebrew or transliterating a Name.
Personally, I choose not to hyphenate 'God' when addressing a mixed audience such as this as it only serves to confuse. However, if I were using an actual Name (transliterated or otherwise), in that case I would alter the spelling.
2007-10-12 12:02:21 · answer #3 · answered by mzJakes 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Never in the Holy Bible have I seen it printed this way at first when I seen people using this G-d I thought they were using my Fathers name is vain as in cussing
2007-10-12 11:59:52 · answer #4 · answered by jamnjims 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I think that those who type it "G-d" are superstitious that something bad will happen to them if they spell it out. What other explanation could there be?
God doesn't mind if we spell out GOD!
God bless!
2007-10-12 11:58:45 · answer #5 · answered by Devoted1 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
no vowels in hebrew
2007-10-12 13:00:13 · answer #6 · answered by brainstorm 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
sounds dumb to me
2007-10-12 11:57:43 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋