Why is it that God is called God while...?

Question

Other religion's gods are considered mythical. (Roman, Norse, Greek, Egyptian, etc.) Now I know people who believe in one God will call 'him' God and the others mythical. I'm talking about how people who don't believe in one or any gods at all, just refer to God as God and everyone else's as 'mythical' even in 'unbiased' articles. (My World History book for example.) What's up with that?

By mythical I mean "The Greeks used to worship the mythical gods and goddesses who lived on Mount Olympus." Where as people/articales will later say "Jews worship God." And others to that effect.

I'm not asking for your beliefs, honestly I couldn't care less who or what you worship. I just want to know why people do this. To the 'man-made gods', maybe your god is 'man-made.' Where is it stated other than some in some religious book or code or law, that there can onyl be 'one supreme being'?

oneeye, i never said anything about any god(s) I worship if any ;)

Answer 1

A couple of reasons:

+ With Polytheism, you need to identify which god you are talking about. In Monotheism, you do not because there is only one God and everyone knows about whom you are talking.

+ The God of Abraham that is worshiped by Jews, Christians, and Muslims has a few names. All of which are considered holy and are not to be used lightly. We even have a commandment not to use the name of God in vain. Therefore we usually use His title "God" in English or "Allah" in Arabic.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

JEHOVAH (Je·ho′vah) [the causative form, the imperfect state, of the Heb. verb ha·wah′ (become); meaning “He Causes to Become”]. The personal name of God. (Isa 42:8; 54:5) Though Scripturally designated by such descriptive titles as “God,” “Sovereign Lord,” “Creator,” “Father,” “the Almighty,” and “the Most High,” his personality and attributes—who and what he is—are fully summed up and expressed only in this personal name.—Ps 83:18. Correct Pronunciation of the Divine Name. “Jehovah” is the best known English pronunciation of the divine name, although “Yahweh” is favored by most Hebrew scholars. The oldest Hebrew manuscripts present the name in the form of four consonants, commonly called the Tetragrammaton (from Greek te·tra-, meaning “four,” and gram′ma, “letter”). These four letters (written from right to left) are יהוה and may be transliterated into English as YHWH (or, JHVH). The Hebrew consonants of the name are therefore known. The question is, Which vowels are to be combined with those consonants? Vowel points did not come into use in Hebrew until the second half of the first millennium C.E. (See HEBREW, II [Hebrew Alphabet and Script].) Furthermore, because of a religious superstition that had begun centuries earlier, the vowel pointing found in Hebrew manuscripts does not provide the key for determining which vowels should appear in the divine name. Superstition hides the name. At some point a superstitious idea arose among the Jews that it was wrong even to pronounce the divine name (represented by the Tetragrammaton). Just what basis was originally assigned for discontinuing the use of the name is not definitely known. Some hold that the name was viewed as being too sacred for imperfect lips to speak. Yet the Hebrew Scriptures themselves give no evidence that any of God’s true servants ever felt any hesitancy about pronouncing his name. Non-Biblical Hebrew documents, such as the so-called Lachish Letters, show the name was used in regular correspondence in Palestine during the latter part of the seventh century B.C.E. Another view is that the intent was to keep non-Jewish peoples from knowing the name and possibly misusing it. However, Jehovah himself said that he would ‘have his name declared in all the earth’ (Ex 9:16; compare 1Ch 16:23, 24; Ps 113:3; Mal 1:11, 14), to be known even by his adversaries. (Isa 64:2) The name was in fact known and used by pagan nations both in pre-Common Era times and in the early centuries of the Common Era. (The Jewish Encyclopedia, 1976, Vol. XII, p. 119) Another claim is that the purpose was to protect the name from use in magical rites. If so, this was poor reasoning, as it is obvious that the more mysterious the name became through disuse the more it would suit the purposes of practicers of magic.

Answer 3

This answer has a lot more to do with English then religion.

I don't see why people get so offended at this, it is not offensive in nature.

The trace of the term "God" goes back to the old testament. God specifically stated that he was not to be called by a name. This put him above all other gods (false gods that had been worshiped), by making the profound statement that he ruled over the people, and that they could not control him, that his power was absolute. Now, I'm sure that you can see the problem: what do we call the being that has no name, yet to whom we dedicate our lives, and mention every day. The answer, invent a new pronoun! "God" is not his name, but rather the pronoun which we use to refer to him. It is important to note that the same word, with a lower case, refers to a false god.

Answer 4

God is simply a title, it isn't a name. The title God is used for any supreme being. I'm not sure what you mean by saying that all the other Gods are called 'mythical.' as I have never done that.

Answer 5

because Christianity is the dominate religion. if say worshiping the Greek Gods were the dominate religion then the Christian god would be referred to as mythical...

Answer 6

other religion's gods are considered mythical because the people created them. There only exists ONE God, so therefore He goes under the name God (capitalized G) and other names. He has many names, and the other ones that are man-made, gods.

Answer 7

actually there are people here at Yahoo answers who believe in the Norse Gods (Asatruars), some who believe in Greek Gods (Hellenists), and I think I've even seen some who even believe in Egyptian gods.


To be honest, I don't call their gods mythological anymore than I have called yours such.

Answer 8

GOD is just a designation: their is God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Sprit

Answer 9

PC nonsense. All deities are mythical.

Answer 10

There can only be one supreme being.