i want to understand why and who it is that spell God as G-d.?

Question

ive only seen it spelt that way here on R&S. is it muslims? and if so do all muslims do this? im just curious

well the reason for it seems very noble to me - a sign of respect for God's Name. that is beautiful.

sisyphus IV: well im not surprised the dash is obviously not a minus

serena d: thanx for that

Answer 1

It is a Jewish custom, based on respect for the Divine Name (not on fear). They feel that uttering or writing the name of G-d makes them responsible for it. No one wants to hear the Name mispronounced, or see the written Name smeared, soiled or burned, even by accident. In addition, it is felt that knowing and using a name presumes power over its owner, which in this case would be blasphemous.

The oldest Hebrew Bibles did not have vowels in them, so when vowels were added to the manuscripts, there was a problem. The scribes did not want to appear to be offering an invitation to pronounce the Name, so they added the vowels for "Adonai" ("Lord") to the consonants "YHWH" ("JHVH" in some transliterations), the proper name of G-d. The result was a nonsense word that would remind the cantor to say "Adonai" instead. When Christians rediscovered the Hebrew Bible, they tried to pronounce the word, unaware of the custom. It came out "Jehovah".

When devout Jews come across "G-d", they often pronounce it "Ha-Shem" ("the Name").

Answer 2

I'm Jewish and I do it because we are not to say or write out G-d's name for risk of it being used in vain or deleted or trashed after it is written down. Yes, I realize G-d is not a name of G-d, but in Judaism we have a thing called "building a fence around the Torah" which basically means taking the law one step further. For instance, if the Torah forbade wearing leather shoes, to take it one step further might mean not wearing any shoes at all, but instead using some sort of sandal. Kind of a silly example but you get the point.

Peace

Answer 3

Its an old thing from long time agowith the Jews
Judaism does not prohibit writing the Name of God it prohibits only erasing or defacing a Name of God. However, observant Jews avoid writing any Name of God casually because of the risk that the written Name might later be defaced, obliterated or destroyed accidentally or by one who does not know better.

Answer 4

It's an interpretation of the following Scripture that believes the name of the Lord shall not be erased so therefore it should not be written in a way that might cause it. Mostly exercised by Orthodox Jews.

Deuteronomy 12
3 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places. 4 You must not worship the LORD your God in their way.

Answer 5

Generally it is a Jewish practice, as they feel it irreverent to write or speak the "Name". In fact, often in speech they will refer to God as "The Name".

Answer 6

Some people simply believe that God should neither be written nor spoken so they designate it as G-d

It's done out of reverence for the Lord

Answer 7

People of certain sects and religions believe the name of the Lord should not be spoken or written.
Maby we should respect them?

Answer 8

Mostly jews i think because you can't write God on anything that would get thrown away or deleted. Its not respectful

Answer 9

Its Jewish people, if I remember correctly. Its because God is sacred, I think. I'm only going on a past memory here.

Answer 10

It is Orthodox Jews who do that, not to write God's name in vain.
A short explanation:
http://www.apostolic.net/biblicalstudies/spellgod.htm