I reckon God needs a new name

drumbeat said:
There is a lot of confusion when people talk of God in this forum. Do they mean the Christian God? Do they mean a generic god?
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It depends on whom you mean by "they." We atheists tend to use the word generically to mean any imaginary, vaguely humanoid creature which the various supernaturalist belief systems irrationally postulate as whimsically, capriciously, and often angrily perturbing the behavior of the natural universe, contradicting the fundamental principle that underlies all science: that the natural universe is a closed system whose behavior can be predicted by theories derived logically from empirical observation of its present and past behavior.

If we jump into a discussion in which the Christian or Jewish version of this creature, spelled with a capital G, is the topic, then we'll stick with that. The Muslims helpfully don't ever translate the name and refer to the creature as Allah, the Arabic word for "god," respelled in European dual-case alphabets with a capital letter.
Can we start referring to God as something different such as Fred or Mr Jones, and leave the word god as a generic term?
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As the Head Linguist around here, I counsel you that you will have great difficulty merely establishing that standard here on SciForums, and that it will be impossible out in general society.
Dywyddr said:
Why did you capitalise "god" in one sentence and not the other? Doesn't that indicate something?
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He was distinguishing between the two words. "God" with a capital is generally interpreted to mean the Christian and Jewish deity. In lower case it can mean any supernatural being from any belief system, or even a powerful or superior person, such as "Joe Satriani is a guitar god."
Pinwheel said:
Dont say Jehovah.
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Dywyddyr said:
I did once but I think I got away with it.
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That's because this pronunciation of the Hebrew tetragrammaton יהוה was tested by some reckless fool, and after he was not zapped into smoke and dust everyone was grateful that they finally had a safe way to read it out loud. I have no idea how lavishly that person was rewarded for taking the risk. The traditional Hebrew pronunciation is "Yahweh," with both H's sounded. Some earlier fool must have tested that version and been feted by his own people. Since this is difficult for most Western Europeans, we insert a non-silent vowel between the H and the W. We also give the Roman letters their Modern English pronunciation, with I becoming J and U becoming V. Frankly, there's no way that could have been the Hebrew reading of the name so there was no need hire a fool to test it. Still, better safe than sorry.
 
Fraggle Rocker said:
He was distinguishing between the two words. "God" with a capital is generally interpreted to mean the Christian and Jewish deity. In lower case it can mean any supernatural being from any belief system, or even a powerful or superior person, such as "Joe Satriani is a guitar god."
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You're slow tonight Fraggle. That was my exact point: he'd already distinguished between the two.

That's because this pronunciation of the Hebrew tetragrammaton יהוה was tested by some reckless fool, and after he was not zapped into smoke and dust everyone was grateful that they finally had a safe way to read it out loud.
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And again.
It was a Fawlty Towers reference: when they had German guests Basil told his wife: Basil: "Listen, don't mention the war! I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it all right".
 
Jan Ardena said:
So what's the confusion?
We all know what is meant by "God".

Unless you have a problem with using an upper-case 'G'? :rolleyes:

jan.
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I think its part of singing to the tune of the atheistic karaoke dictatorship - if you define god as necessarily plural according to social conventions , atheistic arguments become just that little bit more pleasing to the ear, despite appearances ...

gay_karaoke_10-01-35.jpg
 
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Enmos said:
So you compare atheists with nazi's? Nice..
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Well hitler was an atheist wasn't he?
:D

But actually, I compared them with a karaoke dictatorship ... namely posing the question of god within loaded boundaries to lend a so-called "rational" advantage.
 
Fraggle Rocker said:
It depends on whom you mean by "they." We atheists tend to use the word generically to mean any imaginary, vaguely humanoid creature which the various supernaturalist belief systems irrationally postulate as whimsically, capriciously, and often angrily perturbing the behavior of the natural universe, contradicting the fundamental principle that underlies all science: that the natural universe is a closed system whose behavior can be predicted by theories derived logically from empirical observation of its present and past behavior.

If we jump into a discussion in which the Christian or Jewish version of this creature, spelled with a capital G, is the topic, then we'll stick with that. The Muslims helpfully don't ever translate the name and refer to the creature as Allah, the Arabic word for "god," respelled in European dual-case alphabets with a capital letter.As the Head Linguist around here, I counsel you that you will have great difficulty merely establishing that standard here on SciForums, and that it will be impossible out in general society.He was distinguishing between the two words. "God" with a capital is generally interpreted to mean the Christian and Jewish deity. In lower case it can mean any supernatural being from any belief system, or even a powerful or superior person, such as "Joe Satriani is a guitar god."That's because this pronunciation of the Hebrew tetragrammaton יהוה was tested by some reckless fool, and after he was not zapped into smoke and dust everyone was grateful that they finally had a safe way to read it out loud. I have no idea how lavishly that person was rewarded for taking the risk. The traditional Hebrew pronunciation is "Yahweh," with both H's sounded. Some earlier fool must have tested that version and been feted by his own people. Since this is difficult for most Western Europeans, we insert a non-silent vowel between the H and the W. We also give the Roman letters their Modern English pronunciation, with I becoming J and U becoming V. Frankly, there's no way that could have been the Hebrew reading of the name so there was no need hire a fool to test it. Still, better safe than sorry.
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The right way is """Yeah Way!!! That first paragraph you sucker your talking about . That is Me to the tee. If someone who knows Me described Me they would say that exact thing . I don't know if it is a slam or a complement .
Irrationally Postulating , whimsically day dreaming fool being a capricious big angry Man perturbating the behavior of the natural universe. Yeah that is what they say. I'm a get you boo!!
 
This and That

Fraggle Rocker said:

We atheists tend to use the word generically to mean any imaginary, vaguely humanoid creature which the various supernaturalist belief systems irrationally postulate as whimsically, capriciously, and often angrily perturbing the behavior of the natural universe, contradicting the fundamental principle that underlies all science: that the natural universe is a closed system whose behavior can be predicted by theories derived logically from empirical observation of its present and past behavior.
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And we sane people tend to use the phrase "stick up the ass".

Okay, more clearly, sir, the amount of hostility dripping from that paragraph is ludicrous. It only reminds that this atheistic movement isn't about humanity, or the human condition, or improving society (as implied by the many complaints about how religion holds society back), but, rather, because these enlightened atheists really just want to be a bunch of bigoted thugs.

Nobody facing that kind of hostility is going to think the other is well intended.

I'm just sayin' ...

... get your heads straight or just admit what you are.

Why does everywhere you end up feel so crowded?
I used to think you could find peace, but now I'm starting to doubt it.
Tell me, if no one ever hears what you say, then why don't you shout it?
I know what you are. I know what you are, and it's scaring me to death;
I heard you speak aloud your secret shibboleth.
Well, all the wisdom of the ancients watches what's inside of you.
You can close your eyes but that's not going to take away the view.
I know what you are.

—Floater​

• • •​

Drumbeat said:

There is a lot of confusion when people talk of God in this forum.
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No, actually, there isn't.

To the other, if one does get confused, it might be that some folks are just too lazy to type properly. Others are so rude as to insist that their beliefs—e.g., it doesn't matter which god, they're all the same—should define the discussion. There are plenty of reasons.

God, referred to with a capital letter and no article, denotes a specific entity, usually a monotheistic source and authority. Written with an article and a lower-case letter—e.g., "a god", "the god"—the term refers to a member of a classification.

If one needs to be more specific than that, there are other names for "God". If you wish to refer to the Islamic version of the Abramic deity, you can certainly use the word "Allah". If you refer to the Christian or Hebrew deity, there are at least seventy-two names you can use, according to Scheible, ca. 1849 (cf. Davidson).

Most people are just too lazy to figure out which God they're talking about.
____________________

Notes:

Davidson, Gustav. A Dictionary of Angels. New York: Free Press, 1967.
 
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