If you believe in something higher than human beings is that something higher compassionate/merciful or judgmental/terrifying? Why?

From my earliest memories I was taught that God is love. I haven't changed my mind Sbf. I am always surprised when people speak of their God(s) in other ways....fearful ways. As if He will strike  you down if you don't obey. Thank you for your reply and Happy Sunday m'dear.

YHWH is translated as "the LORD", it's "I Am" in the third person. "God" is the English translation of the Hebrew El, which is derived from the Aramaic Eloi (as is the Arabic Allah).

In the Tanakh, YHVH is the personal name of GOD and His most frequent designation occurring over 6800 times. This is the ineffable name, the unutterable name of the GOD of Israel. Because it is composed of the four Hebrew letters Yod Hey Vav Hey. It is also referred to as the tetragrammaton, which means the four letters. When GOD commissioned Moses to lead the people out of Egypt, Moses asked for GOD's name to validate his GOD-given role to the children of Israel. GOD simply answered Moses---"ehyeh, asher, ehyeh". 

  The phrase ehyeh asher ehyeh (rendered I am that I am in the KJV) derives from the Qal imperfect first person form of the verb hayah (I will be) and therefore indicates a connection between the Name YHVH and being itself. YHVH is the Source of all being and has being inherent in Himself. 

  Exodus 3:15-16  " God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord,the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. ¹⁶ Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt",

  Why is YHVH translated as LORD in our Bibles? Jews started to vocally replace the name YHVH with Adonai (Lord) for two reasons: One, it was beginning to be believed that His name was too holy to be uttered and two, they simply preferred to call Him Elohim rather than YHVH to demonstrate to the world that He is the only true Elohim. While on the surface these reasons may seem honorable, they are very unscriptural. They were and are attempts to improve on YHVH's already perfect ways. If YHVH really wanted a substitute, why would He have placed His name there to begin with?

  Though Scripture says to follow YHVH rather than man, we find that nearly 7,000 times the most important name of all (YHVH) is replaced with another word that man has chosen. This tradition was not practiced by the Messiah or the Apostles, but it was adopted by some Christians during the early half of the 2nd century AD. By the 4th century, this practice was well established and widely practiced. Which is in itself a very disappointing and disturbing practice.

El is the term and everywhere that "God" is printed, the word in Hebrew is El. Elohim is plural and only found in Genesis 1:27 - so we may have been reading it wrong all along. "In the image of gods He created them", out of place for a monotheos - unless they were created in the image of "the Heavenly host", angels, which explains why we are all different.

Wouldn't that be the plural form of excellence? If not, shouldn't it be translated as: "In the image of gods They created them"?


Quote: 'El is the term and everywhere that "God" is printed, the word in Hebrew is El.'
One of the many problems of removing God's name and substituting "LORD" instead is that translators have the issue of when lord is actually in the text. Then they might read something like 'the sovereign Lord LORD'. In those cases, many translators then substitute 'GOD' for 'YHWH'.
Genesis 15:2 is just one example of where many translations translate YHWH as God.


https://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/OTpdf/gen15.pdf

https://www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/gen/15/2/t_conc_15002

GOD

 

h3068   

יְהֹוָה Yĕhovah

[In the Hebrew Scriptures the word ʼAdho·naiʹ appears frequently, and the expression ʼAdho·naiʹ Yehwihʹ 285 times. ʼAdho·naiʹ is a plural form of ʼa·dhohnʹ, meaning “lord; master.” The plural form ʼadho·nimʹ may be applied to men in simple plurality, as “lords,” or “masters.” But the term ʼAdho·naiʹ without an additional suffix is always used in the Scriptures with reference to God, the plural being employed to denote excellence or majesty. It is most frequently rendered “Lord” by translators. When it appears with the name of God (ʼAdho·naiʹ Yehwihʹ), as, for example, at Psalm 73:28, the expression is translated “Lord GOD” (AT, KJ, RS); “Lord God” (Dy [72:28]); “Lord, my Master” (Kx [72:28]); “Lord Jehovah” (Yg); “Sovereign Lord Jehovah” (NW). In Psalms 47:9; 138:5; 150:2, Moffatt uses the word “sovereign,” but not to translate ʼAdho·naiʹ.]

Not quite, the Name is plural but the pronoun is singular. "Elohim", plural but "eh" is singular.

I do, but I find it necessary to read between the lines at times. Exegesis. One must consider the cultural and historical background, the limits of the language and the message that is being conveyed.
I never crack my Bible without praying for several minutes first, for Hokmah Sophia, the Holy Spirit of Wisdom (Proverbs 1-9), to grant me the gift of interpretation - I ask Her to speak to me through the text. A literal interpretation of the Bible is pointless, quite a lot of it is quite obviously allegorical as it flatly contradicts itself numerous times. Another Teacher used Parables to get His point across - it's my belief He learned it at His Father's knee.

Do you think that every time you see Spirit that it is referring to the holy spirit?

(Isaiah 11:2) And the spirit of Jehovah will settle upon him, The spirit of wisdom and of understanding, The spirit of counsel and of mightiness, The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah.
(Acts 6:10) But they could not hold their own against the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking.
(1 Corinthians 2:4) and my speech and what I preached were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of spirit and power,
(Daniel 5:11) There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of holy gods. In the days of your father, enlightenment and insight and wisdom like the wisdom of gods were found in him. King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar your father appointed him as chief of the magic-practicing priests, conjurers, Chal·deʹans, and astrologers; your father did this, O king.
(Ephesians 1:17) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the accurate knowledge of him.

Are we told to pray to wisdom or even to holy spirit?
(John 15:16) You did not choose me, but I chose you, and I appointed you to go and keep bearing fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that no matter what you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
(1 Timothy 2:5) For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus,
(Luke 11:1, 2) Now he was in a certain place praying, and when he stopped, one of his disciples said to him: “Lord, teach us how to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.” 2 So he said to them: “Whenever you pray, say: ‘Father, let your name be sanctified. Let your Kingdom come.
(Jude 20) But you, beloved ones, build yourselves up on your most holy faith, and pray with holy spirit,
(Matthew 6:9) “You must pray, then, this way: “‘Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified.

"The Spirit of God hovered over the waters" (Gen 1:1)

All were there, but Jesus remained hidden while the Spirit was in plain sight, hovering over the "waters".

"Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father", Jn 14:9

"Then the eleven went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said 'All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make discoples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Mt 28:16-20 This post was edited by Slartibartfast at August 3, 2017 7:41 PM MDT

What do you make of the cited verses above?


(Genesis 1:2) Now the earth was formless and desolate, and there was darkness upon the surface of the watery deep, and God’s active force was moving about over the surface of the waters.

^{https://www.usccb.org/bible/genesis/1}Gen 1:2 and the earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters—<sup>b

https://www.catholic.org/bible/book.php
2 Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, with a divine wind sweeping over the waters.</sup>





As far as the feminine gender of wisdom, I am quoting this from someone else:

 [Confusing grammatical gender with physical gender.

 This may sound strange to speakers of English, an almost genderless language, but in languages such as Spanish or German or Hebrew, every noun and adjective, not only people and animals but also things, is either masculine or feminine, without having anything to do with them being male or female.

 Yes, the word for "spirit" is feminine in Hebrew, but that doesn't mean God's spirit is a 'she'. Similarly, the Hebrew word for "wisdom" is feminine but that doesn't mean "God's wisdom" has to be a female.

 Jesus is called in the Bible "the image of God". He himself said he is "the Way, the Truth and the Life", and in another occasion "the Resurrection and the Life". He is "the True Vine". And in the Hebrew Scriptures, he is called "the stone that the builders rejected".  All those underlined words are feminine in the original language and yet they are applied to Jesus.

 

There is plenty of scriptural proof that Jesus couldn't have an older sister since nothing was created before him: He is "the firstborn of all creation; because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and on the earth" (Colossians 1:15, 16). The Word was with Jehovah at the beginning and "all things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence" (John 1:3). He is "the beginning of the creation by God" (Revelation 3:14) as well as "his only-begotten Son" (John 3:16), which excludes any previous sister.]

Try reading that passage from Proverbs again. I'll wait.

Jesus being God's only begotten Son doesn't preclude God having an only begotten daughter as well. Cultural exegesis, daughters were considered less highly than sons - some parts of Hebrew society considered daughters to be completely unimportant. The BREATH OF GOD (Heb: "Ruach") hovered over the waters, She was "bought forth" (Heb: "qanah" which may be interpreted as "bring out of hiding" rather than "create", a decent annotated Bible points out that the meaning is ambiguous) BEFORE anything was created, Proverbs is unequivocal on that. The very first thing God did before he began to create the Heavens and the Earth was to bring her out to help Him, it's what the Helper  (Gk: "parakletos") does. And she's His "little child" as well as His "master worker". A little child has a gender. The feminine noun isn't the kicker, the feminine PRONOUN is - Wisdom is referred to as "She" throughout. Jesus is NEVER referred to as "she" in any language (either Himself in the Greek NT or the suffering servant in the Hebrew OT - both masculine).

You still never addressed the cited scriptures above. 

Quote from you earlier: "so Wisdom is the Spirit of God as that is all that existed before the world was made firm."
So then Jesus didn't exist at that time, correct?


Does the holy spirit sister lady have children?
Luke 7:35 But wisdom is justified of all her children.


Is Jehoiakim a female?

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H7225&t=KJV
re'shiyth feminine noun


Deut 21:17  But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning ^H7225 of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

Jer 26:1 In the beginning ^H7225 of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the LORD, saying,

 Jer 27:1 In the beginning ^H7225 of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

 Jer 28:1 And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning ^H7225 of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,

Where does understanding, discernment, shrewdness, good advice, fall in to this? Are they spirits? Females/males? Does the holy spirit build a house?
(Proverbs 7:4) Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” And call understanding “my relative,”
(Proverbs 8:1) Is not wisdom calling out? Is not discernment raising its voice?
(Proverbs 8:12) I, wisdom, dwell together with shrewdness; I have found knowledge and thinking ability.
(Proverbs 8:14) I possess good advice and practical wisdom; Understanding and power are mine.
(Proverbs 9:1) True wisdom has built its house; It has carved out its seven pillars.
(Proverbs 9:10) The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom, And knowledge of the Most Holy One is understanding.



(Proverbs 8:22-31) Jehovah produced me as the beginning of his way, The earliest of his achievements of long ago. 23 From ancient times I was installed, From the start, from times earlier than the earth. 24 When there were no deep waters, I was brought forth, When there were no springs overflowing with water. 25 Before the mountains were set in place, Before the hills, I was brought forth, 26 When he had not yet made the earth and its fields Or the first clods of earth’s soil. 27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there; When he marked out the horizon on the surface of the waters, 28 When he established the clouds above, When he founded the fountains of the deep, 29 When he set a decree for the sea That its waters should not pass beyond his order, When he established the foundations of the earth, 30 Then I was beside him as a master worker. I was the one he was especially fond of day by day; I rejoiced before him all the time; 31 I rejoiced over his habitable earth, And I was especially fond of the sons of men. This post was edited by texasescimo at August 4, 2017 2:46 AM MDT

"Produced" is a poor translation of the Hebrew qanah, and is not found in most versions. "Master worker" is ambiguous, amon is a pun. Do you know any Hebrew?
Feminine nouns are not the kicker - it's the feminine PRONOUN, applied to Wisdom and not to Jesus or Jehoiakim. "She" and "her" throughout.
Jesus taught His disciples to address God as "Daddy" (Aramaic "Abba", an endearment used by very young children), ergo calling His daughter "sister" makes the hardest kind of sense.

No, I don't read Hebrew but I can read concordances and such as well as English translations of the Bible. Since you cannot tell the difference between the Hebrew for YHWH and LORD, I assume your lacking in some way yourself.
You prefer created or made me?
https://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/OTpdf/pro8.pdf
קָ נָנִ י qn·ni he-acquired·me

Bible in Basic English
Prov 8:22 The Lord made me as the start of his way, the first of his works in the past.
https://studybible.info/compare/Proverbs%208:22
Proverbs 8:22
ABP_Strongs⁽ⁱ⁾ The lordG2936createdG1473meG746the headG3598of his waysG1473 G1519forG2041his works
Thomson^(i) 22 The Lord created me, the beginning of his ways for his works.
JPS_ASV_Byz^(i) 22 The LORD made me as the beginning of His way, the first of His works of old.
NHEB^(i) 22 "The LORD created me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
NSB^(i) 22 »Jehovah created me in the beginning of his way, before his works of antiquity.
Brenton^(i) 22 The Lord made me the beginning of his ways for his works.
Leeser^(i) 22 The Lord created me as the beginning of his way, the first of his works from the commencement,
JuliaSmith^(i) 22 Jehovah set me up the beginning of his way, before his works from ancient time.
BBE^(i) 22 The Lord made me as the start of his way, the first of his works in the past.
CAB^(i) 22 The Lord made me the beginning of His ways for His works.
ISV^(i) 22 "The LORD made me as he began his planning, before his ancient activity commenced.


You really haven't responded to the scriptures posted earlier nor some of my comments like where Jesus said the Father is the only true God and that the Father is greater than he is, etc.




EDIT: [Wisdom personified. What is recorded concerning the Word in the Scriptures fits remarkably the description given at Proverbs 8:22-31. There wisdom is personified, represented as though able to speak and act. (Pr 8:1) Many professed Christian writers of the early centuries of the Common Era understood this section to refer symbolically to God’s Son in his prehuman state. In view of the texts already considered, there can be no denying that that Son was “produced” by Jehovah “as the beginning of his way, the earliest of his achievements of long ago,” nor that the Son was “beside [Jehovah] as a master worker” during earth’s creation, as described in these verses of Proverbs. It is true that in Hebrew, which assigns gender to its nouns (as do many other languages), the word for “wisdom” is always in the feminine gender. This would continue to be the case even though wisdom is personified and so would not rule out wisdom’s being used figuratively to represent God’s firstborn Son. The Greek word for “love” in the expression “God is love” (1Jo 4:8) is also in the feminine gender but that does not make God feminine. Solomon, the principal writer of Proverbs (Pr 1:1), applied the title qo·heʹleth (congregator) to himself (Ec 1:1) and this word is also in the feminine gender.
Wisdom is manifest only by being expressed in some way. God’s own wisdom was expressed in creation (Pr 3:19, 20) but through his Son. (Compare 1Co 8:6.) So, too, God’s wise purpose involving mankind is made manifest through, and summed up in, his Son, Jesus Christ. Thus, the apostle could say that Christ represents “the power of God and the wisdom of God” and that Christ Jesus “has become to us wisdom from God, also righteousness and sanctification and release by ransom.”—1Co 1:24, 30; compare 1Co 2:7, 8; Pr 8:1, 10, 18-21.]

Also might see this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_of_the_Holy_Spirit 





This post was edited by texasescimo at August 4, 2017 10:15 AM MDT

Interesting answer Hezekiah. It seems that the second half of your comment speaks against unscriptural traditions like substituting God's name with a title but your first half seems to support another unscriptural tradition. If God's name is ineffable because there were no vowels and only consonants then every other Hebrew name should be ineffable as well, yes?

[The New Catholic Encyclopedia explains what took place some time after the Jews returned from their Babylonian exile in the sixth century B.C.E. It says: “The name Yahweh [the Tetragrammaton with vowels added] began to be considered with special reverence, and the practice arose of substituting for it the word ADONAI [Lord] or ELOHIM [God]. . . . The practice led in time to forgetfulness of the proper pronunciation of the name Yahweh.” ]

YHWH is not translated as 'LORD', 'LORD' is substituted for the Hebrew consonants YHWH.

(Exodus 3:14, 15) So God said to Moses: “I Will Become What I Choose to Become.” And he added: “This is what you are to say to the Israelites, ‘I Will Become has sent me to you.’” 15 Then God said once more to Moses: “This is what you are to say to the Israelites, ‘Jehovah the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

((hugs)) Yes tex. That is the one I have always known. I don't recognize the one some others seem to believe in. The one they fear. Thank you for your helpful reply m'dear and Happy Sunday! :)