What is in a Name????

So I have been thinking...

How presumptuous is it to say "God you are _____."???

Put whatever you want there.

We hear things that are wrong like bad, uncaring, and such all the time. But even if we say things that are true like love, just, our father, 'with us' or anything else that is true. These statements can only reduce or degrade God from who he is into that name. Even giving him the gendered pronoun "He" belittles him. He is not a he, he has no y chromosome, he has no need of that kind of description, in fact for many it harms their ability to understand and meet him. It is an insult to who he is to name him.

So at this point you should be mad or confused... or both. And I am okay with that, in fact I am hoping for that. Please bear with me til I finish this.

Take any name:
Jesus
"I Am"
Prince of Peace
King of Kings
Emmanuel
Jehovah
El Shaddai
Father
The Trinity
Christ
Redeemer
Creator

There are so many more. I submit that all of these abase our Lord. You call me Allen, a man, whatever name that is true of me (I don't want to discuss false names right now) you have given me a good name. You have captured me, described me. Webster's defines "name" as "a word or phrase that constitutes the distinctive designation of a person or thing." So when we name God we are trying to designate him, define him. Any name we as limited beings can give him is grossly inferior to describe who he is.

Let me show this a little better. A line in math goes from infinity to infinity. It is still a hugely inadequate metaphor, but it will work. So when we give God a name we are throwing a box over part of that line.



As you can see we have many names some over lap, some cover more ground that others, but none can fully describe the line. A box is inadequate to describe a line because it has to be finite, to be a box is to be finite, so we define lines with equations in math, even then when you use an equation it is always using that equation in a finite area. We can conceive infinity only in theory we cannot wrap our minds completely around it. It is something we run into with enough frequency we just decide it exists and try to work around it and use it. When we name God we are trying to use a square to define a line.

So why do we name God when we cannot even come close?

He does. He names himself for us and rejoices in us using and saying his names.

"Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"

God said to Moses, "I am who I am . This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.' "Exodus 3:13-14

God humiliates himself by giving himself names so we can interact with him. Think about it. He desires a relationship with us, we by nature name and interact with people and things with names. If God was rightfully against defaming himself like any of us are (how much do you hate when someone makes light of your accomplishments, position, abilities, character?). He wants that relationship so much that he is willing to reduce himself so we can interact with him. The names we have and use are not wrong (again assuming the ones based in Truth) just not ALL of God. God has chosen to rejoice in our interacting with him in this way.

We get to interact with God on a personal level. He has reduced himself so we can have a personal relationship with him. If you think about it God did it again when he came here in the person of Jesus to teach and to reconcile us to himself. God constantly makes himself lesser than he is, lesser than he deserves for His love of us.

So rejoice in how humble and loving our Father is that he loves us and wants to interact with us so much more than he desires his own rights or how much he deserves respect and possition.

But I do want to make one caution in this. Any name we have for God is by definition finite. We must be sure that we love Him, not any name we have for Him.

How many times have you heard "If God is (Love, Just, Good, etc.) he would dd (or not do) X." or "God would be under a bridge not in the suburb." or any other sweeping statement like that. Those all come from taking one aspect of an infinite God that is true and either misunderstanding or applying it to the exclusion of the other parts of who he is. We need to be sure that this gift of personal interaction with God remains what is was intended for. To interact with God personally, not to alienate his childeren from one another or to missunderstand God and his goals and purposes. To use his names to interact and love him as best we can, not to make our own god out of parts of The One True God.

So this was especially long, but it has been on my mind a while. And yes I found a thesaurus.

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God... Thank you for your many names, and for loving us so much more than we can comprehend to reduce yourself in so many ways just to be in relationship with us and to restore us to right relationship with you.