isbell@marvin.DEC (Chris Isbell) (05/25/84)
[72 lines long] I would be interested in comments from Christians about the following passage from the book of Exodus. (Source: "Good News Bible".) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3:13 But Moses replied, "When I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors sent me to you,' they will ask me, 'What is his name?' So what can I tell them?" 3:14 God said, "I am who I am. This is what you must say to them" 'The one who is called I AM (Note: e) has sent me to you.' 3:15 Tell the Israelites that I, the LORD, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, have sent you to them. This is my name for ever; this is what all future generations are to call me." ... Note e: I am who I am...I AM; or I will be who I will be...I WILL BE. "I am" sounds like the Hebrew name Yahweh, traditionally transliterated as Jehovah. The name is represented in this translation by "the LORD" in capital letters, following a usage which is widespread in English versions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This quote has been drawn to my attention by two separate sources, Larry Bickford in net.religion, and Professor David Bohm at a weekend course on quantum physics and our world view. (My abbreviated description of the contents of the weekend.) The point emphasized by Professor Bohm is that God defined 'himself' as "I AM", but human beings have a strong tendency to add to this to make a statement of the form "I AM <predicate>", eg:- I am good, I am evil, I am not this terminal etc... ( Or in a similar manner God is good, God is everywhere etc...) To do this is to artificially fragment 'God', 'life' (Whatever term you wish to use). (Please allow for my imperfect understanding of what Professor Bohm was saying when reading this.) Larry has been pointing out the 'Christian' idea that it is evil to worship false Gods. The above quote would seem to relate to this idea since it provides information on the Christian concept of what is a true God. (I take it I can assume that the God represented by the burning bush is the Christian God.) Like any piece of written material, the passage quoted above can be interpreted in many different ways. At a very simple level, the term "Yahweh" can be considered as something which is perceived as a sound. In which case, according to Larry, anyone who worships "God" rather than "Yahweh" is worshipping a false God. This does not seem to be in agreement with other things accepted as Christianity so I will assume that this is not what is intended by the passage (or by Larry). Another interpretation would be that the statements "I AM" and "I AM WHO I AM" are complete of themselves. This carries the implication that God's existence is not dependent on anything else. This idea is supported by the 'Christian' ideas on the futility of worshipping idols, for then "I AM" (God) would be identified with some material object. In this case, the 'visions' of God in the Bible are descriptions of a finite perception of that which is infinite since the full Infinity is beyond our scope. The 'problem' with this interpretation is that if God is infinite, and hence indefinable in human terms, how can we know is a particular interpretation of God is true or not? All that can be said is that any interpretation of God will be limited and in some way inaccurate. From this point it is a short (and dangerous) step to the opinion that all the different religions are paths to the same 'God', but they are merely expressing the infinite in different ways. This may or may not be true, but because of the involvement of 'something' beyond human experience, belief in either point of view is not provable. [I would like to thank Larry for his comments which have been of considerable assistance to me in preparing this submission. (This does not mean that he necessarily agrees with what I have written.)] Chris Isbell. (...dec-decwrl!rhea!marvin!isbell)
stuart@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP (Stuart Kurtz) (05/29/84)
Actually, the unspeakable name of God is the basis for a very important pun in the New Testament. When Jesus is asked who he is, he replies ``I am who you say I am.'' In aramaic, this puns to ``I am Yahweh''. In the eyes of the Sanhedrin, this was the ultimate blaspheme. The pun was undoubtedly intentional. It's too bad that this particular pun doesn't translate. Stuart Kurtz The University of Chicago (ihnp4!gargoyle!stuart)