Tsiyon News

Listener Q + A

Listener Comment - Ok to say "God"?
Please let me start by thanking our heavenly Father for your ministry and how He uses you and you wife to reveal the hidden works of Satan. My first question is on the title God. Sacred Name groups claim Yahweh shouldn't be referred to ask God because that was the name of a pagan diety "Gawd" or "Gott" a deity of fortune. They site Isaiah 65:11 as their basis. This is from etymology dictionary online:

Look up god at Dictionary.com
O.E. god "supreme being, deity," from P.Gmc. *guthan (cf. Du. god, Ger. Gott, O.N. guð, Goth. guþ), from PIE *ghut- "that which is invoked" (cf. Skt. huta- "invoked," an epithet of Indra), from root *gheu(e)- "to call, invoke." But some trace it to PIE *ghu-to-"poured," from root *gheu- "to pour, pour a libation" (source of Gk. khein "to pour," khoane "funnel" and khymos "juice;" also in the phrase khute gaia "poured earth," referring to a burial mound). "Given the Greek facts, the Germanic form may have referred in the first instance to the spirit immanent in a burial mound" [Watkins]. Cf. also Zeus. Not related to good. Originally neut. in Gmc., the gender shifted to masc. after the coming of Christianity. O.E. god was probably closer in sense to L. numen. A better word to translate deus might have been P.Gmc. *ansuz, but this was only used of the highest deities in the Gmc. religion, and not of foreign gods, and it was never used of the Christian God. It survives in English mainly in the personal names beginning in Os-.

I want my lawyer, my tailor, my servants, even my wife to believe in God, because it means that I shall be cheated and robbed and cuckolded less often. ... If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. [Voltaire]

God bless you after someone sneezes is credited to St. Gregory the Great, but the pagan Romans (Absit omen) and Greeks had similar customs.

I recently shared your podcast with a friend and he wanted to know as a member would he be able to get a written format of your message. The reason is to check all of the sources you give in your studies. Also what are the obligations of be a member and what are the benefits apart from hearing the enlightening messages you give (Please believe me when I say I have not heard anyone talk on any of the subjects you discuss). Your messages serve as a good tool to the Body of Y'shua to keep watch and not falling asleep with no "oil" in their lamps. Thank you.

Tsiyon Answer - Ok to say "God"
Thank you for writing. I'm glad you brought this subject up, since I know a lot of people wonder about this. Let me start by saying I share the concerns of many who want the Hebrew names of YHWH and His Son to be honored and revered. For that reason, I use those Names frequently and always with the highest respect.

I use the terms "Lord" and "God" from time to time also, when I believe one of those terms to be appropriate with my English-speaking audience. I do not see the use of those terms, on occasion, as being in any way at odds with my more usual use of the Hebrew Names. Why? Because YHWH created all languages at Babel, knows and understands all languages, and wants to be known and glorified in every language. We have proof of this fact in Acts 2. This was the first Shavuot after Messiah's death, resurrection and ascension, when He poured out the Holy Spirit on the Messianic believers gathered together in Jerusalem. Here is what happened:

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under the sky. When this sound was heard, the multitude came together, and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own language. They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Behold, aren’t all these who speak Galileans? How do we hear, everyone in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians: we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God!" Acts 2:4-11

Notice that it was a direct Divine act that caused the Messianic Jewish believers to witness to others gathered in Jerusalem "from every nation under the sky." The miracle was that "everyone heard them speaking in his own language." In fact, the visitors exclaimed "we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God!"

The inspired account is telling us that the Holy Spirit caused the talmidim to declare the "mighty works of God" in other languages. What was the point of that? SO THAT THE MESSAGE WOULD BE UNDERSTOOD BY THE HEARERS! The Holy Spirit here sets conveying understanding of the message as a higher priority than using precise Hebrew. When the visitors exclaimed "we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God" what word for "God" was each of them hearing? Doesn't this sentence mean they each heard whatever word for "God" was common in their own language? That's what it means to me. Obviously, the Holy Spirit did not consider using a foreign word for "God" as sinful. Therefore, neither do I.

Objecting to the use of the word "God" on the basis of Isaiah 65:11 is no doubt sincere, but is also misguided. Even if there were a deity of fortune named "gawd" or "gott" that is not the same as the English word "God" in either sound or meaning. As for the etymology of the word, even the definition you've included indicates they don't really know, since it includes a few different guesses. All we know for sure is what "God" means now - "supreme being, deity." That strikes me as a useful word to use in conveying "the mighty works of God" to English speaking hearers, so I have no problem in using the word.

In summing up my general position about this I would note that intelligible communication is often not a high priority for many in the Hebrew Roots / Messianic sphere. I often hear complaints that the jargon and fights over minutia of difference in the spelling and/or pronunciation of specialized Hebrew words is a "turn-off" for truth-seekers exploring and looking for answers. Personally, in many cases I agree with that, which is why I avoid a lot of Hebraic jargon in favor of being understood by truth-seekers. That makes a few people mad at me. However, it makes my message available to a lot more people, which I think is the whole point of Acts 2 for me.

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