After reading the section God's Names on page 310 in
Voorst's Anthology of Word Scripture, I wondered if there were too many
names for God. Names such as "Modeler" "Compassionate" the
All-powerful" "the Creator"
"the Giver of Peace" and so forth essentially describe God's
characteristics and role. The names also glory and pronounce his importance. I
think all of the names are unnecessary if you already know about God and his
role. However, if you do not know about God, these names can be used to help
define him and what he does.
I agree that most of God's titles seem unnecessary when it is easy enough to just refer to him as God. I don't even think they are helpful if you don't know much about Him because there are too many names. If someone wanted to learn about God they could and know all his qualities without the varying titles. I think all the names are used though simply because it gets tedious to repeat God so many times in any given text about Him.
ReplyDeleteI think that there are a lot of names for God because he is viewed as everything. It is not so much so that people know what he is capable of, but so that there is absolutely no doubt: God is everything. Emily also has a very valid point that it must be tedious to repeat God in religious texts.
ReplyDelete