Once someone rejects Y'shua, one of the first things they will do is begin to harp about our use of the Name of God. They will even type out the mere title of "God" as "G-d" as a form of respect. Well, fine, but I question why we shouldn't use YHWH's Name or any of His Titles, when we see in Exodus 3 that ADONAI personally gave His Name to Moshe/Moses. Seems to me, if He didn't want anyone to know or use His Name, He would have kept it a secret!
Exodus 3:13-15 Moshe said to God, "Look, when I appear before the people of Isra'el and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you'; and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what am I to tell them?" God said to Moshe, "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh [I am/will be what I am/will be]," and added, "Here is what to say to the people of Isra'el: 'Ehyeh [I Am or I Will Be] has sent me to you.'" God said further to Moshe, "Say this to the people of Isra'el: 'Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh [YHWH/ADONAI], the God of your fathers, the God of Avraham, the God of Yitz'chak and the God of Ya'akov, has sent me to you.'This is my name forever; this is how I am to be remembered generation after generation." (CJB)
One woman wrote to tell me "'I am what I am' isn't a name! It's HIS presence!" and another wrote: "Leviticus 22:32 tells us to sanctify his name and to not profane it. Using G-d's holy name cavalierly is Chilul Hashem - a desecration of His name. It shows a lack of respect."
My question is, then WHY do we see Exodus 3:13-15 telling us that YHWH said, "Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh (Yahweh), 'This is my name forever; this is how I am to be remembered generation after generation'"?
Has "forever" ended? NO! And that "don't use the Lord's Name in vain" thing refers to attributing something to YHWH that He didn't do or say! It's got nothing to do with NOT using His Name!
If we only refer to Him as "G-d" which is how most Jews refer to our ELOHIM, then in my opinion, we are hiding from the world WHO He is. Exodus 23:2 tell us: "Make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of your mouth" which prohibits the use of alternative names and titles that replace the Name of YHWH and His Mashiyach Yeshua; both are absolute.
Whether it's His "Presence" or His Name – He gave it to Moshe to tell to the people of Israel! And then He said: 'This is my name forever; this is how I am to be remembered generation after generation." If you don't wish to use the Name He gave to Moshe, then don't! It's that simple.
But please do not tell the rest of us that we are "using the Lord's name in vain" whenever we say YHWH! And please don't tell us we can't even write it due to some misapplication of Deuteronomy 12:3-4! Using His "Name in vain" would be assigning something to God that He never said or did. We are not to misrepresent His Character or what He stands for. It's got nothing whatsoever to do with NOT using the Name He gave to Moshe when you are glorifying Him when you use it!
For more on this topic please check out our article about the Name of God, or see Carmen Welker’s video #29.
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