How did the word "God" come about?

[hamlet69]

back in history we choose the word "GOD". why? and what made us choose this word any connect it with "a power that knows everthign ,see's everything and created everything?" , why did'nt we choose a word like "tick or butterface?" and this brings another question why?

 

[mikelus]

Thats a similar question as asking why the sky blue, why not any word it all would descrbe the same thing. Thats why I ask the question is it blue, is it the sky, is It? Do we really no what the sky is? Yes we can describe the sky based on other descriptions of functions that affect it. Do we know it though?

 

[BlackJack]

No it isn't that simple. If you have watched Indiana Jones you know that the hebraice (how do you spell that ?) is Jewa. Which means something like Father of "Please-Look-Up-In-Your-Bible". Then we translated it into other languages......

hmmm...not very good explanation

Well the best answer is always: BECAUSE

 

[Guybrush Threepwood]

Originally posted by hamlet69
back in history we choose the word "GOD". why?

you may not be aware but GOD is represented by different words in different languages...
or is this a specific english language thread?

 

[THANOS]

There's no way you can convince one who was born color blind that the sky is blue.

 

[hamlet69]

the devil in the works

just to move the point along , when the word GOD was choosen , what about Devil or evil again some one chose that and some one had linked it to doing bad things (that is a matter of what point of view you are seening from) but all these questions can there every be a straight answer?

 

[full-time-climb]

Here's one. "Divine insperation"

John

 

[Mumeishi]

Originally posted by THANOS
There's no way you can convince one who was born color blind that the sky is blue.

Of course you can! Even someone who is blind!

 

[Mumeishi]

Originally posted by hamlet69
back in history we choose the word "GOD". why? and what made us choose this word any connect it with "a power that knows everthign ,see's everything and created everything?" , why did'nt we choose a word like "tick or butterface?" and this brings another question why?

The original term in Hebrew was 'El' with the plural 'Elohim' - yes plural because the early Hebrews were polytheists, which is why Yahweh refers to 'himself' in Genesis as 'we' and 'us'.

I'm not sure but I think 'god' has Germanic roots and similarly did not refer to a specific all-powerful being but to any deity.

 

[THANOS]

For the blind or color blind fellow to truly believe you is impossible. if they never even seen color or at all then how can you explain to them that nothing is something? Come up with that answer and you solve a lot of physics problems.

 

[Mumeishi]

Originally posted by THANOS
For the blind or color blind fellow to truly believe you is impossible. if they never even seen color or at all then how can you explain to them that nothing is something? Come up with that answer and you solve a lot of physics problems.

If they have never even seen a colour, how could they possibly contradict you (or hold a contrary opinion) when you told them the sky was blue? They would probably have to take your word for it, and unless they had reason to doubt your word, they would probably accept it and thus believe that they sky is blue. You don't have to experience something directly to believe it. I've never seen an atom, but I believe they exist.

 

[Another God]

Originally posted by hamlet69
back in history we choose the word "GOD". why? and what made us choose this word any connect it with "a power that knows everthign ,see's everything and created everything?" , why did'nt we choose a word like "tick or butterface?" and this brings another question why?

This question is either confused in itself, or it is just confusing.

You are either asking a question on the origin of words, or you are asking a question about how meaning and conceptual linking of words occurs.

In the first instance, the origin of words can fairly safely be assumed to be a long winded gradual evolution of sounds that have come to our modern word. AS such, it is also undoubtable that this evolution will continue and these words will be different in the future. All that matters in any case is that everyone in any given society agrees that 'sound X' means the same thing. In this case the sound of someone saying 'God' has been connected to the idea of an unknown creating figure.

In the second instance, the concept would have existed in themind before the word/noise was created for it. For instance, take an easier example, the original word for tree would have been created when a tribe agreed upon a sound that indicated 'This thing that i am pointing to right now which is tall with leaves and stuff'. Point to a tree, make noise, repeat until everyone gets it. The concept exists in the mind because of our interaction with it (whether that be on a physical level, or on an intellectual level), the need to ascribe a noise to that concept only arises because we want other people to know of our thoughts.


Does this help at all?

 

[Raven]

back in history we choose the word "GOD". why? and what made us choose this word any connect it with "a power that knows everthign ,see's everything and created everything?" , why did'nt we choose a word like "tick or butterface?" and this brings another question why?

Maybe God just told us his name, translated it into several different languages and that was that.

 

[THANOS]

but taking ones word and experincing it for your self has a big differnce. Same goes to one who has never seen a god. yet there is no absolute truth to a gos existing. And if someone esle tells the blind man that the sky is green then who is he to believe? then he ask someone esle what color is the sky and he says it gray. sure eventually he would get the point when most people answer blue like how you get the point when scientist report atoms as true. What good would his beliefs be when he is asked to press the blue button? He would have to accept life without color and see things for what they are to him and not others. Living life without color should mean you can not truly believe the sky is blue or the button is blue. Hence i use the word truly believe because you can somewhat believe the sky is blue but when it comes down to it you don't know what the hell their talking about when they say the sky is blue.

 

[Mumeishi]

Thanos,

You don't have to have direct sensory experience of something to believe it. I've never been to New York, but I believe it exists. The alternative would beg too many questions - a worldwide conspiracy to convince me that a city exists - come on! Most of our beliefs are culturally and socially introduced, not personally experienced.

Furthermore, just because you experience something directly doesn't mean you experience it as it really is. I look up at the sky and I 'see that it is blue', but that doesn't mean that the sky in-itself, is blue. In fact, the sky is not blue, it just has an average wavelength of visible light in an area of the spectrum that our retinas and CNS represent in a particular way, which we refer to as 'blue'. The world in-itself has no colour.

Similarly, just because I might have a 'feeling of God' does not mean that the real cause of my feeling was 'God' or that the god is something that exists beyond my own mind. Things are not always as they seem - this is why the human race has developed ways to reduce observer bias and test the nature of things.

 

[THANOS]

I see said the blind man.

Well you speak of belief and i speak of absolute belief. Both explanations are totally different so i assume we see things the same way but misunderstood our explanations. Like how belief in New York is with me too. But i can not absolutely believe it because even if it seems impossible that the world conspires against you it is still a possibility.

 

[Mumeishi]

Is there anything you can absolutely believe? The age-old philosophical question.

And there is a difference between belief and knowledge.

My point was that direct experience does not lead to necessarily justify belief - this is the difference between belief anf knowledge -knowledge is true whereas belief just refers to a mental state.

But this is going off at 90 degrees from the original topic of this thread.

 

[THANOS]

I can absolutely believe that anything is possible.

 

[Another God]

OK, let's say you can absolutely believe anything you want, but can anyone absolutely believe anything which is also actually true?

Thats what he really wants to know.

(Because 'anything being possible' is not absolutely true.)

 

[THANOS]

I didn't say i believe anything i want. Anything is possible is not only a good thing but also bad. Anything is possible can mean mass death, plagues, war, every ones right thumb disappearing etc.. etc..

So if anything is possible so is absolutely believing something that is actually true. But what I'm saying is that absolute belief in something is bias. I like to believe things on two terms, both views. Because their would be an infinite reasons why that belief could cease to exist and another infinite reasons why it should stick. So you see my friend believing in something is like cutting that idea in half. You don't get the whole. You can keep cutting and cutting and hope to see the answer like how most people are trying to do when seeking meaning or answers. But unless you decide that all right is right and wrong is right and right is wrong and wrong is wrong then you got yourself a headache but you also got an answer.

 

[SmarterThanGod]

Originally posted by hamlet69
back in history we choose the word "GOD". why? and what made us choose this word any connect it with "a power that knows everthign ,see's everything and created everything?" , why did'nt we choose a word like "tick or butterface?" and this brings another question why?

Dont blame science, blame linguists. They could have just as easily picked anus or satan for thsi higher-power, but they chose GOD. Dont ask why, its a meaningless truth to begin with. Instead, concentrate on why there is or isn't a god, and what he(/she) had to do with our creation.

 

[Alertbay]

I beleave there is a "god" but it is much smarter,older and aware of itself then we are. I think we are only at the dawn of or understanding of or self's and what we are and were we are in the the bigger picture. what ever "GOD" is it has had much more time to ponder this, and from or prospective that is god. An entity that is aware of itself and wants to think,wonder,create and know that is "GOD". How sad would it be if we know all there was to know and how arrogate of us to think we do. It's all a journey of learning injoy the trip for that's what make's it so much fun. Because who knows it's what you feel.

 

[Sikz]

In fact, the sky is not blue, it just has an average wavelength of visible light in an area of the spectrum that our retinas and CNS represent in a particular way, which we refer to as 'blue'.

That's the definition of blue :P