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To: Mind-numbed Robot; betty boop; xzins; MHGinTN; Texas Songwriter; P-Marlowe; boatbums; Mad Dawg
Thank you for your encouragements, dear Mind-numbed Robot!!!

That, I suppose, is why we occasionally see G_d in these discussions.

I understand that Jewish posters use "G_d" instead of "God" to obey this commandment:

And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place. Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God. - Deut 12:3-4

From the Jewish Virtual Library on The Name of God:

Jews do not casually write any Name of God. This practice does not come from the commandment not to take the Lord's Name in vain, as many suppose. In Jewish thought, that commandment refers solely to oath-taking, and is a prohibition against swearing by God's Name falsely or frivolously (the word normally translated as "in vain" literally means "for falsehood").

Judaism does not prohibit writing the Name of God per se; it prohibits only erasing or defacing a Name of God. However, observant Jews avoid writing any Name of God casually because of the risk that the written Name might later be defaced, obliterated or destroyed accidentally or by one who does not know better.

The commandment not to erase or deface the name of God comes from Deut. 12:3. In that passage, the people are commanded that when they take over the promised land, they should destroy all things related to the idolatrous religions of that region, and should utterly destroy the names of the local deities. Immediately afterwards, we are commanded not to do the same to our God. From this, the rabbis inferred that we are commanded not to destroy any holy thing, and not to erase or deface a Name of God.

It is worth noting that this prohibition against erasing or defacing Names of God applies only to Names that are written in some kind of permanent form, and recent rabbinical decisions have held that writing on a computer is not a permanent form, thus it is not a violation to type God's Name into a computer and then backspace over it or cut and paste it, or copy and delete files with God's Name in them. However, once you print the document out, it becomes a permanent form. That is why observant Jews avoid writing a Name of God on web sites like this one or in BBS messages: because there is a risk that someone else will print it out and deface it.

Normally, we avoid writing the Name by substituting letters or syllables, for example, writing "G-d" instead of "God." In addition, the number 15, which would ordinarily be written in Hebrew as Yod-Heh (10-5), is normally written as Tet-Vav (9-6), because Yod-Heh is a Name. See Hebrew Alphabet for more information about using letters as numerals.

I must add that I believe the great evils that have come upon this country because it did just that - not by referendum nor by enactment of law but by judicial fiat when the Supreme Court removed the Name of God from schools and thereafter from most publicly funded venues.

Abominable behavior quickly followed, e.g. abortion and mainstreaming of homosexuality. Those are symptoms of the disease, i.e. "officially" blinding this nation to God.

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, [saying], Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. - Psalms 2:1-5

God's Name is I AM.

142 posted on 10/30/2011 8:28:02 AM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: Alamo-Girl
I must add that I believe the great evils that have come upon this country because it did just that - not by referendum nor by enactment of law but by judicial fiat when the Supreme Court removed the Name of God from schools and thereafter from most publicly funded venues.

should be

I must add that I believe great evils have come upon this country because it did just that - not by referendum nor by enactment of law but by judicial fiat when the Supreme Court removed the Name of God from schools and thereafter from most publicly funded venues.


143 posted on 10/30/2011 8:35:32 AM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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