So I don't normally start threads on this board. And the question I'm about to ask certainly isn't one of burning conviction; just more of an intellectual curiosity.
This board was instrumental in changing my stance on the 2nd commandment, that is, towards the historic Reformed view. But I'm still thinking through the implications of the reasoning, and I think this question will throw light on the 2nd commandment.
If a picture of Christ is, due to His person, a picture of God:
Then would not the "name" of Christ, due to His person, be the "name" of God?
So, would naming your child "Joshua" or, if you were Spanish, "Jesus", not be just as "blasphemous" as naming your child YHWH?
And if you say that "Joshua" or Y'shua was just a common human name that was taken up by Christ, and that the taking on of a name (albeit very special to His purpose) shows His full humanity, therefore we can still use it as a human name...
that just sounds very similar to the Orthodox saying that Christ's assumption of a body placed him squarely in the flow of this world and this time, and therefore we can make icons of His humanity.
So if we don't allow pictures of Christ, why do we name children Joshua?
And I know that "Y'shua" is God-referential, i.e. YHWH saves or YHWH is salvation or what have you... but, even though it was a Hebrew name that, in essence, "praised" or "proclaimed" YHWH, now the whole *phrase*, "Yahweh saves" or "Yahweh is salvation" is the "name" of a Person in the Godhead.
Just curious.
This board was instrumental in changing my stance on the 2nd commandment, that is, towards the historic Reformed view. But I'm still thinking through the implications of the reasoning, and I think this question will throw light on the 2nd commandment.
If a picture of Christ is, due to His person, a picture of God:
Then would not the "name" of Christ, due to His person, be the "name" of God?
So, would naming your child "Joshua" or, if you were Spanish, "Jesus", not be just as "blasphemous" as naming your child YHWH?
And if you say that "Joshua" or Y'shua was just a common human name that was taken up by Christ, and that the taking on of a name (albeit very special to His purpose) shows His full humanity, therefore we can still use it as a human name...
that just sounds very similar to the Orthodox saying that Christ's assumption of a body placed him squarely in the flow of this world and this time, and therefore we can make icons of His humanity.
So if we don't allow pictures of Christ, why do we name children Joshua?
And I know that "Y'shua" is God-referential, i.e. YHWH saves or YHWH is salvation or what have you... but, even though it was a Hebrew name that, in essence, "praised" or "proclaimed" YHWH, now the whole *phrase*, "Yahweh saves" or "Yahweh is salvation" is the "name" of a Person in the Godhead.
Just curious.