#92 What is in a name ? (4jul06)

'...let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom..'
James 3:13-18

In the early days of post-independent Singapore, in the 1960s, most families I know tend to have a larger brood of children( 6 is the lower end of the spectrum, 12 makes one soccer team plus 1 to spare), compared to today's much reduced numbers( 1 to 3 children). Maybe, people then were not as literate and most were too busy struggling to make ends to give too much thought to giving their kids politically correct names.

Irrational as it may seem now, I do remember many parents of the nostalgic past, tend to name their children after their line of business and for some, I cannot for the world fathom why, brand the little sprightly life that they help bring to the world with the clothe of infamy, by the names chosen.

I had neigbours who were named 'Piglet,' 'Charcoal' or 'Dog Pooh.' These names tend to be more colorful when described in Hokkien, which was one of the major lingua franca in Singapore then. Of course, this propensity to bequeath memorable names were not confined to the Hokkien Chinese. The Cantonese had their fair share of memorable names and we do have a couple of them named 'coffin' literally. Not too sure if their parents were undertakers.

'Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain..'
Exodus 20:7

From an article I read, the Jews of old used to call God 'YHWH.' Of course most of us are more familiar with the term "YAHWEH," which is the promised name of our Divine God. YHWH is not pronounceable for such was the reverence and fear the Jews of old had, in not wanting to tread on holy grounds by using their 'unclean' mouths to mouth the name of God.

Jesus Christ was God's Son sent to die for our sins on the cross and by his resurrection, the bondage that man has come under, since Adam sold his soul to the devil was forever broken. Jesus means 'God Saves' and indeed when we call upon the name of Jesus Christ, we are acknowledging the fact that God is present in the person of His Son, drawing near to us, as we draw near to Him.

'Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, Son of God, .......
....Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace....'
Hebrews 4:14-16

A Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, who died on the cross for our sins and was resurrected to be with God.
(definition from the Wikipedia free encyclopedia).

The same encyclopedia estimates that today, there are about 2.1billion Christians in the world, making up 33% of the population.
Of course, it also make the qualifier that there are many versions of Christians with digression in beliefs.

God when He first make Adam, make him in His likeness. There is only one God.
In taking up Satan's offer to sin, Adam also allowed himself and his future seeds to take on varied versions of sins, be it an angry man, a lustful man, an envious one, or a fearful one or various combinations of desires and sins.

The initials of my daughter not by intent, but on hindsight, by the grace of God is S.A.L.T.
Where there is salt, there is life. This is why scientists are postulating about possible life on Mars, with the discovery of salt on the Red planet.
In more earthly terms, salt is a key source of sodium and chloride, two very dominant chemical constituents of the human body with important metabolic functions.
Salt or in the form of derivatives, finds application in more than 14,000 ways.

As man continues to ponder upon the source of their very existence, we often find ourselves in this black hole of the unfathomable.
Christians are by definition, followers of Jesus Christ. God gave those who believe in His Son Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit to lead, correct and teach us.

'Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls..'
Jeremiah 6:16

As Christians, are we living up to our chosen name and vocation or are we saying to God like those disobedient children of old, by our very actions that we will continue to sin.

'...But they said, We will not walk therein......'
.........we will not hearken..'
Jeremiah 6:16-17


God Blesses

Eng Hieang

Note

Thankfully, again by the Grace of God, my son' s initials is AARR and not AARGH. The latter is a term to communicate anger and frustrations. An emotion that unfortunately permeates most of our daily living.
What about the significance of AARR. I have no idea but till the Lord show me the way, will let you know then