Chapter 11: The First Cause.
Why is there a universe, with its matter, energy, and physical laws? Who has caused it to become, to arise, to be there, and to exist? Who is this First Cause? - Many great scientists - as we have seen -, have concluded that God has made it, that he is the First Cause. - But which God? What is his name? The true God has revealed himself to mankind in two ways:
They do complement each other. Natural science shows us the true God as the Great Scientist, the Maker of the universe, as the Great Mathematician. He exists above and outside the time and space of the physical world. He is the First Cause. He has thought out and made the universe, its hardware and software. - But natural science cannot tell us, who this Creator is. It cannot tell us, what his name is. The true God has revealed his name and his purpose with mankind in his written Word, the Bible. We find it in the second book of the Bible, in Exodus. Moses has written it down in 1512 B.C.E. in the wilderness of the Sinai-Peninsula, some 3.5 thousand years ago. We read in Exodus 3:13-15, according to the New World Translation (1984):
"Nevertheless, Moses said to the true God: ‘Suppose I am now come to the sons of Israel and I do say to them: ‘The God of YOUR forefathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is his name?’ What shall I say to them?’ At this God said to Moses: ‘I SHALL PROVE TO BE WHAT I SHALL PROVE TO BE:’ And he added: ‘This is what you are to say to the sons of Israel: ‘I SHALL PROVE TO BE has sent me to YOU.’ Then God said once more to Moses:
"‘This is what you are to say to the sons of Israel, ‘Jehovah the God of YOUR forefathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to YOU. This is my name to time indefinite, and this is my memorial of me to generation after generation.’"
What does the name of the true God, the God of the Bible, mean? - In the New-World-Translation of the Holy Scriptures - With References (1986), we read in the footnote on Exodus 3:14 about "I SHALL PROVE TO BE WHAT I SHALL PROVE TO BE": In Hebrew: ’Eh.yéh ’Ashér ’Eh.yéh. God’s own self-designation.
In the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (1984) Appendix, p. 1561, we read about the divine in the Hebrew Scriptures: "Jehovah (Hebr. YHWH), God’s personal name, first occurs in Ge. 2:4. The divine name is a verb, the causative form, the imperfect state, of the Hebrew verb ha.wáh, ‘to become’. Therefore, the divine name means ‘He Causes to Become.’ This reveals Jehovah as the One who, with progressive action, causes himself to become the Fulfiller of promises, the One who always brings his purpose to realization. ... The greatest indignity that modern translators render to the Divine Author of the Holy Scriptures is the removal or the concealing of his peculiar personal name. Actually his name occurs in the Hebrew text 6,828 times as YHWH or JHVH.
Pronouncing God’s Name
Should one pronounce the name of the true God? - Already some 2000 years ago, the Jewish leaders forbade their people, to pronounce God’s personal name, when reading the four-letter word JHWH. Instead, they were told, that they should read then adonaj (Lord). - Why? - Because Exodus 20.7 forbids this. - Is that true? Must one never pronounce God’s name JHWH at all, not even in an honorable way?
Dr. Benno Jacob, a rabbi in Dortmund, Germany, is a well-known Jewish scholar. One is often quoting his theological works. What did he say about God’s name? Should one use it, or should one not use it? He writes in the Monatszeitschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums (Monthly Journal for the History and Science of Judaism), published by Dr. I. Heinemann, Organ der Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaft des Judentums (Organ of the Society for the Advancement of the Science of Judaism), Frankfurt a. M. (1922), under the title, "Moses at the Thornbush":
"If anything, also in the most primitive religions, does have a name, it is the deity. Toward a nameless god one cannot have a personal relationship. Nothing is more unbiblical, than the Theos Agnostis (= unkonwn god), nothing is more un-Jewish, than the agnostic resignation: ‘Who may pronounce his name?’ Everyone may and shall know him, pronounce his name, and profess him." (1922:12).
How, then, should one pronounce God’s name JHWH?
Dr. Benno Jacob: "There is no word at all, which is more Hebrew than Jhvh. ... There are elements of what is right in many explanations, one has tried, for example Drusius (reads Jihewéh or Jehewéh, at Reland 1707 p. 65)." (1922:134).
What the Bible says
The Creator asked the patriarch Job: "Have you come to know the statues of the heavens? Or could you put its authority in the earth? ... Who put wisdom in the cloud layers, Or who gave understanding to the sky phenomenon?" - Job 38.33, 36 (NW).
The Bible book Proverbs 3:19 (NW) tells us: "Jehovah himself in wisdom founded the earth. He solidly fixed the heavens in discernment."
And David, king of Israel, says: "The heavens are declaring the glory of God; And the works of his hands the expanse is telling. One day after another day causes speech to bubble forth, And one night after another night shows forth knowledge." - Psalms 19:1, 2 (NW).
How are the heavens declaring the glory of God? And how are they telling us about the works of his hands? And how can one night after another night show forth knowledge, since they have no brain to think and no mouth to speak, like a human being? - They are praising their Maker through the ingenuous way, in which he has made then, through the unbelievable precision, with which they are working.
When I see the moon encircling our planet earth, with the precision of an atomic clock, it tells me: He causes to become, to be, to arise, in Hebrew jihevéh - Jehovah.
When I see our planet earth flying around the sun, together with the other planets, always so far away, that we are able to live here, so that it will be neither too hot, nor too cold, it declares to me: He causes to become, to arise, to exist (jihevéh): Jehovah.
When I learn, that our sun is encircling the center of our Milky Way, together with many other stars, for billions of years, this tells me: He causes to become, to arise, to be (jihevéh): Jehovah.
When I learn about the design, the information, and high mathematics, contained in our universe, existing independently of mankind, it tells me: He causes to become, to arise, to exist (jihevéh): Jehovah.
When I learn about the physical laws, fundamental constants, mathematical languages, and cosmic codes, existing independently of mankind, making and operating the whole physical universe, this tells me: He causes to become, to arise, to exist (jihevéh): Jehovah.
Every true scientist believes in God, because his work shows him, how much the Creator knows and is able to do: as the great physicist, chemist, and mathematician. Thus, he will also agree then, with the words in the Bible book of Revelation 4:11 (NW):
"You are worthy, Jehovah, even our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created." - To this conclusion, all truly scientific research will lead us.