Tag Archives: dad

Adonai

Words from Dic(tionary)

dictionary with letter AAdonai: (n) Hebrew name for God

He said to me, “That’s Mr. Jones to you.”

He was like, four years older than me, but a real pompous type. I know it’s not a good thing to say, but I immediately hated him.

I don’t like it when people make a fuss over their titles and names. I don’t trust them. I find them insecure. And the truly great people I have met in my life have always come back when I’ve tried to call them by some proper terminology. Yes–they’ve always asked me to just call them by their first name.

It’s why i have problems with things like “Adonai.” Do you know why the Jews came up with “Adonai,” meaning master? It’s because they weren’t allowed to say God’s name.

What a stuffed shirt! Really?? I know you’re God. I know that’s special. But are you really going to insist that people use initials for you or come up with other terms so your name won’t be defiled in some way??

I just don’t buy it–because if you’re God and you’re great, why do you need to keep convincing people of your greatness? It would be like a famous actor name-dropping other famous actors around friends so as to remind them how great he is. What a jerk.

So I am not convinced that a lot of the things we believe about God are really Godly. They’re certainly not confident. And they’re definitely not benevolent. And they REEK of piety and insecurity.

I am so glad that when Jesus came to earth, he said, “Relax. Stop calling Him by all these weird names. He’s Father. He’s Daddy.”

Yes, I get a little uncomfortable in our American culture at times, when parents insist that their offspring refer to them as “sir” and “ma’am.”

Maybe it’s respectful. But it’s also annoying.

Isn’t “Dad” better? Isn’t “Mom” preferable?

So even though I know that “Adonai” is a term of reverence from Judaism, I really cannot accept a God who insists that His name be revered instead of his position as my friend and father being honored.

So maybe fear of God is a good thing, but somewhere along the line … you have to stop being scared.

Abdul Hamid II

by J. R. Practixdictionary with letter A

Abdul Hamid II: (1842-1918) the last sultan of Turkey, from 1876-1909. An autocratic ruler, he was deposed after the revolt of the Young Turks.

My dad was a short, German man who was very faithful to his duties but felt no real compulsion to step out of the box, but instead, built a life within one.

I have nothing bad to say about him at all. Matter of fact, he made it kind of easy for me to be my own person without–somebody reminding me all the time that I was his son. That’s kind of nice.

For you see, it’s really tough when you’re Abdul the Second. People walkin’ up to you talking about how good your dad was, how fair, how clever–always winking and suggesting that you might want to become a little bit more like him.

After all, Abdul II never thought he was going to be the last sultan. He ended up being the last sultan because he SUCKED. To continue the reign of sultans, you have to be a pretty good one so that your kid has a chance to screw up later.

That’s what happened with Abdul I. He was a good enough sultan that they let him continue to be one, and then, when he passed it on to his son. . . well,  his boy fumbled the ball on the three yard line.

So I guess it would be better stated that Abdul was the last turkey to be a sultan.

We all need to realize that it is better not to give our children our name, forcing them to live in the shadow of our deeds, good and bad.

Poor Abdul II.

He was just an old ruler overcome by young Turks.