Where is the “o”?This question is asked of Messianic Believers all of the time, some times with goodresponses and some times with not so good responses from either side. So what I wouldlike to do is first share a page from my colleagues site;The following text is copied directly off ofhttp://www.nehemiah-center.org/html/no_o___oh_no_.htmlowned and operated by Nehemiah Center in Bangor PA. MRo’eh George Cook holdsSmicha as a Messianic Ro’eh with CTOMC and holds ordination through FLMILW.

What happened to the ‘o’

I see that you took notice to the fact that when I write the name of Adonai that I leave out the‘o’ and replace it with a dash. G-d or L-rd! Why is that you wonder and I am glad that you asked!Lets look at the Bible:Deu 5:11 "You shall not take the name of the L-RD your G-d in vain: for the L-RD will not hold himguiltless who takes his name in vain.We are all very familiar with that passage and recognize it as the third commandment. But whatdoes it mean to us today? For most of us it means we should not use foul language or use G-d'sname as a curse. But the true meaning goes much further indeed!You probably also have heard the name Yahweh and might have wondered where that came from.Well the Israelites to whom G-d gave the commandments and the Law took that thirdcommandment VERY seriously. To take something in vain means to take it in a casual way. Howmuch do your pay attention to what is written down on a piece of paper? Not much usually. Infact every day we throw away in the garbage lots of paper with writing on it. Labels and thingsthat we write that are not quite right and of course advertising and newspapers.So what if G-d's holy name was on that paper? Are we to take it so frivolously as to just discardit? Is his name not precious? Are we being vain just tossing it out? Well the Isrealite's came upwith a solution to the problem! They did not write his name out. Instead they left out thevowels. And wrote the Hebrew letters Yod He Vod He. Or in English YHVH - which wetranslated into the word Yahweh and later Jehovah. Interestingly enough the Hebrewpronunciation for YHVH is Adonai.So today many of us who would like to try to keep that commandment in a more perfect way soas to honor Jesus (Y’shua) leave out the ‘o’ It’s a way of saying

I LOVE YOU L-RD!”So that’s why I leave the ‘o’ out of G-d - Because I love Him!No O? Oh NO!|

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- - - - - - NOTE - - - - - -The following study is not meant to take away from Pastor George’s page, it was written as a simpleexplanation for the casual reader. What follows is an in depth study for those who want to go deeper andfully understand this custom. Pastor George Cook and My self take great steps to provide the mostaccurate and accountable teachings we can.- - - - - - END NOTE - - - - - -

A very good brief exposition from one persons perspective. Lets look at some of thecomments on the topic:(These can be found at http://conservative-christian-forums.com//YaBB.pl?num=1187717103)**

I do it out of respect and utmost love for the Most High G-d.

I personally find saying G-d is the same as spelling God. Over time people associate the - with an o so it becomes a recognized symbol, and thus you are back to finding a replacement for the - ... [partial quote]

There are many reasons I use G-d, L-rd etc.... many have been mentioned here either in a post or by reference to PG's answer on his site.In addition to those, for me this is the most compelling: I use G-d etc because I want to signify that I am not speaking about just ANY god, but the One True Living Creator and Redeemer of the Universe, The G-d of Avraham Yitzkhak and Ya’akov. THAT unique G-d.In the world there are many who claim the title/label of god - some even capitalize their "god." I chose to make a visible, clear and undeniable distinction in the venue of internet communication, and in other graphic media, between the plethora of "gods" in this world and THE G-d. THIS is also one way of "sanctifying the Name." imho Thus I use G-d

It had been my habit to spell G-d in this way, but because it appeared to hinder communication I got out of the habit when on the net. It has become more comfortable for me to use Elohim for G-d because the majority of the time the English word G-d is translating the Hebrew word Elohim.

it is interesting how our experiences shape our response for me the use of G-d has opened communication because when people ask I am able to explain and this opens dialogue. At least it does with those who don't get all ugly angry and defensive about it. That HAS happened but very rarely ** I drop the 'o' to distinguish Whom I speak of in the same fashion that Henaynei does. Our G-d isn't just any god.

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Now I have an unfair advantage, besides electronic versions of the TaNaKh (FirstTestament/Old Testament) I have at least 10 different copies in print format, so I can just open one up and compare. And I did.Now understand the question is not actually just about the “o” in the word God. But thesubstitution of a letter or word out of respect for the G-d of Abraham, Isaac andJacob. Now I know your going to say it’s not that way in my bible! Well I hate to bethe bearer of disturbing news, but it is.90% of the people that are going to read or hear this teaching have little or no Hebrewknowledge, and even less than that have any language teaching outside of their nativelanguage. Including the Arabic alphabet or English speakers. All you have known is whatis written in your Bibles printed in your own language. What you need to remember theWORD of G-d was NOT originally written in English, Latin, German, but in Hebrew,Aramaic and Greek. It was translated from Hebrew and Aramaic to Greek to Latin etc,and so on until you have the Bible you use today. Even the oldest copies of the TaNaKh(scrolls) show the substitution of

הָוהְי

yod hey vav hey for the name of G-d.Over 6500 times in the scriptures (old testament alone) and another 300 plus times inthe new. G-d’s name was disguised. Intentionally altered. Not to keep us from knowingit but to keep it from becoming common place.Unfortunately over the centuries the actual pronunciation was lost, what was verballypassed on and spoken with all reverence and honor, turned to whispers and later lost,with much thanks going to the Romans and the Greeks and the Turks for their constantassault on the Jews and the Messianic’s. And later on by the Roman Catholic Church fortheir centuries long battle to remove anything Jewish (in their opinion) from the face ofthe Earth.But with all of the attempts to completely wipe out G-d and His Word the only thingsthat were accomplished were to scatter His chosen people, and basically steal the faith