# A God by any other name ... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 2, 2008, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-by-any-other-name/447734 "2008-05-02T09:52:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-by-any-other-name/447734/21 "2008-05-16T07:19:25Z")
[QUOTE=Ducktail] I remember back in religious elementary school we had this one hymn that had the refrain… “Abba, Father/Abba, Father/ I will never cease to looo-ooove yoooou…” I have never yet since heard the Judeo-Christian deity referred to as “Abba”–at least not in mainstream American Christian culture–although I suppose it might be some Old Testament term. But I’ll be damned if I can dissociate it from those pesky Swedes long enough to suppress the mental image of a chorus line of angels singing backup in an almighty rendition of Waterloo. [/QUOTE] Well, you could always resort to reading the Bible, I guess, and you’ll find it [here](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=14&verse=36&version=31&context=verse). The footnote says it’s Aramaic for “Father”, but idiomatically I believe it’s more like “Daddy” - a child’s word. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-by-any-other-name/447734/22 "2008-05-16T07:50:04Z")
And all along, I thought God was “Art, in heaven”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![usar\_jag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@usar\_jag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usar_jag)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-by-any-other-name/447734/23 "2008-05-16T11:16:40Z")
[QUOTE=MacTech] And He drives an old Plymouth Fury… [/QUOTE] I believe Jesus Chrysler Drives a Dodge… ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-by-any-other-name/447734/24 "2008-05-16T11:23:24Z")
[QUOTE=ZipperJJ] I thought Clapton was God. [/QUOTE] Of course… Dennis Clapton. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-by-any-other-name/447734/25 "2008-05-16T11:28:07Z")
> [@](#): > > “Abba, Father/Abba, Father/ > I will never cease to looo-ooove yoooou…” > > I have never yet since heard the Judeo-Christian deity referred to as “Abba”–at least not in mainstream American Christian culture–although I suppose it might be some Old Testament term. But I’ll be damned if I can dissociate it from those pesky Swedes long enough to suppress the mental image of a chorus line of angels singing backup in an almighty rendition of Waterloo. There were some who claimed that one of Jesus’ innovations was referring to God so informally as “Abba”. But it turns out not to be true. There are records of other street preachers, Jesus’ near-conteporaries (like Honi the Circle-Drawer), using the same term. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-by-any-other-name/447734/26 "2008-05-16T13:49:56Z")
[QUOTE=Shirley Ujest] So _God_ himself is so powerful he can create a world and all its delicate ecostructure and then drive a powerful gas guzzling ozone depleting V8. [/QUOTE] Um, Jesus built my hot-rod. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-by-any-other-name/447734.md?page=1)