From the Desk of the Editor...

GUYS, I have a question.

chvnx:

n1ghtcrwler:

chvnx:

n1ghtcrwler:

wisdomofscripture:

Is it biblical to change your name?

It seems to be morally neutral.  It isn’t discussed at all, which would suggest it probably wasn’t important enough to mention.

I’m going to have to disagree here.  Abraham was Abram, Sarah was Sarai, Israel was Jacob, Paul was Saul, etc.  Let’s not forget that the diety himself, according to the extra-biblical historical documentation, had many names.  Theologically significant name changes appear in Hosea 1:6–8, where Hosea’s daughter was named “Not-pitied” and his son was named “Not-my-people”. But in Hosea 2:1, 23 the names were changed to “My-people” and “She-was-pitied”. According to John 1:42, Simon the brother of Andrew had his name changed upon his first encounter with Jesus.

Here is a partial list of people who had their names changed in the Bible.

http://www.ccmlinks.com/posts.php?id=109

It is apparent that God allowed, and even prescribed, name changes in the Bible.  Thankfully, none of this matters.

Yes, but the original discussion involved changing one’s own name, not having it changed by God, which makes all examples of God changing names kind of a moot point.

Of course it matters.  Whether or not you disagree with it has no bearing on whether or not it matters.

Nebuchadnezzar’s chief official renamed people in the Bible.  Your God didn’t seem to care. Naomi changed her own name, all by herself, with no intervention from any outside source.  Your God didn’t seem to care.  It is not God alone who changes names in the Bible, and since the deity shows no malice towards those who do, it becomes clear that name changes granted by oneself are in accordance with the commandments of morality dictated by the deity.

So, aside from the ‘not being discussed’ aspect, you’re actually saying the exact same thing I did.