God

Okay, so no picture. I mean, God isn't a starry sky or an old man, which is what I mostly get from googling for an image.

Well, anyway, I find it interesting that when lay Christians talk about God, they typically mean God the Father. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are just kind of... also God. But God the Father is the "real" God. Almost like he's the boss and they're the underlings.

I think the Apostle's Creed is a major cause of this. The divinity of two-thirds of the triune God is not stated in the creed. And while I think a lot of Christians don't know the creed by heart, I also think it's kind of "gone underground" and is a part of our cultural psyche. The Apostle's Creed illustrates the way we think about God on a subconscious level.

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Also? Capitalizing the "g" in "God" is important. Some people say we oughta capitalize all pronouns that refer to one of the persons of the Trinity (oo! There's another one!) but I'm not all that careful about it.

We use the capital letter to show that "God" is a name, not just a word; by changing a word into a name, we make the word itself special and restrict its use. No longer can it be one among many. It personalizes it. Our dog's nickname is Puppy (never mind that he's, like, ten). Making the word "puppy" into a name means he is OUR puppy - and the only one.

I still feel awkward calling my in-laws "Mom" and "Dad". There are many moms and dads in the world, but that's how I refer to my parents; those words have taken on a special significance since I use them as names.