Calling on the Name of Jesus (at baptism)

[votivesoul]

I think the issue is more with the phonetics of the name versus the orthography.

Phonetically, we pronounce the name Jesus like so:

[GEE-zuss] or, more formally, [dʒiːzəs]

Yeshua is pronounced like so:

[ye-SHOO-ah], or more formally, [yēšūă‘]

Every available allophone of each phoneme in each name is completely different from the corresponding one. See the list:

The Letter "J" Versus The Letter "Y"

J = voiced post-alveolar affricate /dʒ/ (i.e. a hard "g" sound, as in jeans)
Y = palatal approximate /j/ (as in yes)

The Letter "E" Versus The Letter "E"

E = close front unrounded vowel /iː/ (as in geese)
E = close-mid front unrounded vowel /e/ (as in trestle)

The Letter "S" Versus The Letters "SH"

S = voiced alveolar fricative /z/ (as in zip)
SH = voiceless post alveolar sibilant /ʃ/ (as in shun)

The Letter "U" Versus The Letter "U"

U = mid central vowel /ə/ (known as "schwa" in English, as in salami)
U = close back rounded vowel /u/ (as in "loose")

The Letter "S" Versus The Letter "A"

S = voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ (as in confess)
A = open mid-back unrounded vowel /ʌ/ (as in rut)

To simply:

- /dʒ/ versus /j/, or "J" versus "Y"

- /iː/ versus /e/, or "E" versus "E"

- [z] versus /ʃ/, or "S" versus "SH"

- /ə/ versus /u/, or "U" versus "U"

- /s/ versus /ʌ/, or "S" versus "A"

Allophonetically, or in the individual sounds of each name, it is quite clear that Jesus and Yeshua ARE NOT THE SAME NAME AT ALL.

They don't even bear a passing resemblance, allophonetically speaking (not to mention syllablically). Just say them out loud one after the other after the other for awhile. If we took someone else's name and evolved or changed it as much allophonetically speaking, if we tried to address them with the evolved or changed version, they wouldn't know we were addressing them and would correct us and tell us that the evolved or changed version isn't their name.

And yet the Son of God seems to respond to either pronunciation, whether in prayer, in the working of miracles, or in baptism.

What then does this suggest?

It suggests to me that:

1.) The name of our Lord isn't a magic charm or incantation dependent upon an exact pronunciation (although we can all agree, I think, that his name isn't Ted, or Brian, or Henry, and etc.).

2.) The name of our Lord stands in for an actual, living person who is capable of knowing whether or not we mean or intend to refer to Him whether we say His name just right or not (so long as we aren't trying to completely rename Him, as in the parenthetical example above).

3.) That Hebrew is not a sacred or divine language; God responds to every tongue

4.) That the Sacred Name crowd are picking a fight with everyone else that God didn't ask them to pick

5.) That it comes down to personal preference

6.) That being the case, no one should judge another for their personal preference

7.) That the Lord would have us unify around Him, as a person, and not dis-unify against Him as if He is merely a name