God's name. Wow. What a topic! Some Christians worship Jehovah/Yahweh, some worship Jesus, some worship Elohim, and some worship The Lord God. Some say that it doesn't matter what God's name is, and some say that it is important to know God's name. There are so many Christian based denominations in the world, and because of that there are so many different ways to refer to God. Therefore, it stands to reason that it would be important to know what the truth is concerning the name of the only True God.

Some bible versions actually contain a proper name for our Heavenly Father. According to the King James Version, the American Standard Version, The Living Bible, New World Translation, The Bible in Living English, Young's Literal Translation, and the Darby Translation, God's personal name is Jehovah. (See scriptures such as Exodus 6:3, Psalms 83:18, Isaiah 12:2 and Isaiah 26:4). Other bibles, such as the Bible in Basic English, Rotherham's Emphasized Bible, The New Jerusalem Bible and the World English Bible , render the Holy Name as Yahweh. Yet other sources cite God's Holy Name as being Iehouah, Yahwe, Jahve and other similar names.
What does all this mean? If God's name is so holy and important, then why the confusion as to how it is spelled or pronounced?

Here is a brief piece of history to explain:
The pronunciation of God's name was lost hundreds of years ago because the superstitious Jewish leaders of the times decided that God's name was too holy to be pronounced. They felt it would be using God's name in vain, which would be against the third commandment (Exodus 20:7). Therefore, when they came to God's name when reading the texts, they'd substitute the word "Adonai" (meaning "LORD") instead of speaking the name. This created a problem, because in the Hebrew language, when writing, they didn't use vowels, only consonants at that time. Therefore, the four consonants representing God's name (the letters "YHWH") became lost as to pronunciation over time. These four letters are commonly known as the Tetragrammaton. One of the most common ways this name is thought to be rendered is "Yahweh". The English version of this rendition is "Jehovah". In some scriptures this Name is shortened to "Jah" or "Yah". It is interesting to note though that the New American Standard Version and the New King James Bible have both taken the name "Jehovah" out and completely replaced it with "LORD". Many people don't realize that someversions do differentiate between Jesus as Lord and God as Lord within their pages: When the word in these versions is written in all capitals, "LORD", it is in reference to the Father. When only the first letter is capitalized, "Lord", it is in reference to Jesus. Here are some websites that delve into the divine name more:
http://www.ynca.com/Mini%20Studies/ishisnam.htm
http://www.cin.org/users/james/questions/q132.htm
http://www.fact-index.com/y/ya/yahweh.html
http://www.ucg.org/un/un0106/Q&A.html
http://acharlie.tripod.com/gtrin/jhvh.html
http://www.biblestudy.org/maturart/indefens.html
http://gertoux.online.fr/divinename/faq/question.htm
http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/1999/2/8/article_04.htm

Obviously, now, the question is: If God's name is so important, why didn't He make certain His name was preserved in it's truest form?
The only answer we have from the scriptures so far is at Zephaniah 3:9 which states For then [changing their impure language] I will give to the people a clear and pure speech from pure lips, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one unanimous consent and one united shoulder [bearing the yoke of the Lord].(Amplified Bible) This indicates that after God completes His denunciation on the wickedness of earth (read Zephaniah 3:8), He will then give us the "pure language" of His worship. He is evidently planning to cleanse the world of sin before restoring His true name and showing us the complete trueness of worship. So in the meantime, we need to do our best with what we have to worship Him with. He wants only those who are sincerely trying to worship Him in truth (John 4:24). This is why it says at Zephaniah 2:3 Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth, who carry out what He commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be concealed on the day of the LORD'S anger. (Holman Christian Standard Bible) Thus, although at this time the actual Divine Name's pronunciation is lost, we as true Christians must strive to use it as best we know how, even if it's only our best, educated guess. Though we don't have the entire truth revealed to us at this point, we are still obligated to seek as much truth as we can.

Apparently, God seems to be more concerned with us recognizing that He does have His own personal name more than what that name actually is at this time. By naming Him in our prayers, even if incorrectly, we are differentiating Him from all the other false gods in the world, such as Buddha, Vishnu, Gaia, etc.
God also understands our human limits. He knows we can only call him by what we've learned. If you introduce yourself to us as "Moose", and we don't learn that your real name is Ted, we can only refer to you as "Moose". Yet you'll still know that we are speaking to you.

Therefore, we feel it is important to promote the fact that the Almighty God does have a personal name, and to educate the public regarding His name as best we can.

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ADDENDUM:

Sometimes people ask questions regarding this essay. For everyone's benefit we chose to post them. Keep in mind the biblical admonition to check all things with scripture:

Question: If God's name is so important, then why is that Name not mentioned throughout the entire New Testament?

Answer: Calling on His Name isn't just a matter of knowing the actual word for that Name. It's also the act of giving worship towards only Him, whether or not you know His Name. This is shown at Exodus 6:3 , when God reveals that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob worshiped Him even though He hadn't revealed His Name to them; this in spite of the fact that He did allow other people prior to them to know the Name (Genesis 4:26, 9:26).  It's also interesting that even though Yahweh didn't reveal His name to patriarch Abraham, Abraham's own servant still knew His name (Genesis 24:12). The bible doesn't reveal why God allowed His name to be known at some times and not others. In spite of not knowing God's name, His worshipers still knew to worship Him instead of other gods, and in spite of not knowing God's personal name they still knew theirs was the only TRUE God (Genesis 17:18-21, 35:1). This carried over into the New Testament times, as is shown at Acts 17:23 , which states: "For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription: 'To The Unknown God'. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him I declare unto you." (King James Version). Thus it is shown, that even though people didn't know God's personal name, they were still, In effect, calling upon His name and worshiping Him.
    Today, just as we aren't sure of His true Name, still we do know who we worship, and we at least have a small idea regarding His name thanks to the tetragrammaton. Going by the example shown in the scriptures, the record shows that God isn't neurotic about others knowing His name ; He is more concerned about us getting our worship aimed in the right direction, whether or not His name is known. Notice, the bible doesn't say He's jealous for His name, but that's He's jealous for His worship (Exodus 34:14-17, Deuteronomy 6:14-15). There is a difference. Simply knowing the name of  God or a god is not the same as worship. For example, we know names of different dieties in the world: Yahweh, Buddha, Ostara, Vishnu, Satan, etc. Simply knowing these names is merely knowledge and has nothing to do with worship itself. Knowing about Buddha doesn't make us Buddhist, and knowing about Vishnu doesn't make us Hindu. The True God seems to be more focused on where our worship is directed, while His Name comes along incidental to that worship. This is not to suggest that God's  name isn't important, for scripture states that His is the most exalted Name above all the earth (Nehemiah 9:5), and the third commandment directed punishment for any who took up His name in a worthless way (Exodus 20:7). Yes, directing our worship towards God is most important, and using His name is no small matter either, but apparently it seems He is okay with the way His name is known for now. It is interesting to note, though, that God does plan to reveal His true name to true worshipers again, as stated at Zephaniah 3:9 .