You are trying to apply something from the physical realm to the spiritual realm. The Book of Life is a reference to a record of those faithful to God in this life. I would not conclude that it is a physical book. Those who are faithful are recorded in that book but exactly how it is done is not something we are told. Names in this life are reused. What is recorded in the Book of Life is unique to each person.<\/p>\n\t
Hi\u00a0Jeffrey,<\/p>\n
Thanks for your response. I just thought of this because God called patriarch and prophets by their names and even gave names or changed some\u00a0of them.<\/p>\n
I am learning a lot from your site and I hope that you don’t get tired answering questions. I also appreciate your answering angry, very personal and sometimes not so sensible ones. May God bless you with good health, patience, and wisdom at all times.<\/p>\n\t
The changing of names served a purpose. Abram’s name means “father.” God told him to change his name to “father of a multitude” (Abraham) while he was an old man who never had children. It took faith for Abraham to refer to himself by a name that seemingly did not match his circumstances. Abraham demonstrated his faith because you never see his old name used after God told him to change his name.<\/p>\n
Jacob’s name means “heel catcher.” It refers to a prankster who trips someone walking by. His name was changed to “wrestles with God” in honor of his persistence. Unlike his grandfather, Jacob did not use the name “Israel” very often. It did become the name of his descendants and it was an appropriate name because they constantly struggled against God.<\/p>\n
There are times in the past when God selected names for people or changed their names because He had a message He wanted to convey. But these were rare events and is not the way God deals with people today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I have been reading through your website and I find a lot of answers to my questions. I have also shared the link to it in our group. I thank God, first of all for the wisdom He’s\u00a0given you. Thank you for your time using it. I really appreciate it. Please let me know…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[127,998],"class_list":["post-12646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-about-this-site","tag-names"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":86348,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-names-be-removed-from-the-book-of-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":12646,"position":0},"title":"Can names be removed from the Book of Life?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi! Google directed me to your website, and I noticed an error. In \"What are the books opened in Revelation 20:12?\" you said, \"Names written in the book of life can be removed (Revelation 3:5).\" It\u00a0should say names cannot be removed. Just thought I'd bring it to your attention\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26697,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-already-know-who-will-be-in-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":12646,"position":1},"title":"Does God already know who will be in heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does God already know who will be in heaven? Based on Revelation 13:8, I think He does. Answer: There are two ways Revelation 13:8 can be translated: \"All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23125,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-book-of-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":12646,"position":2},"title":"The Book of Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Exodus 32:15-35 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are songs we sing over and over. Perhaps too often because we don\u2019t give enough thought to what we are saying to one another. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There is a song in our books, number 418, that is titled \u201cLord, I Care Not for Riches\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It expresses what ought\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35560,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-are-the-books-opened-in-revelation-2012\/","url_meta":{"origin":12646,"position":3},"title":"What are the books opened in Revelation 20:12?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 4, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day. I have an argument with a Catholic defender on social media about Sola Scriptura. I used Revelation 20:12 that the written word will judge us in the last days. But he said that the books opened are not the Bible but the record of men's deeds. What\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2239,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/am-i-removed-from-the-book-of-life-each-time-i-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":12646,"position":4},"title":"Am I removed from the Book of Life each time I sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hey Mr. Jeffrey, How can we know we're in the Book of Life? What if I commit a sin (drive over the speed limit, think an evil thought, etc.)? Is my name erased from the Book of Life? How does one get into and stay in the Book of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20486,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-ecclesiasticus-or-sirach\/","url_meta":{"origin":12646,"position":5},"title":"Is it Ecclesiasticus or Sirach?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In your article \"The Extra Catholic Books,\" I had a question. In all of the Catholic Bibles I have seen I have not seen the book Ecclesiasticus. I do, however, see another book that is not in the KJV or the NKJV or any other version I've seen except\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12646\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}