this board is about language, not comparative religion, or history

I agree, shanks - but oftimes these matters (and much more) are nigh on impossible to separate. Meaning is defined by context at least as much as content.
"Suffice it to say"s like yours are meat and drink, as far as I'm concerned!

The word - or name, or finger pointing at the Moon - in this case was, of course, "God"; and its meaning went through an almost complete enantiodroma (any excuse!) in the time between the Old and the New Testaments.

I always liked Alan Watts' suggestion that "God" should be seen as an exclamation rather than a name.