i'm tired, Jehovah please knock some since into thease people!!!!!!!!!!!!1
what was that? tsk tsk tsk
I'm sorry but
by toer5777 183 Replies latest jw friends
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mrsjones5
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daystar
and they beleive in Jehovah?????
??? You really haven't studied the bible that much, have you? The name "Jehovah" comes from the Hebrew tetragrammaton YHVH, Yahweh... again, in Hebrew.
They believe in YHVH, they just don't speak or use his proper name in most all cases because they believe it too holy to use mundanely.
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AlmostAtheist
Hi Toer,
Since you brought up birthdays, yes, the Watchtower's view of them is very mistaken. Please review this document I wrote up describing the reasons they forbid birthdays and why those reasons don't wash. If you've got any reasoning to add to this, I'll happily do so:
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AK - Jeff
toer5777-
Didn't read all the pages of this thread yet - sorry if I repeat. You said;
but what other organization in the world goes preaching house to house like jesus did.
There is not any evidence in the Bible that supports this statement, is there? I have read the Bible for 40+ years, nearly all of them as a JW, and have never seen this proven.
Jeff
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toer5777
The Divine Name That Will Endure Forever God's Name—Its Meaning and Pronunciation
ONE of the Bible writers asked: "Who has gathered the wind in the hollow of both hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in a mantle? Who has made all the ends of the earth to rise? What is his name and what the name of his son, in case you know?" ( Proverbs 30:4 ) How can we find out what God's name is? That is an important question. The creation is a powerful proof that God must exist, but it does not tell us his name. ( Romans 1:20 ) In fact, we could never know God's name unless the Creator himself told us. And he has done that in his own Book, the Holy Bible.
Church in Digne, southern France
Church in La Celle Dunoise, France
Fourvière Catholic Basilica, Lyons, FranceOn one celebrated occasion, God pronounced his own name, repeating it in the hearing of Moses. Moses wrote an account of that event that has been preserved in the Bible down to our day. ( Exodus 34:5 ) God even wrote his name with his own "finger." When he had given Moses what we today call the Ten Commandments, God miraculously wrote them down. The record says: "Now as soon as [God] had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai he proceeded to give Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone written on by God's finger." ( Exodus 31:18 ) God's name appears eight times in the original Ten Commandments. ( Exodus 20:1-17 ) Thus God himself has revealed his name to man both verbally and in writing. So, what is that name?
In the Hebrew language it is written
The name is a form of a Hebrew verb ha·wah' (* Thus, God's name identifies him as the One who progressively fulfills his promises and unfailingly realizes his purposes. Only the true God could bear such a meaningful name.
Do you remember the different ways that God's name appeared in Psalm 83:18 , as set out in the previous section? Two of those translations had mere titles ("the L ORD ," the "Eternal") as substitutes for God's name. But in two of them, Yahweh and Jehovah, you can see the four letters of God's name. However, the pronunciation is different. Why?
How Is God's Name Pronounced?
The truth is, nobody knows for sure how the name of God was originally pronounced. Why not? Well, the first language used in writing the Bible was Hebrew, and when the Hebrew language was written down, the writers wrote only consonants—not vowels. Hence, when the inspired writers wrote God's name, they naturally did the same thing and wrote only the consonants.
While ancient Hebrew was an everyday spoken language, this presented no problem. The pronunciation of the Name was familiar to the Israelites and when they saw it in writing they supplied the vowels without thinking (just as, for an English reader, the abbreviation "Ltd." represents "Limited" and "bldg." represents "building").
Two things happened to change this situation. First, a superstitious idea arose among the Jews that it was wrong to say the divine name out loud; so when they came to it in their Bible reading they uttered the Hebrew word 'Adho·nai' ("Sovereign Lord"). Further, as time went by, the ancient Hebrew language itself ceased to be spoken in everyday conversation, and in this way the original Hebrew pronunciation of God's name was eventually forgotten.
In order to ensure that the pronunciation of the Hebrew language as a whole would not be lost, Jewish scholars of the second half of the first millennium C.E. invented a system of points to represent the missing vowels, and they placed these around the consonants in the Hebrew Bible. Thus, both vowels and consonants were written down, and the pronunciation as it was at that time was preserved.
When it came to God's name, instead of putting the proper vowel signs around it, in most cases they put other vowel signs to remind the reader that he should say 'Adho·nai'. From this came the spelling Iehouah, and, eventually, Jehovah became the accepted pronunciation of the divine name in English. This retains the essential elements of God's name from the Hebrew original.
See: Different scholars have different ideas about . . .
Which Pronunciation Will You Use?
Forms of the divine name in different languages, indicating international acceptance of the form Jehovah
Awabakal - Yehóa
Bugotu - Jihova
Cantonese - Yehwowah
Danish - Jehova
Dutch - Jehovah
Efik - Jehovah
English - Jehovah
Fijian - Jiova
Finnish - Jehova
French - Jéhovah
Futuna - Ihova
German - Jehova
Hungarian - Jehova
Igbo - Jehova
Italian - Geova
Japanese - Ehoba
Maori - Ihowa
Motu - Iehova
Mwala-Malu - Jihova
Narrinyeri - Jehovah
Nembe - Jihova
Petats - Jihouva
Polish - Jehowa
Portuguese - Jeová
Romanian - Iehova
Samoan - Ieova
Sotho - Jehova
Spanish - Jehová
Swahili - Yehova
Swedish - Jehova
Tahitian - Iehova
Tagalog - Jehova
Tongan - Jihova
Venda - Yehova
Xhosa - uYehova
Yoruba - Jehofah
Zulu - uJehovaReturn to article Where, though, did pronunciations like Yahweh come from? These are forms that have been suggested by modern scholars trying to deduce the original pronunciation of God's name. Some—though not all—feel that the Israelites before the time of Jesus probably pronounced God's name Yahweh. But no one can be sure. Perhaps they pronounced it that way, perhaps not.
Nevertheless, many prefer the pronunciation Jehovah. Why? Because it has a currency and familiarity that Yahweh does not have. Would it not, though, be better to use the form that might be closer to the original pronunciation? Not really, for that is not the custom with Bible names.
To take the most prominent example, consider the name of Jesus. Do you know how Jesus' family and friends addressed him in day-to-day conversation while he was growing up in Nazareth? The truth is, no human knows for certain, although it may have been something like Yeshua (or perhaps Yehoshua). It certainly was not Jesus.
However, when the accounts of his life were written in the Greek language, the inspired writers did not try to preserve that original Hebrew pronunciation. Rather, they rendered the name in Greek, I·e·sous'. Today, it is rendered differently according to the language of the reader of the Bible. Spanish Bible readers encounter Jesús (pronounced Hes·soos'). Italians spell it Gesù (pronounced Djay·zoo'). And Germans spell it Jesus (pronounced Yay'soos).
Must we stop using the name of Jesus because most of us, or even all of us, do not really know its original pronunciation? So far, no translator has suggested this. We like to use the name, for it identifies the beloved Son of God, Jesus Christ, who gave his lifeblood for us. Would it be showing honor to Jesus to remove all mention of his name in the Bible and replace it with a mere title like "Teacher," or "Mediator"? Of course not! We can relate to Jesus when we use his name the way it is commonly pronounced in our language.
Similar comments could be made regarding all the names we read in the Bible. We pronounce them in our own language and do not try to imitate the original pronunciation. Thus we say "Jeremiah," not Yir·meya'hu. Similarly we say Isaiah, although in his own day this prophet likely was known as Yesha e ·ya'hu. Even scholars who are aware of the original pronunciation of these names use the modern pronunciation, not the ancient, when speaking about them.
And the same is true with the name Jehovah. Even though the modern pronunciation Jehovah might not be exactly the way it was pronounced originally, this in no way detracts from the importance of the name. It identifies the Creator, the living God, the Most High to whom Jesus said: "Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified."— Matthew 6:9 .
See: "Jehovah" has become widely known as the name of God . . .
'It Cannot Be Supplanted'
While many translators favor the pronunciation Yahweh, the New World Translation and also a number of other translations continue the use of the form Jehovah because of people's familiarity with it for centuries. Moreover, it preserves, equally with other forms, the four letters of the Tetragrammaton, YHWH or JHVH.#
Earlier, the German professor Gustav Friedrich Oehler made a similar decision for much the same reason. He discussed various pronunciations and concluded: "From this point onward I use the word Jehovah, because, as a matter of fact, this name has now become more naturalized in our vocabulary, and cannot be supplanted."—Theologie des Alten Testaments (Theology of the Old Testament), second edition, published in 1882, page 143.
Similarly, in his Grammaire de l'hébreu biblique (Grammar of Biblical Hebrew), 1923 edition, in a footnote on page 49, Jesuit scholar Paul Joüon states: "In our translations, instead of the (hypothetical) form Yahweh, we have used the form Jéhovah . . . which is the conventional literary form used in French." In many other languages Bible translators use a similar form, as indicated in the box on page 8.
Is it, then, wrong to use a form like Yahweh? Not at all. It is just that the form Jehovah is likely to meet with a quicker response from the reader because it is the form that has been "naturalized" into most languages. The important thing is that we use the name and declare it to others. "Give thanks to Jehovah, you people! Call upon his name. Make known among the peoples his dealings. Make mention that his name is put on high."— Isaiah 12:4 .
Let us see how God's servants have acted in harmony with that command through the centuries.
* See Appendix 1 A in the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, 1984 edition.
# See Appendix 1 A in the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, 1984 edition.Published in 1984 Copyright © 2004 Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved.
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mrsjones5
I'm a snob and find that any information from the watchtower is suspect since they give me nothing but watchtower material to do research from...by chance do you have a list of the outside sources that were used for this article? -
daystar
but you asked if Jews believed in Jehovah. This, you apparently already know.
Oh, and regarding Jehovah knocking some sense into "these people". I gotta tell you, he did. Which is precisely why I would never go back to Satan's false prophet, the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society or the Jehovah's Witnesses.
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AlmostAtheist
To take the most prominent example, consider the name of Jesus. Do you know how Jesus' family and friends addressed him in day-to-day conversation while he was growing up in Nazareth? The truth is, no human knows for certain, although it may have been something like Yeshua (or perhaps Yehoshua). It certainly was not Jesus.
So we don't know how to pronounce "Jesus"... and it appears about a million times in the New Testament.
And we don't know how to pronounce "Jehovah"... and it doesn't appear in the New Testament at all.
Hmmm... seems like somebody is trying to shift attention from one glaring problem onto a different less-glaring problem...
Dave
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toer5777
Jehovah's Witnesses — Who Are They? What Do They Believe?
Who Are They?
They are
interested in youIT IS the desire of Jehovah's Witnesses that you become better acquainted with them. You may have met them as neighbors and fellow employees or in other daily affairs of life. You may have seen them on the street, offering their magazines to passersby. Or you may have spoken briefly with them at your door.
Actually, Jehovah's Witnesses are interested in you and your welfare. They want to be your friends and to tell you more about themselves, their beliefs, their organization, and how they feel about people and the world in which all of us live. To accomplish this, they have prepared this brochure for you.
In most ways Jehovah's Witnesses are like everyone else. They have normal problems—economic, physical, emotional. They make mistakes at times, for they are not perfect, inspired, or infallible. But they try to learn from their experiences and diligently study the Bible to make needed corrections. They have made a dedication to God to do his will, and they apply themselves to fulfill this dedication. In all their activities they seek guidance from God's Word and his holy spirit.
They are dedicated to
God to do his willIt is of vital importance to them that their beliefs be based on the Bible and not on mere human speculations or religious creeds. They feel as did the apostle Paul when he expressed himself under inspiration: "Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar." ( Romans 3:4 , New World Translation*) When it comes to teachings offered as Biblical truth, the Witnesses strongly endorse the course followed by the Beroeans when they heard the apostle Paul preach: "They received the word with the greatest eagerness of mind, carefully examining the Scriptures daily as to whether these things were so." ( Acts 17:11 ) Jehovah's Witnesses believe that all religious teachings should be subjected to this test of agreement with the inspired Scriptures, whether the teaching is offered by them or by someone else. They invite you—urge you—to do this in your discussions with them.
They believe the
Bible is God's WordFrom this it is apparent that Jehovah's Witnesses believe in the Bible as the Word of God. They consider its 66 books to be inspired and historically accurate. What is commonly called the New Testament they refer to as the Christian Greek Scriptures, and the Old Testament they call the Hebrew Scriptures. They rely on both of these, the Greek and the Hebrew Scriptures, and take them literally except where the expressions or settings obviously indicate that they are figurative or symbolic. They understand that many of the prophecies of the Bible have been fulfilled, others are in the course of fulfillment, and still others await fulfillment.
THEIR NAME
Jehovah's Witnesses? Yes, that is the way they refer to themselves. It is a descriptive name, indicating that they bear witness concerning Jehovah, his Godship, and his purposes. "God," "Lord," and "Creator"—like "President," "King," and "General"—are titles and may be applied to several different personages. But "Jehovah" is a personal name and refers to the almighty God and Creator of the universe. This is shown at Psalm 83:18 , according to the King James version of the Bible: "That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth."
God's personal name in ancient Hebrew
The name Jehovah (or Yahweh, as the Roman Catholic Jerusalem Bible and some scholars prefer) appears almost 7,000 times in the original Hebrew Scriptures. Most Bibles do not show it as such but substitute "God" or "Lord" for it. However, even in these Bibles, a person can usually tell where the original Hebrew text uses Jehovah because in those places the substituted words are written in large and small capitals, thus: G OD , L ORD . Several modern translations do use either the name Jehovah or the name Yahweh. Hence, the New World Translation reads at Isaiah 42:8 , "I am Jehovah. That is my name."
The name as related to
a courtroom dramaThe Scriptural account that Jehovah's Witnesses draw on for their name is in the 43rd chapter of Isaiah . There the world scene is viewed as a courtroom drama: The gods of the nations are invited to bring forth their witnesses to prove their claimed cases of righteousness or to hear the witnesses for Jehovah's side and acknowledge the truth. Jehovah there declares to his people: "Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour."— Isaiah 43:10, 11 , American Standard Version.
Jehovah God had witnesses on earth during the thousands of years before Jesus was born. After Hebrews chapter 11 lists some of those men of faith, Hebrews 12:1 says: "So, then, because we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also put off every weight and the sin that easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." Jesus said before Pontius Pilate: "For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth." He is called "the faithful and true witness." ( John 18:37 ; Revelation 3:14 ) Jesus told his disciples: "You will receive power when the holy spirit arrives upon you, and you will be witnesses of me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the most distant part of the earth."— Acts 1:8 .
Hence, some 6,000,000 persons today who are telling the good news of Jehovah's Kingdom by Christ Jesus in over 230 lands feel that they properly refer to themselves as Jehovah's Witnesses.
Some 6,000,000 Witnesses
in over 230 lands* Bible quotations in this brochure are from this translation, unless otherwise stated.
Published in 2000
Copyright © 2004 Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved.
Jehovah's Witnesses — Who Are They? What Do They Believe?
Who Are They?
They are
interested in youIT IS the desire of Jehovah's Witnesses that you become better acquainted with them. You may have met them as neighbors and fellow employees or in other daily affairs of life. You may have seen them on the street, offering their magazines to passersby. Or you may have spoken briefly with them at your door.
Actually, Jehovah's Witnesses are interested in you and your welfare. They want to be your friends and to tell you more about themselves, their beliefs, their organization, and how they feel about people and the world in which all of us live. To accomplish this, they have prepared this brochure for you.
In most ways Jehovah's Witnesses are like everyone else. They have normal problems—economic, physical, emotional. They make mistakes at times, for they are not perfect, inspired, or infallible. But they try to learn from their experiences and diligently study the Bible to make needed corrections. They have made a dedication to God to do his will, and they apply themselves to fulfill this dedication. In all their activities they seek guidance from God's Word and his holy spirit.
They are dedicated to
God to do his willIt is of vital importance to them that their beliefs be based on the Bible and not on mere human speculations or religious creeds. They feel as did the apostle Paul when he expressed himself under inspiration: "Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar." ( Romans 3:4 , New World Translation*) When it comes to teachings offered as Biblical truth, the Witnesses strongly endorse the course followed by the Beroeans when they heard the apostle Paul preach: "They received the word with the greatest eagerness of mind, carefully examining the Scriptures daily as to whether these things were so." ( Acts 17:11 ) Jehovah's Witnesses believe that all religious teachings should be subjected to this test of agreement with the inspired Scriptures, whether the teaching is offered by them or by someone else. They invite you—urge you—to do this in your discussions with them.
They believe the
Bible is God's WordFrom this it is apparent that Jehovah's Witnesses believe in the Bible as the Word of God. They consider its 66 books to be inspired and historically accurate. What is commonly called the New Testament they refer to as the Christian Greek Scriptures, and the Old Testament they call the Hebrew Scriptures. They rely on both of these, the Greek and the Hebrew Scriptures, and take them literally except where the expressions or settings obviously indicate that they are figurative or symbolic. They understand that many of the prophecies of the Bible have been fulfilled, others are in the course of fulfillment, and still others await fulfillment.
THEIR NAME
Jehovah's Witnesses? Yes, that is the way they refer to themselves. It is a descriptive name, indicating that they bear witness concerning Jehovah, his Godship, and his purposes. "God," "Lord," and "Creator"—like "President," "King," and "General"—are titles and may be applied to several different personages. But "Jehovah" is a personal name and refers to the almighty God and Creator of the universe. This is shown at Psalm 83:18 , according to the King James version of the Bible: "That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth."
God's personal name in ancient Hebrew
The name Jehovah (or Yahweh, as the Roman Catholic Jerusalem Bible and some scholars prefer) appears almost 7,000 times in the original Hebrew Scriptures. Most Bibles do not show it as such but substitute "God" or "Lord" for it. However, even in these Bibles, a person can usually tell where the original Hebrew text uses Jehovah because in those places the substituted words are written in large and small capitals, thus: G OD , L ORD . Several modern translations do use either the name Jehovah or the name Yahweh. Hence, the New World Translation reads at Isaiah 42:8 , "I am Jehovah. That is my name."
The name as related to
a courtroom dramaThe Scriptural account that Jehovah's Witnesses draw on for their name is in the 43rd chapter of Isaiah . There the world scene is viewed as a courtroom drama: The gods of the nations are invited to bring forth their witnesses to prove their claimed cases of righteousness or to hear the witnesses for Jehovah's side and acknowledge the truth. Jehovah there declares to his people: "Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour."— Isaiah 43:10, 11 , American Standard Version.
Jehovah God had witnesses on earth during the thousands of years before Jesus was born. After Hebrews chapter 11 lists some of those men of faith, Hebrews 12:1 says: "So, then, because we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also put off every weight and the sin that easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." Jesus said before Pontius Pilate: "For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth." He is called "the faithful and true witness." ( John 18:37 ; Revelation 3:14 ) Jesus told his disciples: "You will receive power when the holy spirit arrives upon you, and you will be witnesses of me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the most distant part of the earth."— Acts 1:8 .
Hence, some 6,000,000 persons today who are telling the good news of Jehovah's Kingdom by Christ Jesus in over 230 lands feel that they properly refer to themselves as Jehovah's Witnesses.
Some 6,000,000 Witnesses
in over 230 lands* Bible quotations in this brochure are from this translation, unless otherwise stated.
Published in 2000
Copyright © 2004 Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved.
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Mastodon
I'm sorry but... BARF!!!