Interesting thought on the importance of the name Jehovah.

by PaNiCAtTaCk 34 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  PaNiCAtTaCk

  
  First off, I did not write this. I found it on the net. I think this guy made an interesting point.

  
  Let us suppose Jesus did indeed use YHWH in his every day conversation; that he had, indeed, uttered the correct pronunciation of it to his dearest disciples. Surely, coming from God Himself, the Nazarene would know how to pronounce the noma sagrada. Suppose he stressed this importance and directed his disciples to pass this on to the next generation, etceteras, etceteras. This would have allowed for the preservation of something so very important, from the JW perspective. This agency for passing on the Divine Name and its exact pronunciation, according to JWs, would be that “faithful and discreet slave” class which has come down through history in an unbroken chain right up to modern times. The question rises: who lost this correct pronunciation? It would have to be the “faithful and discreet slave class” itself and this is unthinkable to modern JWs, including those professing “anointed” members of the contemporary “faithful and discreet slave class”. Will JWs accept this blame?

  Today scholars possess more than 7,000 very ancient original language manuscripts of the New Testament. None of these contain YHWH. No manuscript of the writings of what are called apostolic fathers in the first and second centuries contain the divine name either.
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  jwfacts

  If the early Christians made extensive use of the word YHWH if Aramaic, Greek and/or Jewish, why does no one know how it is pronounced?

  What a brilliant point, and how simple.

  I have researched this topic quite extensively and can't remember seeing that point mentioned before.
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  greendawn

  That's a good point, above all the Apostle of the gentiles Saint Paul was not interested in transmitting the name Jehovah because the Christian Church revolves around the name of Christ who is the immediate head of the body of believers.
  
  The name Jehovah is associated with the obsolete, heavy going, and enslaving Mosaic law. And the JWs are very attached to that name while the name of Christ is to them quite marginal!!! What do they really stand for?
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  cyberdyne systems 101

  After reading the Davinci Code, you wonder how much faith we can really put into anything. How much of the history we have can be proven? The example you site about God's name is quite significant, seeing as though the witnesses say God preserved the Bible and the group of followers he aparantly chose have adopted his name, surely he would have wanted his real name not some ancient English version of what it could be? How would we feel if someone constantly addressed us incorrectly, I know when my name gets abbreviated sometimes it irks me!

  CS 101
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  plmkrzy

  Could it be because it was considered in acient times blasphemous to speak or write/read outloud gods name. Wasn't it removed from ancient scrolls?
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  cyberdyne systems 101

  Could it be because it was considered in acient times blasphemous to speak or write/read outloud gods name. Wasn't it removed from ancient scrolls? So God allowed man to change his 'thoughts' as written in the Bible? Seems to blow a hole in the inspiration of it! CS 101
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  peacefulpete

  The name Yahweh wasn't needed once the Jews fully adopted montheism. Why would the only god need a way to be distinguished from other gods? This trend away from using a name was hundreds of years old by the time of the birth of Christianity. Being that their older religious texts often yet included the anitiquated name, the name came to be a religious relic of sorts having mystical/magical importance rather than serving as identification. Using the "Name" had magical power. This is why the name was prohibited from vulgar, mundane usage. By the mid 1rst century if anyone ran around saying the name he was liable to the charge of blaspheme, yet no where in Rabbinic writings nor the NT do we find any charge of blaspheme for using the mystical name brought against Jesus or early Christians. The JWs simply create a whole imaginary scenario not even suggested in the NT or other early writings when they claim Jesus used the name and taught others a "lost" pronounciation. There is no reason to believe that the pronouciation was lost. It just wasn't shouted on the streets.
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  fullofdoubtnow

  That is a good point. I have never seen that before, thankyou for sharing.
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  drew sagan

  A wonderful point that can be applied to ALL Christian teachings the Watchtower says were lost to apostacy. If the slave was given the truth to guard, it failed for centuries.
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  garybuss

  When I was at Bethel visiting in 1958, I asked to see the ancient manuscripts and I was told they are not at Bethel. Later I found out they are at the Vatican. What's with this?