I remember from past college courses that in the old Testament the Isrealites were not allowed to say God's name YHWY because it was too sacred, so they could only write it; therefore, they used El when saying god's name....correct?.....The JWs seem to claim that they are the only religion to know god's name, but where do they get the right to say Jehovah. Are there any scriptures that would confirm the change from only writing god's name to saying it? I was just wondering about this questions because the JWs have an answer for everthing....maybe I should ask one.
What allows JWs to use Jehovah (YHWY)
by wab07 9 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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carla
Personally I do not accept jehovah. When talking to my jw I will remind him that even the wt said that it was not correct. There a quite a few books about the tetragramaton and those that refute jw's on the subject. Usually the conversation ends up with both the jw & non jw do not know biblical languages and the wt cannot and will not supply you with any names of so called wt scholars so the subject gets quickly changed. Rank & file will not research outside of the wt's anyway so they just accept what the wt's say.
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tioga joe
And does anyone know the letters used for Satan? Since no vowels were used, perhaps his name was really Stan.
But seriously, is there a biblical reference that says you should not say the name of god? Or is this "tradition"?
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Narkissos
I remember from past college courses that in the old Testament the Isrealites were not allowed to say God's name YHWY because it was too sacred, so they could only write it
It depends what period of time you are thinking of. In post-exilic Judaism pronouncing the name became taboo, as a result of the prevalence of official monotheism -- Yhwh being no longer regarded as a god among others (polytheism) nor even as only the exclusive god of Israel (henotheism). As soon as he was considered as God (the only one, absolutely) the need for a distinctive name vanished, and the traditional name became hyper-sacred (reserved for priestly or magical uses, and theologically interpreted, cf. Exodus 3). Otoh it is clear from the older OT dialogues that the name Yhwh previously belonged to rather ordinary speech.
; therefore, they used El when saying god's name....correct?.
Rather, 'adonay (Lord) or 'elohim (God) when adôn was already in the context.
....The JWs seem to claim that they are the only religion to know god's name, but where do they get the right to say Jehovah.
I guess no "Christian" religion ever wondered about its right to use any feature of Judaism (including making the Hebrew Bible its "Old Testament"). From this perspective, Yhwh was relatively fair game for a new Christian sect trying to distinguish itself from mainstream Christianity...
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Bob Loblaw
The Jewish taboos that Narc was speaking of don't exist in Christianity or pseudo-Christianity for that matter.
Christians can go straight to the father through Jesus without going through a high priest or any other mediator.
Therefore, YHWH is fine to use in christianity.
The real problem with the WTS is the way they translated the New Testament in their New World Translation.
Read "The Divine Name in the New World Translation".
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FireNBandits
I'd be willing to bet that Rabbis stil know how to properly pronounce the Tetragrammaton, they simply don't let the goyiim in on the secret because it would instantly be profaned.
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Sasha
I will always pray to Jehovah.,.,...I'm not a witness, but that is Gods name. And I will always pray through Jesus name. amen
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Handsome Dan
The American version of freedom of religion...............they reached up and grabbed the golden power ring for themselves
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TheCoolerKing
The real problem with the WTS is the way they translated the New Testament in their New World Translation.
Excellent point Bob! That's a big reason too that the majority of biblical scholars reject the NWT, primarily because the WTS has added the divine name 237 times in the New Testament. Their reason for restoring it is because they THINK that it was removed from the ancient Greek texts. Even though historically this can't be proved.
I'm always amazed too how the JWs claim ownership of the name Jehovah. I wonder how many current JWs are aware of the fact that the American Standard Version of the Bible, first published in 1901, was actually the first English Bible to restore the divine name to the Old Testament. Wherever the tetragrammaton appeared in the Old Testament, approx. 7000 times, it was replaced with the name Jehovah. And as Ray Franz pointed out in his book, "In Search of Christian Freedom", even though the American Standard Version was available to the "Bible Students" in 1901, most of them still used the King James Version.
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jwfacts
The JW answer to your question is that since YHWH appears over 6000 times in the OT that Jehovah must want his name used. The Jews stopped pronouncing it out loud based on an incorrect superstition, not because that was what Jehovah wanted.
The response to that would be to ask why the word Jehovah never appears in the NT. Why were Jesus and the apostles not using Jehovah?
The JW response will be a lot of incoherent nonsensical replies and then a rapid change of subject. You will quickly see that it is almost impossible to have an intelligent conversation with a Witness.