A lot of it is because other churches use bibles that have removed the name from the OT. Whenever they read LORD in the OT they think it means Lord Jesus. This has a big part to play in the easy acceptance of the trinity, unfortunately.
The Watchtower are guilty of inserting Jehovah in the NT where it perhaps shouldn't be but the other bible translators are worse for leaving the name out of the OT altogether!
Why isn' the name "Jehovah" used?
by MichaelM 24 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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yaddayadda
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Hoping4Change
Bethlehem - I'm assuming you are familiar with the "official" stance that is here: http://www.watchtower.org/library/na/article_06.htm .
It's probably been done in older threads, but can some of the more knowledgeable here dissect the arguments used in the official stance, showing which (if any) parts of their argument carry any weight and which parts are bunk?
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zack
Excellent points. The WTS ascribes "superstition" to the lack of use of the divine name, YHWH. That is not the case.
Here is something to think about though. The name YHWH means "He causes to become" "He causes to be" "I shall prove to be what i shall prove to be." It is my belief that in so identifying himself with this name, YHWH was telling the Hebrews that he was working on fulfilling his promises. Once Jesus came, whose name Yeshua means "Jehovah Saves", all the promises of YHWH were fulfilled--- he had indeed Proven to Be, He had Caused to BECOME--- all that He said he would. It was finished. There was nothing more for Him to do. All was complete in Christ. And part of that purpose was that ALL THINGS be subject to Jesus, every knee bend to Jesus, all authority be vested in Jesus. Jesus is the AMEN to all God's promises, in fact the Scriptures say he is God's gaurantee, He is the WORD of God. The JW's DISHONOR the Son, and consequently dishonor the Father, by not making Jesus name a superior one. They not only miss the point of Christianity---salvation through Grace---- but shut the door to a relationship with God by virtue of the wall they have created between themselves (the FDS) and the Son. The insertion of YHWH in the NT is not only arbitrary, capricious, and dishonest--- it serves as a sign identifying the WTS as an active agent AGAINST the will of YHWH.
Ray Franz covers this extensively in his book In Search of Christian Freedom.
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hamsterbait
Greendawn -
St Jerome said that the ignorant did not know how to say the hebrew letters for the name in the MSS of the Septuagint manuscripts of his day. He says they "pronounce it 'peepee' " because of the resemblance of Hebrew letters to the greek in this word.
If the LXX of his day did not have these instances, why would Jerome say this?
To deny the genuinness of manuscript fragments of the LXX containing the Hebrew name is dishonest.
HB
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LiveLife
Suppose my name is Shirley. If someone claimed to be my friend and my spokeperson while consistently calling me Charles to everyone they spoke to about me, are they really representing me to others? I mean, after all, they are only changing the sounds of a few letters.
The name "Jehovah" is a made up name for God. It doesn't exist in any language prior to or during the time of Christianity's origins. There is not even a remote possibility that Jesus ever called the Father "Jehovah". Hallelujah uses "jah" and how is it pronounced? "hal-ay-loo-yah." "Yah", as in, "Yahweh."
Therefore, it is just as important to invoke the name "Jehovah" as it is to invoke the name "Oliver Twist" or "Frodo Baggins" ... these names are equally invented from human imagination. So, while many of the arguments presented are valid if presented in favor of the restitution of YHWH into the OT texts none are valid for the insertion of the name Jehovah into the texts.
As yet, there is not one shred of translational authority for inserting the name "Jehovah" anywhere into the NT texts, yet in the New World Translation it can be found 237 times. Twice the name "Jehovah" spuriously appears in the very chapter of the Bible where we find the following caution:
Revelation 22:18-19
"I am bearing witness to everyone that hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone makes an addition to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this scroll; and if anyone takes anything away from the words of the scroll of this prophecy, God will take his portion away from the trees of life and out of the holy city, things which are written about in this scroll."Jehovah's Witnesses want the Bible to apply to everyone but themselves.
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bethlehem
this is interesting:
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jwfacts
There is no evidence whatsoever that Jehovah appeared in the NT. There are vague theories that the WTS claims to be true. The main line of reasoning used by the WTS is the J documents, Hebrew translations of the New Testament. What they do not readily admit is that these translations were made over 1000 years after the death of Jesus, and in fact less reliable than the NWT itself.
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JeffT
I'm with doodlebear, our church uses "Jehovah" frequently, and most members now what is meant by the name. As far as I'm concerned this is another case of the WTBS making up stuff about other people without ever talking to them about it.
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MichaelM
Awesome replies guys. Especially that long one by Jwfacts, thanks. I'm gonna copy and paste all that and show it to the witness I study with. This could be interesting. However.. his logic will somehow demolish it, twisted or not.
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greendawn
Hamsterbait I go by what most scholars believe and that is the name Yahweh doe snot appear in any New Testament manuscripts not even in the Chester Beatty papyrii which are dated pre 200 AD and contain 9 letters of Paul.
On the other hand some scholars claim that it was used in the very early church (it was present in the earliest and subsequently lost manuscripts) and was stopped being used some time later to blur the distinction between Christ and His Father.
The New Testament quotes from the Septuagint not the Masoretic used by Jerome. And it's a moot point whether jehovah was used or not since Christ is the central figure in the NT and the New Covenant.