Help with Family Study: God's Name. Ideas?

by Open mind 16 Replies latest members private

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  Open mind

  Sometime in the not-too-distant future, I'm going to choose "The Divine Name" as the topic of our family study.

  One point I want to make, which the WT literature actually agrees with, is that the phonetic sounds that came out of ancient Hebrew lips were definitely NOT je - ho - va and that nobody knows for sure what it was. Yah - weh is certainly closer, but probably not correct either.

  We (JWs) use Jehovah because it's the most recognizable (highly debatable I know) in English. Having said all that, when we read scriptures that say that God's name should be "sanctified" or "hallowed" it's not the actual phonetic pronunciation that is important, but that "the God of the Bible" should be praised and honored.

  Hope you're not asleep yet. Here's my little barb to get them thinking a little outside the box, hopefully.

  *Open Mind to family:* "With all the scriptures that talk about how important God's name is, I wonder why God didn't make the EXACT pronunciation of his name known and keep it known throughout history? I mean we're just talking about one word, right? If it was Yahweh, or Fred, or Methuselah and the "name" is SO important, why didn't he MAKE SURE that people throughout the ages continued to know it?

  CONCLUSION: The pronunciation is obviously unimportant to God, it's just a placeholder to stand for "God of the Bible". Therefore, there's no "magic power" to the name Jehovah.
  Although some JWs will begrudgingly admit this when pinned to the mat, in practice they're constantly patting themselves on the back about how they are set apart and HAVE THE TRUTH, because they alone "make known the Divine name". In fact, no one can truly make "the name" known.

  FOR THE CHRISTIANS: How do you weigh in on the whole "Divine Name" question? Similarly to what I've outlined?

  FOR EVERYONE: Any other food for thought I can include? I'm planning on also focusing on how the NWT sprinkles Jehovah throughout the New Testament on pretty shaky reasoning.

  Anything else I'm missing?

  Open Mind
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  Mrs. Witness

  I think you've got it, OM. I have had this discussion with my JW hubby and I pointed out that Jesus called him father and that, if YHWH is our father, then why would we call him by his first name? Then I said, how would you feel if our daughters called you by your first name? To which, I got no comment.
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  BFD

  Hi open mind

  I don't think this will be helpful but, when I started to read the Harry Potter series a few years ago, I always thought it was funny how when they refered to Voldermort, they always spoke of him "as the one who must not be mentioned". All except for Harry that is.

  I don't know where I'm going with this other than the fact that I think out of respect, those who chose to believe in god should refer to him as Our Heavenly Father.

  I never called my father by his given name out of respect for him. He was my father and he deserved the respect.

  BFD
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  OUTLAW

  The name Jehovah,is a Catholic invention..Jehovah`s Witness`s wouldn`t have a name for their God or Religion without the Catholic`s...OUTLAW
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  mentalclearness

  The name Jehovah,is a Catholic invention.
  
  
  I've never heard this before...could you explain how you came to this conclusion????
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  Mum

  http://www.libertyparkusafd.org/lp/Burgon/electronic%20books/CHAPTER%20THREE.htm

  The above link will take you to a lengthy article which includes a brief explanation of the Graf-Wellhausen theory (JEPD). If you scroll almost halfway down, you will find the relevant parts of the article, treatise, or whatever it is. You might find a book at the local library that gives a more basic (for your family) explanation of this theory which shows that Old Testament writers approached their teaching from different perspectives -- Jahwist, Elohist, Priestly or (I forget what the D is for). The first two chapters of Genesis are different in their approach, in that one is Jahwist and the other Elohist. It was some time until Yahweh more or less won out over Elohim and became a universal versus local deity.

  Using the Bible alone with the G-W theory to point out the different approaches might be a start in showing that everything is not as cut-and-dried as is presented by the Watchtower.

  Regards,

  SandraC
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  Sad emo

  Best description/interpretation of the Divine name I've ever read was by a liberal Jewish rabbi.

  Interpretation is every variation of the first person singular "to be" - therefore it can mean I am, I will be, I might be, I have been.. and so on. I find that a very good expression of the eternal nature of God.

  The rabbi went on to describe that it is not an actual name either - the words used were apparently a polite way of saying "Mind your own business!" This also makes sense considering it was addressed to a society where to know someone's name was to take away or possess some power over them.

  Bottom line - we don't know what His real name is, we only 'know' the power of the name - as Jesus said he had made it known - love, mercy, justice etc.

  Maybe a slightly different take to what you expected and you may not be able to use it but I hope it helps you a bit
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  Awakened07

  *Open Mind to family:* "With all the scriptures that talk about how important God's name is, I wonder why God didn't make the EXACT pronunciation of his name known and keep it known throughout history? I mean we're just talking about one word, right? If it was Yahweh, or Fred, or Methuselah and the "name" is SO important, why didn't he MAKE SURE that people throughout the ages continued to know it?

  Using logic etc. aren't always going to help when it comes to people's belief. Your family may believe you since you're the head of the family, but if questioned by others, they would probably hear from them that "But Jehovah HAS shown us the right pronunciation of His name - the fact that His people use it goes to show that He has shown it to them. After all, they are His Faithful and discreet slave in these end times." It's a bit of circular logic, but JWs aren't afraid of that. So just be aware that you may face something like that if you state the above.

  Something to perhaps think about though (maybe you can use this somehow), is that God's name according to JWs is actually pronounced differently across the globe today. Jeova, Geova, Jehova, Jehovah, etc. are forms used in different languages, with pressure on different vowels.
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  A-Team

  you migt want to hit on the emphasis on the proper name, and use Exo. 6 to prove that Jehovah really didn't care if you called him by his 1st name or not, because if he did, wouldn't he have corrected Abraham, Issac and Jacob?
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  Lady Liberty

  Dear Open mind,

  I would get out the Greek Diaglat (spelling???) the purple Bible. And look for Jehovahs name in there (where they have added it where it never was ...of course) and have a "revelation" to the fact that..... "Oh my goodness..this is strange...Jehovahs name was never in the Greek scriptures to begin with?!?! They have added to the scriptures??" Later on to wife say.."Honey..remember that Scripture that says if anyone adds to or takes away from the Scriptures, even if it was an Angel of God, let them be accursed"..well wouldn't that even apply to adding Jehovahs name to the scriptures?? Why didn't they leave it the way he had it written?? We should do more more research together on this".....

  Sincerely,

  Lady Liberty