First, a superstitious idea arose among the Jews that it was wrong to say the divine name out loud;
I clearly remember how very embarassed and foolish I felt when I said this to a Rabbi at Starbucks once when I was having a casual conversation.
He looked at me in a peculiar manner and then, started laughing out loud.
Why?
He kindly explained that "superstition" had nothing to do with the issue of saying God's "name".
The Law of Moses was the reason!
The Jews were sensitive to the issue of keeping God's "name" apart from everything else and keeping it holy by not casually or in an improper setting using it for reluctance to break the commandment about "taking His name in vain."
In other words, something is only special, holy and set apart if you don't USE IT JUST AS YOU WOULD ANY OTHER NAME.
Doh!
Jews, even today, will not even write the word:god. They will, instead, write g*d.
It isn't superstition, it is RESPECT.
What a contrast with Jehovah's Witnesses who throw the name around and attach it to false prophecy like it private property to be used any way they think seems fit.
Three points, here.
1.Nobody alive on Earth today has ever actually WITNESSED god, Jesus, Jehovah, the Lord, Adonai or a spirit of any kind. So, they cannot be actual "witnesses" of Him or it.
2.JW's would never address their Earthly father as Fred, Sam, or Bill because it would be improper and disrespectful. Rather, like Jesus, it would be more proper to call them Father, Papa, or Dad.
3.JW's have published so many wrong things as the very word of Jehovah which proved false--they have brought endless shame upon the name they choose to represent as God's true name.
None of it makes much sense.
Judge Rutherford, the contrarian, was able to change many things about Christianity in reshaping his personal religion. He took the names of District Courts and Circuit Courts and made District Assemblies and Circuit Assemblies. He changed the purpose of God's plan of salvation into a legal court case between disputants Satan and Jesus. He made members into "Witnesses" instead of Christians.
What a load of crap.