Earnest, the Jews never used the name. That said, I see no connection for the Jews' hearing "let your name be sanctified" and not to "take the name of Jehovah in a worthless way" and believing they should suddenly say "Jehovah"....unless they wanted to be guilty of blasphemy.
Does The Name "Jehovah" Bother You?
by minimus 48 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
Heaven
When I was younger and studying it used to bother me because Jesus never used it in prayer in the Bible. Also, I never understood why calling my 'Heavenly Father' by his first name was ok but it was NOT ok to call my 'Earthly Father' by HIS first name.
Now I don't really care so much as I know it's bogus.
-
Earnest
minimus, you know full well that the Jews used God's name. You only have to read their history according to scripture to see that. What you perhaps mean is that the Jews in the time of Jesus didn't use God's name and that is more difficult to be certain about. Quite clearly the rabbinical Jews did not use God's name, or rather insisted that the High Priest was the only one who could use it and even then sparingly. On the other hand the Samaritans used God's name as did the Karaite Jews at a later date. At the time of Jesus there was a great deal of flux within Judaism and it was only later after the destruction of Jerusalem that the many various schools of thought gave way to rabbinical Judaism largely as a matter of survival. My argument is that the small group of disciples around this Jewish rabbi was one of those groups which did use the name as seems clear to me from the scriptures I cited above.
Stephen, wobble makes the point that all the promises became 'Yes' by means of Christ. Everything written beforehand had been leading up to this time when the messiah would arrive. What had previously been said about Jehovah and what promises had been made was all to be realised in Christ. This is what the New Testament is about. But, it does not mean that God the Father suddenly vanished from the scene and that his name is obliterated. That is why Jesus says such things as "I have made your name manifest", "I have made your name known" etc. Of all people Jesus was most conscious of his father.
-
PSacramento
I don't like nor do I use the term "Jehovah".
Mainly because if all that I find unacceptable that is associated with that term ie: the Wt and the Jw's.
I do not use it because it is, at best, an incorrect translation of a Name that we don't know how it was pronunced or written.
I do not use it because people associateit with the OT and the Old Covenant and I am a Christian under the new Covenant.
And, more importanly, I do not use it because, when Jesus taught us all the pray and when Jesus addressed God he said "Father" and that is more then good enough for me.
-
PSacramento
Of all people Jesus was most conscious of his father
Correct and Jesus called him Father and told us to pray to "Our Father".
-
DrJohnStMark
I do not need to hear that name too often. When at school, a gang of other other kids repeatedly attacked me shouting "jehovah jehovah..." When I tried to escape shouting the same name I was not heard because they were so loud, and thus I got beaten up.
Those kids were true christians and their parents were members of a major christian church. Of course, they may have had other reasons to dislike me, not just my being a jw. It did get easier after relocating, thanks to my father's new job, but I remember I avoided using that name, except at the kngdm hll (fill in the vowels the way you like), I avoided using it even on my first postings to 'apostate sites' long time ago.
-
kurtbethel
I usually say "Jovah" when around dubs as it is Jove or Jupiter that they are worshipping, and they have never objected.
-
minimus
Earnest, the point is during Jesus' time, the Jews did not use Jehovah or Yahweh. If the Jews were told to sanctify the name, it was not in the literal "name" as we use it. It's about what God signified, not the tetragrammaton which was not uttered for pain of death. If Jesus suddenly began to revolutionize that name, it would've been throughout the NT and you know there's nothing that you can quote from Jesus where he used the Divine Name.
-
Slayerbard
Minimus is right in what he said. The name doesn't bother me as much as the lack of title when they use it. Jehovah GOD or SOMETHING. Instead they say there on the first name basis with the most powerful being in the universe. But every single person in the congregation has a TITLE. Brother or Sister. And they ALWAYS use it. Even knew one sister who used Brother infront of a FIRST NAME. I find it very disrespectful to use the name so casually like they do. No where in the bible can they point to anyone using the name casually consistantly like they do. To them he is just another average Joe apparently. Where as the GB are the ones with the all intimadating title.