Jehovah - The Hearer of Prayer?

by Had To Go 14 Replies latest jw experiences

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  Had To Go

  Hey! I made my intro post this past weekend and briefly mentioned my dilemma. Here is a link in case you are interested or need to refresh your memory.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/members/private/199811/1/Introduction-warning-its-complicated

  So I wanted to ask you all how you would respond in this situation. My husband was worried about going out of town for work and our boys (4 and 5) not having anyone praying with them and I said that I had been praying all along with my 4 year old. My husband couldn't believe it. He asked who I prayed to and I replied...God. Well the next day he had a conversation with my son about how we should use Jehovah's name when we pray or else it won't be heard. The next night I started to pray with my son and he stopped me and relayed the conversation to me. I was pissed. I stopped and told him maybe it was best if his daddy just prayed and he agreed. I could not believe it. That was a couple of weeks ago and it was brought back up briefly this a.m. My husband said that in the bible it clearly states that Jehovah is the hearer of prayer. And that his name is Jehovah. He also said that if you pray to God you could be praying to anyone...Allah, Buddha, etc. I grew up Southern Baptist and never had a problem praying to simply God until I met my husband. And if the truth be known I felt closer to God (whomever that may be) when I was attending church than I EVER did attending the KH. But that is beside the point. So my husband is going to come home tonight and show me from the scriptures why we should pray to Jehovah and not God. What can I say to him? He is quick with his thoughts and I always have problems getting out my words. I want to be prepared this time.
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  snowbird

  Tell your husband that Jesus of Nazareth also hears prayers.

  John 14:14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. NIV

  If your husband balks at the "ask me part," tell him to look it up in the original Greek in the Kingdom Interlinear.

  Syl
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  snowbird

  John 14:14

  [Jesus speaking] “ask me in the name of me”

  “ask anything in my name.” “me” is left out. On page 9 of the Foreword in the 1969 edition it says, “Where we have varied from the Westcott and Hort text, our footnotes show the basis for our preferred reading.” [No such footnotes here. Jehovah’s Witnesses do not pray to Jesus.]

  Found this at the SoundWitness site.

  Keep on searching; it's nice to have you here.

  Syl
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  Mad Sweeney

  Give him this quote. It is the ONLY place in the New World Translation where the phrase "hearer of prayer" appears:

  1. For you there is praise - silence -, O God, in Zion;

  And to you the vow will be paid

  2. O hearer of prayer, even to you people of all flesh will come.

  ~Psalm 65:1,2

  The "divine name" doesn't appear anywhere in those verses, nor the entire chapter/song/Psalm. "God" is called "hearer of prayer" and the verse made it into the WT's own version of the Bible. If you can't convince your husband, you can at least convince your children, assuming they trust what the Bible says. You can also plant a seed that shows them how when WT doctrine conflicts with the Bible, JWs are compelled to follow the WT, and ignore what the Bible plainly says.

  It is times like these that the old Purple Kingdom Interlinear Bible is invaluable.

  In it the WTS admits that "Jehovah" doesn't occur in the New Testament AT ALL (no Tetragrammaton, NOTHING), but that they ADDED it in out of TRADITIONal English usage of the name. If your family happens to have one, these revelations are located in the Foreward, if I recall correctly.
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  Mad Sweeney

  sorry for wacky formatting...I tried to fix it but well, you'll learn that oftentimes it just isn't fixable around here without retyping the entire thing
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  Had To Go

  t is times like these that the old Purple Kingdom Interlinear Bible is invaluable.

  If your husband balks at the "ask me part," tell him to look it up in the original Greek in the Kingdom Interlinear.

  Syl

  We do have one! I was just looking yesterday at some titles of our older books...I need to go pull it out right now before he gets home from work.

  Thanks!
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  snowbird

  Welcome!

  Who knows?

  Maybe he'll even be willing to look at John 8:58-59, 20:28, Acts 7:58-59, 20:28.

  Tee hee hee.

  Syl
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  mentallyfree31

  Maybe you could say you prefer to pray to Yahweh, since that is closer to the original name. LOL What can he say to that?

  -steve-
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  WTWizard

  It is one thing to hear a prayer. It's another to do the appropriate thing with it. And, Jehovah always answers "No"--rendering such prayers a complete waste of time.

  To further highlight the total waste prayer is, the model prayer that the witlesses so often refer to is split into two sections. At the top (of course), you are going to find the articles that benefit Jehovah. You are supposed to pray for those things. Jehovah would be STUPID to refuse to answer those items, and you are supposed to put the most weight on these. So, that Almighty Lowlife Scumbag does those things, because they serve himself. So, with the highest weight there, you are supposed to give him heaps of praise for doing what benefits himself.

  Now, below this, you find the items for you. These are supposed to have very little weight, so it doesn't matter if Jehovah refuses to listen or answers by blocking fulfillment of them. Since these items do not directly benefit the Almighty Lowlife Scumbag, he is not going to answer them by giving you the articles. He would rather focus on the top tier, where he himself gets the benefit and most of the weight is supposed to go (I wonder why.), instead of helping you out. So, most of the time those items go unanswered. On rare occasion, Jehovah might give you just what you asked for in a very timely fashion and then use it to boast about it to everyone else.

  The other thing I find off-putting is that you are supposed to do the work. You make the request, then you do all the work. IF Jehovah feels like letting you get it, that work will produce what you are asking for. Otherwise, he will simply block part or all the effects of your work, or produce a negative effect. Either way, you are supposed to give Jehovah Tyrant the credit for you doing the work. Perhaps the time wasted praying to that Baghead would have been better spent working toward what you need; also, the time wasted thanking that Almighty Freeloader.
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  3Mozzies

  Had To Go it's great that you have the Kingdom Interlinear, show him from that Interlinear bible that Jesus never used the name 'Jehovah' when he prayed (it's never mentioned in the NT anywhere).

  Ask your son: "Would you ever call your father by his first name? Wouldn't that be disrespectful?" How much more so in using Gods name.

  ........................

  YAHWEH is a more accurate translation of the Tetragram

  See below from page 23 of The Kingdom Interlinear-Greek Scriptures 1969 (Produced by the WT Corp)

  3Mozzies