I dont like using "their" name for God

by jean-luc picard 99 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  PSacramento

  Actually I think the replacement form- Yahweh- is far worse. I think the transliteration "Jehovah" is consistent with other Hebrew words, and I reckon the scholar standard of claiming Jehovah is a "mistranslation" is total bull! The only problem with it is the JW's seem to have aquired some kind of patent on the expression- totaly unjustified, but hardly anyone eles uses it.

  That doesn't make any sense, sorry.

  Perhaps you are misunderstanding the issues with the name Jehovah.

  It is NOT the "JEH" part, it is the "OVAH" part that is totally inconsistent with hebrew and hwo the divien name was revealed to Moses ( I am that I am).

  The fact is that Jehovah IS a mistranslation, that is a fact.
• 

  wobble

  The monk (named Martini If I recall) who first coined the usage, again from memory, in the late 1400's, put in the vowels from Adhonai, the word for "Lord", without any justification.

  So it is a mis-transliteration at least. Since we do not know what vowels were used in YHWH for sure, it is just possible, by some lucky coincidence, that Martini was not over indulging in the family aperitif, and got it right !

  I doubt it though.

  Surely for believers it must be plain to see that God did not want it used, if He did , He would have preserved it in a such a way that we could be sure we were using it correctly and respectfully.
• 

  Mat

  It is NOT the "JEH" part, it is the "OVAH" part that is totally inconsistent with hebrew and hwo the divien name was revealed to Moses ( I am that I am).

  The fact is that Jehovah IS a mistranslation, that is a fact.

  Are you sure? Well that comes down to whether the Hebrew letter waw is a W or a V, for which I can only think of David, and that is a V. When it comes to names in foreign languages I think the issue should be more about consistency than accuracy.

  The monk (named Martini If I recall) who first coined the usage, again from memory, in the late 1400's, put in the vowels from Adhonai, the word for "Lord", without any justification.

  So it is a mis-transliteration at least. Since we do not know what vowels were used in YHWH for sure, it is just possible, by some lucky coincidence, that Martini was not over indulging in the family aperitif, and got it right !

  I doubt it though.

  Surely for believers it must be plain to see that God did not want it used, if He did , He would have preserved it in a such a way that we could be sure we were using it correctly and respectfully.

  Wobble, this argument contradicts itself and makes a totally ludicrous statement. You first argue that the vowels in Jehovah have no justification, but you then say we do not know the correct vowels. So my response is- HE MIGHT AS WELL USE THEM THEN! I don't get what your problem is.

  The ludicrous statement is God would have preserved his name if he wanted us to use it. That's like saying if he wanted everyone to read the bible he would have written it in everyone's language! The fact is the tetragram does exist and it does not translate as the LORD. That is a false translation. Truth is we don't know how any Hebrew word sounded originally.

  What is everyone's problem?

  My problem is this little word is being attributed far too much power by virtue of people's fear of it. By avoiding it's use you are giving the JW's a prize gift of exclusively owning that word which they have no right to!

  It's just as accurate a translation of the Hebrew as "Jerusalem" and "David". Get over it!
• 

  PSacramento

  Mat,

  You can't get "jehovah" from " I am that I am" in Exodus, you can however get Yahweh or even Jahweh or even Jehweh.

  All the biblical names base don YHWH are base don the "JAH" part, which can alose be spelled "JEH", and in Hebrew have the "YEAH" sound, like Jaheshua or Jeheshua or Yahshua ( or any other variation for the hebre for Joshua translated as Ieosus in Greek).

  The facts that we know is that the letter from YHWH were mixed with the vowels from adonai and we got YaHoWaH that was transliterated to JeHoVaH.

  Hence the term is a combination of YHWH and Adonai.

  Even the WT literature admits this.
• 

  jean-luc picard

  Loved the video Mat.

  I'd completely forgotten that one.

  Thanks.
• 

  PSacramento

  From now on we are calling Mat, Mot or Mut, I mean, why not eh?

  And I am now called Peal instead of Paul :)
• 

  unshackled

  Agreed...I don't like using their J name either. Also prefer to spell god all lowercase.
• 

  OUTLAW

  I think the issue should be more about consistency than accuracy......Mat

  Who needs to be Accurate?..

  Why not keep making the Same Mistake over and over?..

  

  ........................ ...OUTLAW
• 

  Mat

  PSacramento, you can, and we have got Jehovah from the Tetragram. We (speaknig English) do not say Yerusalem, Yoshua, Yudah, or Dawid and Lewi. We do say Jerusalem, Joshua, Judah, as well as David and Levi. These are facts. If it is a mistranslation, it is a consistent mistranslation that harmonises with the rest of how the Hebrew bible has been translated in to English.

  The vowels are anybodies guess anyway, but using the same vowels as was in Adonai seems fair enough. No reason why not. The name has now established itself in English as can be seen in teh Monty Python clip on the first page, and Indiana Jones, as well as other stuff.

  Thanks Jean Luc!
• 

  PSacramento

  Mat,

  You keep missing the point, all those translation we have are from proper names and they have NOTHING to do with the term "jehovah".

  How can you see that putting TWO words to make one is just wrong, it make sno sense that God name is a combination of YHWH and adonai since both words mean different things.

  The fact that the term is popular is NO reason to use it, that is pure JW thinking and selective one at that.

  Fact is that the JW's make a HUGE issue that they use the TRUE name of God, well, they are incorrect on that and THAT is a fact.