So-and-so is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses

by wannabefree 35 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  oppostate

  The name Jehovah is a translation mistake made by a 14th century Catholic monk..

  Wrong.

  Jehovah is a transliteration of the tetragram. The original Hebrew has YHWH, but this is a transliteration too. The point was that as long as it's used in your language to represent a certain Bible personage then it's ok to use. Jesus is a transliteration from the Greek Iesous, and that from Hebrew YeHShWa'.

  Now back to the point of this thread...

  I recall reading something about the use of the name "Jehovah's Witnesses" with capital letters referring to the anointed, and without the capital "w", Jehovah's witnesses as applying to all those who've been witnesses for Jehovah, that is those Hebrews before J.C.'s time and those modern ones who aren't anointed.

  But I think the WTS gave up on that idea and now everyone in their control is called a Jehovah's Witness.

  So it would seem that now the name is only to show membership in the religion controlled by the Governing Body.

  Evidently, if you don't accept the Governing Body's control over you then you're no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

  It's all about them, and about their control, and before them it was the President of the WTB&TS.
• 

  freetosee

  A prominent elder who was on the Hospital Liaison Committee and worked with Gene Smalley (WT HQ writing department) told me, that brothers who partook of blood or fullfilled military service were announced to be “no longer RECOGNIZED as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses”. In their congregation file they continue to be held as congregation members (not disfellowshipped). The background for this was that a brother pressed charges due to being disfellowshipped and shunned because of fulfilling his military service.

  I think, every society has the right to disfellowship. It is the shunning I have a problem with.

  fts
• 

  sizemik

  The name Jehovah is a translation mistake made by a 14th century Catholic monk..

  Wrong.

  Not completely . . .

  Jehovah - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  The Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon suggested that the pronunciation Jehovah was unknown until 1520 when it was introduced by Galatinus, who defended its use. However, it has been found as early as about 1270 in the Pugio fidei of Raymund Martin.

  Ramón Martí - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  Ramón Martí was a 13th century Catalan Dominican friar and theologian. He is remembered for his polemic work Pugio Fidei (c. 1280). In 1250 he was one of eight friars appointed to make a study of oriental languages with the purpose of carrying on a mission to Jews and Moors. He worked in Spain as a missionary, and also for a short time in Tunis. Subsequently he lived for a long time in a monastery at Barcelona.

  It would help to read the entire articles . . . slowly.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymund_Martin

  The original claim is correct . . . without the Catholic desire to convert the Jews and use a latin form of the divine name for their own particular purposes . . . the JW's would almost certainly be using a different rendering of the name.

  Carry on . . .
• 

  Leolaia

  I know this is off-topic, but I have to respond.

  Jehovah is a transliteration of the tetragram.

  The tetragram is four letters (specifically, consonants). A transliteration of four letters would itself be four letters, in order to represent the equivalents of the letters used in the original source.

  Transliteration can form an essential part of transcription which converts text from one writing system into another. Transliteration is not concerned with representing the phonemics of the original: it only strives to accurately represent the characters.... From an information-theoretical point of view, systematic transliteration is a mapping from one system of writing into another, word by word, or ideally letter by letter. Transliteration attempts to use a one-to-one correspondence and be exact, so that an informed reader should be able to reconstruct the original spelling of unknown transliterated words. Ideally, reverse transliteration is possible. Transliteration is opposed to transcription, which specifically maps the sounds of one language to the best matching script of another language (Wikipedia).

  "Jehovah" is not a transliteration strictu sensu; it vocalizes a consonantal tetragram (attempting to represent what was thought to be the pronunciation of the name), adding information not found in the tetragram itself.
• 

  stuckinamovement

  Leolaia, You are hands down the smartest person on this board. I always appreciate your posts.

  SIAM
• 

  darthfader

  SIAM... I agree with you about Leo.. She tells it like it is and knows her stuff.

  Yeah, for all we know it could something like:

  Johevah
  Yehuwoh
  Juhuvuh

  Or as I like to call him.... "Steve"...

  ---

  Back on topic... We are just now putting some halloween decorations on the outside of our house. I haven't even spoken to a witness in 4 years -- Havent been to a memorial in over 10 years and meetings much longer. I haven't been in FS for probably 15 to 18 years. So I wonder how long it will be before we get a knock on the door asking us what we are doing?

  I'm hoping they all forgot who we are...
• 

  Quendi

  Getting back to the thread's topic, when I was disfellowshipped the announcement simply stated: "[Quendi] is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses." I took that to mean that I was to be completely shunned. I was also told that I had to be in the Kingdom Hall the night the annoucement was made as an indication that I was submitting myself to Jehovah's discipline. Failure to attend that meeting would definitely be held against me in any effort to get reinstated.

  However, I started to question the real meaning of the announcement. By saying that I was "no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses", did this mean that my dedication to God was now invalid and I would have to rededicate myself? The elders said my dedication was still valid. But if that were so, in what way was I now no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses? Nobody could or would answer that question for me.

  On the night the announcement was made, I was crushed. All I wanted to do was to crawl into a hole and pull it in behind me. It was only after some years had passed before I realized that the night of that announcement was my own personal Emancipation Proclamation.

  Quendi
• 

  darthfader

  If any announcements are made about me or my family... I will NOT go to the hall... I will NOT entertain their questioning... I will not speak to them unless they want to chat about the weather or computers or the latest shade of housepaint...

  cheers
• 

  N.drew

  I think for some people it is a difficult question to answer, including me. Are you a Jehovah's Witness? I am, and I am not. Please define "Jehovah's Witness" then I might be able to answer. Quendi, well said, I can feel your pain. I walked away and have heard nothing since, of course if they said I was being disfellowshipped and had to go hear it, I wouldn't. But your situation was different, you did a brave thing! I'm proud of you.
• 

  darthfader

  Thinking about the Tetragrammaton.... Maybe the name "YodhHeWawHe" -- or Just "Yoda" for short..

  I could see worshipping Yoda..