by william draper 27 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Jesus said that no one knows the name of the father except the son and anyone whom the son reveals his name to.
The point I am trying to make is that Jesus would not reveal the Father's name to be broadcast to all everywhere. That would make Jesus a liar.
Also worth mentioning that there is only one name where salvation is found. It is a name above all others according to the bible. That name is JESUS
just reading it
The research is there for people to decide. It depends on how people interpret scripture verses understanding it. Some of which would not have anything to do with preserving God’s name. There are several reasons the Jewish people didn’t use God’s name back then after it was used before. One example was because the Pharisees considered it sacrilege to mention it as they held the Mosaic Law above everything else including the new covenant that Jesus brought forth. The New Covenant dismissed many of the teachings of the old ways which the Pharisees rejected. Another was the fear of using God’s name for those that converted to Christianity not to be prosecuted by the Romans. That’s why we have the modern YHWH in the O.T. and transferred to Greek around the turn of the century. After that it was lost for a very long time until Scholars and theologians reintroduced it after reading the original scrolls that were hand down in time.
The Gospel of Matthew. Context REST FOR THE WEARY
Matthew 11:27
26"Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in your sight. 27"All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. 28"Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Context: THE GREAT COMMISSION
Matthew 28:19 New International Version (NIV)
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
The Gospel of Timothy. Context: GRACE AND PERSEVERANCE
2 Timothy 2:2
1”You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2”The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3”Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
Hi SimonSays,
I am not sure if your question was for me based on what I wrote, but the concept of holy "separateness" pre-dates the Babylonian exile and the development of the Sadducees and Pharisees. It is custom-based from the norms and basic mores of ancient Mesopotaminan culture, carried over into Hebrew culture.
As to how this may have affected use of the Divine Name, philology estimates set circa 850 B.C.E. as the likely era in which redactions show textual application of this custom. It was at this point that the so-called "Elohist" additions and editorial acts of preservation offered the earliest known substitute for the Divine Name.
By the time the LXX was composed, texts of the Greek Scriptures (such as Wisdom, the Books of Maccabees, Ben Sira, etc.) used even substitutes for the word "God," often using the euphemism "heaven." This custom of viewing even the title "God" as holy and deserving of a substitute is even seen in the Gospels where some writers have Jesus announcing the "Kingdom of God" and others using "Kingdom of Heaven" in the same places.--Compare Matthew 4.17 with Mark 1.15.
As to the Jews being rejected by God, this view of the Jehovah's Witnesses originated with the Adventist movements based on an interpretation of Matthew 27.25 and John 19.15 that originated centuries earlier within the Roman Catholic Church.
After the tragedy of the Holocaust the Christian community, including Adventists took a serious step back and reviewed this theology. Realizing this interpretation actually played a part not only in the expulsion of Jews from many countries like Spain in 1492, the vicious pogroms that littered Europe, and that this interpretation was directly employed as kindle by the Third Reich in its "solution to the Jews," it was almost universally rejected.
Except for isolated groups like the JWs, this view that the Jews are rejected by God because of the rejection of the majority of Jesus as Messiah in the first century is no longer accepted as substantiated by Scripture or reason. Condemned as anti-Semitic, critical analysis now admits that texts like Acts 21.17-26 and Romans 9-11 have been widely misused and even ignored in order to substantiate a view that eventually led to the invention of genocide.
My decision to leave the Witnesses was largely based on their retention of this mistaken belief. Told by the very elder who studied with me that my people as a whole deserved to die in the Holocaust because they were "Christ killers" was impossible to reconcile with my sensibilities. So many of my direct relatives died in the Holocaust that my native language, Ladino, is now considered rare and endangered as Hitler wiped out all the Sephardic communities from the European map.
Harboring vestiges of JW theology such as this view does not immediately make a person an anti-Semite however. It takes time to understand how deeply entrenched certain doctrinal views have become set in us as we seek to renew ourselves and heal from our time in the Watchtower community. But living in an era when even the Catholic Church claims some guilt and responsibility for the crimes of the Shoah due to holding this archaic and destructive belief should give us pause if we choose to perpetuate it in ourselves and others.
I make no distinction from comments. My observations or opinion are no greater than those that have been submitted here. The submission of the phase original scrolls logically subscribe to it being handed down through generations. Only time will tell how well the word of God was preserved from ancient times.
The conclusion of the Jewish people is that they were no longer the chosen people since Jesus had now included everyone who would accept him as the chosen Savior, i.e. Gentiles, Jews, Pagans, Romans, etc. How and Why we have this confusion is, as you stated the lack of understanding scripture such as 1 john 2:22, Acts 13:50, Acts 12:1, Matthew 26. All this actions were perpetrated by the Jewish people back then, remember Judas, nothing was made up. It is a written account that has nothing to do With the 1939 Germans anti semitic views or rewritten to make the Jewish people look bad. There’s no conspiracy as you suggest. Buy the way Jw’s were also included in the holocaust. Yet this has been the view of the Jewish nation to heighten their purpose as being the only chosen people while rejecting the sacrifice Jesus made for us all. That’s why the Pharisees rejected the concept and is being rejected now as Christianity becomes irrelevant to those that don’t believe in God the Father (YHWH) the Son in English (JESUS). The New Covenant holds a greater purpose which includes the Mosaic Law.
I don't recall using the word or implying a "conspiracy" as that would imply things being done in secret, whereas this doctrine was publicly enforced. Nor was there a denial of the fact the JWs suffered alongside my people as well as others during the Shoah. I merely pointed out that the view you mentioned had an origin that is currently being changed yet is still unknown and unaccepted by many.
I happen to be a Chrisitan but also a Jew, of the tribe of Judah. Perhaps I am in error being here, but alas that was what I also discovered when I was surrounded by Jehovah's Witnesses.
For those of us that got side tracked from the question of Palms 83:18,the concept for the name of God is linked in http://www.jewfaq.org/name.htm to offer a different perspective from the Judeo-Christian faith, since it is detailed.
Ancient Latin alphabet
The earliest known inscriptions in the Latin alphabet date from the 6th century BC. It was adapted from the Etruscan alphabet during the 7th century BC. The letters Y and Z were taken from the Greek alphabet to write Greek loan words. Other letters were added from time to time as the Latin alphabet was adapted for other languages.
Roman alphabet for Latin
The letters J, U and W were added to the alphabet at a later stage to write languages other than Latin. J is a variant of I, U is a variant of V, and W was introduced as a 'double-v' to make a distinction between the sounds we know as 'v' and 'w' which was unnecessary in Latin such as in double “U”
