I always wondered why, the letters written by Paul and others, Jesus's siblings etc, just suddenly - stopped. ?? The "Councils" that set up the Catholic Church were a few hundred years after the death of Christ. There was a lot of letter writing back and forth and sent all over for about a hundred years and then - nothing? For two hundred years ? Really ? And then the Catholic Church decides which letters are Canon ? And all who disagreed had a different Canon, the Apocrypha books ? The Eastern Orthodox Bible ? Synoptic Churches ? . Numbers 21:14 refers to The Book of the Wars of the Lord what happened to that book ?missing or lost. 1 Kings 8:12-13 referes to the "Book of Songs" missing or lost. 2nd Chronicles refers to " The Story of the Prophet Iddo ? missing or lost. And Zechariah was the son of Iddo. Peter refered to the "Book of Enoch" ? missing or lost book. Where is it ? Peter must had read it. Jude 9 refers to the "Assumption of Moses". "Midrash of the Book of Kings" ?? refered to in the Bible, not in existance or missing or lost. Since there was so much letter, and written communication going on among early Christians, why did it suddenly stop.??? Just completly stop.?? Only one fragment of Paul's writings have been found that date to the first century. In spite of evidence that a lot of writing was going on right after Jesus died and there was a big push to travel, and then write letters, which became the bulk of the Greek Scriptures.
Looking for feedback on this approach
by NCC-1701 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
-
Larsinger58
The divine name was a big deal for the Jews. Even they didn't like pronouncing it, it was sacred. In Hebrew the name had a certain sound and a certain meaning. The Jewish language is much like Native American. The names mean something, like "Sleeping Bull" or "Dances With Wolves" (stop laughing! ) So when a Jew heard the Divine Name he heard "He causes to be."
Now comes the translation! Do you translate the meaning of that name into another language? Or just the letters? Bottom line is, there is no way possible to transfer the significance and feel and pronunciation of the divine name in Hebrew into any other language. Thus the decision was made not to violate the sacredness and uniqueness of God's name in Hebrew into another language. Instead, it was practical to substitute the a reference to God by a title, such as "God" or "Lord." That's why there is no ancient texts that contain a "translation" concept of the divine name in Hebrew in Greek. Why would there be?
So what the WTS has done by putting "Jehovah" wherever they wanted is just a very sad stiuation. The bible in Revelation says clearly not to change a single thing, not to add or subtract. Yet they ignore this an insert "Jehovah" where they think and interpret it should be. This is problematic because of clear overlap between Jehovah and Jesus when "Lord" is used. For instance the phrase, "Those belonging to the Lord" could be a reference to either Christ or Jehovah. It's an exegetical choice which it means. But if the WTS decides to insert Jehovah, it is just guessing or imposing their own doctrinal bias--they are not translating the text.
This is one reason why the GB of JWs is called the "man of lawlessness," because once they get an idea in their heads, if it is strong enough, they think they can set aside God's laws and do what they freel strongly about. They never learned that "OBEDIENCE is better than sacrifice."
In my opinion, if they truly wanted to honor God's name, the closest way they could do that is to use the tetragrammaton: YHWH. That way, at least the name remains authentic and mysterious. "YHWH" is more authentic than "Jehovah" or even "Yaweh." Even "He Causes to Be" is more authentic than "Jehovah" or "Yahweh" which are just adaptations to the tetragrammaton.
Ironically, the WTS thinks they are honoring Jehovah, but just the opposite is occurring. It's like that guy who tried to steady the ark when he thought it was going to fall over but when he touched it, he instantly died. The law said not to touch the ark because it was holy. Same applies here, God's word is holy and we are told not to touch it or change it, but they decided to "fix it" with their deluded concepts of the importance of God's name and ended up making what is sacred something no longer sacred.
Anyway, the GB was "disfellowshipped" on November 10, 1992 -- for this and many other acts of "lawlessness." They are now cast out and in spiritual darkness.