Making the name of Jehovah known...

by MeanMrMustard 5 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  MeanMrMustard

  I decided, for whatever reason, to go onto the goolge ngrams viewer tonight. For those of you who have not played with it, its actually quite fun. Google has created a search for word seqences through hundreds of years of literature. You can type in a phrase and see the percent usage for that phrase within the literature through the years. Here is the link to it if you want to fuss with it:

  http://books.google.com/ngrams

  Anyway, I decided - for fun, I guess - to type in "Jehovah". And I noticed a pattern I didn't expect:

  

  The WTB&TS, has as one of its doctrinal goals, to make the name of Jehovah known. But it seems like the name itself was used a lot more before the WTB&TS came on the scene. You can type in "Jehovah's Witnesses" as well. That phrase is basically non-existant until around 1930 (makes sense), and then shoots upward. But the actual name of God being published - as referring to God Himself and not part of the title associated with the WTB&TS - well, that had its heyday prior to the WT.

  MMM
• 

  L3G

  Meanie,

  Thanks for the share. The name Jehovah was popular during and after the Protestant Reformation. It kind of fell into disfavor the late 1800s and early 20th century. That's when Yahweh became more fashionable. Now you know what a Witness would say about this, right? "This is exactly why Jehovah directed his true followers to take it up and make it known!"

  A person cannot help but wonder whether the Witnesses taking it up has contributed to its decline elsewhere. Surely that must be the case, even if this chart doesn't indicate that real well.
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  Julia Orwell

  " A person cannot help but wonder whether the Witnesses taking it up has contributed to its decline elsewhere. "

  I reckon you've got something there. People didn't want to use it because they didn't want others to think they were JWs, ie nutcases...

  Incidentally, the first time I ever heard the name Jehovah was in Indianna Jones and the Last Crusade, when I was a kid.
• 

  Laika

  Interesting, I did a search for 'Yahweh' and assuming I did it right, the use of Yahweh has gone up, which would suggest people are moving from Jehovah to Yahweh. Perhaps the reaction to JWs is the reason?
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  Witness 007

  The name is now associated with the Witnesses. How many non Witness buildings have the name now....none.
• 

  MeanMrMustard

  LG3 said: "A person cannot help but wonder whether the Witnesses taking it up has contributed to its decline elsewhere. Surely that must be the case, even if this chart doesn't indicate that real well."

  Julia Orwell said: " People didn't want to use it because they didn't want others to think they were JWs, ie nutcases..."

  Lakia said: " Perhaps the reaction to JWs is the reason?"

  Witness 007 said: " The name is now associated with the Witnesses. How many non Witness buildings have the name now....none."

  I agree with all of you. The name is associated with the WT, and everything that goes with it. For the atheist/agnostic, its associated with those nutjobs that come to your door on a Saturday. For mainstream Christians, the name is associated with that religion that bastarizes the entire NT.

  LG3 said: " Now you know what a Witness would say about this, right? 'This is exactly why Jehovah directed his true followers to take it up and make it known!'"

  Exactly! - to which I would repond with: "It seems it was doing alright until your organization came along and associated the name with being a nutjob. So the net effect is the name of Jehovah is known less than it might have been if the WT never really existed." :)

  MMM