need to know

by kls 6 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  kls

  I have a question, i asked my witness husb. why witnesses dont call god by his real name ,YAHWEH, if their the only ones talking to god you would think they would.So i went on the internet and did some looking and found the name jehovah was interpeted by a spanish munk in 12 century.He was to study and reveal meaning of bible.Then i read jews did not even use the letter j in those times,i told my husb this and he blew up saying jesus is not hes real name either.So my question is---who interpited jesus name ?if jews did not use the letter j and god is realy YAHWEH what is jesus real name? Why dont the witnesses want to be called by gods real name,i mean they take jehovah and use it for their title and they talk to god and hes name was started by a munk.I hope im making sense and explaining myself ok.THANKS KLS
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  Yerusalyim

  Jesus is the anglicized form of Jesus name in greek. Y'hosuhua was (perhaps) how his name was pronounced in Hebrew. The truer english form is Joshua. Yahweh or Jehovah either one are not entirely correct. Most scholars seem to think Yahweh is closer, but we just don't know how the divine name was pronounced. A better tact to use with your husband is the fact that references to "making God's name known" actually refer to making His NATURE and ATTRIBUTES known.
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  Kenneson

  You've probably heard the expression: "Open in the name of the law." Surely no one would think that the law has a name like Tom, Dick, or Harry. It means by the authority of the law. Another example, "He called for reforms in the name of progress." Again, progress has no name. In this instance, it means he called for reforms for the reason of progress. A third example, " He was unwilling to name a price." It means he was unwilling to specify a price. So, you can see, there are times when name doesn't always refer to naming a person. Such was the case in the Lord's Prayer, where it says "hallowed be thy name" or "let your name be sanctified." Jesus had already called God "Our Father." Not once in this prayer does he mention Yahweh or Jehovah.
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  no one

  Not once in this prayer does he mention Yahweh or Jehovah.

  You can take it farther than that. There is not one scripture where Christ actually refers to God by name. And I am with Yeru that making his name known referred to his 'attributes'.

  The other JW argument is that 'surely Jesus used the name of God when he was in the synagoge reading from the scrolls'. Probably correct, but it certainly wasn't Jehovah that he used. For a religion that prides itself on claiming accuracy with regards to their Bible translation, I feel they became trapped once Rutherford chose the name Jehovah's Witnesses for them.

  One more tidbit, kls. There is no 'J' in the Greek alphabet either.
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  Pleasuredome

  J is just a corruption of the english language over hundreds of years. J was originally pronounced as a Y. another example would be the letter V used instead of the letter U, and W pronounced as a V.

  if someone uses the name Jehovah, they arent wrong, and if someone uses Yahweh they arent wrong either because of the reason Yeru said.
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  no one

  Anglicizing a name is OK if in the end one acknowledges that it isn't the correct pronunciation. Jesus is 'gee sus' in English, but 'hey zeus' in Spanish. If I had a Spanish friend named Jesus, I think he'd prefer to be called by other than an 'anglicized' version of his name. Maybe I'm being too picky about this, but have always noticed the human tendency to correct others when our name is mispronounced. Maybe for God it ain't that big a deal, but I prefer to err on the side of caution and not be disrespectful.

  To me, the whole concept that Christ was trying to get at was that his(and our) relationship with God should be as close as father and son, hence, his continual use of father instead of calling God by name; same way we say 'dad' instead of calling our parents by their names.

  Question: What do Israelites who are JWs today call themselves; Jehovah's Witnesses, Yahweh's Witnesses, %&%* 's Witnesses? Can anyone here provide feedback on this?

  Edited by - no one on 9 January 2003 12:29:13
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  hooberus

  • While the Old Testament Hebrew manuscripts contain the divine name YHWH approx. 7,000 times, the New testament Greek manuscripts do not contain it at all!
  • Out of over 6,000 extant New Testament Greek manuscripts There has not been found a single New Tesament Greek manuscript containing the divine name in its full form YHWH. The Watchtower admitts this in their Bible encyclopedias.
  • Even the Watchtowers Greek interlinear does not have the divine name in its full form anywhere in the New Testament.
  • The Watchtower Proclaimers book (early chapter) and Bible encyclopedias (under the supheading "name") state that Jesus's disciples alredy knew Gods name from the Old Testament and that Jesus making his fathers name known meant that he made known the "person" such as making manifest his nature and attributes.
  • Since the Watchtower Society claims that the Bible manuscripts have been passed down to us accurately and the Bible is well preserved they should not at the same time claim that the name YHWH was ever a part of the original manuscripts.
  • Therefore the New Testament Christians could not have been "Jehovahs Witnesses"