I owe this question entirely to Hadit but I cannot get this thought out of my head. All I heard growing up was that we have to call God Jehovah because they are many God's, this way Jehovah knows we are trying to speak to him. That is just one of many reasons the FDS and WT say to why we much call him Jehovah. According to the Reasoning from the Scriptures book it says
"Do you have a close relationship with anyone whose personal name you do not know? For people to whom God is nameless he is often merely an impersonal force, not a real person, not someone that they know and love and to whom they speak from the heart in prayer. If they do pray, their prayers are merely a ritual, a formalistic repetition of memorized expressions." "True Christians have a commission from Jesus Christ to make disciples of people of all nations. When teaching those different people, how would it be possible to identify the true God as different from the false gods of the nations? Only by using His personal name, as the Bible itself does."
Now I got to thinking on what Hadit said about not calling our parents by their first name. When I hear a child call his parent by the first name I think it is rude or something is wrong with the family. Yet there are many dads and mom's daddies or mommies or papas and mama's out there. How would a parent know who their child was trying to address according to the reasoning of the FDS and WT unless the child used the parents first name. Like John daddy, or Mary mom, or Sam dad. It would be the same kind of reasoning.
I was with one of my non JW's friends last weekend and she has a set of 6 year old twin boys. There were about 10 or 12 other little people there all the boys' age. They were all coming up at different times saying mom, mom, and I could not tell who was who but the moms' did. It is amazing that a mom can tell the voice of their child in a second. I think it is so cool not having had kids of my own but a mother's love is amazing. So if an imperfect mom knows the sound of her kid's voice over the voice of a dozen other kids might not Jehovah know our voice over everyone else if he truly did live us?
And the thought that we cannot have a personal relationship unless we call God Jehovah. Just like with our parents they should never be our friend but our parent forever. But the relationship between a child and his father or mother is one of the tenderest and wonderful bonds two people can have even thought they are not "friends" if unlike with me you do not have abusive parents. But I have seen friends who have that bond with their parents and they never call their parents by their first name, they would not even think of it. It is just wrong to call your father or mother by their first name as it is not respectful. So why does the FDS say Jehovah demands it of us?
Also that point in Matt that so many of us used in field service Matt 6: 9, 10. If the name Jehovah was so important why did not Jesus say "You must pray, then, this way. "Our Jehovah Father in heavens, let your name be sanctified? Instead of "Our father in heaven let your name be sanctified."
LITS