Should they use the sacred name of God? YHWH

by Sirona 27 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  LittleToe

  Amazing:
  Your comments are spot on, as usual.

  Phil.2:9-11 is another instance of the NWT having "other" interpolated: For this very reason also God exalted him to a superior position and kindly gave him the name that is above every [other] name, so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the ground, and every tongue should openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

  (This cross-references Isa.45:23, which highlights my earlier point)
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  Will Power

  Just curious....not a hijack

  every knee should bend of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the ground

  who are these under the ground? - the corpses? or the demons?

  Real question:

  If they are going to use a word and call it the sacred name of God - why do they use it so often to exalt themselves?

  WP
• 

  A Paduan

  A farmer called Dilbert sent his produce to the show, but while it was there some traders saw that Dilbert had good things - and they got hold of whatever of Dilbert's produce they could find, and sold it, also claiming to be the sole suppliers for Dilbert. In fact, the traders were quite relentless in their pursuit, and also they dealt badly with very many of their customers (who had not even met Dilbert).

  When in town one day a friend of Dilbert heard folk speaking really badly about Dilbert, and when he told them he was Dilbert's friend they told him to get lost, and then on his way back out of town he saw a shop front with Dibert's name up in bold - but he knew that his friend Dilbert didn't even own a shop.
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  Yerusalyim

  Using God's name also violates his commandments...at least in the sense that JW's do it..."You shall not use my name for vain purposes"
• 

  windyrr2

  I sometimes say Yahweh.

  I haven't verified this, but my friend who studied Hebrew said that it couldn't be "Jehovah" as there is no "Jah" sound in the Hebrew language.And he said the word" hovah" in Hebrew means "ruin" and "mischief" and God she said wouldn't have that in his name.

  That Joshua in Hebrew would be pronounced, Yehoshua. Isaiah = Yeshayau. Jerimiah = Yirmeyahu. Joel = Yoel. Jonah= Yonah . John = Yohanan etc.

  Also a different friend , a Jewish Christian, Hebrew scholar, said that God had many names. And if it was of the utmost importance that one certian one be utterred, then why didn't he reveal it to Abraham of all people.?

  You'd think he would have told him. And my friend also pointed out that when Jesus spoke about God he almost always addressed him as "father"
• 

  seedy3

  Narkissos,

  Here is an interesting study of the Ugarit in ancient Canaan which was a center for their worship.

  http://www.theology.edu/ugarbib.htm

  Seedy
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  Sirona

  Wow - thanks everyone for your insights and great information !

  Sorry I've taken so long to comment again on this thread.

  I am of the opinion that any name given to God is fairly irrelevant to the God and more relevant to us humans who use that name to identify which deity we're talking about.

  The bible claims that Yahweh (or similar name) is the name of "the one True" God, however there are clearly many other writings which attribute other names to God.

  Just recently I've been close to another deity: Anpu, or Anubis. His name was invented by humans, yet the name helps me identify what aspect of Deity I'm talking to. He has his own "personality" IMO. I know I'm digressing into Polytheism, etc. but my point is that if someone went around saying they were "Anpu's Witness" yet I strongly felt that their message was nothing to do with Him, I would similarly feel some annoyance.

  Don't Christians get annoyed that they're calling themselves "Jehovah's Witnesses" to the exclusion of other faiths who presumably are not? (its insinuated that other's are not His witnesses) Has anyone else heard of the Jesus Witnesses?

  Sirona
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  Narkissos

  Seedy: thanks for the link; it has already been discussed on the "JEHOVAH" thread, where I pointed that the translation given there for the only "yw" occurrence in Ugarit is altogether impossible. My provisional conclusion is that the Ugaritic "yw" is probably an alternate name or title for Haddu-Baal and certainly not a name for a brother of Baal; maybe Yhwh was seen as a brother of Baal in early Judean polytheistic yahwism, as reflected in Deuteronomy 32:8ff.

  Sirona: polytheism is not a digression at all; it is the very original context for the name Yhwh, when he was a god among others and not yet "God". When eventually Yhwh became God, his name was seen as an embarrassing inheritance from polytheism, which had either to be theologized away (such as in Exodus 3 "I am who I am") or held as a sacred taboo. Perhaps a comparison could be attempted with the erotic poem known as the Song of songs. In later judaism and christianity, this very secular text had to be treated as "most sacred" ("defiling the hands" according to the Talmudic expression) and given all kinds of allegorical interpretations.