Jehova's Witness'

[ughaibu]

The jehovahs witnesses honoured my abode with a visit today, my wife told them we'll call them when we need them.

[CerebralEcstasy]

The jehovahs witnesses honoured my abode with a visit today, my wife told them we'll call them when we need them.

At least she was polite, most people aren't. :D

[Racoon]

Jehovah's are un-fun..

They are kill joys.. nothing is very cool and everything is serious..

 

 

Exactly a reason NOT to be one..

 

Why go through life like that.?

Doesn't make sense

[CerebralEcstasy]

Late 1870's, that's exceptionally recent. I've just found further information on this religion:

 

" Those who remained supportive of the Watchtower Society adopted the name Jehovas Witness in 1931 ", from Wikipedia, Even more recent.

 

" Other Witness teachings include the recognition and use of a personal name for God, translated as Jehovah in English, as vital for acceptable worship"...

 

You are correct in this.

 

The reason why it was put back was because the original renderings of the holy scriptures included God's personal name. Jehovah was derived from the Tetragrammaton or YHWH. Though most scholars today do not wholly agree in this rendering, as shown below.

 

Tetragrammaton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

God's personal name was removed from the bible due to superstition that it was too sacred to pronounce. Most older bibles, but very few new ones explain this in the foreword.

 

If you have an older copy of the bible, the name can be found in Psalms 83:18, and Exodus 6:3.

 

The reason why Jehovah's Witnesses consider the name of God to be important, is because Jesus spoke on several occasions about the importance of it.

 

One such occasion was in the Lords prayer - Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy NAME.

 

Also, in other translations we see the words - those who call upon the NAME of the LORD will be saved. How can we call upon his NAME if we don't know it?

 

Some think for every occurence of LORD, we can sub in the name Jesus - but this isn't the case when you examine the hebrew and greek scriptures.

 

This of course opens up a whole other can of worms with Christians who believe that Jesus is God, a belief which Jehovah's Witnesses do not share.

[CerebralEcstasy]

Jehovah's are un-fun..

They are kill joys.. nothing is very cool and everything is serious..

 

 

Exactly a reason NOT to be one..

 

Why go through life like that.?

Doesn't make sense

 

Is this reasoning statistically based? How many JW's do you know?

 

Statistically speaking there must be at least 1 cool, not too serious, fun Jehovah's Witness since there's about 6.7 million of them. /forums/images/smilies/banana_sign.gif

[Boerseun]

As a matter of fact, Raccoon, in an infinite universe, you can be sure to find:

 

1) At least one Jehova's witness who's fun,

2) At least one Muslim who don't want all Jews dead,

3) At least one raccoon who's not into insulting generalisations.

[Freddy]

From Wikipedia:

"If you have an older copy of the bible, the name can be found in Psalms 83:18, and Exodus 6:3. The name YHWH is often reconstructed as Yahweh or oftentimes Jehovah in the English language.

The Encyclopedia Americana states:

 

The form of J was unknown in any alphabet until the 14th century. Either symbol (J,I) used initially generally had the consonantal sound of Y as in year. Gradually, the two symbols (J,I) were differentiated, the J usually acquiring consonantal force and thus becoming regarded as a consonant, and the I becoming a vowel. It was not until 1630 that the differentiation became general in England."

 

In Exodus 6:3, it says,"God Almighty" as his name. The footnote says in Hebrew God's name is "El Shaddai".

 

In Psalms 83:18 it says, "whose name is the Lord, art the Most High...", which is what I remember hearing as a Catholic.

 

One thing I am sure of is that Hebrews did not used the English word, Jehovah, as God's name. Once I challenged a Witness on this point saying that Hebrew scripture was more than 3 millennia old, while the English word, Jehovah was a much more recent term. Hebrews did not use Jehovah as God's name. The Witness pulled out his Webster's and looked up Jehovah and said it says God. Again I pointed out he was using an English dictionary and the word Jehovah was of English origin and not Hebrew.

[CerebralEcstasy]

"If you have an older copy of the bible, the name can be found in Psalms 83:18, and Exodus 6:3. The name YHWH is often reconstructed as Yahweh or oftentimes Jehovah in the English language.

The Encyclopedia Americana states:

The form of J was unknown in any alphabet until the 14th century. Either symbol (J,I) used initially generally had the consonantal sound of Y as in year. Gradually, the two symbols (J,I) were differentiated, the J usually acquiring consonantal force and thus becoming regarded as a consonant, and the I becoming a vowel. It was not until 1630 that the differentiation became general in England."

I was thinking of this when I wrote this, but didn't have the necessary reference materials to represent it accurately. Thank you for providing them.

I would agree with you that the english rendering of Jehovah, is not what was used during the time that the bible was written, and that the consonants YHWH were what was common place.

The Watchtower Site also makes this distinction in the snippet I've borrowed from the paragraph from this link:

Why We Must Know God's Name - Jehovah's Witnesses Official Web Site (Why We Must Know God's Name)

 

But does 'knowing God's name' involve merely an intellectual knowledge that God's name in Hebrew is YHWH, or in English, Jehovah?

 

Interestingly enough Malachi 3:16 discusses the reason as to why God's name is important.

 

From the NWT (JW bible)

 

At that time those in fear of Jehovah spoke with one another, each one with his companion, and Jehovah kept paying attention and listening. And a book of remembrance began to be written up before him for those in fear of Jehovah and for those thinking upon his name.

 

From the KJV (Catholics, Lutherans etc.)

16Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.

 

From Young's Literal Translation (No clue here sorry) (Written 1863, revised 1867) Young's Literal Translation

16Then have those fearing Jehovah spoken one to another, And Jehovah doth attend and hear, And written is a book of memorial before Him Of those fearing Jehovah, And of those esteeming His name.

 

Darby Translation (Also no clue)(1884)

John Nelson Darby's Version

16Then have those fearing Jehovah spoken one to another, And Jehovah doth attend and hear, And written is a book of memorial before Him Of those fearing Jehovah, And of those esteeming His name.

 

 

 

 

 

[IMAMONKEY!]

I only know Jehova's Witness' as the old men that stand on the street corner handing out tiny books... They scare me and I really don't like them... from what I've read of their beliefs they're completely pessimistic or at least crazy in some regard...

 

These are my generalized opinions and I know not all of them are like that. Just the ones I have met. :cocktail:

[CerebralEcstasy]

I only know Jehova's Witness' as the old men that stand on the street corner handing out tiny books... They scare me and I really don't like them... from what I've read of their beliefs they're completely pessimistic or at least crazy in some regard...

 

These are my generalized opinions and I know not all of them are like that. Just the ones I have met. :cocktail:

 

 

Weird, I've never met any like that.

 

Perhaps I'm crazy too, and don't recognize it.........*laughs*

/forums/images/smilies/banana_sign.gif