Jehovahs witnesses why do you call the Lord by his first name when.....?

It seems rather obvious that a modest person will address a person by whatever reasonable name the person prefers to be addressed.

Despite what the questioner may unreasonably pretend, in fact it is quite common for a parent who is employed alongside his offspring to pointedly instruct the offspring to address him by name rather than as "father". Similarly, it seems unreasonable to suppose it disrespectful to use another's personal name if that is what has been specifically instructed by a particular teacher, doctor, lawyer, lecturer, officer, or judge.

Frankly, it is puzzling and illogical for the critics of Jehovah's Witnesses to ignore what the Bible repeatedly teaches about those who refuse to use and honor the name of Jehovah.

.. ..(Malachi 2:2) If you will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name," Jehovah of armies has said, "I shall also certainly send upon you the curse

.. ..(Psalm 83:16-18) Fill their faces with dishonor, That people may search for your name, O Jehovah. 17 O may they be ashamed and be disturbed for all times, And may they become abashed and perish; 18 That people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah, You alone are the Most High over all the earth.

.. ..(Isaiah 52:5,6) The utterance of Jehovah, "and constantly, all day long, my name was being treated with disrespect. 6 For that reason my people will know my name

According to the Bible, what must ALL people do with regard to Jehovah's name?

.. ..(Psalm 29:2) Ascribe to Jehovah the glory of his name.

.. ..(Psalm 86:8-9) There is none like you among the gods, O Jehovah, Neither are there any works like yours. 9 All the nations whom you have made will themselves come, And they will bow down before you, O Jehovah, And will give glory to your name.

The Bible also teaches that there are real benefits for those who appropriately use the name Jehovah.

.. ..(Romans 10:13) Everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved

.. ..(Acts 2:21) And everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.

.. ..(Joel 2:32) And it must occur that everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will get away safe

.. ..(Malachi 3:16) 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.

.. ..(Nehemiah 1:11) Jehovah, please, let your ear become attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who take delight in fearing your name

Who can reasonably be called "a people for Jehovah's name"? What does the Bible say about this people?

.. ..(Isaiah 43:12) There was among you no strange god. So you are my witnesses," is the utterance of Jehovah, "and I am God.

.. ..(Zephaniah 3:9) I shall give to peoples the change to a pure language, in order for them all to call upon the name of Jehovah, in order to serve him shoulder to shoulder.

.. ..(Micah 4:5) For all the peoples, for their part, will walk each one in the name of its god; but we, for our part, shall walk in the name of Jehovah our God to time indefinite, even forever.

.. ..(Isaiah 52:5-7) The utterance of Jehovah, "and constantly, all day long, my name was being treated with disrespect. 6 For that reason my people will know my name... 7 How comely upon the mountains are the feet of the one bringing good news, the one publishing peace, the one bringing good news of something better, the one publishing salvation

.. ..(Malachi 1:11) For from the sun’s rising even to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place sacrificial smoke will be made, a presentation will be made to my name, even a clean gift; because my name will be great among the nations," Jehovah of armies has said.

Here are some additional Scriptures that mention God's personal name. There are THOUSANDS MORE. Do any of these seem to imply that the name "Jehovah" is unimportant?

(Psalm 148:13) Let them praise the name of Jehovah, For his name alone is unreachably high.

(Micah 5:4) He will certainly stand and do shepherding in the strength of Jehovah, in the superiority of the name of Jehovah his God

(Psalm 9:10) And those knowing your name will trust in you, For you will certainly not leave those looking for you, O Jehovah.

(Psalm 34:3) O magnify Jehovah with me, YOU people, And let us exalt his name together.

(Zephaniah 3:12) A people humble and lowly, and they will actually take refuge in the name of Jehovah.

(Revelation 15:4) Who will not really fear you, Jehovah, and glorify your name, because you alone are loyal?. . .

(Micah 6:8,9) And what is Jehovah asking... the person of practical wisdom will fear your name.

(Psalm 96:2) Sing to Jehovah, bless his name.

(Psalm 105:1) Give thanks to Jehovah, call upon his name, Make known among the peoples his dealings.

(Psalm 54:6) I shall laud your name, O Jehovah, for it is good.

(Micah 4:5) For all the peoples, for their part, will walk each one in the name of its god; but we, for our part, shall walk in the name of Jehovah our God to time indefinite, even forever.

(Psalm 118:26) Blessed be the One coming in the name of Jehovah

(Matthew 21:9) Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah's name!

(Matthew 23:39) Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah's name!

(Mark 11:9) Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah's name!

(Luke 13:35) Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah's name.

(John 12:13) Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah's name

Jehovah's name is in the Scriptures in more than 6000 places and Jesus used Jehovah's name and said we should sanctify it, meaning, make it holy. If you have an older KJV Bible, check these Scriptures Exodus 6:3, Psalms 83:18, Isaiah 12:2, and Isaiah 26:4. Also read Isaiah 43:10, Jehovah's Witnesses exercise faith in Jesus Christ as our savior, Jehovah sent him to earth to die for all mankind's sins, Jesus is the only way Jehovah God has provided for the saving of fallen mankind, what we witness to is , Jehovah is God the Almighty, the Creator, and that Jesus Christ is his Son and the savior God has provided for all mankind, and that the kingdom of God is the only solution to all mankind's problems and that Jehovah God has made his Son, Christ Jesus, king of that kingdom, thus we conduct Bible studies to help people understand what God requires of us to gain salvation and live eternally in paradise, and Jesus set the example of how to do that, it's by going door to door by twos, and in the market places, and in the streets, go where the people are, it is still very effective at gaining brothers and sisters.

Way back in 1950, the Watchtower Society acknowledged that the correct pronunciation for God's name is Yahweh. The foreword on page 25 of the 1950 New World Translation of the Bible (their version) says: 'While inclining to view the pronunciation 'Yah.weh' as the more correct way, we have retained the form 'Jehovah' because of people's familiarity with it since the 14th century. Moreover, it preserves, equally with other forms, the four letters of the tetragrammation JHVH.' Strangely, this admission was removed from subsequent editions of the NWT. "Jehovah is the best known English pronunciation of the divine name, although 'Yahweh' is favoured by most Hebrew scholars." From Insight on the Scriptures 1988, Volume 2, page 5.

"The first recorded use of the name Jehovah dates back to the 13th century. A Catholic monk of the Dominican Order, Raymundus Martini, used it in his book 'Pugeo Fidei' of the year 1270 C.E." From Aid to Bible Understanding, 1971, pages 884-885.

However, all this pales into insignificance if we cannot call God 'Abba' or Father. That is to say, have we been adopted? "Because those who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father'. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." Romans 8:14-16.

Are we under the Law, or are we under the New Covenant? "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, 'Abba, Father'. So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir." Galatians 4:4-7.

Actually, the real problem lies in the fact that they don't recognise that Jesus is the name by which we are saved.

Ah, Wink is at it again. Spewing forth words in great numbers signifying nothing. If Jesus came to set the example and He in fact TOLD us to pray this way..."Our Father in heaven", then that is good enough for me!

If I had called my father by his name, Lorenzo I would still be trying to find my nose somewhere inside my face. And if I ever dared call my grandfather Ramon, well, my teeth would require gathering up from the floor.

I think it's funny that Jehovah is not even really the Heavenly "Father" of most JWs. The August 1st, 1995 Watchtower on page 13 and paragraph 19 makes it pretty clear that He is the GRANDFATHER of the great crowd. Now this teaching is absolutely not biblical, but it is still the Watchtower's view. Unless the governing body voted again....

Dear Ki,

I see some excellent points here from Curious Jorge down to Question Everything and many in between.

One verse that hasn't yet been cited is Jeremiah 3:19. I have the NIV in front of me right now but please check other versions as well.

I myself said,

"'How gladly would I treat you like sons

and give you a desirable land,

the most beautufiul inheritance of any nation.'

I thought you would call me 'Father'

and not turn away from following me.

We definitely need the Holy Spirit's help to understand, don't we? Is God a liar? Perish the thought.

There is no contradiction when we understand that God's Name is equivalent to His Nature. He is not interested in being called by some made up name but He is interested in having us know His Nature.

Thanks for your excellent question.

Edit:

I'm glad I had time to correct a spelling mistake but I just noticed Achtung's long list of Bible verses but he does not address God's desire to be called Father as mentioned in Jeremiah 3:19. God is definitely not the God of confusion.

For His glory,

JOYfilled - but missing Schneb

My argument is the same; if the original Scriptures did not put vowels on the name itself then there must be a reason for it. Adding vowels into it for me is also corrupting its original intent. It would be better if what was actually written is actually observed, that way you won't have to answer to God why did you intervened on His written Word. If we truly respect God as most would say, we also would respect His decision and reason of why He allowed His name to be kept secret.

Good insight. Their rendering of the name of jehovah is the lucky guess at the most. I do nt have problem calling god Jehovah, but make it such an importance ..that is a mistake no other group has made

To me, it seems reasonable to follow Jesus' example and call Him "Father."

It is interesting that there are exactly ZERO manuscripts of the New Testament containing the Name.

The Jehovah's Witnesses (the religion most commonly associated with "Jehovah," the anglicanized version of the Name), admit this in their reference work Insight on the Scriptures: "the extant manuscript copies of the original text of the Christian Greek Scriptures do not contain the divine name in its full form." (vol. 2, p. 9).

Of course, it's possible that, as the Witnesses assert, EVERY NT manuscript in existence has been corrupted by removing the Name. Such argumentation leads one down a slippery slope: If every single existing NT manuscript has been corrupted in this way, what other corruptions are present? Most Christians have more respect for the scriptures than this.

Think about this as well: If Jesus and his apostles made it a practice to pronounce the Name, it seems almost certain that the Jewish religious leaders would have made a stink about it...they certainly made a stink about plenty of other aspects of Christ's ministry.

In matters such as this, it is advisable not to be dogmatic. While it is certainly possible that Christ and his early followers pronounced the Name, there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that they did. In fact all of the extant manuscripts (some going back to 125 A.D.) show that Jesus and his followers used the words for "Lord" "God" and "Father" when referring to God.

If we want to follow the example of the First Century Christians, it would be best to go where the evidence (i.e., the manuscripts) lead--rather than a preconception regarding the importance of a particular version of the Name.

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To me, it boils down to this. Do I call my father "Jose"? No; I call him "papa." God is my Father and I address him as such.

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Wow, Hermosa seems angry! I guess Jesus was right when he said "by their fruits you will recognize them."

Anyway, I don't think anyone is saying that the Name was not in the original Old Testament manuscripts. Of course it was. God revealed himself to the Israelites by that name (Yahweh/Jehovah).

But my point is that there are ZERO manuscripts (I'm not talking about translations...talking about Greek manuscripts) of the New Testament containing the Name. Zero, none, nada.

Why is it not there? Was it taken out of EVERY SINGLE ONE? If so, what other changes were made to every single manuscript?

Great question.

I know this is cheap, but I second what ♥Blessed♥ Ps118:8 Rom3:4 Act5:29 said.

Because the Bible tells us to use it and hallow (praise it). Matthew 6:9, Hebrews 13:16, John 17:26, 5:43, 44...if you are not praising it, you are blaspheming it and lose life. Rev. 16:9.

Debbie

I understand the point of this question. To actually SHOW respect to authority figures..in our society it's respectful to emphsize the title rather than ones' name.

WE can see this but by bringing it to their attention they only see it as

persecution, it's "the world hating jehovahs name", it's taunting....etc.

In reality, we know, that the WBTS wants them to see this as being separate from the world. By them choosing this ONE name translation sets them apart from any other religion and that's what they want.

when the bible is talking about 'making his name known'...it's NO different than the phrase 'making a name for one's self'....in other words MAKE GOD AND HIS WAYS KNOWN.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose,

By any other word would smell as sweet."......Wm. Shakespeare