| Subject: Who has the true faith? |
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BTL
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Date Posted: 02/23/04 3:42pm
Would it make sense to say that it is more likely that the true religion is the one that upholds gods (NAME)? Gods name? I hear you say. Yes. Did you know that Jesus is (a) God. He is not (The) God and Almighty one. The Almighty Gods (NAME) is Jehovah. Jesus is Jehovah's Son.
THE position of God's name is unshakable in the Hebrew Scriptures, the "Old Testament." Although the Jews eventually stopped pronouncing it, their religious beliefs prevented them from removing the name when they made copies of older manuscripts of the Bible. Hence, the Hebrew Scriptures contain God's name more often than any other name.
With the Christian Greek Scriptures, the "New Testament," the situation is different. Manuscripts of the book of Revelation (the last book of the Bible) have God's name in its abbreviated form, "Jah," (in the word "Hallelujah"). But apart from that, no ancient Greek manuscript that we possess today of the books from Matthew to Revelation contains God's name in full. Does that mean that the name should not be there? That would be surprising in view of the fact that Jesus' followers recognized the importance of God's name, and Jesus taught us to pray for God's name to be sanctified. So what happened?
To understand this, remember that the manuscripts of the Christian Greek Scriptures that we possess today are not the originals. The actual books written by Matthew, Luke and the other Bible writers were well used and quickly wore out. Hence, copies were made, and when those wore out, further copies were made of those copies. This is what we would expect, since the copies were usually made to be used, not preserved.
There are thousands of copies of the Christian Greek Scriptures in existence today, but most of them were made during or after the fourth century of our Common Era. This suggests a possibility: Did something happen to the text of the Christian Greek Scriptures before the fourth century that resulted in the omission of God's name? The facts prove that something did.
The Name Was There
We can be sure that the apostle Matthew included God's name in his Gospel. Why? Because he wrote it originally in Hebrew. In the fourth century, Jerome, who translated the Latin Vulgate, reported: "Matthew, who is also Levi, and who from a publican came to be an apostle, first of all composed a Gospel of Christ in Judaea in the Hebrew language . . . Who translated it after that in Greek is not sufficiently ascertained. Moreover, the Hebrew itself is preserved to this day in the library at Caesarea."
Since Matthew wrote in Hebrew, it is inconceivable that he did not use God's name, especially when quoting from parts of the "Old Testament" that contained the name. However, other writers of the second part of the Bible wrote for a worldwide audience in the international language of that time, Greek. Hence, they did not quote from the original Hebrew writings but from the Septuagint Greek version. And even Matthew's Gospel was eventually translated into Greek. Would God's name have appeared in these Greek writings?
Well, some very old fragments of the Septuagint Version that actually existed in Jesus' day have survived down to our day, and it is noteworthy that the personal name of God appeared in them. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology (Volume 2, page 512) says: "Recent textual discoveries cast doubt on the idea that the compilers of the LXX [Septuagint] translated the tetragrammaton YHWH by kyrios. The oldest LXX MSS (fragments) now available to us have the tetragrammaton written in Heb[rew] characters in the G[ree]k text. This custom was retained by later Jewish translators of the O[ld] T[estament] in the first centuries A.D." Therefore, whether Jesus and his disciples read the Scriptures in Hebrew or Greek, they would come across the divine name.
The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures properly uses God's name 237 times
Thus, Professor George Howard, of the University of Georgia, U.S.A., made this comment: "When the Septuagint which the New Testament church used and quoted contained the Hebrew form of the divine name, the New Testament writers no doubt included the Tetragrammaton in their quotations." (Biblical Archaeology Review, March 1978, page 14) What authority would they have had to do otherwise?
God's name remained in Greek translations of the "Old Testament" for a while longer. In the first half of the second century C.E., the Jewish proselyte Aquila made a new translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, and in this he represented God's name by the Tetragrammaton in ancient Hebrew characters. In the third century, Origen wrote: "And in the most accurate manuscripts THE NAME occurs in Hebrew characters, yet not in today's Hebrew [characters], but in the most ancient ones."
Even in the fourth century, Jerome writes in his prologue to the books of Samuel and Kings: "And we find the name of God, the Tetragrammaton [], in certain Greek volumes even to this day expressed in ancient letters."
The Removal of the Name
By this time, however, the apostasy foretold by Jesus had taken shape, and the name, although appearing in manuscripts, was used less and less. (Matthew 13:24-30; Acts 20:29, 30) Eventually, many readers did not even recognize what it was and Jerome reports that in his time "certain ignorant ones, because of the similarity of the characters, when they would find [the Tetragrammaton] in Greek books, were accustomed to read ."
In later copies of the Septuagint, God's name was removed and words like "God" (The·os') and "Lord" (Ky'ri·os) were substituted. We know that this happened because we have early fragments of the Septuagint where God's name was included and later copies of those same parts of the Septuagint where God's name has been removed.
The same thing occurred in the "New Testament," or Christian Greek Scriptures. Professor George Howard goes on to say: "When the Hebrew form for the divine name was eliminated in favor of Greek substitutes in the Septuagint, it was eliminated also from the New Testament quotations of the Septuagint. . . . Before long the divine name was lost to the Gentile church except insofar as it was reflected in the contracted surrogates or remembered by scholars."
Hence, while Jews refused to pronounce God's name, the apostate Christian church managed to remove it completely from Greek language manuscripts of both parts of the Bible, as well as from other language versions.
Eventually, as we saw earlier, the name was restored to many translations of the Hebrew Scriptures. But what about the Greek Scriptures? Well, Bible translators and students came to realize that without God's name, some parts of the Christian Greek Scriptures are very difficult to understand properly. Restoring the name is a big help in increasing the clarity and comprehensibility of this portion of the inspired Bible.
For example, consider the words of Paul to the Romans, as they appear in the Authorized Version: "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:13) Whose name do we have to call on to be saved? Since Jesus is often spoken of as "Lord," and one scripture even says: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," should we conclude that Paul was here speaking about Jesus?—Acts 16:31, Authorized Version.
No, we should not. A marginal reference to Romans 10:13 in the Authorized Version points us to Joel 2:32 in the Hebrew Scriptures. If you check that reference, you will find that Paul was actually quoting the words of Joel in his letter to the Romans; and what Joel said in the original Hebrew was: "Everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will get away safe." (New World Translation) Yes, Paul meant here that we should call on the name of Jehovah. Hence, while we have to believe in Jesus, our salvation is closely linked with a proper appreciation of God's name.
This example demonstrates how the removal of the name of God from the Greek Scriptures contributed to confusing Jesus and Jehovah in the minds of many. Undoubtedly, it contributed greatly to the development of the doctrine of the Trinity!
Should the Name Be Restored?
John W. Davis, a missionary in China during the 19th century, explained why he believed that God's name should be in the Bible: "If the Holy Ghost says Jehovah in any given place in the Hebrew, why does the translator not say Jehovah in English or Chinese? What right has he to say, I will use Jehovah in this place and a substitute for it in that? . . . If any one should say that there are cases in which the use of Jehovah would be wrong, let him show the reason why; the onus probandi [burden of proof] rests upon him. He will find the task a hard one, for he must answer this simple question,—If in any given case it is wrong to use Jehovah in the translation then why did the inspired writer use it in the original?"—The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal, Volume VII, Shanghai, 1876.
Would a translator have any right to restore the name, in view of the fact that existing manuscripts do not have it? Yes, he would have that right. Most Greek lexicons recognize that often the word "Lord" in the Bible refers to Jehovah. For example, in its section under the Greek word Ky'ri·os ("Lord"), Robinson's A Greek and English Lexicon of the New Testament (printed in 1859) says that it means "God as the Supreme Lord and sovereign of the universe, usually in Sept[uagint] for Heb[rew] Jehovah." Hence, in places where the Christian Greek Scripture writers quote the earlier Hebrew Scriptures, the translator has the right to render the word Ky'ri·os as "Jehovah" wherever the divine name appeared in the Hebrew original.
Many translators have done this. Starting at least from the 14th century, numerous Hebrew translations were made of the Christian Greek Scriptures. What did the translators do when they came to quotations from the "Old Testament" where God's name appeared? Often, they felt forced to restore God's name to the text. Many translations of parts or all of the Christian Greek Scriptures into Hebrew contain God's name.
Translations into modern languages, particularly those used by missionaries, have followed this example. Thus many African, Asian, American and Pacific-island language versions of the Greek Scriptures use the name Jehovah liberally, so that readers can clearly see the difference between the true God and the false ones. The name has appeared, too, in versions in European languages.
One translation that boldly restores God's name with good authority is the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures. This version, currently available in 11 modern languages, including English, has restored God's name every time that a portion of the Hebrew Scriptures containing it is quoted in the Greek Scriptures. Altogether, the name appears with a sound basis 237 times in that translation of the Greek Scriptures.
Opposition to the Name
In spite of the efforts of many translators to restore God's name in the Bible, there has always been religious pressure to eliminate it. The Jews, while leaving it in their Bibles, refused to pronounce it. Apostate Christians of the second and third centuries removed it when they made copies of Greek Bible manuscripts and left it out when they made translations of the Bible. Translators in modern times have removed it, even when they based their translations on the original Hebrew, where it appears almost 7,000 times. (It appears 6,973 times in the Hebrew text of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, 1984 edition.)
How does Jehovah view those who remove his name from the Bible? If you were an author, how would you feel about someone who went to great lengths to remove your name from the book you authored? Translators who object to the name, doing so on account of problems of pronunciation or because of Jewish tradition, might be compared to those who Jesus said "strain out the gnat but gulp down the camel!" (Matthew 23:24) They stumble over these smaller problems but end up creating a major problem—by removing the name of the greatest personage in the universe from the book that he inspired.
The psalmist wrote: "How long, O God, will the adversary keep reproaching? Will the enemy keep treating your name with disrespect forever?"—Psalm 74:10.
Why We Must Know God's Name
"EVERYONE who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved." (Romans 10:13) With these words the apostle Paul stressed how vital it is for us to know God's name. His statement brings us back to our original question: Why did Jesus put the 'hallowing,' or 'sanctifying,' of God's name at the very beginning of his Model Prayer, ahead of so many other important matters? To understand this, we need to grasp a little better the meanings of two key words.
First, what does the word 'hallow,' or 'sanctify,' really mean? Literally it means: "to make holy." But is not God's name already holy? Of course it is. When we sanctify God's name, we do not make it more holy than it is. Rather we recognize it as holy, set it apart, hold it in the highest esteem. When we pray for God's name to be sanctified, we are looking forward to the time when all creation will respect it as holy.
'Knowing God's name' means more than merely having head knowledge of the fact that his name is Jehovah
Second, exactly what is the implication of the word "name"? We have seen that God has a name, Jehovah, and that his name appears thousands of times in the Bible. We have discussed, too, the importance of restoring that name to its rightful place in the Bible text. If the name is not there, how can the psalmist's words be fulfilled: "Those knowing your name will trust in you, for you will certainly not leave those looking for you, O Jehovah."—Psalm 9:10.
But does 'knowing God's name' involve merely an intellectual knowledge that God's name in Hebrew is YHWH, or in English, Jehovah? No, it means more than that. When Moses was in Mount Sinai, "Jehovah proceeded to come down in the cloud and station himself with [Moses] there and declare the name of Jehovah." What did this declaring of the name of Jehovah entail? A description of his qualities: "Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness and truth." (Exodus 34:5, 6) Again, shortly before his death, Moses said to the Israelites: "I shall declare the name of Jehovah." What followed? Mention of some of His grand attributes, and then a review of what God had accomplished toward Israel for the sake of His name. (Deuteronomy 32:3-43) Hence, knowing God's name means learning what that name represents and worshiping the God who possesses it.
Since Jehovah has linked his name with his qualities, purposes and acts, we can see why the Bible says that God's name is holy. (Leviticus 22:32) It is majestic, great, fear-inspiring and unreachably high. (Psalm 8:1; 99:3; 148:13) Yes, God's name is more than a mere label. It represents him as a person. It was not merely a temporary name to be used for a time and then to be superseded by a title such as "Lord." Jehovah himself said to Moses: "'Jehovah . . .' This is my name to time indefinite, and this is the memorial of me to generation after generation."—Exodus 3:15.
Try as he will, man will never eliminate God's name from the earth. "'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."—Malachi 1:11; Exodus 9:16; Ezekiel 36:23.
Hence, the sanctification of God's name is far more important than any other issue. All of God's purposes are linked to his name. Mankind's problems began when Satan first profaned Jehovah's name by calling Him, in effect, a liar and unfit to rule the human race. (Genesis 3:1-6; John 8:44) Only when God's name is properly vindicated will mankind enjoy complete relief from the disastrous effects of Satan's lie. That is why Christians pray so fervently for the sanctification of God's name. But there are things that they can do, also, to sanctify it.
How Can We Sanctify God's Name?
One way is to talk to others about Jehovah and point to his Kingdom by Christ Jesus as mankind's only hope. (Revelation 12:10) Many are doing this, in a modern fulfillment of these words of Isaiah's prophecy: "In that day you will certainly say: 'Give thanks to Jehovah, you people! Call upon his name. Make known among the peoples his dealings. Make mention that his name is put on high. Make melody to Jehovah, for he has done surpassingly. This is made known in all the earth.'"—Isaiah 12:4, 5.
Another way is to obey God's laws and commands. Jehovah told the nation of Israel: "You must keep my commandments and do them. I am Jehovah. And you must not profane my holy name, and I must be sanctified in the midst of the sons of Israel. I am Jehovah who is sanctifying you."—Leviticus 22:31, 32.
How did the Israelites' keeping of Jehovah's Law sanctify his name? The Law was given to the Israelites on the basis of his name. (Exodus 20:2-17) Hence, when they kept the Law, they were showing proper honor and esteem for that name. Furthermore, Jehovah's name was on the Israelites as a nation. (Deuteronomy 28:10; 2 Chronicles 7:14) When they acted properly, this brought praise to him, just as a child who acts in a proper manner brings honor to his father.
In an article in the Anglican Theological Review (October 1959), Dr. Walter Lowrie highlighted the need to know God's name. He wrote: "In human relationships it is highly important to know the proper name, the personal name, of one we love, to whom we are speaking, or even about whom we speak. Precisely so it is in man's relation to God. A man who does not know God by name does not really know him as a person, has no speaking acquaintance with him (which is what is meant by prayer), and he cannot love him, if he knows him only as an impersonal force."
On the other hand, when the Israelites failed to keep God's Law, they profaned his name. Thus, sins such as sacrificing to idols, swearing to a lie, oppressing the poor and committing fornication are described in the Bible as 'profaning God's name.'—Leviticus 18:21; 19:12; Jeremiah 34:16; Ezekiel 43:7.
Similarly, Christians have been given commands in God's name. (John 8:28) And they, too, are associated with 'a people for Jehovah's name.' (Acts 15:14) Hence, a Christian who sincerely prays, "Hallowed be your name" will sanctify that name in his own life by obeying all of God's commands. (1 John 5:3) This would include also obeying the commands given by God's Son, Jesus, who always glorified his Father.—John 13:31, 34; Matthew 24:14; 28:19, 20.
The night before his execution, Jesus highlighted the importance of God's name to Christians. After saying to his Father: "I have made your name known to them and will make it known," he goes on to explain, "in order that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in union with them." (John 17:26) The disciples' learning the name of God involved their personally coming to know the love of God. Jesus had made it possible for them to become acquainted with God as their loving Father.—John 17:3.
How It Affects You
At a first-century meeting of the Christian apostles and older men in Jerusalem, the disciple James said: "Symeon has related thoroughly how God for the first time turned his attention to the nations to take out of them a people for his name." Could you be identified with those whom God takes out to be a "people for his name" if you fail to use or bear that name?—Acts 15:14.
Although many are reluctant to use the name Jehovah, and many Bible translators leave it out of their translations, millions of people around the world have gladly accepted the privilege of bearing God's name, of using it not only in worship but in everyday speech, and of declaring it to others. If somebody spoke to you about the God of the Bible and used the name Jehovah, with which religious group would you associate him? There is but one group in the world that uses God's name regularly in their worship, just as his worshipers of ancient times did. They are Jehovah's Witnesses.
Jehovah's name is 'majestic, great, fear-inspiring and unreachably high.' All of God's purposes are linked to his name
The Bible-based name Jehovah's Witnesses identifies these Christians as a 'people for God's name.' They are proud to bear that name, for it is one that Jehovah God himself gave to true worshipers. At Isaiah 43:10, we read: "'You are my witnesses,' is the utterance of Jehovah, 'even my servant whom I have chosen.'" Who was God discussing here? Consider some of the preceding verses.
In verses 5 to 7 of the same chapter, Isaiah says: "Do not be afraid, for I am with you. From the sunrising I shall bring your seed, and from the sunset I shall collect you together. I shall say to the north, 'Give up!' and to the south, 'Do not keep back. Bring my sons from far off, and my daughters from the extremity of the earth, everyone that is called by my name and that I have created for my own glory, that I have formed, yes, that I have made.'" In our day, those verses refer to God's own people that he has collected from all nations to praise him and to be his witnesses. Thus God's name not only identifies him but also helps to identify his true servants on earth today.
The Blessings From Knowing God's Name
Jehovah protects those who love his name. The psalmist said: "Because on me he has set his affection, I shall also provide him with escape. I shall protect him because he has come to know my name." (Psalm 91:14) He also remembers them: "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."—Malachi 3:16.
Thus, the benefits from knowing and loving God's name are not limited to this life only. To obedient mankind Jehovah has promised everlasting life in happiness on a Paradise earth. David was inspired to write: "Evildoers themselves will be cut off, but those hoping in Jehovah are the ones that will possess the earth. But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace."—Psalm 37:9, 11.
How will this be possible? Jesus gave the answer. In the same Model Prayer where he taught us to pray, "Let your name be sanctified," he added: "Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth." (Matthew 6:9, 10) Yes, God's Kingdom in the hands of Jesus Christ will sanctify God's name and also bring good conditions to this earth. It will eliminate wickedness and take away war, crime, famine, sickness and death.—Psalm 46:8, 9; Isaiah 11:9; 25:6; 33:24; Revelation 21:3, 4.
You can enjoy everlasting life under that Kingdom. How? By coming to know God. "This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ." (John 17:3) Jehovah's Witnesses will be delighted to help you take in that life-giving knowledge.—Acts 8:29-31.
It is hoped that the information in this brochure has convinced you that the Creator has a personal name that is very precious to him. It should be very precious to you too. May you realize the importance of knowing and using that name, especially in worship.
And may you be determined to say as the prophet Micah boldly said many centuries ago: "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."—Micah 4:5.
Different scholars have different ideas about how the name YHWH was originally pronounced.
In The Mysterious Name of Y.H.W.H., page 74, Dr. M. Reisel said that the "vocalisation of the Tetragrammaton must originally have been YeHuŕH or YaHuŕH."
Canon D. D. Williams of Cambridge held that the "evidence indicates, nay almost proves, that Jahwéh was not the true pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton . . . The Name itself was probably JAHÔH."—Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (Periodical for Old Testament Knowledge), 1936, Volume 54, page 269.
In the glossary of the French Revised Segond Version, page 9, the following comment is made: "The pronunciation Yahvé used in some recent translations is based on a few ancient witnesses, but they are not conclusive. If one takes into account personal names that include the divine name, such as the Hebrew name of the prophet Elijah (Eliyahou) the pronunciation might just as well be Yaho or Yahou."
In 1749 the German Bible scholar Teller told of some different pronunciations of God's name he had read: "Diodorus from Sicily, Macrobius, Clemens Alexandrinus, Saint Jerome and Origenes wrote Jao; the Samaritans, Epiphanius, Theodoretus, Jahe, or Jave; Ludwig Cappel reads Javoh; Drusius, Jahve; Hottinger, Jehva; Mercerus, Jehovah; Castellio, Jovah; and le Clerc, Jawoh, or Javoh."
Thus it is evident that the original pronunciation of God's name is no longer known. Nor is it really important. If it were, then God himself would have made sure that it was preserved for us to use. The important thing is to use God's name according to its conventional pronunciation in our own language.
"Jehovah" has become widely known as the name of God even in non-Biblical contexts.
Franz Schubert composed the music for the lyric entitled "The Almightiness," written by Johann Ladislav Pyrker, in which the name Jehovah appears twice. It is also used at the end of the last scene of Verdi's opera "Nabucco."
Additionally, French composer Arthur Honegger's oratorio "King David" gives prominence to the name Jehovah, and renowned French author Victor Hugo used it in over 30 of his works. Both he and Lamartine wrote poems entitled "Jehovah."
In the book Deutsche Taler (The German Taler), published in 1967 by Germany's Federal Bank, there is a picture of what is one of the oldest coins bearing the name "Jehovah," a 1634 Reichstaler from the Duchy of Silesia. Regarding the picture on the coin's reverse side, it says: "Under the radiant name JEHOVAH, rising up out of the midst of clouds, is a crowned shield with the Silesian coat of arms."
In a museum in Rudolstadt, East Germany, you can see on the collar of the suit of armor once worn by Gustavus II Adolph, a 17th-century king of Sweden, the name JEHOVAH in capital letters.
Thus, for centuries the form Jehovah has been the internationally recognized way to pronounce God's name, and people who hear it instantly recognize who is being spoken about. As Professor Oehler said, "This name has now become more naturalized in our vocabulary, and cannot be supplanted."—Theologie des Alten Testaments (Theology of the Old Testament).
At present, there is no current translation of the Bible in the Afrikaans language (spoken by South Africans of Dutch descent) that contains God's name. This is surprising, since many translations into the tribal languages spoken in that country use the name freely. Let us see how it came about.
On August 24, 1878, a strong plea was made at a meeting of the Society of True Afrikaners (G.R.A.) that a translation of the Bible be made in the Afrikaans language. Six years later, the matter was brought up again, and eventually it was decided to go ahead and translate the Bible from the original tongues. The work was entrusted to S. J. du Toit, Superintendent of Education in the Transvaal.
A letter of instruction to du Toit included the following guideline: "The proper name of the Lord, Jehovah or Jahvę, should be left untranslated [that is, not substituted for by Lord or God] throughout." S. J. du Toit translated seven Bible books into Afrikaans, and the name Jehovah appeared throughout.
Other South African publications, too, at one time contained God's name. For example, in De Korte Catechismus (The Short Catechism), by J. A. Malherbe, 1914, the following appeared: "What is God's preeminent Name?" The answer? "Jehovah, which is written LORD with capital letters in our Bibles. This [name] was never given to any creature."
In Die Katkisasieboek (a catechism published by the Federated Sunday School Commission of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa) the following question appeared: "May we then never use the name Jehovah or LORD? That is what the Jews do . . . That is not the meaning of the commandment. . . . We may use his Name, but never in vain." Until recently, reprints of Die Halleluja (a hymnbook) also contained the name Jehovah in some hymns.
However, du Toit's translation was not popular, and in 1916 a Commission for Bible Translation was appointed to see to the production of an Afrikaans Bible. This Commission had a policy of omitting from the Bible the name of Jehovah. In 1971 the Bible Society of South Africa published a "tentative translation" of a few Bible books in Afrikaans. While the name of God was mentioned in the introduction, it was not used in the text of the translation. Similarly, in 1979 a new translation of the "New Testament" and Psalms appeared and it likewise omitted the name of God.
Moreover, since 1970 mention of the name Jehovah has been removed from Die Halleluja. And the sixth printing of the revised edition of Die Katkisasieboek, published by the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa, now also omits the name.
In fact, the efforts to eliminate the form Jehovah are not limited to books. A Dutch Reformed church in Paarl used to have a cornerstone on which were inscribed the words JEHOVAH JIREH ("Jehovah Will Provide"). A picture of this church and its cornerstone appeared in the October 22, 1974, issue of the magazine Awake! in the Afrikaans language. Since then, the cornerstone has been replaced by another with the words DIE HERE SAL VOORSIEN ("The LORD Will Provide"). The scripture citation and the date on the cornerstone have been left the same, but the name Jehovah has been removed.
Hence, many Afrikaners today are unaware of God's name. Church members who do know it shy away from using it. Some even argue against it, saying that God's name is LORD and accusing Jehovah's Witnesses of inventing the name Jehovah.
To remove God's distinctive personal name from the Bible and substitute a title such as "Lord" or "God" makes the text weak and inadequate in many ways. For example, it can lead to meaningless combinations of words. In its foreword, The Jerusalem Bible says: "To say, 'The Lord is God' is surely a tautology [a needless, or meaningless, repetition], as to say 'Yahweh is God' is not."
Such substitutions can also lead to awkward phrases. Thus in the Authorized Version, Psalm 8:9 reads: "O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" What an improvement when the name Jehovah is restored to such a text! Thus, Young's Literal Translation of the Holy Bible reads here: "Jehovah, our Lord, how honourable Thy name in all the earth!"
Removing the name can also lead to confusion. Psalm 110:1 says: "THE LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." (Authorized Version) Who is talking to whom? How much better the rendering: "The utterance of Jehovah to my Lord is: 'Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies as a stool for your feet.'"—New World Translation.
Additionally, substituting "Lord" for "Jehovah" removes something of pivotal importance from the Bible: the personal name of God. The Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Volume 1, page 572) states: "Strictly speaking, Yahweh is the only 'name' of God."
The Imperial Bible-Dictionary (Volume 1, page 856) describes the difference between "God" (Elohim) and "Jehovah," stating: "[Jehovah] is everywhere a proper name, denoting the personal God and him only; whereas Elohim partakes more of the character of a common noun, denoting usually, indeed, but not necessarily nor uniformly, the Supreme."
J. A. Motyer, principal of Trinity College, England, adds: "Much is lost in Bible reading if we forget to look beyond the substitute word [Lord or God] to the personal, intimate name of God himself. By telling his people his name, God intended to reveal to them his inmost character."—Eerdmans' Handbook to the Bible, page 157.
No, one cannot render a distinctive proper name by a mere title. A title can never convey the full, rich meaning of the original name of God.
There are no other people who carry Gods name in this world. To deny his name is to say God does not exist. Imagine if your name was taken from you. If someone asked do I believe
in you... I would probably I would say "WHO?" because you do not exist without a name. I would without a pause say that Jehovah's people - Witnesses of Jehovah - Jehovah's Witnesses have the truth given through his written word the bible.
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