For Jehovah's Witnesses, please. Why do you all say that using the name Jehovah is so important when praying?

Question

My friend is a Jehovah's Witness. She seems to be misguided about many things. She told me that calling God by the name God was impersonal. She also seemed to think other Christian denominations pray to Jesus.

I told her this wasn't so, that we also prayed to God; and that when we prayed, we didn't call Him "God", we called Him "Father". She said it was still wrong.

When the disciples asked Jesus to show them how to pray, He didn't start with, "Jehovah who is in heaven", He started with, "Our Father, who is in heaven." Even Jesus didn't use Jehovah when praying.

Please explain why you believe that only "Jehovah" should be used to reference God, when Jesus instructed us to pray "Our Father". I want to understand my new friend, but we are having problems that we may not be able to overcome.

Thanks.

Yes, Hallowed be thy name, but He didn't use the name "Jehovah".

Would Jesus, the Son of God, be swayed by old Jewish superstitions about what name to call His Father?

I don't understand this, and like my new friend, you all totally disregard scripture that doesn't fit your doctrine.

One thing I can say about myself; if you show me scripture that proves I'm wrong, I'll listen. I'm teachable. You all don't seem to be, and I don't understand it.

I think I'm going to have to cool down the friendship. On top of all this, she thinks that only Jehovah's Witnesses are going to Paradise with God, and this is clearly in opposition to Romans 10:9. I would never have the gall to say tht another denomination wasn't saved.

Anyway, be blessed, you all.

So busy, calling Him "Father" isn't exactly "hey you".

Answer 1

Calling God the Father, "Our Father" is definitely right. But calling God, Jehovah while praying is also right. 1 Chron 29:10 states "Blessed may you be, O Jehovah the God of Israel ..."
Isa 63:16 states "16 For you are our Father; although Abraham himself may not have known us and Israel himself may not recognize us, you, O Jehovah, are our Father. Our Repurchaser of long ago is your name". Even when Jesus was about to die, he quoted at Luke 23:46 "“Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit". Who is his Father? Interestingly in Psalms 31:5 it states " 5 Into your hand I entrust my spirit.
You have redeemed me, O Jehovah the God of truth."

The problem is if you call God "Our Father" without knowing his personal name, ie. Jehovah, Jesus will not be in union with you and his love won't be with in you. This is clearly stated in John 17:25, 26 - 25 Righteous Father, the world has, indeed, not come to know you; but I have come to know you, and these have come to know that you sent me forth. 26 And I have made your name known to them and will make it known, in order that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in union with them.”


It is evident that we need to use the Father's name when worshipping " Rev 19:4" will also help you. It states "4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and WORHSIPED God seated upon the throne, and said: “Amen! Praise Jah, YOU people!”

Jah is the short name of Jehovah (See Isa 12:2. Ex 15:2)

Answer 2

I think what your friend is referring to is the concept of the trinity. Before you go and terminate your friendship, make a list, kinda like what you did here, and have her answer you questions using your bible. However I do think you got quite a number of scriptual backing concerning this, however I will elaborate a little more for ya: As was brought out we can and do also refer to Jehovah as our father, but this does not negate the fact that Jehovah wants us to use his name. The tetragrommaton appears over 7,000 times in ancient bible manuscripts, WOW! however was removed
And yes Jehovah is God; God is a title not a name, for instance look up 1 cor. 8:5, it tells how there are many gods; the point being is that god is a title, not a name.
Also you mentioned Jesus not using Jehovah; Jesus is the son, so natually he would address his father as such, it would be tantamount to calling my mom by her first name; some people do this personally I find it disrespectful. And "hallow" means to sanctify.
And Rom. 10:9, yes indeed!! the backdrop of this letter is explaining that righteousness does not come via works of mosaic law or ancestry but in faith in Jesus and Jehovahs underserved kindness. So yes we do believe in the ransome, and yes it is pivitol for salvation.
When I studied the bible I found that Jehovah Witnesses use the Whole bible, and did not find the "pick and choose to fit doctrine" to be true at all!
Again before you dismiss your friend talk to her, write down all your questions and concerns, I think having a one on one would be better than this format. Hope this helps. Peace.

Answer 3

First please understand that when I pray to Jehovah, I will use the expression "Father" in my prayer, because Jesus said we have a heavenly Father.

To help you understand how Jehovah feels about his name please try this.

Find a good concordance for the copy of the bible you use.

Look up every scripture that contains the word "name" or "LORD" (Lord in all capital letters) as you read these verses you will see something very special about our Father.

(Please understand that LORD is a mistranslation of the name of Jehovah, or Yahweh)

You can also go to www.biblegateway.com and use

Young's Literal translation

and read the verses with Jehovah's name.

As to using Jehovah's name to reference God, The bible says that there are many gods, and those called gods. And most of these unless it's the god of your belly, etc, have names. If we know the names of the false gods in the bible,

Zeus, Baal, Moleck,

why don't people know and use the name of the true God, Jehovah.

FYI

when you translate Baal into english you get "Lord" so which Lord do you worship?

Answer 4

Jehovah's Witnesses use several terms in reference to God. Among the acceptable are:Jehovah, Father, Lord and Most High.
We desire a personal relationship with ou Heavenly Father and therefore we call Him by His name-Jehovah. It is certainly not wrong to call Him "God" but people usually don't call their friends by a title, but rather by the name they have been asked to use.
The Model Prayer is just that a model. Jesus told us not to be repeating the same words over and over, as the Pharisees did, but to pray from the heart. In other instances, Jesus did use His Father's name when praying.

Answer 5

ok so Lord and God are titles, like wellbeing care provider, mister, leave out, you. in case you will say which you're close own acquaintances with somebody might it no longer be suited to call them by employing their call? comparable element a minimum of for me. I nevertheless carry Jehovah in very severe esteem by way of fact he helps me with the privilege of employing his call. Now there are diverse translations of God's own call yet that would not lead them to any much less proper. be conscious some verses from the bible playstation 18:3 "on the only to be praised, Jehovah, I shall call, And from my enemies I would be saved'' (Acts 2:21) ''and everyone who calls on the call of Jehovah would be saved.”’ in view that we care approximately our pals and persons we meet it particularly is taken under consideration necessary enable others understand God has a attractiveness.

Answer 6

If I want to have a personal relationship with anyone, I may occationally refer to them as "my friend" but most of the time I will call them by their name. Since the Bible even refers to Satan as "the god of this system of things", it is wise to specify who you wish to answer your prayers--obviously, not him. In the model prayer at Matthew 6 Jesus did refer to Jehovah as "Our Father" and that is truly important because it shows that God is Jesus' Father just like he is ours--other places he refers to Jehovah as "my God". This also is significant in that it shows that they are anything but equal in spite of the fact that they are one (united) in purpose and Jesus perfectly reflects God's love when he is on earth. The trinity thing that most Christians believe in is distasteful to Jehovah's Witnesses as is the fact that some (certainly not all) who claim to be Christian will actually elevate Jesus to the point that he is superior to Jehovah in his position in their lives rather than as Colossians 1:15 and 16 says that he is the firstborn of all creation and all other things were created through him and for him. There are many things that we feel strongly about because we have studied the Bible over and over that most people just touch on if they study at all. However, as long as you and your friend continue to discuss things calmly and look up scriptures together to understand one another's feelings and thoughts it could be a very good relationship. Do not give up and do not hesitate to ask anything by e-mail. I will be glad to help in any way I can.

Answer 7

In the prayer you refer to Jesus said Hallowed be thy name. That name is Jehovah. How can you hallow or sanctify it if you don't use it? Psalms 83 :18

Answer 8

Should we use the Name?


For a long time, the Jews often used the name of God. For example the story about Ruth says: "Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, «YHWH be with you!» «YHWH bless you!» they called back." (Ruth 2:4) The Jewish Talmud says: "It was ordained that a man should greet his friends by mentioning the Name." (Berakhot 9:5)

But after some time, the Jews stopped using it. According to Easton's Bible Dictionary it happened because of a misinterpretation of Lev. 24:16, "anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death". Maybe they stopped using it to prevent none-Jews to get to know it and misuse it, or maybe superstition made them think that the name was too holy to be pronounced by imperfect men.

The Jews had obviously forgotten what God had said to Moses: "Say to the Israelites: YHWH, the God of your fathers - the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob - has sent me to you. This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation." (Exodus 3:15)

Micah 4:5 shows that they who trust in the God of the Bible, will keep his name: "For all the peoples walk every one in the name of his god; and we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God for ever and ever." (American Standard Version)

On the other side, they who opposes the God of the Bible, are characterized by avoiding using his name. We clearly see the contrast in Jesus' conversation with Satan, as it is described in Matthew 4:1-11. Satan consistently used the title "God", and quoted a scripture that didn't have the name of God. Jesus answered every time by citing scriptures that had the name of God.

That's the way it is - we like to use the name of a person who really means a lot to us, because it is of great value. On the other hand we will feel despise by only mentioning the name of a person we hate.

The Bible shows us that Satan presumably has a plan of getting people to forget the name of God, by getting people to worship other gods. He wanted this to happen with the Israelites, a situation Jeremiah 23:27 describes: "that think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers forgat my name for Baal." (American Standard Version)

Being uncertain of the pronunciation is no reason to avoid using the name. Most of the people have no problem using the name of Jesus, though this is not the correct pronunciation. His name was probably pronounced Yeshua', Yoshua' or Yehoshua'.

The conclusion must be that is is not wrongful to use God's name - it is actually a demand for they who claim to worship the God of the Bible. The Bible says that using his name is necessary to get approved by God: "And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved" (Joel 2:32, New International Version. Some translations 3:5)

Answer 9

Jehovah is not only our God but He is our Friend. He wants us to draw close to him and be comfortable talking to him in prayer. Have you ever tryed to get close to a friend when you don't even know their name? It would be difficult to say the least. Jehovah wants us to use His name. Psalm 83:18.

Answer 10

YHVH is the name of God, Jesus was Jewish so would never use this term to refer to God, hence the term our farther , there is a jewish religious idea I think which has its origins in ancient egypt that if a persons true spritual name is uttered it will give he who utters it control of that individual ,so if a man were to pronounce the spritual name of God correctly , he would control god and the universe and all reality as we know would come to an end .