Question about using God's name (Jehovah) and the Devil's name (Satan)?

Question

In view of the almost daily controversy that surrounds the Divine Name, I have a question. Two, actually.

If you believe that we have a closer relationship to God by using the name "Jehovah", shouldn't we NEVER say "Satan" since we don't want to have a close relationship with him?

Also, if you believe that the mere act of pronouncing the name "Jehovah" is considered "sanctifying" the name, then shouldn't we NEVER say the name "Satan" since the mere use of the name might bring fame and honor to him?

If you are a Christian and want to quote Scripture, please use Scriptures from the New Testament that were written to Christians, and not scriptures where Jehovah was speaking with the Israelites.

I DON'T think that the mere use of the name is 'sanctifying' it, but a lot of people here apparently do. I'm asking THEM to answer the questions.

3702, your answer was short, but it was DEFINITELY not to the point.

It didn't address either question at all. We already know God's name is Jehovah.

Besides, 3702, the 2 Scriptures you quote from Revelation do not contain "Jehovah" in the original manuscripts. It's only the translations that have altered what the original Greek said where "Jehovah" would appear in those scriptures.

Suzette, I asked for NT Scriptures because Christians are in a different situation than when the OT was written. At that time, God's name was known and associated with the Israelites. It was the ONLY name to be honored. But now, we are Christians, not Jews. God has allowed his own name to become partially unknown, apparently preferring to emphasize the name of Jesus for the time being. (Acts 11:26) These different circumstances make the New Testament more relevant for Christians in this particular issue.

Re: Post Script to Suzette

I "got that from" the Scripture that says it was by "divine providence" that Jesus' followers were called "Christians" because "divine providence" indicates that it was the result of God's direction. He could have wished them to be called "Jehovians" or "Jehovah's Witnesses", but he didn.t.

As for "worship", that is totally off topic. Please try to stay on the subject that's being discussed.

TeeM,

You're getting off topic, too, but I have to respond to the Talmud statement.

I respect your research, but I wasn't born yesterday. The Babylonian Talmud doesn't speak about the Name being removed from "Christian" writings. We know the Jews took the Name out of the Old Testament, and nothing in the Talmud indicates that it was anything other than those OT Scriptures. And even though someone somewhere will speculate that it was Christians, it doesn't say that at all, does it? No objective person would consider that "proof" . Do you consider yourself objective?

Ask yourself: Why would Jews even have the Christian Greek Scriptures? Did they confiscate all of them from the Christians? If so, did they return them once they took out the Name? In order for your theory to explain why NOT ONE manuscript survived with the Name, the Christians would have had to surrender EVERY copy of the New Testament to the Jews so they could deface it. Think about it.

teeM, You CAN'T be serious. If the Jews took ALL the copies of the New Testament - in EVERY land in EVERY language - then how did the NT survive at all? And what other changes mightn't the Jews have made? And if Jehovah permitted his Name to be removed, who are we to say that it's not acceptable? Suppose the Watchtower decides to revise the NWT and opts to translate it faithfully, and remove "Jehovah" from the New Testament. Would you argue with them that they were making a mistake? (We ARE off the subject).

Achtung,
The NWT says in Rev 12:9 that the serpent is "called Devil and Satan". Both "Devil" and "Satan" are capitalized, as a proper name. In view of the meaning of those words, he is aptly named, wouldn't you say?

TeeM, You're right about "what ifs". At the end of the day, this is the fact: In the NT, YH occurs in the Book of Revelation. That's it. It's in all the Greek manuscripts, is it not? It would be unusual that YH was left in every single manuscript, if all other instances of the Name had been removed. Such consistency would be hard to achieve.

The Talmud doesn't confirm anything about "Christian writings" since we don't know if "the Books of Minim" were Christian writings. It's possible. But it's also possible the Minim referred to Saducees, Samaritans, or another Jewish sect. So it can't be confirmed.

I didn't suggest we shouldn't use "Jehovah". I use it frequently. And I defend the NWT for using it in the Old Testament where YHWH appears (although I would have preferred Yahweh). God's name should appear in the OT for the same reason it should not appear (except in Rev.) in the New Testament. Can we agree we should not alter the Scriptures as we received them?

Also, your comparison of "Person" to "God" is faulty because Jesus and the Bible writers often refer to "God" or "Father" both as a form of address and in the third person. It's not disrespectful. It IS disrespectful to alter the Scriptures, so to replace YHWH with "lord" shows some disrespect, in my opinion, although I know it was done with the intention of showing MORE respect. Likewise, replacing "lord" with "Jehovah".

As for using Jesus name, if I were a translator, I would have preferred using Yeshua, because it's more authentic. (The vowels aren't unknown, in the case of Jesus.) I would have preferred all Hebrew names to be used. But that is just my personal preference. I don't insist that anything else is unacceptable. Since the Bibles we use say Jesus and Jehovah, that's what I use, too.

A person has ONE name. When George Bush goes to Mexico, his name is still George Bush. Listen to Spanish TV - they call him George Bush, not the Mexican equivalent.

Answer 1

No.

One who believes that using the personal name of a person can help one to develop a more personal relationship would be untroubled by saying "Devil" and/or "Satan" because neither of those is the personal name of God's chief adversary.

"Satan" is a word meaning "resister" (see footnote of Job 1:6 in most quality translations).

"Devil" is a word meaning "slanderer" (from the Greek "diabolos"; compare the way your bible translates the related Greek word "diabolo" at Luke 16:1).

Interestingly, it seems rather obvious that the bible's careful use or careful omission of personal names can itself teach volumes about the seriousness with which the Divine Author considers personal names.

Apparently, Jehovah intentionally restricts Satan from publicizing his actual personal name. Similarly, the original name of the city of Babel is unknown, along with those who there sought a "celebrated name" for themselves.

(Genesis 11:1-9) Now all the earth continued to be of one language... They now said: “Come on! Let us build ourselves a city and also a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a celebrated name for ourselves... Accordingly Jehovah scattered them from there over all the surface of the earth, and they gradually left off building the city. 9 That is why its name was called Babel, because there Jehovah had confused the language of all the earth


So what name is used more than any other name in the bible? It is the Tetragrammaton, the four Hebrew letters transliterated into Roman letters as "YHWH" and most commonly translated into English as "Jehovah" or "Yahweh" or "Yehowah"! Yes, the personal name of Almighty God is used nearly SEVEN THOUSAND TIMES, far more than any other personal name. Interestingly, the bible refers to the Almighty by name more times than by "God", "Father", and "Lord" COMBINED!

There is no excuse for ignoring the Divine Name, or for pretending that Almighty God does not wish His personal name to be used.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/na/

Answer 2

Actually we don't know the name of the angel who became Satan or Devil, these are titles describing what he did.

He became a resister and a slanderer, he is not named a resister and a slander.

But these are not his name.

Even if you want to insist that Satan is his name, If you are an American, What picture comes to mind when you say
Benedict Arnold?

It brings a bad picture or taste to you.

It is the same with Satan.

Eccl 7:1 says a 'good name' is better, not just a name.

Did you know that according to the Babylonian Talmud, Jews would burn any christian writting that contained God's name.

This proves two things.

one: the name was in the christian writtings

and it shows why we have yet to find an original copy containing the name.

As to how Jehovah felt about his name please read

John 12: 28 Father, glorify your name.” Therefore a voice came out of heaven: “I both glorified [it] and will glorify [it] again.”

What name did Jehovah glorify? What name did Jesus want Jehovah to glorify?

We know today that both the Greek or Hebrew OT Jesus would have used contained Jehovah's name.

Jesus said 'I have made your name known.' (John 17:6)

Jewish tradition removed Jehovah's name from their bibles,

What did Jesus say about jewish tradition?

It made God's Word invalid.

Who is fulfilling Jer. 23:27 They are thinking of making my people forget my name by means of their dreams that they keep relating each one to the other, just as their fathers forgot my name by means of Ba′al.

Baal translated into english is 'Lord' Who is forgetting Jehovah name by using the title Lord?

Edit ------

Your subject was Satan's name and Jehovah's name in NT.

I covered both well.

How the Jews got the christian writtings the Babylonian Talmud doesn't say.

It does say that they burned (not returned) the copies that contained the sacred name.

In the book of Acts it shows the Jews entering into homes of Christians, bringing them outside and flogging them.

Do you think they left the christian writings alone?

Are you going to be like Thomas,
Show me your hands and feet before you believe!
Show me an old manuscript with the divine name!

Jesus telling us that he made his Father's name known is not good enough for you?

Edit =====

We can 'what if' all day long.

All I'm saying is that there are ancient non christian writings that confirm that the sacred name was used in the early christian writings.

When the name was totally removed because of superstition and or fear or to protect their documents I can't answer.

Please note also, "Lord" may appear in the Greek Master Text, of today.

But in the ancient manuscripts themselves some contain Lord and some contain God in the same verse.

Gentile scribes / translators not knowing what the hebrew letters represented could have concluded Lord or God would be the best translation per context in their copying or translating those verses that originally contain Jehovah's name.

Your question said

'please use Scriptures from the New Testament that were written to Christians, and not scriptures where Jehovah was speaking with the Israelites.'

If you wrote a autobiography / biography about your life and the publishers replaced your name with "PERSON"

How would you feel about those publishers?

Has the sacred name been Lost? No, it is YHWH

No one knows for sure how Jesus' hebrew name should be pronounced, Should we stop using the name Jesus also?

In english we say Jesus 'Ge sus' in Spanish Jesus is pronounced 'Hay zoo s'

Which is correct?

In english we pronounce YHWH as Jehovah, in hebrew it is
Yahweh.

Which is correct?

.

Answer 3

*Is Catholic*

The Devil's name is never actually given. Lucifer is a title, it means "Morning Star" and it actually is applied to Christ in several places in the Bible. The Devil is the (false) Lucifer. Satan is a later addition.

The Book of Job calls the Devil the Accuser and also the Tempter.

Is it not interesting that the Devil, having rebelled against God has lost his name?

We have a closer relationship to God if we use Jesus because it is only through Jesus that we know the Father and can call YHWH Father. I AM WHO I AM or YHWH is much more than a name anyway.

It doesn't matter what you call the devil, but I do recommend laughing at him when you talk about him. He is after all a giant arrogant fool.

Answer 4

In ancient times the name of someone was a description of their character. God sent an angel to tell certain people especially what to name their children. He also renamed people in the Bible. We will have new names in heaven. We are to pray in Jesus' name. God's name / His character is so holy that in Bible times they were afraid to say it out loud. The fact of us saying His name does not make Him holy...He already is. We are not to take God's name in vain....which is a commandment. Why would that be? Because, His name is holy. "In vain" means to say it in a useless or frivolous way. We are to say it with much reverence. There are many places in the New Testament which speaks to keeping the commandments. One is Revelation 22:14 which says that only the people who keep God's commandments will have right to the tree of life and be able to enter into the gates of heaven.
On the other hand the devil's name is certainly not holy. If you are in a war you do want to know your enemy's name. It is Satan...and no, I would never want to bring honor or attention to him. You do have a point there.

Answer 5

Satan (eshtn) is a title given to the Cherubim after he oppose God's position of rightful sovereign of all creation.

God does not create adversary's but gave his creations free will and the Angel Cherubim decided on his own to rebel thus he was called Satan.

Does it make sense to call one of his brightest angels a name meaning adversary before he was one?

Thus Satan is not his real name but a title given to him so it is really a non issue. But it is admirable that you wish not to offend our creator by doing something that you believe he might be oppose to.

2Cr 7:1 let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Answer 6

God's name is Father, or Daddy...silly, no one knows God's name for sure. It does say that in the Bible. Check it out. Oh yeah, and Satan's name is not Satan. He had a different name when he was God's Angel. Lucifer. Get your facts together before jumping on every one else!

Blessed Be

Answer 7

I think the name of Jesus is more power full by far. I have never worried about saying the devil or Satan as it is used in context his name was Lucifer but if you use it to worship him the yes it is wrong.

Answer 8

Where did you get the idea that merely pronouncing a name brought praise and honor to that name?

If that were true, it would be impossible to use God's name in vain.

And which of his names should we or should we not pronounce. I'm kind of partial to Jesus, or Yeshua if you like, as well as I AM. I really like I AM.

Answer 9

it is a way of getting people to place a high value onto something...and that was the aim of the game so to speak, back when jehovah was a newbie.. there was other names and gods etc.. so say his more and you will go to heaven.. the same rules still apply... look around you..

satan is a load of ol' twaddle.
god loves you unconditionally - do you seriously think there is anything you can do that would shock him/her so much as to send you to burn for millenia?

Answer 10

Revelation 1:8 "I am the Al´pha and the O·me´ga,” says Jehovah God, “the One who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty.”

Revelation 21:22 "And I did not see a temple in it, for Jehovah God the Almighty is its temple, also the Lamb"