The Boise team showed up downtown at the same time that a Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) convention was being held. This turned out to be an interesting encounter with some JWs who came up to ‘preach’ to the Catholic team. The JW insisted that believers are to address God by His ‘real name’, “Jehovah,” so that’s the topic they spent most of the time discussing. What turned out to be ironic is that the JWs were so focused on the name “Jehovah” that they missed the fact the New Testament puts a big emphasis on the Name of Jesus, Whom the JWs believe to be a mere man.
The evangelists pointed out how the Apostles were always calling upon the “Name of Jesus” when performing miracles and preaching, which is also ironic because the JWs officially don’t believe Jesus even exists anymore, and instead they officially teach that Jesus ceased to exist upon his death and was only “resurrected” back as Michael the Archangel. So throughout Acts, the Apostles are calling upon the Name of someone who doesn’t even exist!
The Old Testament Hebrew Name for God was spelled by four letters, YHWH, which modern scholarship says is best pronounced “Yahweh.” The name “Jehovah” is actually a Latin interpretation of YHWH, and this name only came about in the middle ages when a Catholic priest took a guess as to how it was to be pronounced. So by using the name “Jehovah,” the JWs are not even following the Bible, but a Roman Catholic priest who was making an educated guess and turned out to not be accurate!
The JWs rely on the Catholic Church for “Jehovah,” and yet the JWs teach the Catholic Church was the one responsible for hiding God’s Name! Certain JW literature has reluctantly admitted that “Jehovah” is not really accurate, but they know that they must hide God’s real Name, Yahweh, because it would force them to admit they were wrong all this time!
Pray for these poor souls on their journey towards truth.
Hi, I am a Catholic in England, I’ve had to JW’s round now once a week for nearly a year, I invite them in we have Tea, they bring there bible I use mine, they leave me with many watchtower magazines, plus they gave me a copy of there bible. The girl that comes to me is originally from a Catholic background in Malta, my Parish priest is also from Malta, as I’ve told her, she brings someone different each week, she states they do believe jesus is the son of God, she seems to know here bible, as she can quote anything from it. I always get stumped by them & can never find an answer to disporove them. We recently discussed the business of Gods name, they said God, Lord, I am, are all titles, God wants us to use his name, they use various passages to show this. I want to continue with them, to prove our differences, they say it doesn’t matter what we think, it’s what the bible says that more important. They don’t agree about TRINITY, etc.
I was brought up as a JW in the UK.I started examining the teachings about 4 years ago because some things simply did not make sense.Jehovahs Witnesses insist that we need to call upon the name Jehovah for salvation and would often quote for instance, from Romans 10:13. Here the apostle Paul is quoting from Joel 2:32 “And it shall be that whosoever shall call upon the name of Jehovah shall be saved”
Here’s why this can only be a miss translation.
There are no ancient manuscripts that insert the name Jehovah in Romans 10:13
The new testament writers would often paraphrase passages from the old testament which referred to Jehovah and directly apply them to Jesus Christ.For example>
Psalms 102:25 “In the beginning you( Jehovah) laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.”
Hebrews 1:10 “He also says, “In the beginning, Lord(Jesus Christ), you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
The Lesson that Paul is teaching at Romans chapter 10 is that now Jesus is Lord and “the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him( Jesus)”Rom 10:12.
A simple greeting to the Corinthians could not be clearer.
In the NWT 1 Corinthians 1:2…….all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours”
To “call upon” in the old testament would be a direct prayer to Jehovah.The new testament applies this unique expression directly to Jesus Christ our Lord.
If you read John chapters 16-17, here Jesus Christ is preparing his apostles to ask in his name.
John 16:24 “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”
Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
The fact is this.That under the old covenant, the name given to the nation of Israel was Jehovah(Yahweh). That is the name they called upon.
Under the new covenant, the name given to mankind is Jesus Christ and we call upon that name now!
What Jehovahs Witnesses don’t understand is the transition of authority from the Father to the Son.
Thats why the name `Jehovah is not used in the new testament, All prayers, greetings, salutations and Thanksgiving are to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.Never to Jehovah or Yahweh.
Jesus was not a mere man. He was the perfect Son of God. sent by God to give his life for our sins as John 3:16 says. I got thinking on this Scripture that God sent His Son to us because he loved the world Then I got thinking about the Trinity. If they are equal, how could one equal send anoither part of the trinity? Then God would be in heaven and His son on Earth. Then I got thingking about Jesus in prayer to his Father the whole night before his sacrifice. One part of the Trinity praying to another part?
The apostles spoke Greek, but in quoting scriptures in Hebrew they used God’s name in Hebrew. Jerome, in translating the Bible into Latin at his time, spoke about pipi in the Greek. It was the name of God written right to left in the Hebrew letters. Jesus said that he was the word and life and the way of approach to God. (Jphn 14:6). A Trinity?
Jehovahs Witnesses and Trinitarians would do well to stop debating about their doctrinal positions on the identity of Jesus Christ.Is he the Archangel Michael? Or did he pre exist as the Son within a trinity Godhead?
There are no clear teachings in scripture for either one.Jesus pre existed as the Word of God.
When God said (his Word) let there be light.Light came into existence.
So, through Gods Word all things came into existence. That same Word dwelt among men as the only begotten son.Who is the exact divine character or person of God, yet not greater because he was in a lower form.
John 1:1 is really saying that God is his Word. In like manner Jesus Teaches about ourselves in Matthew 15:11 “What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
Matthew 15:18 “But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.”
What we say can defile us, because words come from the inner person, the figurate heart, Jesus is saying they are the same.
So, We are what we say in the same way God is also his Word.
This was worked out in the Council of Nicaea, to which all true Christians adhere, by definition. Arianism was denounced as heresy by the consensus of the successors of the apostles, and that, more or less, was the end of it. I visited Italy last summer and found it interesting that there were Jehovah’s Witnesses set up in some of the same places where Christians preached against Arian heretics more than 1000 years ago. One cannot read the Gospel of John, or 1 John, and come to any conclusion other than that Jesus is God. Unless, apparently, you are an extreme and unrepetant heretic.