JW organization.

[Elijah John]

Jehovah's Witnesses are not allowed to:

-vote
-celebrate birthdays
-celebrate Christmas or Easter
-donate or receive blood transfusions.

And if any JW openly persists in doing these things[edit to add publicly], they will be shunned or disfellowshipped, [edit to add or otherwise admonished or disciplined.]

For debate,

1) what do any of these check-list prohibitions have to do with Christianity?

2) And are any of these prohibitions compatible with the idea of Christian freedom?

3) Are these prohibitions arbitrary or legalistic?

4) And could Jehvoah's Witness as an organization flourish without these particular prohibitions and still honor God?

Please address any or all of the above.

[Benoni]

[Replying to post 309 by 2timothy316]

I am not a Greek or Hebrew Scholar but all I need to do is search it out on the web. This is not the middle ages. Do you believe in God's Spirit and lead and guide you in all truth or is that just another lie to you dismiss like your word Jehovah placed everywhere?

[2timothy316]

[Replying to 2timothy316]

This not change the fact that these translations are wrong there are so many translations.

What it changes is that every translation is incorrect that doesn't use what the Westminster Leningrad Codex uses. In that codex it uses the Tetragrammaton. This is sad because that means there are more incorrect Bible translations than what people are aware of.

What is wrong is you changing the Bible 300 plus times to fit your bias.

But you have no problems with a translation that completely removes the tetragrammaton? That kind of 'changing the Bible to fit a bias' is ok?

[Benoni]

[Replying to post 311 by 2timothy316]

I really do not care. I believe the many names and titles of God should be taught where they are written originally and to erase these names from the Bible and replace them with your bias is a spiritual crime.

[hoghead1]

[Replying to post 299 by onewithhim]

It is well-documented that the NWT inserted "Lord Jehovah" around 239 times in the NT, where it does not belong.

[Benoni]

[Replying to post 312 by Benoni]

So what about the Spirit of truth ?

[onewithhim]

[Replying to post 311 by 2timothy316]

I really do not care. I believe the many names and titles of God should be taught where they are written originally and to erase these names from the Bible and replace them with your bias is a spiritual crime.

But that is NOT what has been done. Haven't you bothered to read and contemplate what has been posted in response to your claim that JWs REMOVED names from the Bible?



(The Divine Name King James Bible; "Hallowing the Divine Name---the Divine Name Jehovah Restored 6,972 Times." It's not just the NWT that does that, you see?)

[hoghead1]

[Replying to post 294 by Elijah John]

Jehovah and Y' hovah are totally inaccurate translations. The ancient tradition was that you were to never utter God's personal name. Hence, for YHWH, the vowel indicators of Adonai were written in, which lead to the mistranslation of Jehovah. It is not unusual today to find both gentiles and Jews who feel we should honor the ancient tradition, by not even writing YHWH, let alone uttering it.

[hoghead1]

[Replying to post 300 by onewithhim]

Then both of you are sadly mistaken. "Jehovah" is a totally incorrect translation, based on a confusion over the vowel indicators.

[hoghead1]

[Replying to post 315 by onewithhim]

The KJV incorrectly rendered YHWH as Jehovah, however.

[Elijah John]

[Replying to post 279 by Elijah John]

"Yehovah" is definitely not correct, however.

Many Bibles simply use the term "the Lord" because people get confused on the names of God. For the laity, it makes it easier just to say 'the Lord," than in going into all this history bout names.

Correction. Where ever "LORD" is used as a stand-in for the Tetragrammaton, it it rendered in all caps. "LORD", not "Lord" as you have it.

But that solves nothing. His name is NOT "The LORD". The term has become a cliche, and cause confusion and conflates Jesus with YHVH.

Pagans, also call their deities "Lord". Baal worshipers no doubt referred to him as "Lord". Modern Wiccans often refer to their horned God and moon Goddess as "the Lord and the Lady".

Also, many Bible use "LORD" because they are respecting the Rabbinic prohibition, Most Jewish translations use "Adonai" (my Lord) or "HaShem" (The Name) as stand-ins for the Tetragrammaton.

The practice is not for the purpose of "avoiding confusion" as you suggest.. In fact, it has led to more confusion, as "Lord" conflates with LORD, and Jesus with "YHVH".

Let me put it this way...when folks pray "The LORD is my shepherd", who do you suppose they think of? Jesus or YHVH?

I would bet that most Christians first think of Jesus, instead of David's original intended YHVH.

And that suits NT propagansits just fine. It serves their agenda of blurring the lines between YHVH and Jesus.

I bet King David never conflated the Messiah with YHVH.

Exact pronunciation of the Divine name? No one knows for sure thanks to the Rabbinic prophibition, not even a scholar like yourself.

But I would trust the Karaite Jews on this, who are not intimidated by the Rabbinic prohibition, and openly and reverently pronounce the Name of God. Mordicai Alfandari, (a Karaite Jew) cites the Massoretic text to support the pronounciation "Yehovah".

Also Ketih E Johnson and the Russos both have written convincing works that favor the pronunciation "Yehovah" or "Y'hovah"

And many other scholars favor "Yahweh" or "Yahveh".

But you're right, not many suggest "Jehovah", but that seems only off by one letter.