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Who have tried to cause Jehovah’s name to be forgotten?

Christendom deserves the coming destruction for contributing to the spiritual illiteracy common among churchgoers and for its manifest hatred of God’s name. In the Middle Ages, God’s personal name was rather widely known in Europe. That name, represented by four Hebrew letters called the Tetragrammaton and commonly transliterated YHWH (or JHVH), appeared on coins, on facades of houses, in many books and Bibles, and even in some Catholic and Protestant churches. However, the trend in recent times is to eliminate the name of God from Bible translations and from other uses. One indication of this is the Letter to the Bishops’ Conferences on ‘the Name of God,’ dated June 29, 2008, issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. In it the Roman Catholic Church advised that the Tetragrammaton in its various renderings should be replaced by “Lord.” The Vatican instructed that God’s personal name should not be used or pronounced in hymns and prayers during Catholic religious services. And the leaders of other religions inside and outside of Christendom have also hidden the identity of the true God from millions upon millions of worshippers. http://www.adoremus.org/CDW_NameofGod.html http://acharlie.tripod.com/gtrin/jhvh.html

Public Comments

1. In 1972 the Jehovah's Witness Watchtower claimed to be the prophet of God. IDENTIFYING THE "PROPHET" -- "So does Jehovah have a prophet to help them, to warn them of dangers and to declare things to come? These questions can be answered in the affirmative. Who is this prophet?...This "prophet" was not one man, but was a body of men and women. It was the small group of footstep followers of Jesus Christ, known at that time as International Bible Students. Today they are known as Jehovah's Christian Witnesses...Of course, it is easy to say that this group acts as a 'prophet' of God. It is another thing to prove it," (Watchtower, Apr. 1, 1972, p. 197). (See Deut. 18:21.) •1897 "Our Lord, the appointed King, is now present, since October 1874," (Studies in the Scriptures, vol. 4, p. 621). •1899 "...the 'battle of the great day of God Almighty' (Revelation 16:14), which will end in A.D. 1914 with the complete overthrow of earth's present rulership, is already commenced," (The Time Is at Hand, 1908 edition, p. 101). •1916 "The Bible chronology herein presented shows that the six great 1000 year days beginning with Adam are ended, and that the great 7th Day, the 1000 years of Christ's Reign, began in 1873," (The Time Is at Hand, forward, p. ii). •1918 "Therefore we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old, particularly those named by the Apostle in Hebrews 11, to the condition of human perfection," (Millions Now Living Will Never Die, p. 89). •1922 "The date 1925 is even more distinctly indicated by the Scriptures than 1914," (Watchtower, Sept. 1, 1922, p. 262). •1923 "Our thought is, that 1925 is definitely settled by the Scriptures. As to Noah, the Christian now has much more upon which to base his faith than Noah had upon which to base his faith in a coming deluge," (Watchtower, Apr. 1, 1923, p. 106). •1925 "The year 1925 is here. With great expectation Christians have looked forward to this year. Many have confidently expected that all members of the body of Christ will be changed to heavenly glory during this year. This may be accomplished. It may not be. In his own due time God will accomplish his purposes concerning his people. Christians should not be so deeply concerned about what may transpire this year," (Watchtower, Jan. 1, 1925, p. 3). •1925 "It is to be expected that Satan will try to inject into the minds of the consecrated, the thought that 1925 should see an end to the work," (Watchtower, Sept., 1925, p. 262). •1926 "Some anticipated that the work would end in 1925, but the Lord did not state so. The difficulty was that the friends inflated their imaginations beyond reason; and that when their imaginations burst asunder, they were inclined to throw away everything," (Watchtower, p. 232). •1931 "There was a measure of disappointment on the part of Jehovah's faithful ones on earth concerning the years 1917, 1918, and 1925, which disappointment lasted for a time...and they also learned to quit fixing dates," (Vindication, p. 338). •1941 "Receiving the gift, the marching children clasped it to them, not a toy or plaything for idle pleasure, but the Lord's provided instrument for most effective work in the remaining months before Armageddon," (Watchtower, Sept. 15, 1941, p. 288). •1968 "True, there have been those in times past who predicted an 'end to the world', even announcing a specific date. Yet nothing happened. The 'end' did not come. They were guilty of false prophesying. Why? What was missing?.. Missing from such people were God's truths and evidence that he was using and guiding them," (Awake, Oct. 8, 1968). •1968 "Why are you looking forward to 1975?" (Watchtower, Aug. 15, 1968, p. 494). A JW might say that the organization is still learning. If that is so, then how can they trust what they are taught now by the Watchtower? Will what they are being taught now change also? A true prophet of God won't err in prophesying. Only a false prophet does. The Jehovah's Witness organization, that claims to be a prophet of God, is really a false prophet. Jesus warned us by saying, "For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect -- if that were possible" (Matt. 24:24).
2. Of, leave off the Watchtower propaganda, can't you?You are a slave of a silly,made up sect founded by a Victorian wife-beating nut-job. You do not have any special insight into biblical history or translation! And what does it matter? There is no god, and arguing about whether a fictional monster should be called by an anglicised version of the name of a bronze age thunder god or some later euphemism is an utter waste of time!
3. Hi, People in mainstream churches (mines Baptist) know the name "Jehovah" and know that its a Catholic version of "Yahweh". here's a well-known Christian song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcLa9Lo9-H4
4. Asker, You are mistaken on something. The originators of such practice where the jews themselves, not Christians. The name of God was used plenty in early Jewish history, but as you start getting close Jesus's time, it became less and less used, to the point that in Jesus time, it was not used at all. Only the high priest would mention the name of God 10 times, once a year during a celebration. This is why if you look at the old testatment, the earlier books, mention the tetragrammaton a lot, but the later books, don't use it as much. The new testament barely uses it. Even if you look at Jesus words in the Bible, he mentions the name of God 16 unique times. 13 of those are quotations from the old testament. So he used it 3 times on his own initiative. He never used it in any of his prayers, and usually used Father or Lord almost always. This custom of not mentioning the name carried on to Christian times. The Watchtower placed the name Jehovah in the new testament in an arbitraty way. This name is not there in the earliest versions of the bible (new testatment)
5. No. I obey the Commandment "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." The Hebrew Tetragrammaton YHWH is only part of God's name and in both Jewish and Christian tradition is almost never spoken aloud. Out of great respect for the Name of God, Jews reading the Scriptures will say "Lord" instead of God's name. In the same spirit of supreme respect, most English translations of the Bible translate God's name as "LORD" (in all caps). Catholics and most other Christians follow the example of the Jews and the Bible by almost never using the Name of God. This pious practice is out of supreme respect and in obedience to the Commandment not to use God's name in vain. http://www.catholic.org/ae/music/story.php?id=29022 With love in Christ.