If someone refers to God as Jehovah,

[savedbygrace71]

Does that mean she is a Jehova’s Witness? I am a member of a page on FB to keep up with the health updates of a local girl with cancer. Her mother frequently refers to Jehova God, and I just was wondering if that necessarily means the family is JW? Are there other groups who would say that? I don’t want to ask her, since they are in such a sensitive time. And, if they are JW I would then know not to say that I prayed a rosary for their daughter, which they might not be comfortable with

Thanks for your help,

 

[adf417]

Does that mean she is a Jehova’s Witness? I am a member of a page on FB to keep up with the health updates of a local girl with cancer. Her mother frequently refers to Jehova God, and I just was wondering if that necessarily means the family is JW? Are there other groups who would say that? I don’t want to ask her, since they are in such a sensitive time. And, if they are JW I would then know not to say that I prayed a rosary for their daughter, which they might not be comfortable with

Thanks for your help,

Referring to God as Jehovah does not necessary mean they are JW. More than likely yes, if they are using that name frequently, but not necessarily.

Peace!!!

 

[Judas_Thaddeus]

Does that mean she is a Jehova’s Witness? I am a member of a page on FB to keep up with the health updates of a local girl with cancer. Her mother frequently refers to Jehova God, and I just was wondering if that necessarily means the family is JW? Are there other groups who would say that? I don’t want to ask her, since they are in such a sensitive time. And, if they are JW I would then know not to say that I prayed a rosary for their daughter, which they might not be comfortable with

Thanks for your help,

Well first, pray the Rosary, and leave out the fact that the prayer was a Rosary.

Anywho, “Jehovah”, a very inappropriate pronunciation of the Name, is not exclusive to
the Jehovah’s Witnesses, I’ve head it come from many Christians, Mormons, Oneness
Pentecostalists, etc.

 

[Allegra]

No, I’ve heard Protestants use that name as well. I have one friend that always refers to Jesus as Joshua. It really confused me at first because her brother is named Joshua. I don’t get it, but I guess everyone wants to be special.

 

[Kliska]

If they use the Hebrew names for God and all the Biblical persons, they may even be associated with the Hebrew roots movement that stresses the use of the Hebrew version of the names over all others.

 

[DaveBj]

Well first, pray the Rosary, and leave out the fact that the prayer was a Rosary.

Anywho, “Jehovah”, a very inappropriate pronunciation of the Name, is not exclusive to
the Jehovah’s Witnesses, I’ve head it come from many Christians, Mormons, Oneness
Pentecostalists, etc.

. . . and mainline Pentecostals, and Baptists – this list goes on.

It is a mis-pronunciation, but certainly no worse than morphing YESHua (Aramaic) / YeSHUa (Hebrew) into DZHEE-zus. I doubt that it’s the kind of thing that would make God fall off His throne in shock.

 

[marymary1975]

My understanding is that all protestants - Evangelicals, pentecostals, JW, etc- use the term Jehova. Catholics use Yahve. Is a mispronunciation and I remember there is a story of why protestants ended up with this word but can’t recall it properly.

 

[Simca]

Anywho, “Jehovah”, a very inappropriate pronunciation of the Name, is not exclusive to
the Jehovah’s Witnesses, I’ve head it come from many Christians, Mormons, Oneness
Pentecostalists, etc.

. . . and mainline Pentecostals, and Baptists – this list goes on.

It is a mis-pronunciation, but certainly no worse than morphing YESHua (Aramaic) / YeSHUa (Hebrew) into DZHEE-zus.

No one for thousands of years has known how to pronounce God’s Sacred Name. That’s why Jewish people usually refer to him as HaShem (meaning 'The Name) or Adonai (meaning Lord)

Hebrew has no vowels, but many years ago, to help people pronounce it, a series of dots and dashes were added either above or below the Hebrew letters. These dots and dashes were assigned vowel sounds.

When God’s name was written, the dots and dashes that were added to his name, were the same dots and dashes that are in the title Adonai (meaning Lord). This was to let people know, that when they saw God’s sacred name, they were just supposed to say ‘Adonai’.

Gentiles, not knowing this, when they saw God’s name written in Hebrew, understanding how the vowel markings were pronounced, started pronouncing it Jehovah, which is not right at all.

(this is just for anyone interested in understanding how the name Jehovah came about)

 

[dmar198]

Does that mean she is a Jehova’s Witness? I am a member of a page on FB to keep up with the health updates of a local girl with cancer. Her mother frequently refers to Jehova God, and I just was wondering if that necessarily means the family is JW? Are there other groups who would say that? I don’t want to ask her, since they are in such a sensitive time. And, if they are JW I would then know not to say that I prayed a rosary for their daughter, which they might not be comfortable with

Thanks for your help,

Cardinal Gibbons uses the name Jehovah for God in his book Faith of our Fathers. So there’s some Catholic usage as well, though that’s the only instance of it that I’ve ever seen.

 

[ltwin]

My understanding is that all protestants - Evangelicals, pentecostals, JW, etc- use the term Jehova. Catholics use Yahve. Is a mispronunciation and I remember there is a story of why protestants ended up with this word but can’t recall it properly.

It’s not that Protestants don’t use Yahweh. It’s fairly common for Protestants to use Yahweh to pronounce the ancient name of God. Use of Jehovah simply reflects the fact that it was an earlier (but incorrect) reconstruction of the Hebrew word. For example, both Chris Tomlin (in “Exalted (Yahweh)”) and Hillsong (in “Yahweh”) refer to God as Yahweh.

Many times Protestants will use “Jehovah” when saying the compound names of God, for example:

Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord who provides,
Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord who heals,
Jehovah-Nissi, the Lord our banner,
etc.

 

[captainrick]

My understanding is that all protestants - Evangelicals, pentecostals, JW, etc- use the term Jehova. Catholics use Yahve. Is a mispronunciation and I remember there is a story of why protestants ended up with this word but can’t recall it properly.

No, Methodists use “God,” not Jehova.

 

[savedbygrace71]

It’s not that Protestants don’t use Yahweh. It’s fairly common for Protestants to use Yahweh to pronounce the ancient name of God. Use of Jehovah simply reflects the fact that it was an earlier (but incorrect) reconstruction of the Hebrew word. For example, both Chris Tomlin (in “Exalted (Yahweh)”) and Hillsong (in “Yahweh”) refer to God as Yahweh.

Many times Protestants will use “Jehovah” when saying the compound names of God, for example:

Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord who provides,
Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord who heals,
Jehovah-Nissi, the Lord our banner,
etc.

Now that you write this, I have heard Jehovah-Jireh. In a Bible stories for kids DVD I have for my kids (Protestant) there is a line during the bread and fishes miracle, where Jesus says,Jehovah-Jireh, feed your people.

Well first, pray the Rosary, and leave out the fact that the prayer was a Rosary.
.

yes, that is the most sensible route to take.

Thanks for the information everyone. As usual, it’s more complicated than I realized!

 

[R_C]

It is possible. However, that’s just one of many ways to add vowels to the Tetragrammaton, or the Ineffable Name of God.

In fact, Latin churches (Catholic!) had this name engraved.

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However, Catholics, like our forefathers in the faith, tend to have the utmost respect for the Ineffable Name, so as to avoid pronouncing it. Even the Most Holy Name of Jesus has been often been reserved to specific uses (with the practice of bowing at its pronunciation) and the names of Christ or Lord have been used instead. Therefore it is rare to find this practice in Catholic writings/iconography, and it is almost unexpected for a Catholic to pronounce the Ineffable Name so openly, when we are called to even be careful in pronouncing the name of the Lord Jesus.

 

[yellowbird]

Does that mean she is a Jehova’s Witness? I am a member of a page on FB to keep up with the health updates of a local girl with cancer. Her mother frequently refers to Jehova God, and I just was wondering if that necessarily means the family is JW? Are there other groups who would say that? I don’t want to ask her, since they are in such a sensitive time. And, if they are JW I would then know not to say that I prayed a rosary for their daughter, which they might not be comfortable with

Thanks for your help,

I would bet she’s a JW - but as others have said, no guarantee. If you are curious, you could ask her - I’m certain she wouldn’t mind despite the sensitive time. JWs love their religion. But just leave it at that… no conversation about it, and yes, you are correct that she would not appreciate the rosary being said for her daughter so I would leave that out if you’re trying to comfort her.

Poor Mom… can’t imagine the worry. I will pray for her daughter.

 

[savedbygrace71]

Well, I have the answer I believe
She referred to church as Kingdom Hall so there really is no question anymore!

Her daughter has taken a turn for the worse, so I’m praying hard.

 

[Judas_Thaddeus]

No one for thousands of years has known how to pronounce God’s Sacred Name. That’s why Jewish people usually refer to him as HaShem (meaning 'The Name) or Adonai (meaning Lord)

Hebrew has no vowels, but many years ago, to help people pronounce it, a series of dots and dashes were added either above or below the Hebrew letters. These dots and dashes were assigned vowel sounds.

When God’s name was written, the dots and dashes that were added to his name, were the same dots and dashes that are in the title Adonai (meaning Lord). This was to let people know, that when they saw God’s sacred name, they were just supposed to say ‘Adonai’.

Gentiles, not knowing this, when they saw God’s name written in Hebrew, understanding how the vowel markings were pronounced, started pronouncing it Jehovah, which is not right at all.

(this is just for anyone interested in understanding how the name Jehovah came about)

Yeah, the closest clue we’ve got is Jesus’ name, Yehoshuah,
just subtract the ‘shin’, but really we can’t know for certain.