Use of the divine name.

[krayzbabylove]

The Vatican seeks to eliminate use of the divine name in their church services. Last year, catholic bishops received, at their conferences worldwide, instructions on this matter from the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

The document received dated June 29th 2008 decries the fact that despite instructions to the contrary, "in recent years the practice has crept in of pronouncing the God of Israel's proper name, known as the holy or divine tetragrammaton, written with four consonants of the Hebrew alphabet, YHWH." the document notes that the divine name has variously been rendered "Yahweh, Yahwe, Jahweh, Jahwe, Jave, Yehovah." (The english form "Jehovah has been widely recognized for centuries and is used in many bible translations.) However, the Vatican directive seeks to reestablish the traditional Catholic position. That is to say, the tetragrammaton is to be replaced by "Lord." In Catholic religious services, hymns, and prayers, Gods name "YHWH is neither to be used or pronounced."

In support of this, the Vatican's document appeals to the "immemorial tradition" of Catholicism. The directive claims that even in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew scriptures, dating to the pre-christian times, the divine name was regularly rendered Kyrios, the Greek word for Lord. thus the directive insists, "Christians, too, from the beginning never pronounced the divine tetragrammaton." This statement ignores clear evidence to the contrary.

Early copies of the Septuagint contained, not Kyrios, but the divine name in its original Hebrew form. Christ's first century followers knew and pronounced gods name. Jesus himself said in prayer to his father: "I have made your name known." At John 17:26. And in his well known model prayer (the our father prayer) Jesus taught us to pray: "Our father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified." Matthew 6:9

It should be the desire of all christians to see Gods name sanctified. Vatican efforts to eliminate its use dishonor Jehovah, the one who said: "This is my name for all time; by this name i shall be invoked for all generations to come." Exodus 3:15 as quoted from the Jerusalem bible.

[cowgirlmama]

Mar. 19, 2010 at 3:29 PM

Jehovah's Name should be sanctified

[krayzbabylove]

Mar. 23, 2010 at 2:21 PM

Very much agreed, and is what the bible says... it amazes me that one of the largest and most widespread and oldest religions can do this, and nobody really notices... well exept for the you know whos... = ) Just trying to spread information.

(Original Poster)