Insight on the News

An “Offensive” Name?

Not speaking the divine name, transcribing it at most as JHWH, and pronouncing it as “Lord,” is a recommendation that should be accepted, says the Catholic periodical Com-nuovi tempi. This was the reaction to a petition raised by the “Association for Jewish-Christian Friendship” of Rome and signed jointly by eminent Catholic and Jewish theologians and scholars. The petition requested that “publishing firms and the editorial staffs of newspapers and magazines” stop using the name “Jahweh” because it is “offensive to Jews, who consider the name of God to be unpronounceable.” Their appeal, the Association says, is based on a “long-standing Jewish tradition” that “has been maintained without interruption” until today.

But should Christians be guided by Jewish traditions? Would it be right for them to put God’s name aside and avoid pronouncing it? The Bible shows that God wants all to know that he, “whose name is Jehovah,” is the Most High. (Psalm 83:18; Ezekiel 38:23; Malachi 3:16) Jesus set the example in this. Rather than following Jewish traditions that “made the word of God invalid,” he taught his followers to pray: “Let your name be sanctified.” (Matthew 6:9; 15:6) And only a few hours before his sacrificial death, he said in prayer: “I have made your name known to [the disciples] and will make it known.”​—John 17:26.

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