StanJ said:
James is talking about walking or working OUT your salvation, not about the conversion process, at the point of salvation.
James is telling us that to gain salvation, a person has to have faith
backed by "works."
No "works" that shows faith in our Creator, Jehovah God and
no salvation. Period. Was Abraham "declared righteous" without so much as lifting a finger ? This is where the churches have failed in pleasing God, just going to a church building and listening to some preacher talk about God, but telling them nothing regarding doing God's will, because he himself is not doing anything to meet the requirements that Jehovah has set. He's in it for the money, it being his "job".
At Luke 13, Jesus exposes the flaw that many have who call themselves "Christian". After he was asked: "Lord, are those being saved few ?" Jesus responded: "
Exert yourselves vigorously to get in through the narrow door, because
many, I tell you, will
seek to get in but will
not be able."(Luke 13:23, 24) Jesus rules that most who call themselves "Christian" will
not measure up to the requirements for God's favor.
Jesus now proceeds to give an illustration about him as a "householder" who has already locked his door, but then some individuals come to him asking him to ' open the door '. Jesus then refuses, telling them "I do not know where you are from", though the ones outside his "door" says that "we ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our main streets".(Luke 13:25, 26)
But Jesus repeats his words to them, though they
feel that they are his genuine disciples: "I do
not know where you are from.
Get away from me, all you workers of unrighteousness!’ "(Luke 13:27) Jesus recognizes that they are not genuine but
counterfeit "Christians", and tells them that they are "workers of unrighteousness". Jesus is repulsed by their lack of works that a genuine Christian displays.
What does the word "exert", especially "vigorously", mean ? To just go to a church and listen to a preacher express his views ? What did Jesus mean when he gave the command: "
Go, therefore, and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit,
teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you " ?(Matt 28:19, 20)
Can a person either sit at home or go to a church and still obey Jesus words to "make disciples of people of all the nations....teaching them all that Jesus commanded" ? This requires going to people's homes, for Jesus told his apostles: "Into whatever city or village you enter,
search out who in it is deserving, and stay there until you leave."(Matt 10:11)
After having having given another illustration regarding a tree that produces "fine fruit" as opposed to one that produces "rotten fruit", Jesus now says: "A good man brings good out of the good treasure of his heart, but a wicked man brings what is wicked out of his wicked treasure."(Luke 6:43-45) What is the "fine fruit" or "good treasure" that a man brings forth ? Is it by just reading the Bible or even going to a church ? No, for Jesus now says: "Why, then, do you call me ‘Lord! Lord!’ but
do not do the things I say ?"(Luke 6:46)
Hence, James bring the point about faith home, that "faith
without works is dead".(James 2:26)
StanJ said:
As far as the tetragrammaton is concerned, the mistake was converting it to Jehovah. There is no conversion to Jehovah....it is YHWH, which is not meant to be pronounced. English is God or LORD. Jehovah is NOT found in the Hebrew at all, and the KJV rendering is in error.
YHWH is ONLY in the OT, never in the NT.
The Hebrew letters of God's name are
YHWH (only consonants, no vowels), but just as the name Juan in Spanish is properly translated as John in English, so likewise
YHWH corresponds to
JHVH, and that is rendered as Jehovah. Even
YHWH that is often rendered as
Yahweh is not necessarily correct, for the Hebrew letters have been vowel pointed five different ways
(1) Yahweh,
(2) Yehowah,
(3) Yehwih,
(4) Yehwah,
(5) Yehowih. So which do you suppose is the proper pronunciation ? Even Hebrew scholars are divided as to which is more accurate.
If the name Jehovah is a mistake, then so is the name Jesus, for
both are Latin and both have the first two letters of
Je, for the name Jesus means "Jehovah is Salvation". If God's name of Jehovah is wrong then so is the name Jesus. Are you then going to remove it because of your bias toward the personal name Jehovah ?
Are you going to continue to try to erase all the names in the Hebrew Scriptures that contain
Jeho, such as Jehoaddad (meaning "Jehovah Has Decked Himself "), Jehoiakim (meaning "Jehovah Raises Up"), Jehoiachin (meaning "Jehovah Has Firmly Established"), Jehoahaz (meaning "Jehovah Has Taken Hold"), Jeremiah (meaning "Jehovah Exalts"), to name just few in which part of God's name is incorporated within a person's personal name ?
Are you going to erase the site of Jehovah-nissi that means "Jehovah is My Signal Pole", as seen at Exodus 17:15 ? Or what about Jehovah-jireh that means "Jehovah Will Provide" at Genesis 22:14 ? Or what about Jehovah-shammah that means "Jehovah Himself Is There" at Ezekiel 48:35 ?
Are you going to rewrite the Bible just because of you prejudice toward God and his personal name of Jehovah ? The Hebrew
YHWH is rendered as
Ihova in the language Aneityum, as
Jehovah in Arawak, as
Yehoa' in Awabakal, as
Yawe in Bangi, as
Jehova' in Benga,
Yehovah in Bube, as
Jehovah in Chippewa, as
Jehova in Croatian, as
Jehovah in German, as
Iehova in Hawaiian, as
Yehova in Logo, as
Yehovah in Mohawk, as
Jehova in Nandi, to name just a few.
Since there is no consistency among scholars as to how God’s name is to be pronounced, the name Jehovah, though not necessarily accurate, has, for centuries been established as his name. It is used in many Bibles, and has been since William Tyndale used it in his English Bible in 1530. He made the comment: “Iehovah is God’s name . . . Moreover, as oft as thou seist LORD in great letters (except there be any error in the printing) it is in Hebrew Iehovah.”
Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Vol. 1, Chicago (1980), p. 13, says: “To avoid the risk of taking God’s name (YHWH) in vain, devout Jews began to
substitute the word ’ǎdōnā(y) for the proper name itself. Although the Masoretes left the four original consonants in the text, they added the vowels ē (in place of ǎ for other reasons) and ā to remind the reader to pronounce ’ǎdōnā(y) regardless of the consonants. This feature occurs more than six thousand times in the Hebrew Bible. Most translations use all capital letters to make the title ‘LORD.’ Exceptions are the ASV [American Standard Version] and New World Translation which use ‘Jehovah,’ Amplified [Bible] which uses ‘Lord,’ and JB [The Jerusalem Bible] which uses ‘Yahweh.’ . . . In those places where ’ǎdōnā(y) yhwh occurs the latter word is pointed with the vowels from ’ēlōhim, and the English renderings such as ‘Lord GOD’ arose (e.g. Amos 7:1).”
How do you pronounce the name of the prophet from “Anathoth” ?(Jer 1:1) Most reply with Jeremiah. This is quite different from his Hebrew name of
“Yirmeiah´.” Yet, nothing is said of this incorrect pronunciation, since the name Jeremiah is well established in English and serves fine as his name. The vital point is not what pronunciation you use for the Divine Name, whether “Yahweh,” “Jehovah,” or some other as long as the pronunciation is common in your language. What is wrong is to
fail to use that name.
How could anyone be identified as God’s people unless they used God’s name ?(Acts 15:14) The Israelites were known as the God’s people and the prophets used his name throughout their writings. When Moses wrote the Pentateuch, God’s name was used there over 1900 times.
If Moses were alive today, and he saw that God’s name had been supplanted with “adonai” or “Lord”, would he feel that this was alright ? Hardly. He would be incensed. There is nothing more unique than a personal name. And Jehovah is God’s personal name that has been in use for centuries.
A "man of God" said to Eli the high priest of Israel over 3,000 years ago that "those honoring me I will honor, but
those despising me will be treated with contempt.”(1 Sam 2:30)
