This, then, is how you should pray:
Our Father...

—Matthew 6:9 NIV

LOOKING up Jehovah in the JW Bible dictionary Insight on the Scriptures, a reader must go through 8 1/2 pages about the name before reaching a discussion of "The Person Identified by the Name."

This exemplifies the Watchtower-indoctrinated mentality of placing greater importance on knowing God's name than on knowing God Himself.

The Watchtower Society has trained its followers to use the divine name “Jehovah” repeatedly in every prayer, in every sermon, in every song. This use of the sacred name is listed as one of the marks “identifying the true religion”. (You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, p.184)

So, when a Witness has dealings with Christians or with exJWs who have been out of the organization long enough to drop this habit, it may be puzzling or even disturbing to him. He may assume that the person who fails to make frequent use of the name Jehovah must therefore worship another god.

However, such could not be farther from the truth. In actuality, it was their determination to obey Jehovah rather than men that caused many ex-JWs to break with the Society in the first place. Their personal relationship with Jehovah meant more to them than the approval of the organization-men who had authority to expell them.

Likewise, in the case of sincere Christians who never were Witnesses: there is no question that they worship the God of the Bible. While not every song in their hymnals features the name Jehovah as is the case with Kingdom Hall songbooks, most churches do sing a number of songs of praise to God using that name among the many other names He is called in Scripture—not to mention their frequent use of the expression Alleluia! or Hallelujah! (“Praise Jah!”).

For example, flipping through a typical Christian hymn book (Pilgrim Hymnal, 1935), we find these expressions set to music:

“Yea, surely is that people bless’d By whom Jehovah is confessed To be their God alone.”—O Happy Land, Whose Sons in Youth

“The God of Abraham praise, Who reigns enthron’d above, Ancient of everlasting days, And God of love, Jehovah! Great I AM! By earth and heav’n confess’d; I bow and bless thy sacred name, For ever blest.”
—The God of Abraham Praise

“See, from all lands, from the isles of the ocean, Praise to Jehovah ascending on high”.
—Hail to the Brightness

“My soul is longing, fainting, Jehovah’s courts to see; My heart and flesh are crying, O living God to thee.”
—Lord God of Hosts, How Lovely

“Lord, wilt thou in this temple reign, Whom heav’n and earth cannot contain? O Lord Jehovah, come thou nigh And hearken to thy servant’s cry.”
—Lord, Wilt Thou in This Temple Reign

Nor does the Watchtower have a monopoly on Bibles that translate the Hebrew tetragrammaton YHWH as a name rather than “LORD”. For example, The Jerusalem Bible uses the (perhaps more correct) form “Yahweh” throughout the Old Testament, and certain editions of The Living Bible use the form “Jehovah”, as does the American Standard Version — all translations produced and promoted by non-JWs.

(But, of course, none of these translations violates the sanctity of the Word of God by adding the Name in places where surviving Greek manuscripts of the New Testament say “kyrios” [“lord”] in the originals. Only the Watchtower’s translation inserts the Name in 237 extra places, using a tortuous line of ‘reasoning’ instead of translating what is there in the Greek.)

So, Christians do know and use the name Jehovah — only not to the superstitious extent that Jehovah’s Witnesses do, who seem to fear that they may invoke a false god if they fail to use the true God’s name.

But, perhaps more significant, is what Christians do call God in their personal prayers and in their worship. As a Witness in good standing for thirteen years—and an elder for eight years—I was fully entrenched in the habitual use of the name Jehovah. I began every prayer by calling upon that sacred Name, lest my prayers be directed to some other god. But, after leaving the organization, I saw the need to deepen my relationship with Jehovah God by accepting His provision for true worshipers to be “born again”, without which Jesus Christ said that “no man can see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3-8) That experience of being born again made me change how I called upon God after that.

This is how it happened: When I believed Jesus’ words at John 3:7 that I must be born again, I prayed to Jehovah God telling Him that I recognized myself as a sinner who could be saved, not by my own works, but by the blood of His Son Jesus; that I repented of my sins and accepted Jesus as my Lord, rather than continue to follow men or my own inclinations. Having received Christ as Savior and Lord, I was now “born from God” according to the promise of John 1:12, 13 and 1 John 5:1. Then, a few minutes later, I opened my mouth to pray again, and that is when I noticed the change.

Instead of starting out by saying “Jehovah”, as had been my custom, the word “Father” came forth from my mouth—automatically, without my having thought about it and without my having decided to start my prayer that way. I just called God “Father” as naturally as I would speak to my earthly father and call him “Dad” rather than use his name “Herbert.”

Although I had spoken it myself, the expression “Father” took me by surprise. But, right away, I realized that this was a personal fulfillment of the promise found at Galatians 4:6—“Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’” (NIV) Yes, having been “born of God” as a “child” of God (John 1:12, 13) I now knew Him as my Father! When I realized what had happened, my eyes filled with tears, and I poured out my heart to my newly adopted Father in prayers of thanksgiving.

So, I learned in a very personal way the main factor that makes Christians refer to God as “Our Father” (Matt. 6:9) rather than always use the sacred name “Jehovah”: they “did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” (Romans 8:15, 16 NIV)

JWs are taught to stress the expression "let your name be sanctified" or "hallowed be your name" in Jesus' model prayer at Matthew 6:9 as a basis for always using the name Jehovah in their prayers. But that could not be what Jesus intended, since he set a very different example by addressing all of his own prayers to his Father and telling us to address our prayers to our Father.

NOTE: The articles on pages 2-9 of this issue are reproduced (with minor changes) from the Fall 1987 issue of Comments from the Friends.

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