Is it really true that the Catholic churches are now being instructed to ommit the divine name from all forms of service? If so, why? Does this also mean that any glass mossaics etc featuring YAHWEH will be replaced? Call me curious...

Moparbyfar

It was actually my friend who received the email, but they printed it out and read it to me. It sounded very "official" you might say, certainly not slanderous. If I can get a copy of it I will post it up...then again, I don't want to push the issue any more as most seem to think it's probably a bogus email anyway. Might start up an interesting thread topic though...what do you reckon?

NeedKarma

Bogus emails are not worth the time. Delete and move on.

cozyk

It was said that they left out the vowels? So does that mean God is referred to as GD ?
I haven't seen that.

Moparbyfar

Heehee, that's quite amusing Cozyk. Ok, are you ready? ...

The divine name in Hebrew was YHWH (also referred to as the tetragrammaton-meaning 'having four letters') which nowadays is generally pronounced either Yahweh or Jehovah.

The exact pronunciation used by the Hebrews is unknown today, but the name Yahweh is a transliteration while Jehovah is a translation.

At some stage in history the Jews substituted the tetragrammaton for Adhonai (Sovereign Lord) or Elohim (God) most likely because of superstition but noone knows for sure.

Later copies of the Greek Septuagint also followed this trend of substituting God's name for Kyrios (Lord) and Theos (God) but earlier copies of the Septuagint did have the tetragrammaton in them.

So it appears that Israelites, early Jews and the like knew and used God's name regularly. Things appear a lot different today in that most religions try and steer away from using the divine name regularly, so I guess you could say, it is more likely to hear someone these days call him GD rather than YHWH.

I know you didn't ask for an essay but hey!...I've got some time on my hands tonight.

Moparbyfar

Sorry this should say, nearly 7,000 times.

ScottRC

No, it is not true.

If this were true, common sense would dictate that the Holy Father would lead by example... and this has not been the case:

Tj3

Yes, it does appear to be true. Here is a news release from a Roman Catholic source regarding this decree by the pope.

Holy See Stops Use of 'Yahweh' in Catholic Worship - Catholic Online

The news comes from Catholic On-Line who got it from the Catholic Information Service for Africa. Here is an excerpt:

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"By directive of the Holy Father, in accord with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, this congregation ... deems it convenient to communicate to the bishops' conferences ... as regards the translation and the pronunciation, in a liturgical setting, of the divine name signified in the sacred Tetragrammaton," said the letter signed by Cardinal Francis Arinze and Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, congregation prefect and secretary, respectively.
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The article goes on to say:

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"As an expression of the infinite greatness and majesty of God, it was held to be unpronounceable and hence was replaced during the reading of sacred Scripture by means of the use of an alternate name: 'Adonai,' which means 'Lord,'" the Vatican letter said. Similarly, Greek translations of the Bible used the word "Kyrios" and Latin scholars translated it to "Dominus"; both also mean Lord.

"Avoiding pronouncing the Tetragrammaton of the name of God on the part of the church has therefore its own grounds," the letter said. "Apart from a motive of a purely philological order, there is also that of remaining faithful to the church's tradition, from the beginning, that the sacred Tetragrammaton was never pronounced in the Christian context nor translated into any of the languages into which the Bible was translated."
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This does not appear to affect the name in print, therefore I would not anticipate it affecting Bibles issued by the Roman Catholic church or glass mosaics.

Tj3

If you see documents written by Jews or Messianic Jews, God is often written as G_d. Some folk in the hyper-charismatic movement are also adopting this approach. When Jews are speaking and sometimes in writing they will refer to God as "HaShem" which means "the name".

N0help4u

exactly Jews use Y_H_W_H or G_D
I usually do that when I am talking to Jews on the internet for respect.

I see nothing wrong with going to that other than the expense it would be to change everything over.

Tj3

Agreed. There is no requirement to do it, but if we are witnessing to Jews or speaking with Messianic Jews, then it is appropriate to do so out of respect.