I'm tired of the org misquoting scholars to support there heretical NWT

by yogosans14 36 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • yogosans14
    yogosans14

    Day after day Jws are constantly fighting with me over the Internet that the NWT is the most accurate translation and then they prove it By quoting scholars from the watchtower magazines. They tell me I'm biased and there rendering of John 1:1 as "a god" is approved by scholars but I have researched there so called "supporters" and I have found they have tooken what they said out of context to twist the scriptures to there liking.

    Dr. Julius R. Mantey (who is even recognized by the Watchtower as a Greek scholar since they quote his book on page 1158 of their Kingdom Interlinear Translation): calls the Watchtower translation of John 1:1 "A grossly misleading translation. It is neither scholarly nor reasonable to translate John l:1 'the Word was a god. 'But of all the scholars in the world, so far as we know, none have translated this verse as Jehovah's Witnesses have done." "I was disturbed because they (the Watchtower) had misquoted me in support of their translation. I called their attention to the fact that the whole body of the New Testament was against their view. Throughout the New Testament, Jesus is glorified and magnified--yet here they were denigrating Him and making Him into a little god of pagan concept . . .1 believe it's a terrible thing for a person to be deceived and go into eternity lost, forever lost because somebody deliberately misled him by distorting the Scripture!. . . Ninety-nine percent of the scholars of the world who know Greek and who have helped translate the Bible are in disagreement with the Jehovah's Witnesses. People who are looking for the truth ought to know what the majority of the scholars really believe. They should not allow themselves to be misled by the Jehovah's Witnesses and end up in hell." (Ron Rhodes "Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jehovah's Witnesses" p.103-105)

    In order to present the appearance of scholarly backing for their translation of this verse, the Society had to intentionally misquote Dr. Julius R. Mantey and H.E. Dana's Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament. Both Dana and Mantey firmly held to the historic Christian belief in the Triune God as is evident throughout their Grammar. The late Dr. Mantey had on several occasions issued statements concerning the misquotation of his statements by the Witnesses, even writing a letter to the Watchtower headquarters in Brooklyn demanding references and quotes from his book to be removed from their publications. They ignored his request!

    They have also misquoted Philip B. Harner: Not only does Harner's article in the Journal of Biblical Literature not support the Watchtower's rendering of John 1:1, he emphatically argues against it! "Because of the word order used by John, the verse can only be interpreted to mean that the Word (Jesus) was God in the same sense as the Father."( Ron Rhodes Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jehovah's Witnesses p.103-105)

    Misquoting John L. McKenzie: Still another scholar quoted out of context by the translators of the New World Translation is John L. McKenzie. By citing McKenzie out of context and by quoting only a portion of his article, he is made to appear to teach that the Word (Jesus) is less than Jehovah because he said "the word was a divine personal being'." He is less than Jehovah. However, as apologist Robert M. Bowman correctly notes, "On the same page McKenzie calls Yahweh (Jehovah) 'a divine personal thing'; McKenzie also states that Jesus is called 'God' in both John 20:28 and Titus 2:13 and that John 1:1-18 expresses 'an identity between God and Jesus Christ.; So McKenzie's words actually argue against the Watchtower position."(Ron Rhodes Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jehovah's Witnesses p.103-105 )

    It makes me very upset that the WT is allowed to misquote on purpose without being sued. I know most here don't believe in the Trinity but I do now and I attend a baptist church now and I must say I've grown a lot more with God then I have ever have. I no longer have to work for my salvation. It's was bought with the his blood on the cross at Calvary.

    just my rant.

  • airborne
    airborne

    Just wanted to say what a pastor at my church said this past Sunday. "Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. Just because we don't understand it, doesn't mean it's not true."

    And yes it is psychologically taxing to be a JW. How much relief there is by experiencing the grace of God through Jesus Christ.

  • yogosans14
    yogosans14

    Amen brother!

  • jhine
    jhine

    yogosans14 , they also have the nerve to misquote the early church fathers , Tertullian etc in the "Should You Believe ...... " booklet , pamphlet , whatever . Though of course they know that they are safe from legal action there ! Trying to get active Witnesses to understand is like wading through treacle . We can only pray that enlightenment comes .

    Jan

  • smiddy
    smiddy

    The Kingdom Interlinear translation of The Christian Scriptures , published by the Watchtower Bible and tract Society a word for word translation says it all for me.

    John 1:1 In the beginning the word was, and the word was with God ,and the word was God.

    Any interpretation of what that scripture is supposed to mean doesnt cut it with me .

    If God almighty cant say what he means , or for that matter mean what he says , he cant be a very intelligent God.

    The bible verse in John 1;1 according to the kingdom Interlinear translation by the WTB&TS says quite plainly according to their own translation.

    John 1:1 In the beginning the word was,and the word was with God,and the word was God.

    Straight out of the horses mouth

    smiddy

  • zeb
  • Phizzy
    Phizzy

    First off, welcome yogosans14. You may find these quotes useful :

    What leading Greek scholars say about the NWT:

    -Dr. Bruce M. Metzger , professor of New Testament at Princeton University, calls the NWT "a frightful mistranslation," "Erroneous" and "pernicious" "reprehensible" "If the Jehovah's Witnesses take this translation seriously, they are polytheists." (Professor of New Testament Language and Literature)

    -Dr. William Barclay , a leading Greek scholar, said "it is abundantly clear that a sect which can translate the New Testament like that is intellectually dishonest."

    -British scholar H.H. Rowley stated, "From beginning to end this volume is a shining example of how the Bible should not be translated."

    -Dr. Julius Mantey , author of A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament, calls the NWT "a shocking mistranslation." "Obsolete and incorrect." "It is neither scholarly nor reasonable to translate John 1:1 'The Word was a god.'"

    -"I have never read any New Testament so badly translated as The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of The Greek Scriptures.... it is a distortion of the New Testament. The translators used what J.B. Rotherham had translated in 1893, in modern speech, and changed the readings in scores of passages to state what Jehovah's Witnesses believe and teach. That is a distortion not a translation." (Julius Mantey , Depth Exploration in The New Testament (N.Y.: Vantage Pres, 1980), pp.136-137)

  • galaxie
    galaxie

    Im tired of the significance given to this claptrap.

    These mind games concerning scripural translation and meaniing will keep interested parties wrapped up in a maze of deviation which detracts from the important realities of life.

    Best wishes.

  • Phizzy
    Phizzy

    I do agree Galaxie, even if we had a perfect translation of the extant Manuscript texts, so what ?

    The texts we have are copies of multiple copies, we know they contain error and redaction, so we have no way of knowing what was originally written.

    Even if we knew for sure what was originally writen, by finding Autographs, the actual authors manuscripts, we would only have some interesting documents from 2000+ years ago. Writings that are in the main Fiction.

    None of it is the "word of god", it is simply the work of men, and men with an agenda, which obfuscates the truth.

  • galaxie
    galaxie

    Amen Phizzy !!

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