These are not exact words, but here is the general words we had.
So my wife gets out of her TMS/Service Mtg. I picked her up. Well, I had to ask about the
Service Meeting. "Who conducted the Question Box from the KM?"
"Brother XYZ."
"What did you think of that information?"
"They just don't want us to be distracted with debates."
"You mean they don't want anyone to do research to see if their views are correct."
"Research is fine, it just shouldn't be done in an overly-critical way. Plus, they know that
people don't have time to learn Hebrew and Greek for themselves, so they cannot depend on
brief lessons to start comparing the opinions of experts."
(Okay, so her cong. focused on language and reliance on experts.)
"They are suggesting you rely on their experts. They just had a handful of men like Fred Franz
who weren't exactly experts in Ancient Hebrew and Greek to translate the NWT. What's wrong
with comparing what other experts have to say, just as the Witnesses did?"
"The translators were anonymous, they could have had experts."
(She doesn't really think about what I say, other than to insert JW teachings or look for JW flaws
in what I said.) "The point is they compared what experts outside of their religion said. The Boreans
were praised for comparing what the Apostle said with the scriptures. Jesus said 'where two or three
are gathered in my name, my spirit is there.' If we want to gather together and examine the ancient Greek
and Hebrew, or do it on our own, this is a good thing."
"Well, what have you found wrong with the NWT?"
"For starters, all the manuscripts that were found NEVER had the name 'Jehovah' in the New Testament.
The NWT inserts the name and says their version of the Bible is a better translation, closer to the original.
If they put the name in and it was never there, then their translation is not faithful to the original."
(After much confusion on her part about the name belonging or not, a brief discussion of the name actually
being in the Hebrew, but not ever in the Greek, she continues.) "Why do they say they put the name there?"
"You can look that up in your own WT literature. To be brief, they take the liberty of deciding that wherever the
NT writers quote the OT, and the OT contained 'Jehovah,' then the NT should put 'Jehovah' in the text."
"What sources can you site that 'Jehovah' isn't in the NT?"
"We are in the car, I haven't saved a list of sources for you somewhere. I can if you want me to, but the burden
is not upon me to come up with sources that you won't read. The burden is upon the WTS to give you
sources, and upon you and every Christian to do research perhaps starting with their sources and going wherever
you want to learn more. You don't have to learn Hebrew or Greek."
"What's another problem with the NWT?"
"The scriptures that lead us to believe the disciples went 'door-to-door' are misleading. That is one way to translate
the Greek term for their ministry. The more common way is to translate, 'in private homes.' Without comparing and
learning what was meant, the WT uses their version to tell Witnesses that the disciples were engaged in knocking
on each and every door, and today, Witnesses copy that example. If you learn from experts and comparisons, the
context and the reading helps you to see that they did not go to everybody's house with the Good News, but that they
held meetings in private homes- similar to the bookstudy, they didn't use the temple but gathered in groups to learn
the Good News at people's homes."
"So are you saying the door-to-door work is wrong."
(She is looking to just justify the JW warnings that those that turn apostate just don't want to do door-to-door work.)
"That type of work is not wrong, it is just not in imitation of what the first-century Christians did. JW's act as if
everything is done in imitation of Christ or the first-century congregations. That's the misleading part. The guys who
stand on a downtown corner with a bullhorn preaching are doing a work closer to the disciples in the Bible. They took
the Good News to the marketplace."
"Well, I am not able to continue this discussion now."
"I just want to say that I think it is dangerous not to do personal research. It is dangerous to listen to only the WTS
without comparing what other experts say."
"We will have to talk about this more, later."
(She doesn't mean that last sentence. She won't want to discuss this. She won't look up any of what we discussed
and she will get a headache or have too much to do if it comes up again.)