If The Watchtower discourages Greek language study, why did they publish the KIT? (page 2)

Terry

Working in the religion section of a used book store has taught me one thing clearly. Thousands of christians think that buying a Strong's concordance and looking up key words will teach them waht the bible REALLY means!

Owning a concordance or an interlinear has been the practice of so many bible believers it must be the national pastime!

The fact that most of those books end up being sold to used bookstores tells the tale of how successful this venture really is. (Isn't!)

The language of the bible (Septuagint+Koine Nt) isn't really the FOUNDATION at all.

This is a fallacy.

Knowing Greek or critically studying the texts (thousands of copies) isn't the foundation either.

Discovering that the originals don't exist is the foundation.

A similar problem faces the Koran as well.

Supposedly, Mohammed's closest followers committed the entire Koran to memory!! Then, it was written down by them.

The various bible stories and accounts of "sayings" by Jesus to his followers were NOT WRITTEN DOWN at the time they were spoken!

Some 60 years elapsed between the death of Jesus and the earliest tiny postage-stamp sized fragment of copy of NT manuscript. (Not even an original.)

The bible contains about 776 THOUSAND words.

How many of those words do you think are the EXACT words spoken by the people attributed?

If we don't know the actual and exact words we don't have any way to parse those words and extract meaning.

Learning Greek just isn't the problem.

NOT HAVING THE WORDS (in any language) is the REAL problem for the bible and ultimately for orthodoxy of belief.

LongHairGal

DING:

I agree with you that it is all about appearances and 'looking' scholarly. Maybe it was meant to impress people at the door or on a bible study with a householder. The JW would whip out his Kingdom interlinear and the homeowner would be impressed and think how these JWs must know their stuff. I had one of these Greek Kingdom interlinears but turned it in as it was collecting dust on my shelf. I certainly didn't use it and there was no sense in me having it.

Being the average person (much less uneducated JWs) knows nothing about Greek language study, how impressive this must look! I admit that I was a little impressed back in the day. How clever.

moggy lover

Actually I do remember that Nicholas Kip article. It was something about "How knowing Greek helped me fall in love with the NWT" or whatever.

Whatever happened to the guy? Anybody know? I was told that he had problem s with the Watchtower leadership and left.

Anybody know more?

Juan Viejo2

Terry you are right about getting the words right.

Our modern age has vinyl recordings, movies, and newspapers from the beginning of the 20th century. They are news events, speeches, court cases, and other original sources.

And yet how many times do we see living politicians, writers, commentators, and performers misquoted - or their words bent to mean something totally different than the source material.

Perfect example: Churchill DID NOT say, "All I have to offer is blood, sweat, and tears." And yet that is the common quote repeated several times daily in newscasts, at schools, and in movies.

No he didn't. Rock singer David Clayton Thomas may have said those words, but Churchill DID NOT. And those words are only 70 years old and have been transcribed and filmed and recorded at the time he gave his famous speech to the British people.

So how do you think the writers of the Gospels and Acts could possibly remember Jesus words perfectly - especially since they were not there. Mark and Luke were not even present at any of the events in Jesus life. They were writing from third person accounts. Matthew sourced his material from Mark. John may or may not have been present, but his accounts do not agree with the other three gospels in many cases. Paul was not even converted until well after Jesus death - and yet he frequently quotes Jesus.

Nah, the Bible is more like a modern history book that you'd find in an American high school. Major events like World War 2 are "fleshed out" across two or three pages. The Civil War is frequently misreported and misinterpreted. Korea? What was that. President Jimmy Carter barely gets a mention, and the Iran revolution of 1979 is ignored. I could give hundreds of examples.

So how can modern Bible thumpers like the JWs use the Bible as the only precise and totally accurate record of Jesus' life? The answer is they can't.

BTW - Churchill's words were:

"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."

JV

sd-7

To quote itsacult, "itsacult".

--sd-7

james_woods

Remember the Awake! Nicholas Kip article? That was 1985 or 1986? That was the article that really got me interested in learning Greek.

Actually I do remember that Nicholas Kip article. It was something about "How knowing Greek helped me fall in love with the NWT" or whatever.

The Awake actually printed an article in which they credited the author???

PSacramento

If one truly wants to study the bible and I mean TRULY, then one does need to understand that the language was fluid it at times and that words had more than one meaning, but one also needs tounderstand context and how a particular writer uses that word, one also needs to undersatnd the historical and biblical context AND the textual context.

In other words, IF one truly wants to be a biblical scholar they need to become one.

Good luck with that, LOL !

As for the rest of us, the best we can do is to read and study BOTH sides and, trying our best to put our biasis aside, to stand on the shoulders of the people that came before us and wrote those books we are researching and studying.

Do we do that?

Heck no, when was the last time YOU read a book rebutting an author that YOU agreed with?

Yeah, didn't think so.

NewChapter

The Awake actually printed an article in which they credited the author???

YEPPERS

***
g873/22p.14HowKnowingGreekLedMetoKnowGod

***

Thus my life came to have meaning and now rests on a foundation of love—love for Jehovah, love for Jesus, and love for the people who love Jehovah and Jesus.—AstoldbyNicholasKip.

Leolaia

The article also has a picture of him. It's one of those autobiographical articles they have in the Awake!. So it was in 1987, I see. Yeah I've wondered what happened to him. Google reveals a recent article about him:

http://phillipian.net/article/8206

LOL What a story about jumping out the window during class.

james_woods

So, he eventually left the JW's, Leolaia? (I can't go to links not on my list from here)

BTW - do I remember correctly that Benjamin Wilson was a Christadelphian?

If The Watchtower discourages Greek language study, why did they publish the KIT?

Share this