Example of how WTBTS pervert their Greek translation

by The Fall Guy 4 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  The Fall Guy

  Matthew 18:17 says that the Christian congregation* was to be informed of an unrepentant sinner & their sin. Confirmation of this directive was given by Paul to Timothy. (1 Timothy 5:20)

  Note how the WTBTS/JW cult opposes & reverses what Jesus & Paul stated, in order to enforce their corporate authority over the sheep for whom they claim to be providing so-called "spiritual food" :

  “If that does not resolve the matter, they are to speak to “the congregation,” that is, to responsible elders who can render a decision.” (Jesus The Way, The Truth, The Life - page 151)
  The inverted commas around the word 'congregation' are the Warwick Pharisee's way of trying to convince JW's that the verse really meant to say, "the elders."
  

  * Congregation - Greek: ekklesia

  Elders - Greek: presbyteroi
  
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  DATA-DOG

  The WTBTS teaches a Two-Class Xian system. They don’t really believe that all JWs are part of the Congregation, or body of the Christ.

  They really teach that only the very few “genuine anointed” are part of that body and that the “other sheep” are clinging to the skirt of the “Spiritual Jew” aka “genuine anointed” with that nebulous group being under the direction of the Governing Body.

  Perhaps someday we will get one of the GB on the stand and a clever Lawyer will wring the truth from them.

  I remember reading the Hayden Covington transcripts while awakening; seeing their true faces exposed was eye-opening to say the least.

  Is it any wonder that the WTBTS has done everything it can to ensure the GB never take the stand?

  DD 🤔
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  slimboyfat

  Pretty unanswerable point, I’d say. Blatant rewriting to suit Watchtower’s policies.
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  Island Man

  It's another example of how they dishonestly change the meaning and application of scripture to suit their own agenda.

  They love to talk big about obeying God as ruler rather than men. They don't mind rank and file JWs going to prison for doing so. But the moment they realize that obeying what scripture actually says will have expen$ive legal implications for the organization, they try to twist the meaning of scripture to avoid having to obey what it actually says. They know that if they actually bring judicial cases before the whole congregation as Matthew actually instructs, they will open themselves to legal suits for slander.

  They also don't want the whole congregation hearing what those accused of apostasy have to say in their defense. God forbid that others in the congregation should be exposed to inconvenient facts and sound reasoning that could destroy their faith in Watchtower.
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  Smiles

  @ The Fall Guy: Good catch!

  The Greek noun ekklhsia/ekklesia/ecclesia in its Biblical context, is indisputably understood by scholars across the spectrum. The word refers to a group called out together, a congregation or assembly of various size, from a small group of Christians meeting at a private home (Ro 16:5) to the collective members of the Christian "church" (1Co 12:28) Watch Tower well knows this, and has even published teaching to those same points.

  So, it is a real leap for Watch Tower writers to imply that Jesus' words at St. Matthew 18:17 limit judicial authority and responsiblity to an elite few elder men within the larger ekklesia, because the Greek expressions for elders/older men/overseers are entirely different Greek nouns which do not appear anywhere in the context of that verse, but Watch Tower teaching, such as page 151 of Jesus - The Way, implies otherwise.

  Watch Tower will defend its application of that verse by extrapolating a literal rendition of the Greek roots of ekklesia... "ek, meaning "out," and kaleo, meaning "call". Hence, it pertains to a group of persons called out or called together, either officially or unofficially." That is a quote from Watch Tower's book Insight volume 1, page 496. This is interpreted by Watch Tower to support a small group of appointed elder men being "called out" or "called together" from within the congregation (ekklesia) to exercise exclusive judicial authority over individual members of the same church. By design, that power structure is what then gives them a "scriptural basis" for excommunication by tribunal. Without this structure of hierarchy, such judicial decisions would be, by an unbiased reading of 18:17, the product of an essentially democratic process governed by the collective members of a congregation, which obviously would undermine the hierarchy establishment designed by Watch Tower to facilitate its policies of control and excommunication.