The JWS interpret the bible to suit and support their own doctrines with bias and selectivity.
Do Jehovah's Witnesses interpret the Bible properly?
by Vanderhoven7 20 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Rafe
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JW GoneBad
Do JWs/WT interpret the Bible properly?
After over 50+ years of proudly proclaiming that Joel chapter 2 about the Locusts...saying that the Locusts paralleled the JWs in their preaching activity...at the 2019 AGM GB David Splane took a 180° about-face and stated that in fact the Locusts in Joel 2 are depicted as an enemy of God’s people. It took over 50 years for these knuckleheads to get it right!
This is just one recent example of way, way too many WT wrong Bible interpretations!
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Beth Sarim
Winston's channel, he states often that the Borg's bible is cherry-picked and slanted by deleted words and entire scriptures or passages. This is done to suit the Borg's narrative.
Another youtuber is Riley over on JWexit2020. He relates he noticed this also.
A diabolical ulterior motive.
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WokenfromJWcult
The letter “a” comes to mind in front of “god”
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WokenfromJWcult
Substituting “exercising faith” for the word “believes” at just in some verses, shows their dishonesty and uneducated cleverness in trying to dupe the intellectual lazy laymen they encounter in their witness work. Their interpretation of the rich man and Lazarus makes Jesus a liar. I ask them why would Jesus use one of Satans lies which is being conscious after death and being in torments, in his story.
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Disillusioned JW
One of the annoying things I noticed about WT books and articles that are commentaries on Hebrew Scriptures prophecies is that they usually primarily apply the prophecies to events after the year 1870 (including into the future) rather than to the time period in which the prophecies were written in. Furthermore, when they apply it to after the year 1870 they do so mostly to the following: the WT/JW organization and its religion, to non-JW Christianity (which the WT calls Christendom), and to nations after the Roman empire fell. Furthermore, in a number of times they admit (or at least clam) that in regards to nations before the year 100 CE, a number of the prophecies had only a partial fulfillment, why falsely claiming the they have (or will have) a fuller fulfillment in modern times.
The prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures were written for the Jews/Israelites pertaining to their time period and have nothing directly to do with so-called Christendom and the WT/JW religion and modern-day 'gentile' nations. The applies prophecies about the nations of Israel and Judah incorrectly to the WT/JW religion and to Christendom.
As a result of the above (combined with my disbelief in the existence of Jehovah/Yahweh God) the WT publications on Bible prophecy are thus now of virtually no usefulness to me. For me, their main utility now is in showing how messed up the WT/JW religion is.
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Disillusioned JW
Correction: In my prior post where I said "The applies ..." I should have said "They apply ...".
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Vanderhoven7
SUGGESTED INTERPRETATION DIALOGUE
How confident are you that Jehovah's Witnesses interpret the Bible properly?
Are Jehovah's Witnesses able to recognize interpretive abuse?
How do Jehovah's Witnesses interpret Matthew 13:44?
Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hidden in a field;
the which when a man has found, he hideth, and for joy thereof
goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Mt.13:44
Note: This verse is somewhat outside the box for JWs. Listen to the explanation they give and follow up by providing the totally fabricated example provided here.
- Imagine you are approached one day by two young elders who see this passage as support for the Mormon religion. They explain that Joseph Smith discovered a treasure in gold plates while walking in a field in Up State NY in the year 1827. He immediately buried/hid these plates, but later (1260 days) after fully dedicating himself to God's kingdom, he returned to unearth them. They add that these plates were then translated into what we know today as The Book of Mormon. Then you are asked to compare Mt. 13:44 with Eze. 37:16 regarding the stick/book of Joseph.
a. Can you identify any problems with the interpretive methodology employed in this interpretation? [??]
b. As a Witness, how would you set them straight on this passage? [??]
Note: Since every doctrine which is unique/ original to Jehovah’s Witnesses is a product of similar if not identical interpretive abuse Witnesses will not willingly attempt to answer question a. So you may have to explain it to them by saying that the elders are in fact guilty of interpretive abuse, not only for ignoring context and arbitrarily linking unrelated passages, but also for tampering with (impregnating) the text by superimposing their own church history, names, dates and places onto the Bible. (eisegesis vs exegesis).
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Vidiot
Personally, I don't think there is a "correct" way to interpret the Bible...
...but there are endless agenda-driven ways to do it.
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Etude
For me, the answer to the question is: certainly not. The problem is that they mistake one process for another. In their insistence on being precise about the Bible, they mistake an exegetical process for an eisegetical one. They believe that they are being neutrally precise in their interpretation when in reality they are interpreting via the tinted eyes of their subjective preconceived notions. They don't employ any Historical Criticism or generally accepted research methodology. Essentially, they make shit up.