John 17:3

by gspradling 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  gspradling

  Has this verse been discussed here before?
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  LittleToe

  Several times, but feel free to give it another airing
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  Lilycurly

  I know my dad made me learn it when I was young....lol..don't remember it now. The demunz must have drove it out of my evil'postate mind.
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  lawrence

  "And this is eternal life, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.

  Lily- hope those demunz stay way. Just great!
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  Honesty

  I have heard it said that there is a difference between knowing about God and knowing Him.

  Some groups teach that knowledge about God is important. That knowing about Him distinguishes a 'true' believer from a fake.

  This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent—Jesus Christ
  John 17:3 (HCSB)

  Jesus replied, “This is the work of God: that you believe in the One He has sent.”
  John 6:29 (HCSB)

  You don’t have His word living in you, because you don’t believe the One He sent.
  John 5:38 (HCSB)
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  gspradling

  Thanks for the replies.I wanted to know if the NWT translated the verse correctly or not.
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  LittleToe

  If I receall correctly the NWT renders it something like:

  "This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of Jesus Christ."

  Whenever they discuss it they emphasis that it must be "accurate" knowledge, and they pretty much down-play the personal relationship, especially with Christ.

  They also ignore the verse stating that the "demons believe and shudder", as surely they have accurate knowledge also, but it doesn't allegedly mean life for them...
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  OldSoul

  Not to say that accurate knowledge is unimportant, but the Scriptures also show the source of such knowledge.

  John 14:15-17, 25-26

  John 15:26-16:16

  1 Corinthians 2 The source is not any organization. If you don't believe me, look it up. This being the case, the relationship has to be there first.

  Respectfully,
  OldSoul
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  AK - Jeff

  
  Good point LT.

  They have often used that verse about the demons believing to indicate that many would be lost although sincerely 'believing in God'. The claim is that they would die due to not having accurate knowledge. But your point is on spot that the demons would have an 'accurate knowledge' of God due to personal relationship with him for eons of time before leaving his service [ according to WT theology at least ].

  Good point. Thanx

  The mistranslation of John 17:3 to indicate that knowledge was more critical than relationship is the hook for many to accept the organization. They have substituted wording like that throughout the NWT to drag people into the organization as the source of the 'accurate knowledge'.

  GSP - to get a fair indication of what the Bible says about it, try this; Read the book of John and his epistles carefully. Use another translation than the NWT - maybe the NKJV or the NIT - everywhere it mentions 'truth' or 'knowledge' look at the context and see what it is indicated. Most of the texts will point to Christ as the 'truth'- indirectly or directly. Truth is knowledge to some extent - but the truth that leads to eternal life is tied into Christ and not to anything else. It is about relationship, not facts.

  Jeff
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  LittleToe

  The irony is that I distinctly recall giving a Public Talk in the 90's where I emphasised the King James Version, and how churches talk about it being a relationship but miss the necessity for "accurate knowledge". I was so fixated on the WTS position that I never thought for a moment that "Christendom" might have a point, too