Where do the Jehovah's Witness' Bible differ from our Christian Bible, such as the NKJV?

Question

I have heard that there are differences in the Bibles the Jehovah's Witness' use that rob Christ of His deity. Does anyone know which scriptures these are and how they have reworded or changed them?

Answer 1

Sadly this so-called "question" is intended primarily to insult and demean Jehovah's Witnesses, rather than to discover the truth. No dignified Christian should attempt to address such a question until it can be asked without a blatant prevarication as its premise.

The fact is that Trinitarians repeatedly pretend that Jehovah's Witnesses are not Christian. Trinitarians use an artificial, trinity-specific definition of the term "Christian" which excludes anyone who does not believe that Jesus is God Himself, rather than the Son of God. Interestingly, pagans in the first century pretended that Christ's followers were Atheists(!) because the Christians had a somewhat different idea from the pagans about the nature of God.

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that no salvation occurs without Christ, that accepting Christ's sacrifice is a requirement for true worship, that every prayer must acknowledge Christ, that Christ is the King of God's Kingdom, that Christ is the head of the Christian congregation, that Christ is immortal and above every creature, even that Christ was the 'master worker' in creating the universe! Both secular dictionaries and disinterested theologians acknowledge that Jehovah's Witnesses are a Christian religion.

The Trinitarian arguments are intended to insult and demean Jehovah's Witnesses, rather than to give a Scripturally accurate understanding of the term "Christian".

In fact, the bible most closely associates being "Christian" with preaching about Christ and Christ's teachings. Review all the times the bible uses the term "Christian" and note that the context connects the term with:
"declaring the good news"
'teaching quite a crowd'
'open eyes, turn from dark to light'
"uttering sayings of truth"
"persuade"
"keep on glorifying"

(Acts 11:20-26) [The early disciples of Jesus] began talking to the Greek-speaking people, declaring the good news of the Lord Jesus... and taught quite a crowd, and it was first in Antioch that the disciples were by divine providence called Christians.

(Acts 26:17-28) [Jesus said to Paul] I am sending you, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God... Paul said: “I am not going mad, Your Excellency Festus, but I am uttering sayings of truth and of soundness of mind. ...Do you, King Agrippa, believe the Prophets? I know you believe.” But Agrippa said to Paul: “In a short time you would persuade me to become a Christian.”

(1 Peter 4:14-16) If you are being reproached for the name of Christ, you are happy... But if he suffers as a Christian, let him not feel shame, but let him keep on glorifying God in this name


So why do anti-Witnesses try to hijack the term "Christian" and hide its Scriptural implications? Because anti-Witnesses recognize that it is the preaching work that makes it clear that the relatively small religion of Jehovah's Witnesses are by far the most prominent followers of Christ:

(Matthew 28:19,20) Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded


Learn more!
http://watchtower.org
http://watchtower.org/library/ti/index.htm

Answer 2

Probably the main scripture you are referring to is John 1:1 which is usually translated to say that the Word was "God". The JW Bible says that Jesus was "a god". This is a case where there is no right or wrong - only the opinions of the translators. It can be translated either way, and since JW's don't believe that Jesus is God, they translated it as "a god".

Also, the word that is usually translated "worship" is sometimes translated differently by JW's when speaking of Jesus because they do not believe that Jesus should be worshiped. When the word refers to Jehovah God, they translate it as "worship".

The main difference in the JW Bible is that they have restored the divine name (YHWH, which is translated Jehovah in their Bibles) in about 6500 places in the Old Testament. There doesn't seem to be much objection to that. But then they mistranslated the Greek words for "lord" and "god" in the New Testament in about 200 places where they have substituted Jehovah, even in some scriptures that seem to refer to Jesus such as at Romans 10:13. There is a LOT of objection to that.

They mistranslated the New Testament, adding Jehovah, because it is their OPINION that the name must have been there somewhere in the NT in the originals. They seem to think their opinion is more important than the original language manuscripts that they claim they are "accurately" translating.

Answer 3

The bible that they use is called "The New World Translation." It's supposedly translated from the King James Version, like most other bibles. The New World Translation is a modern English bible.
If you compare scriptures between the bibles, they're basically the same. Just a slight change in wording to express the same things.
Regardless what bible you use, if you read them carefully, you will also find out that Jesus and God are two seperate entities, and not the same being. The Catholic church teaches that there is a Trinity, which is baloney.
Ask a Jehovah's witness about this if you have time on your hands.

Answer 4

I won't repeat the verses since Seraphim gave several good examples of differences between the NWT and other Bibles.

I have several different translations of the Bible and when I don't understand something in one translation I will look it up in another until I do understand. But I do NOT look at the NWT to try to understand. I gave that up many years ago because it just is NOT the inspired Word of God.

I read God's Word from Genesis to Revelation each year using different Bibles and learn more each year. The inspired Word of God reminds me of looking at a photograph of people who were looking directly at the lens. It appears that the people in the picture are looking right at you. Reading God's Word in many translations makes me feel as though it were written directly to me!!! However when I look up things in the NWT it very clearly is a book written by men who were not divinely inspired.

There are many cautions in the Bible about not adding to God's Word or deleting anything from it but that has not stopped JWs from adding or deleting. Some of the other answers go into that so I won't repeat the facts.

I will instead ask you to think about this -
If I ask you to loan me $100 today and assure you that I will pay you back tomorrow and then I give you a check for $95 with the note "paid in full" are you going to accept it? I doubt it. I wouldn't accept less than the full amount of $100. I see the NWT as being less than the full Word of God.

I have come to see the NWT as the short-sheeting version of the Bible. Would you care for some abc gum?

I got my copy of the NWT in 1996 from a cousin who was a JW for 40 years. After she saw my collection of Bibles she told me that she wanted to give me the very best. But in 2003 she left the JWs and she told me that I could throw out the NWT she had given me.

It was very good to see that Seraphim and Wester left the JWs. There is even hope for Achtung Heiss!!!

Answer 5

The Jehovah Witness bible was the KJV. This was changed due to this and all other translation of bible show the word "worship" in reference to Jesus. Of course, Jehovah keeps "worship" even though it is the same greek word in scripts as for Jesus. And, it is against Jehovah Witness doctrine to worship Jesus.

Mathew 2:2,2:8,2:11,4:9,4:10 and so on. Look at "Blue Letter Bible" on internet and type in "worship" to find all versus.

If you ask a Jehovah Witness. What bible is true except NWT? They cannot answer, because all other bible show Jesus worshiped.

If you look in all bibles and even in theirs. Revelation 1:7-8. It shows that the Almighty God is pierced. Everyone knows that Jesus is the only one that is pierced. There bible shows throughout Revelation that the "Almighty is Jehovah" coming the bible says versuse throughout Revelations,look I am coming,Look i am coming, Look i am coming, then when you get to the last page of bible(2nd to last verse)

"Yes, i am coming quickly "Amen! come, Lord Jesus."
in the Jehovah Witness own bible.

I showed this to a Jehovah Witness from there own bible. There eyes popped out of there head.

Spread the truth my brother's and sister's

Answer 6

Please read these reviews of the NWT (New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures)

You can go to www.watchtower.org and read this translation for yourself.

Old Testament:
In fact, the New World Translation is a scholarly work. In 1989, Professor Benjamin Kedar of Israel said:
"In my linguistic research in connection with the Hebrew Bible and translation, I often refer to the English edition as what is known as the New World Translation. In doing so, I find my feeling repeatedly confirmed that this kind of work reflects an honest endeavor to achieve an understanding of the text that is as accurate as possible. Giving evidence of a broad command of the original language, it renders the original words into a second language understandably without deviating unnecessarily from the specific structure of the Hebrew....Every statement of language allows for a certain latitude in interpreting or translating. So the linguistic solution in any given case may be open to debate. But I have never discovered in the New World Translation any biased intent to read something into the text that it does not contain."

New Testament:

While critical of some of its translation choices, BeDuhn called the New World Translation a “remarkably good” translation, “better by far” and “consistently better” than some of the others considered. Overall, concluded BeDuhn, the New World Translation “is one of the most accurate English translations of the New Testament currently available” and “the most accurate of the translations compared.”—Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament.

“Here at last is a comprehensive comparison of nine major translations of the Bible:

King James Version,
New American Standard Bible,
New International Version,
New Revised Standard Version,
New American Bible,
Amplified Bible,
Today's English Version (Good News Bible),
Living Bible,
and the New World Translation.

The book provides a general introduction to the history and methods of Bible translation, and gives background on each of these versions. Then it compares them on key passages of the New Testament to determine their accuracy and identify their bias. Passages looked at include:

John 1:1; John 8:58; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:15-20; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:8; 2 Peter 1:1

Jason BeDuhn
Associate Professor of Religious Studies, and Chair
Department of Humanities, Arts, and Religion
Northern Arizona University

According to Mr. BeDuhn, the NWT was the only bible reviewed that translated the above verses correctly and without bias.

(email me if you have further questions.)

Answer 7

I dont know where you are getting your misinformation the NWT was recently awarded a honor of being the most accurate and honest translation in the world and nowhere does it rob Jesus of any thing it just accurately reflects the original Hebrew and Greek Scriptures exactly as written and it restores the Divine name in all 7,210 places it was in in the original writings of the Bible whic some translations have decided to remove for reason not clear to other translators of the Bible Gorbalizer read ps 83:18 in OKJV thanks

Answer 8

Take a look at Ps. 83:18 in the KJV.Now look at the same scripture in the NKJV.

Answer 9

New World Translation -

Definition: A translation of the Holy Scriptures made directly from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek into modern-day English by a committee of anointed witnesses of Jehovah. These expressed themselves regarding their work as follows: “The translators of this work, who fear and love the Divine Author of the Holy Scriptures, feel toward Him a special responsibility to transmit his thoughts and declarations as accurately as possible. They also feel a responsibility toward the searching readers who depend upon a translation of the inspired Word of the Most High God for their everlasting salvation.”

The “New World Translation” is based on:

As a basis for translating the Hebrew Scriptures, the text of Rudolf Kittel’s Biblia Hebraica, editions of 1951-1955, was used. The 1984 revision of the New World Translation benefited from updating in harmony with the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia of 1977. Additionally, the Dead Sea Scrolls and numerous early translations into other languages were consulted. For the Christian Greek Scriptures, the master Greek text of 1881 as prepared by Westcott and Hort was used primarily, but several other master texts were consulted as well as numerous early versions in other languages.

It is an accurate, largely literal translation from the original languages. It is not a loose paraphrase, in which the translators leave out details that they consider unimportant and add ideas that they believe will be helpful. As an aid to students, a number of editions provide extensive footnotes showing variant readings where expressions can legitimately be rendered in more than one way, also a listing of the specific ancient manuscripts on which certain renderings are based.

Some verses may not read the same as what a person is accustomed to. Which rendering is right? Readers are invited to examine manuscript support cited in footnotes of the Reference edition of the New World Translation, read explanations given in the appendix, and compare the rendering with a variety of other translations. They will generally find that some other translators have also seen the need to express the matter in a similar manner.

God's personal name appears in the Bible in the original Hebrew some 7,000 times—more than any other name. The New World Translation faithfully includes the name JEHOVAH, and does not replace it with titles such as "LORD" or "GOD", which is less accurate.

Various scholars were impressed. For example, British Bible scholar Alexander Thomson noted that the New World Translation is outstanding in accurately rendering the Greek present tense. To illustrate: Ephesians 5:25 reads “Husbands, continue loving your wives” instead of saying merely “Husbands, love your wife.” (King James Version) “No other version appears to have exhibited this fine feature with such fulness and frequency,” said Thomson regarding the New World Translation.

Another outstanding feature of the New World Translation is its use of God’s personal name, Jehovah, in both the Hebrew and the Greek portions of the Scriptures. Since the Hebrew name for God appears nearly 7,000 times in the so-called Old Testament alone, it is clear that our Creator wants his worshipers to use his name and to know him as a person. (Exodus 34:6, 7) The New World Translation has helped millions of people to do so.

Millions of readers have done just that and have discovered the New World Translation to be not only readable but scrupulously accurate. Its translators worked from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages, using the best texts available. Unusual care was also exercised to render the ancient text as literally as possible but in language that would readily be understood. Accordingly, some scholars praised this translation for its integrity and accuracy. For example, the Andover Newton Quarterly of January 1963 said: “The translation of the New Testament is evidence of the presence in the movement of scholars qualified to deal intelligently with the many problems of Biblical translation.”

Some scholars defend the elimination of the divine name because its exact pronunciation is unknown. However, such familiar Bible names as Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Jesus are routinely rendered in ways that bear little resemblance to their original Hebrew pronunciation. Since the form Jehovah is a legitimate way of rendering the divine name—and one familiar to many people—objections to using it ring hollow.

If you would like further information, please contact Jehovah's Witnesses at the local Kingdom Hall. Or visit http://www.watchtower.org

Answer 10

John 1:1
There are also several in Colossians