Can anyone proove how the Jehovas Witness have changed the bible to fit their theology?

Question

The answer to this would be long so if you have a helpful website to prove for or against, please post it.

Answer 1

Well it is pretty plain to me, because I can read Greek. The New World Translation opens John 1:1 with "In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god."

This is an instance where the translation is clearly retrofitted for JW theology. The traditional KJV wording, which other English versions have followed along with, is far more accurate.

The Greek reads "kai theos ev o logos" for the piece that is translated "And the Word was a god." But a word by word translation of the Greek is "kai/and theos/God ev o/was the logos[word]." Once again, this time without the Greek interlinear, "and God was the Word."

There's no question that at least in this instance, the translators monkeyed with the text to support the things the JW's hold true. And as to this business about the articulate needing to be before the Greek word for God in its second iteration for this sentence to mean what it means, that's baloney; 'kai' (and) is already there giving theos a fully personal context.

Had the text said 'kai Iesou ev o logos' it would NOT mean the Word was "Jesus-ish"; so the presumption that this is suddenly true for 'God' is preposterous wishful thinking.

Answer 2

The most glaring example is one that Jehovah's Witnesses can easily see for themselves if they have a copy of the Watchtower's Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures (commonly known as the purple Bible).

Just find the word "Jehovah" in the Interlinear Translation, then look over into the Greek column to see what word is on the Greek side of the page. It's easy to see that lord and god have been changed to "Jehovah". It wasn't 'restored' in these Scriptures like it was in the Old Testament. It was just altered by the JW translators to fit their theology.

If that isn't 'proof', then what is?

Answer 3

The first link looks like a reasonably objective description of the Jehovah's bible translation. In most respects, it looks like a plausible rendering of original texts. The radical departure the JW's take from other Christian sects is the denial of the Trinity or triune God. This has profound implications - Jesus Christ is not God.

The second link has a wealth of articles on the Jehovah's.

The third link has an excellent historical background, which among other things refers to the JW's founder's writings, Studies in the Scriptures, as the "light of the scriptures". Well, that would be a latter-day revelation, opening up the Jehovah's to the same sort of criticism as Mormonism and Christian Science.

Now there are other reasons besides their Bible to be concerned about Jehovah's. They fit the classic end-of-the-world cult model - which has unfortunately reached the mainstream with other personality cult leaders like Pat Robertson. But you have to realize that pulling people into a faith which imminently forecasts the end of the world gives those religious leaders huge power to influence their followers' behahavior, and the JW's certainly use all of that leverage.

Answer 4

Check out the King James Bible Group on Yahoo.
You can get a daily comparison of a Scripture from dozens of Bible versions. It won't take you long to get the drift and direction of the spirit behind all changes. You can check also:

www.scionofzion.com

Answer 5

This so-called "question" seems to focus on "New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures", which is distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses. There are more than 130 million copies of this modern-language bible in print, in dozens of languages.
http://watchtower.org/languages.htm

The entire text of NWT is freely available at the official website of Jehovah's Witnesses, and a personal printed copy can be requested at no charge:
http://watchtower.org/bible/
https://watch002.securesites.net/contact/submit.htm
http://watchtower.org/how_to_contact_us.htm


Jehovah's Witnesses certainly like NWT, but they are happy to use any translation which an interested person may prefer, and in fact Jehovah's Witnesses themselves distribute other translations besides NWT. Jehovah's Witnesses attach no particular infallibility or inspiration to NWT.

Since the same manuscripts used by the NWT translators are still widely available for study, and since there are dozens of alternate translations for comparison, anyone who chooses to use NWT does so informedly.

It seems that the vast majority of the criticism against the New World Translation is actually as a proxy for blind hatred against Jehovah's Witnesses. The hatred must be "blind" since secular experts of biblical Hebrew and Greek have consistently refused to condemn any particular verse or phrase as an unacceptable translation. Instead, it is religionists with preconceived theologies who bigotedly insist upon particular wordings, since these are necessary to prop up the shakey tenets of their false worship.

(2 Timothy 4:3-5) For there will be a period of time when they will not put up with the healthful teaching, but, in accord with their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves to have their ears tickled; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, whereas they will be turned aside to false stories. You, though, keep your senses in all things, suffer evil, do the work of an evangelizer, fully accomplish your ministry.

It seems signficant that the relatively small religion of Jehovah's Witnesses are the ones best known for their worldwide preaching work. Yet Jesus commanded that ALL who would call themselves "Christian" perform this public work:

(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 you. And, look! I am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/library/pr/article_04.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/na/
http://watchtower.org/e/20020915/article_01.htm
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20050715/article_02.htm

Answer 6

Jehovah Witness: Watchtower Doctrine vs. Christian Doctrine
Jehovah Witness and Christian theology actually have some basic similarities. Generally, they both teach that God is the Creator of everything, as opposed to naturalistic evolution, and they both share the belief that Jesus Christ will ultimately return to earth to destroy Satan and establish God's eternal kingdom. However, this is where the general similarities cease. There are many important differences in doctrine between the Jehovah's Witnesses and evangelical Christianity, most important of which is the person and nature of Jesus Christ. The deity of Christ is the central point of the entire Bible. Scripture clearly teaches that Jesus Christ is God. The Jehovah Witness teachings concerning Jesus Christ clearly contradict the teachings of the Bible. Multiple passages tell us that Jesus Christ, who existed as God, took the bodily form of a humble servant so that He could die on the cross in our place.

Jehovah Witness doctrine considers the 66 books of The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWT) as the only true and divinely inspired Word of God. The NWT is produced and published by an "anonymous" translation committee of the WBTS. The NWT is regarded as the best and only translation of the Bible, because "the translators held so closely to what is in the original Bible languages." In addition, the "governing body" of the WBTS is regarded as God's only true channel of accurate biblical interpretation. As such, Jehovah Witness doctrine requires that we be "associated with God's channel, his organization" in order to be true followers of God. This means that there is no salvation apart from the WBTS. Christian doctrine holds that the Bible is indeed composed of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, and is indeed the inspired and infallible Word of God. However, the NWT is not a legitimate translation, and merely reflects Jehovah Witness theology, especially its bias against the deity of Jesus Christ and the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. For example, John 1:1 in the NWT reads, "and the Word [Jesus] was a god." All other legitimate Bible translations say, "and the Word [Jesus] was God."
Well you did ask for proof! want more go here->
http://www.allaboutcults.org/Jehovah-Witness.htm

Answer 7

Many "religions" use, abuse and manipulate a holy book to match their beliefs. It's not a strictly a JW thing. It would take a long time for you to really understand as you would have to study the JW religion and bible and then compare to another Christian sect which is also a twist on the same book! Good Luck.

Answer 8

This is actually very simple to do. Their new world translation of the bible has only been around for about 50 years or so. before this they used a regular bible. They had to have their own because they couldn't falsely indoctrinate people without something to back up their claims, hence the new world translation. Not all of the scholarly work done on that body was shoddy, however it is severely corrupt. Compare any new world translation with any bible,{nasb,niv,kjv,nkjv,rsv...}chapter by chapter and you will find that in new world translation they attempted to obliterate the texts that testify of the deity of Christ among other things. They deny the existence of the Godhead and have gone to great lengths to support that erroneous view. However, despite all their efforts even their own version of the bible is replete with references that would indicate that the Godhead is a reality. Walter Martin was long considered an expert on the watchtower society, having been intimately involved for a number of years, he has published many volumes to attest to the differences and you could easily find his stuff through a google search. Remember, a Jehovah's witness is completely dependent on watchtower society publications to interpret the bible for him or her, you will always have to contend with that.

Answer 9

my friend jehovas witness they don't exist, they are a big fake lie and they didn't change the bible but they read it the way they want when they say that jesus has brother well that's not true. i'm jew but i know everything bout all religion the only religion i might believe in one day christians. check a book for jehovas witness called "millions of those who apocalypse" i hope that u can find it but it's impossible these book belong to them in 1938 they said many visions but all came lies so they took off this book from the market and burned it out. try to find the book and u'll find all the answers u want. Good Luck

Answer 10

Others have done exhaustive research on this subject. To start with they have their own special translation of the bible that no one else uses but them...

Here's a snippet from one site:

In A Grossly misleading translation ( new world translation )

John 1:1, which reads "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God," is shockingly mistranslated, "Originally the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god," in a New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, published under the auspices of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Since my name is used and our Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament is quoted on page 744 to seek to justify their translation I am making this statement.
The translation suggested in our Grammar for the disputed passage is, "the Word was deity." Moffatt's rendering is "the Word was divine." William's translation is, "the Word was God Himself." Each translation reflects the dominant idea in the Greek. For, whenever an article does not precede a noun in Greek, that noun can either be considered as emphasizing the character, nature, essence or quality of a person or thing, as theos (God) does in John 1:1, or it can be translated in certain contexts as indefinite, as they have done. But of all the scholars in the world, as far as we know, none have translated this verse as Jehovah's Witnesses have.