Biased bible versions?

Question

I have a copy of the new world translation of the holy scriptures issued by the watchtower society. I would like to know if bible versions published by different religious movements , in this case the jehovas witnesses is in any way biased or differs significantly from lets say, those published by the catholic church. I have only discovered that in my version the word god has been substituted for Jehova.

Answer 1

This "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/index.htm?article=article_04.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/na/
http://watchtower.org/e/20020915/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20050715/article_02.htm

Answer 2

This answer doesn't exactly tackle Jehova's witnesses or Catholic's bibles, but it does tackle bias. I've read that the King James and New International Version are biased against homosexuals and abortion.

The original language they translated from was very simple and they've used unnessicary words that bias the texts. For example, implying that 'sexual perversion' is somehow 'homosexuality', not things like paedophilia as it was meant to mean.

I'm not sure how the NIV writes the Ten Commandments, but I know the one about ending anothers' life should be "Do not murder" not "do not kill", which makes sense- "kill" means "don't kill anything" like a bug or an ant, and if you manslaughtered something then you'd still have sinned. More importantly, it means that if one does not view abortion as murder (nobody who chooses to have one morally could) then no sin has been committed, at least in the mind of the person who committed the act (obviously can't speak for God directly).

Answer 3

Incredibly complicated question. Translations depend on sources used and books recognized. Every Bible has notes on translation at the beginning, often noting primary sources.

Different religious groups recognize different books as canonical or favor different translations. Some churches favor King James exclusively. Catholics support a few different translations and have more books. Anglicans have even more books than Catholics if I remember correctly. Jehova's Witnesses have a fairly specific translation they prefer.

If you compare "difficult" verses, side by side you can see some significant differences in translation. To really be knowledgable about which translation to trust, you have to learn Greek and Hebrew. There really isn't any way around it. If you aren't up for learning Greek, choose a bible written by an inter-denominational scholarly committee supported by a variety of mainstream churches.

Translation does make some difference if you really want to know what the Bible says on controversial issues where christians disagree. I would be wary of anyone who has a special translation meant only for their Church, because it is too easy for theology to define translation in those situations. If we really want to know what the apostles said, we should translate independent of our existing theology.

Answer 4

The NWT Bible is viewed as one of the worst translations of all time. Every scholar that the watchtower has credited was done so without their approval. It is one of the only Bibles that directly credits Wescott and Hort for the translation of the Greek Scriptures (New Testament). Most newer versions have gotten around giving these pair of mystics any credit. The NWT adds Jehovah 7k times in the Old Testament, the problem being that they call Jesus Jehovah in many places. They also add Jehovah in the Bible before the name is even known. In the New Testament they add it 227 times. Even though Jehovah is not in any of the Greek Texts. They have been sued for translation problems and they lost but most Jehovah s witnesses are too afraid of the Watchtower society to look into their past. The NWT also has progressively changed their Bible and removed evidence as the years and newer translations have come out. Blatantly adding and removing portions of the Bible. Just Read Revelation chapter 1, they go back and forth adding Jehovah in place of Jesus. Calling Jesus the First and the Last but then adding Jehovah for Alpha and Omega. They forget to add Jehovah in Revelation 22:12,13. For me I would stick to the original English language Bible, the KJV.

Answer 5

Yes, the Watchtower version is particular to the Jehovah Witnesses ... it is a lousy version that caters to their doctrine.

Get a good translation based on the New Revised Standard version. The New Oxford Annotated is probably one of the best around and many seminaries use it. New International is pretty good, and probably has the best translation of NT Greek.

Answer 6

The New Translations Bible for myself and there has been publications indicating the same, are the most accurate translations out there right now.
If you own a King James, or even an NIV you will see they are more accurate. The only real noticeable difference I see, is that they have put back God'd true name.

Answer 7

Until the release of the NWT in 1950, Jehovah's Witnesses in English-speaking countries generally used the King James Version or American Standard Version of the Bible. In the literature they have produced, Jehovah's Witnesses have quoted liberally from the King James Version and many other translations of the Bible over the years.

According to the publishers, one of the main reasons for producing a new translation was that the majority of existing Bible versions in common use employed archaic language. The English language has undergone significant changes since 1611, when the Authorised (King James) Version was first published and many words in the KJV are no longer in common use today, or are used in a sense different from that in which the translators intended them.[1] The stated intention was to produce a fresh translation, free of archaisms.

Additionally, according to the publishers, over the centuries since the King James version was produced, more copies of earlier manuscripts of the original texts in the Hebrew and Greek languages have become available. In their view, better manuscript evidence has made it possible to determine with greater accuracy what the original writers intended, particularly in more obscure passages. Additionally, they feel that certain aspects of the original Hebrew and Greek languages are perhaps better understood by linguists today than they were previously.

In October 1946, the president of the Watch Tower Society, Nathan H. Knorr, proposed a fresh translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures. Work got under way on December 2, 1947 when the "New World Bible Translation Committee" was formed. On September 3, 1949, Knorr convened a joint meeting of the board of directors of both the Watch Tower Society's New York and Pennsylvania corporations to announce that work on a modern-language English translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures was completed and had been turned over to the Society for printing. It was assigned to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania for publication.

The translators wished to remain anonymous, their stated intent being "to honor Jehovah God, the Divine Author of his inspired Word". This fact is very frequently cited by critics of the translation in order to suggest that its scholarship is of inferior quality, as the credentials of the translators could never be verified.

The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures (New Testament) was released at a convention of Jehovah's Witnesses at Yankee Stadium, New York, on August 2, 1950, to the 82,075 present. The translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) was released in five volumes in 1953, 1955, 1957, 1958, and 1960, and the complete New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures was released as a single volume in 1961. Since then, it has undergone minor revisions on a number of occasions, most recently in 1984. It used to be available in green hardcover with the title written in "script" lettering with the inside cover showing the map of the Ancient World. The back inside cover shows the Mediterranean, outlining Paul's three missionary journeys. The 1984 edition is in much the same style as previous editions, the primary difference being that the quality of the graphics is greatly improved. The basic layout style much resembles the American Standard Version 1901 edition.

Answer 8

All Bible variations are biased a minimum of as a lot because the translation crew's information of the language and custom. this can continually color the rendering of the passages. for example, we study the note "international" in countless places contained in the hollow chapters of Genesis, at the same time as it may really be translated as "land". The Hebrew note "eretz" has numerous meanings, and that's purely assumed that the mankind spread throuhgout the "international", that the flood coated the "international" and that the "international" changed into cursed after the fall. All of those verses make much better sense in case you change the note "land" in each and each and every case: The "land" changed into cursed and became a barren area (Eden changed into positioned in Iraq the position the Tigris and Euphrates come mutually--Iraq receives almost no rainfall, and the land somewhat seems quite cursed.) The "land" changed into flooded in an section the position the rivers are customary to have destroyed complete civilizations. The Sumerian fell about 2000 BC due partly to the Euphrates replacing direction and flooding the southern cities contained in the section. adult males spread by the "land" somewhat than the international implies a migration that the author would have really customary about somewhat than assuming the author changed into attentive to North and South us of a, the Pacific Islands, Australia and the a concepts East. (I got here to this end when I discovered that the Sumerians very often called their own u . s . a . "the Land" as if that changed into it is call. are you able to spot how making a trifling replace like this transformations the meanings of complete memories?)

Answer 9

usually, there will be slight differences if you are using different bibles. the king james version is going to be the most accurate. catholics also have the apochrypha, which is a collection of books that aren't in the bible. after the bible canon in the 400's there were very few different versions of the bible. but you still have a few today. there is also the gideon version and the douay version just to name a few. but most christians of any sort will use the king james version including catholics, baptists, lutherans, and mormons. do some personal research. you will be surprised of what you learn.

Answer 10

different translation say different things, and there is no bapist or catholic bible, however most chirstians think that mormans are a cult, as in the last statement in the bible "this is my word, it is complete, nothing else should be added." and They added books to the bible, (they also believe in aliens from outerspace) If you are not a morman, then get another bible.