Did you know that none of the translators of the Jehovah Witnesses Bible had a degree in language studies?

Question

Five out of six translators had no biblical language training. Only one, Frederick Franz, had any Classical Greek training but took only one 2 hour credit class in Biblical Greek and dropped out of college before completing his junior year. The bulk of his studies were under a Greek instructor who taught entry-level courses not a professor as Franz claimed.

That means there was only man capable of doing translation work for the "New World Translation" that the Jehovah Witnesses adhere to. Would you trust your version of the Bible if there was only one translator with any resemblance of training?

http://www.freeminds.org/history/NWTauthors.htm

achtung: I appreciate the verses, but they don't prove the NWT to be accurate. How about John 1:1 where the NWT claims Jesus was "a" God. This clearly is erroneous as the Greek manuscripts do not include the article "a". The Greek says, "kai theos en ho logos" literally "God was the Word" and properly translated "and the Word was God".

Dear TeeM: I did not suggest that the Greek never uses the English article "a". I said the article "a" was not used in John 1:1. "and the Word was God" not A god. I'm sure you forgot to mention, however, that Jehovah Witnesses believe that Jesus was Michael the arch angel and not God which is completely bogus.

Dearest Papa Bear: As I'm sure you well know, the Apostles were writers of what they experienced not translators of a foreign language that they had no formal training to deal with. The comparison of the Apostles with the translators of the NWT has no credence. Concerning the Council of Nicaea: they met because of the heretic Arius who believed that Jesus was a created being and not the same substance as God. The council voted overwhelmingly against Arian doctrine. They also established a date for Easter and came up with the canon or church laws among other things.

Dear TeeM: 1 Thess 4:16 does not prove that Jesus was a chief angel. Isaiah 58:1 says “Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Shout aloud! Don’t be timid." Is this to suggest that the Lord is saying that Isaiah is a trumpet? Of course, not, the Bible uses figurative language.

Answer 1

.
Sinclair Stable made a more pointed comment regarding the committee when he wrote

"...In the case of the New World Translation - I never
refer to them as
"Translators" - I always call them "Editors" with the same aptitude as "Editors"
of a magazine or
printing cooperation. Hence, they are "Editors" of the Hebrew and Greek text,
NOT translators..."
.

Answer 2

Considering the translation committee has remained anonymous to this day.

Your comments are based on conjecture and not truth.

As to the quality of the NWT please note:

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


Of the bibles tested, only the NWT translated John 1:1 correctly.

I don't know which bible you use, but open it to 2 Cor 1:1, 15

There you will notice 'an' & 'a' are used.

Yet as you say 'a and an' are not in the Greek. Why are they in these verses?

Ask your English teacher if it is correct to say "Snoopy is dog"

or

"The Dodge Charger is car."

The Greek you quoted is correct in Greek, but not in English.

footnote for the NAB: of John 1:1

"Was God: lack of a definite article with "God" in Greek signifies predication rather than identification."

Predication means quality or class

So just as Snoopy is a dog, and the Charger is a car.

Jesus is a god.

edit:

Of course there is no 'a' in the Greek of John 1:1, because as you said 'there is no 'a' in Greek.

But using 'a' at John 1:1 is not wrong. It is proper english
Saying 'a god' is in agreement with the context of John 1:1,2

The Word was with the God.

If you are with someone you can not be that someone.

As to Jesus being Michael, Please read

(1 Thessalonians 4:16) 16 because the Lord himself will descend from heaven . . . with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet,. . .

Did you notice 'himself' with an archangel's voice and God's trumpet.

This verse makes it very clear that Jesus and God are not the same person, and that Jesus is the archangel.

Please read the entire bible and you will learn the truth.

Answer 3

Don't believe everything you read on the Net. I don't know what your religion is or of those who blindly believe your words. But I am certain that whatever religion is, there are a number of websites that talk negatively about your church and its beliefs.

Luther’s Bible was criticized because it was produced by a man who exposed the shortcomings of the traditional religion of his day. His translation opened the way for ordinary people to see the truth of much of what he said. Similarly, the New World Translation is criticized because it is published by Jehovah’s Witnesses, who outspokenly declare that many of Christendom’s doctrines are not found in the Bible. The New World Translation—indeed, any Bible—makes this evident.

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 translations, I often refer to the English edition of what is known as the New World Translation. In so doing, I find my feeling repeatedly confirmed that this 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.”

Tell me what your religion is so I can ask a question about it affter I dig up some dirt on it. Is that okay with you?

Answer 4

Neither did most of the writers of the Bible, like Peter, who according the the Jews was a failed fisherman and Matthew, a hated tax collector.

The one who did have an advanced religious education lead him to believe that Christians were a dangerous cult, going house to house preaching that an uneducated ex-carpenter was somehow the Messiah.

So, I guess Jehovah's Witnesses are in good company, and follow a good example.

Perhaps their detractors should follow the example of Saul of Tarsus, who because of his advanced education, had to be blinded before he could see the light of Truth. We now call him the Apostle Paul.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_of_Tarsus

It should be noted that none of the complete Biblical texts survived last long after the Apostles were killed. This is why the Nicean Council met. They were told to gather all the remaining fragments of the scriptures and get the religion back in order. They did the best they could, but the entirety of Jesus' gospel was lost. We were left with pieces. This is why we have so many denominations today.

Answer 5

the degrees of the translators isn't as important as their ability (classical Greek wouldn't have helped them very much). Inasmuch as they follow previous bilingual versions word for word, they did all right, but then they weren't translating. When they strike out on their own they make rookie errors, like their tendentious translation of the word 'agathos', or 'stauros'. It's in those cases that they betray their ignorance of Greek beyond knowing enough of the alphabet to consult a dictionary and a grammar.

But isn't the NWT inspired? In that case it - like Joseph Smith's translation of the Book of Abraham - doesn't really have to follow known methods of translation.

Answer 6

The bible is the Word of God; Jehovah Himself is the Divine Author of the Holy Scriptures.

(2 Timothy 3:16) All Scripture is inspired of God

(2 Peter 1:20-21) No prophecy of Scripture springs from any private interpretation. For prophecy was at no time brought by man’s will, but men spoke from God as they were borne along by holy spirit.

(Acts 28:25) The holy spirit aptly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to YOUR forefathers

(Acts 1:16) For the scripture to be fulfilled, which the holy spirit spoke beforehand by David’s mouth

(Mark 12:35-36) Jesus began to say as he taught in the temple: “...By the holy spirit David himself said [a particular Scripture]

(2 Samuel 23:1,2) And these are the last words of David: “...The spirit of Jehovah it was that spoke by me, And his word was upon my tongue.

(Zechariah 7:12) The law and the words that Jehovah of armies sent by his spirit, by means of the former prophets

(Luke 1:68-70) Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, because he has turned his attention and performed deliverance toward his people... just as he, through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, has spoken


But this so-called "question" seems less concerned with magnifying the Divine Author and more concerned with demeaning Jehovah's Witnesses. Jehovah's Witnesses have distributed more than 145 million copies of "New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures", 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.

The "New World Translation Committee" which oversaw the translation work request anonymity 'en perpetuity', and are likely all dead since the primary work was completed 45 years ago. Guesses at specific names have always been merely guesses. 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 shaky 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 significant 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/e/20000622/
http://watchtower.org/e/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 7

No one did in any faithor theory only and one man's view.

Answer 8

a lot of books are like that.

that's why there's so much fighting over the "true meaning" of all these holy books.

Answer 9

Alelujah!!

a Miracle!!!....

Answer 10

www.sainstalive.com has some info on the cult to.