Questions for Jehovah's Wittnesses.....How come your Bible is translated differently than other Bibles?

Question

Through my compairions of the Bible you use and all other Bibles, I have found major changes in the verses that change then entire meaning of the scriptures. These are very important scriptures that have to do with the Trinity and other major issues..not just a few , but many. Do Jehovahs's Wittness realize this?

Answer 1

The New World Translation was commissioned by the late Nathan Homer Knorr (1905 - 1977). Knorr had succeeded "Judge" Rutherford. Knorr joined the Watch Tower Society as a teenage and worked his way up the ranks. At that time, there were no Bible translations that supported the peculiar doctrines of the Watch Tower Society. As a result, Knorr commissioned 5 people to create the Nwe World Translation. Four of the five members completely lacked credentials to qualify them as Bible translators, and the fifth member studied non-biblical Greek for only about two years. But, it does the job for them. (And yes, honest Greek scholars can show that it differs significantly from the Greek throughout the Holy Texts)

Answer 2

It would be good for you to get an outside opinion about the accuracy of the New World Translation. Jehovah's Witnesses, of course believe that the NWT is the most accurate translation, but what do other scholars think?

Jason David BeDuhn, Ph.D. is an historian of religion and culture, currently Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Northern Arizona University. He wrote the book:
Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament (ISBN 0-7618-2556-8), which generated controversy when he found the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (published by Jehovah's Witnesses) and the New American Bible (published by the American Catholic Church) to be more accurate than other respected translations linked to Protestant constituencies.

This being the case, then the scriptures that 'prove the trinity' in other bibles may be the ones that are inaccurate and have been changed to "support the trinity"

Nowhere in the Bible is the word "trinity" found. Jesus was born a Jew and would have been raised a Jew. Jews are monotheistic, they believe in one True God. Jesus never claimed to be equal to God, he always identified himself as God's son. Often reading the context of so called "trinity proof texts," will actually disprove them.
Biblical and historical evidence does not support the Trinity

Answer 3

Not Jehovah's Witness...but, what about the 7 books that Saint Jerome through out of the Bible? Why don't we use those....

Ever compared the International Standard version to the King James Bible...or better yet, the Living Bible...a lot of differences...

And what about the Bible itself...II Timothy 3:16 says all scripture is given by inspiration of God...I believe that to be true...However, remember the Bible was written by humans...who brought their own ideas, prejudices, education and customs of the day into their writings...many times they were finally just writing stories that had been handed down verbally from generation to generation...

My point is this...the King James Bible is not infallible...there are many contradictions in and of itself...and especially when you compare it to the original texts....so, to say someone elses religion uses a strange interpretation, is the pot calling the kettle black.

Answer 4

I have over 20 different English translations of the Bible, as well as Bibles in Amharic, Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Coptic. They ALL read differently in some verses.

What we see is that Trinitarians have taken issue with those verses in the New World Translation that do not support Trinitarianism.

But the New World Translation translators had no obligation to translate the Bible according to Trinitarianism. Their obligation was to translate the Bible according to what it actually says.

It has not been proven that any verse in the New World Translation mistranslates what the actual Hebrew or Greek text says.

What we see in many verses is that the NWT translators have been more faithful to the original texts than those translators whose theological predisposition is toward Trinitarianism.

The NWT lets God's Word speak for itself. It has no allegiance to 4th century dogmas like Trinitarianism. And there are other translations that do read similarly to the NWT, even in verses that are disputed.

Christianity did not begin at Nicea in the 4th century. It began in the 1st century, with the Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles.

Answer 5

Questions for non-JWs.....How come your Bible is translated differently than Jehovah's Wittnesses Bibles?

Answer 6

I have several translations and versions that I use to study with.

I do prefer the NWT, but it is not the only translation I read.

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


“I am interested in the mission work of your people, and its world wide scope, and much pleased with the free, frank and vigorous translation. It exhibits a vast array of sound serious learning, as I can testify.”—Letter, December 8, 1950, from Edgar J. Goodspeed, translator of the Greek “New Testament” in An American Translation.

“The translation is evidently the work of skilled and clever scholars, who have sought to bring out as much of the true sense of the Greek text as the English language is capable of expressing.”—Hebrew and Greek scholar Alexander Thomson, in The Differentiator, April 1952, pages 52-7.

“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.”—Andover Newton Quarterly, January 1963.

“The New Testament translation was made by a committee whose membership has never been revealed—a committee that possessed an unusual competence in Greek.”—Andover Newton Quarterly, September 1966.


As to the trinity,

In The Encyclopedia Americana we read: “Christianity derived from Judaism and Judaism was strictly Unitarian [believing that God is one person]. The road which led from Jerusalem to Nicea was scarcely a straight one. Fourth century Trinitarianism did not reflect accurately early Christian teaching regarding the nature of God; it was, on the contrary, a deviation from this teaching.”—(1956), Vol. XXVII, p. 294L.

The trinity is a deviation from the bible.

(Romans 15:3-6) . . .” 4 For all the things that were written aforetime were written for our instruction, that through our endurance and through the comfort from the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 Now may the God who supplies endurance and comfort grant YOU to have among yourselves the same mental attitude that Christ Jesus had, 6 that with one accord YOU may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(NASB)

Rom 15:5Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus,

6so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.



This one verse shows that Christ and Paul did not believe in a trinity.

Do we have the same mind as Christ?

Answer 7

Honey, any translated copy isn't the true scripture. You have also have a concept that words had completely different meaning back then. Most people misinterpret it.

Answer 8

Not the members but the leadership. When you are not allow to read any other book but one, you lack insight and understanding in the world of God and His Son Jesus

Answer 9

I have a better question: Why do they insist on coming to my house at 7 am Saturday morning and telling me about their God? If they don't stop, I'll send them to their heaven.

Answer 10

They will tell you that it is because they corrected mis-translations. But this is a lie. Their founder, in court, was proven to have not know Greek or Hebrew, even when he said he did. All they did was twist a few words to make it what they wanted it to be.