Is it true that Jehovah Witnesses have strange beliefs and that those beliefs are only ideas from men?

Question

I heard they changed the Bible and basic teachings just to fit with their new religion. Is it true?

If so, can you list some facts....

Answer 1

No.

The beliefs and teachings of Jehovah's Witness are entirely based on the bible, and can be seen using any translation of the Scriptures. Certainly the questioner must recognize that it would be impossible for Jehovah's Witnesses to have "changed" every bible in existence.


This question seems to allude to "New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures", which is distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses. There are more than 145 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 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/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 2

I had Bible study with them for almost 2 years, and asked a lot of questions. A lot of the answers were vague, and always the answers could be found in "their" translation of the Bible. I brought an old KJV and an interlinear Bible to a few studies and showed where it said "lord" or "god" and where the NWT said Jehovah and was always told that the NWT was the only true translation. As far as blood transfusions go, it was explained to me that God prohibited it in the Bible. (Leviticus 17:14 says you shall not EAT the blood of animals) When I pointed this out, it's even worded that way in the NWT, I was told "not literally eat, but taken in any form". Really? So the word "eat" doesn't mean stick it in your mouth, chew, swallow, digest, then **** it out? Ok, let's go with celebrating easter (or the last supper). Luke 22:19 we see Jesus telling us "do this in memory of me". So in many religions, church service is held on sundays where bread is broken, communion is given, in memory of the last supper. JW only do this once a year, at Passover time. Why? Because "Jesus only wanted it done this way". Funny, even in the JW Bible He doesn't say how often to do this, so who's right and who's wrong? They told me they celebrate nothing because all comes from other religions and their desire to celebrate everything.....and that is wrong.....yet they celebrate the "last supper" based on the JEWISH calendar. Hypocritical? Maybe. Sorry for the rant but I wanted to share a few things I learned from them.

Answer 3

There is only one major thing where they've changed the Bible as far as I've concerned. There are a few others, but minor.

The BIG thing is that they use the name "Jehovah" more than 200 times in the New Testament in places where the original Greeks says "lord" or "god". They also use "Jehovah" in the Old Testament about 7000 times, but that's perfectly fine because YHWH is in the Old Testament in those places.

There are some Scriptures in the New Testament they changed to say "Jehovah" where it appears that the Scripture really had reference to the lord Jesus, not the lord Jehovah. Romans 10:13 is one. It says that whoever calls on the name of the lord will be saved, which they changed to say you must call on the name of Jehovah. But if you read the context, it is actually talking about Jesus.

If you have an interlinear bible of the New Testament, it shows you the original Greek, and you can see the original says "lord" or "god" and they changed it to "Jehovah".

Answer 4

It's not true, I've checked out the lies about them, they are not the ones who have changed the Bible, but rather they have restored it to say what it did when it was first written.

For instance, God’s personal name has been removed from countless Bible translations and replaced with the titles, “Lord” and “God.” This is one of the saddest things that false religion has done. The first thing you do when you meet someone is ask his name isn't it? You don't go about calling them "Mr" or "Mrs" indefinately. It is similar with getting to know God. He is not nameless. He is a person, with a name—Jehovah. See Psalms 83:18.

Answer 5

I heard that Jesus was a drunkard and a glutton.

Do you believe everything you hear?

Do you believe everything you read?

Jesus taught shocking things.

Those that left him missed out.

For the truth go to

www.watchtower.org

Some Comments by Greek Scholars on The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures

“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.

Up until 1950 the teachings of Jehovah’s witnesses were based mainly upon the King James Version of the Bible, but in the course of years the publications of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society in English alone have quoted from more than seventy different Bible translations produced in Christendom. This does not take into account the fact that our literature is published in more than 125 languages and that these foreign languages do not have the English New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. In all parts of the world Jehovah’s witnesses are proving their Bible-based beliefs to the people by the copy of the Bible that the householder may have or that he may recognize as authoritative. So the New World Translation comes along merely as a confirmation of the correctness of the teachings of Jehovah’s witnesses and does not constitute the foundation of their teachings.

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Answer 6

All I can say is this and it has helped me. There are countless religions and Christians have so many sub-divisons. If you are Christian, I would say, if a denomiation says one thing and it can't be backed by the Bible, something is wrong. The Bible is just about the basis for every denomiation. Many people will be led astray, hence why I only believe what is in the Bible and not out of anyones mouth, even if they are the Pope, parents, preacher or someone who studied the Bible for 50 years. If you don't see it in the Bible, then it is probably not true.

Answer 7

Yes, this is true. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11.3 - 4: "But I fear lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the SIMPLICITY that is in Christ. For If he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, OR A DIFFERENT GOSPEL which you have not accepted- let him be accursed." It is very simple, it is not complicated!!!!. We read the Bible for truth, not some other book.
If you delve into the Jehovah witnesses Bible, I have a sister who is one, many things are changed. Joseph Smith claims to have been visited by an angel that gave him 'permission' to change things. For one thing, they deny the diety of Jesus. That is a firm foundation of the Christian faith.
My answer to them is simply; If Jesus did not shed His Godly blood (they hate talking about the blood) and if He was not God, then they are all still dead in their sin. I have been in many homes and heard many different claims, and they just are not consistent in their words. they continue to live by the law, or rules, but it all physical works, they have nothing to do with the salvation THRU Jesus.
I could go on for a long time. I invite anyone to email me at bnieljr to discuss this.

Answer 8

Are you claiming that they did like the Catholics did, in the 300's?

Answer 9

I think you need to check the claims of "they changed the Bible" yourself.
Many people here will agree with you based solely upon someone elses' research.
I have personally researched all these claims of change and found that it is those who accuse the witnesses that are using a slanted translation.

Easy way to check these claims?
Procure a 1611 KJV, a Strong's Exhaustive Concordance and begin comparing the alleged changes to fit theology yourself. Anyone who honestly does this on their own, will find what I found, that the NWT is the best English translation available.

Answer 10

Yes it is true....They deny all recognized Christian doctrine....They are number 1 in written false prophecy.....They claim to be the voice of God on earth, but are rarely, if ever accurate.......They deny that they do this even though it is EASY to prove......Their Bible was translated by people who have little or no knowledge of the dead language...Hebrew or Greek........etc. ad nausiam....Look up freeminds.org....or silentlambs.org