Jehovah Witnesses: Have you ever 'honestly' compared the NWT to other modern day versions of the Bible?

Question

I've read responses saying the NWT is only scripture in plain english, and that's why Jehovah Witnesses use it ---

However, New International Version is simple language, Contemporary English Version ~ plain language, the New King James Version ~ easy to understand...

AND YET: These versions all contradict yours in selected references. These versions are all accepted as accurate translations of Bible, whereas yours is not.

So, if you really wanted to persuade people of your 'sound doctrine' why don't you accept to use any of these translations? People would give you much more merit. Is it because your version has references changed and taken out of context to fit the Watchtower Society fictional hypotheisis?

Cathy, I have been studying those languages. Why is it do you think the NWT isn't accepted in the first place?

Suzette, I am in fact interested in actual facts! That is why I detest it when people talk around in circles instead of speaking the truth. (I recommend that you take a second look at what you're accusing 'me' of ~ and what you're representing.)

"For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Colossians 2:9 KJV

"for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Col 2:9- ASV

"God lives fully in Christ." Col. 2:9 - CEV

Answer 1

Try looking at John 1:1 they add "a" which totally changes the meaning

All translations of praise and worship are changed to something akin to "pay homage"
an attempt to deny Christ's deity.

They even say he was hung on a pole not crucified, where do they get this stuff?

Answer 2

I wonder which Hebrew and Greek scholars will help them translate this one? Maybe none like the translation they have now lol @Diane: You need to do some major research on how the NWT is translated. Please go online and find out exactly why the NWT is translated the way it is. Read up on why they make John 1:1 say "a god" instead of "God". A keyword for you in your search about John 1:1: "definite article"--- the Watchtower Society has totally mistranslated this to fit their theology. There is much more to it than you know because you are controlled by the governing body and they don't want you to know the truth!

Answer 3

As someone has already pointed out different does not automatically mean wrong.

I have a King James Version, an American Standard Version bound. I also have The Bible in Basic English, Young's Literal Translation, Internation Standard Version, Literal Translation of the Holy Bible, and the American Standard Version on my computer.

Many families learned the truth using the King James Version or the American Standard version. We are more than willing to use anyone's Bible.

"Is it because your version has references changed and taken out of context to fit the Watchtower Society fictional hypotheisis?"

This is your appeal to "Honestly"?

Answer 4

This question has been asked over and over in a blatant attempt to discredit us and the NWT. The fact of the matter is we are comfortable using any Bible. Many of us learned the truth using the King James.(Before there was a NWT) The fact is the library in the Kingdom Hall contains many different Bibles for us to use and study from.

Quote: "These versions are all accepted as accurate translations of Bible, whereas yours is not." Unquote.

Slander. The NWT is one of the best translations available today, and it's not only we who say so. A recent book by Jason BeDuhn states: “While it is difficult to quantify this sort of analysis, it can be said the NW[T] emerges as the most accurate of the translations compared.” [^ BeDuhn, Jason D. Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament, 2004]

After being familiar with the NWT for 20 yrs and comparing it with some 55 English translations over that same period we can honestly say that it is our opinion this translation is indeed one of the major/main Bible translations of the 20th century as Harper's Bible Dictionary (1985 ed. R.G.Bratcher, The English Bible. pp.266, 267) and The Lion Handbook to the Bible (Lion Publishing, 1976 reprint, p. 79) admits. You would do well to have a copy of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures in your library.

Now, I'm pretty sure you aren't interested in the actual FACTS, but only wish to see answers from people such as yourself who spread lies about Jehovah's Witnesses. So, enjoy your little 'bash' fest.

Answer 5

I am associated with Jehovah's Witnesses, and yes, I use the NWT, by and large in my reading. I also have in my library,and USE during my studies, several KJV of the Bible which belonged to my parents; a Living Bible ; a Living Insights Study Bible, and an old copy of The Way, which was a modern version of just the Christian Greek scriptures. Most of the Witnesses I know have and use more than one copy and translation of the Bible!

Answer 6

You say, "So, if you really wanted to persuade people of your 'sound doctrine' why don't you accept to use any of these translations? People would give you much more merit. Is it because your version has references changed and taken out of context to fit the Watchtower Society fictional hypotheisis?"

It doesn't appear that you have 'honestly,' as you say, compared the NWT to other modern-day versions of the Bible yourself.

You present no evidence to back up your assertion that the NWT has references changed and taken out of context to fit the Watchtower "fictional hypothesis." You merely present a biased opinion based upon ignorance.

If you actually read our literature, you will see that we do quote from other modern Bible translations when they help to clarify a text or a subject at hand.

My first Bible was the King James Version. Over my lifetime, I have purchased and read many modern-English versions as well as Bibles in Hebrew, Aramaic (Syriac), Greek, Latin, and Coptic.

Yes, I have done a lot of comparison reading over the years. And I agree with professor Jason BeDuhn, who wrote the book "Truth in Translation," (published in 2003) that the NWT is one of the best modern English Bible translations.

And BeDuhn is not even one of Jehovah's Witnesses, but he was honest enough to recognize the value and accuracy of the NWT.

Answer 7

God has blessed us with the New World Translation.
We finally have the truth as He had it written. We like it and will use it.
Most people do not like change.

A short story....my neighbor had a 100 year old house that she lived in. It was full of memories, photos, and antiques from all the ones that had lived there. It had no furnace, just a wood stove for heat. It had no air conditioning. It was ugly and unpainted. One day it burned down. She was happy. She got a new, energy efficient home to spend the rest of her life in. She told me I have a fresh start and I don't have to be the caretaker of all that old junk any longer.

Pick up a bible that calls a marketplace a marketplace instead of a shambles. When was the last time you said Thou should attend church? Archaic languages are hard to follow.
The NWT is an accurate bible.
It has exposed the KJ version and no one likes that ...LOL

Answer 8

A person who correctly understands (and does not venerate some preconceived notion of) the implications of the term "Godhead" would likely disagree that NWT "contradicts" other bible translations.

Additional translations of Colossians 2:9...
NASB: For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form
BBE: For in him all the wealth of God's being has a living form
WEY: For it is in Christ that the fulness of God's nature dwells embodied


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 9

Not only have I compared the NWT to other 'Modern' Bibles

I currently own and use:

NASB
(my favorite next to the NWT, and the one I use most on YAHOO, because of most people's bias)

NKJV, KJV, Amplified, RSV, NRSV, NIV, Good News, and several others.

I have and use my 4 in one complete bible, and my 8 in one NT bible. Which includes the "New Jerusalem"

On top of this I compare the wording to Strongs' Dictionary.

I have always fount the NWT to agree with Strongs, even when it disagrees with

Most "Modern" bibles.

As to the word accurate, notice what one of the translators of the NIV said about the NIV:

Why did the recently published “New International Version” (NIV) of the Bible fail to use the name of God where it appears about 7,000 times in ancient Bible manuscripts? In response to a person who inquired about this, Edwin H. Palmer, Th.D., Executive Secretary for the NIV’s committee wrote:

“Here is why we did not: You are right that Jehovah is a distinctive name for God and ideally we should have used it. But we put 2 1/4 million dollars into this translation and a sure way of throwing that down the drain is to translate, for example, Psalm 23 as, ‘Yahweh is my shepherd.’ Immediately, we would have translated for nothing. Nobody would have used it. Oh, maybe you and a handful [of] others. But a Christian has to be also wise and practical. We are the victims of 350 years of the King James tradition. It is far better to get two million to read it—that is how many have bought it to date—and to follow the King James, than to have two thousand buy it and have the correct translation of Yahweh. . . . It was a hard decision, and many of our translators agree with you.”


How many other 'Modern' Bibles have been corrupted because of 350 years of KJV tradition?

Please note what these scholars have said about the NWT:

“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.

“This is no ordinary interlinear: the integrity of the text is preserved, and the English which appears below it is simply the basic meaning of the Greek word. . . . After examining a copy, I equipped several interested second-year Greek students with it as an auxiliary text. . . . The translation by the anonymous committee is thoroughly up-to-date and consistently accurate. . . . In sum, when a Witness comes to the door, the classicist, Greek student, or Bible student alike would do well to bring him in and place an order.”—From a review of The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, by Thomas N. Winter of the University of Nebraska, appearing in The Classical Journal, April–May 1974.


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Answer 10

"The fullness of the divine quality dwells bodily." - Col. 2:9 (NWT)

Col. 2:9 - "For in him [Jesus] the whole fulness [Gr. pleroma] of deity [theotes] dwells[1] bodily" - RSV.
"The word theotes appears only this once in the entire New Testament [NT] (and never in the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament [OT]). It has been rendered in various trinitarian translations as follows: "Godhead" - KJV, ASV, NEB, REB, MLB; "deity" - RSV, NASB, NRSV, NIV, NAB, CBW, Mo, By; "divinity" - JB, NJB. It should be remembered also that "Godhead" as found in the older English Bibles (such as KJV) HAD A DIFFERENT MEANING THAN IT HAS COME TO HAVE IN MODERN ENGLISH. "In older English ['Godhead'] was a synonym for divinity" - p. 221, Vol. 2, A Dictionary of the Bible, Hastings, 1988 printing; and p. 362, An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Liddell and Scott, Oxford University Press, 1994 printing.

Theotes simply does not literally mean "godhead," and the use of "godhead" by the KJV translators was not intended as some would understand it today. Actually, the heavenly Father, alone, is the closest thing to a literal "Godhead" to be found anywhere in the inspired Scriptures - see 1 Cor. 11:3.


The trinitarian argument that Col. 2:9 proves that Jesus is God overlooks the common understanding of "fulness of ..." and "filled with ..." by those who used those common phrases in New Testament times. For example, the person who became "filled with Holy Spirit" (Eph. 5:18) was greatly influenced by that spirit, but he certainly did not become the Holy Spirit.

"...And having "the fulness" of someone or something could similarly mean being greatly influenced by that person or thing. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology says:

"Just as a person can be full of pain, joy, love, and virtue, he can also be said to be filled with God ..., i.e. possessed and inspired by God." - Vol. 1, p. 734.[4]

Surely we wouldn't expect anyone who is "filled with" God or who receives the "fulness of" God to actually be God! Nor would we expect anyone who has the "fulness of" Christ to actually be Christ! In fact it clearly shows that he is NOT the person with whom he is "filled". (RDB)

The NWT IS a more accurate rendering of Col. 2:9.

Answer 11

Hello there!

I am a JW and right now I have and use a King James Version along with my NWT... Does that answer your question? Sometimes when going door to door, it is easier for different ones to see out of the King James version that it says the same thing (granted maybe in different words, but the "same" thing) So we take ours with us sometimes when we are calling back on ones that want to use the King James... Like I said, sometimes I do compare the King James and quote the King James here as my scriptures vs the NWT.....

Learn More!
www.watchtower.org

Edit~~
forgot to mention that we also have the Revised Standard Version of the Bible.....