New World Translation

The Jehovah's Witnesses "Bible"

The Jehovah's Witnesses are known for their distinctive beliefs.  Christians often wonder how they can read theBible and come up with such different answers.  One reason is that they read through the "lens" of Watchtower publications.  Another reason is  that they use their own version of the Bible, known as the New World Translation.


An article on the Watchtower website says, "some people have commented on or questioned the accuracy of the New World Translation because in places it differs from other translations of the Bible".  No, we criticise it because it is a bad translation, not because it differs from other Bibles - which is why we have no issue with versions like "The Message" which stick to the meaning of the original texts.

They go on to make claims that their Bible is an accurate, unbiased translation.  They cite scholars who said it was good, but just google the scholars and you find they said no such thing, or their words were taken out of context.

The NWT has been altered to fit what the Watchtower teaches.  This is most obvious when looking at passages dealing with Jesus' deity. Take Colossians as an example.  By inserting the word "other", they have changed the meaning.  

In the NWT Colossians 1:16-17 you can see that the word "other" has been inserted 4 time's.  It is true that it is sometimes necessary to use words not in the original, but surely this is to clarify meaning, not change it.  Read this passage without the word "other".  Now the passage's meaning is the same as it is in every other translation.

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus is a created being, through whom God created everything else.  Therefore he couldn't create "all things", because he couldn't create himself!  To solve the problem, the Watchtower edited their Bibles.

The Watchtower used to publish the Greek text of the Bible, known as the Kingdom Interlinear Translation.  This made them seem more scholarly - but right there, for all the world to see (or not see in this case!), the word "other" isn't in the Greek.

The Kingdom Interlinear Translation.  Image: CARM

To make matters worse for themselves, they forgot to fully edit John 1:1-3.  They infamously changed John 1:1 to read "a god" rather than "God".  But in verses 2 and 3 we have a parallel passage to Colossians 1:16-20.  In the NWT the passage reads:

"In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.  This one was in [the] beginning with God.  All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence." (emphasis mine)

Oops.  Now their translation of Colossians not only contradicts the Greek text,  it contradicts their own translation.  To make it fit they need to add the word "other" twice here too.  

I don't mind people disagreeing on theology.  If you want to argue that Jesus is not God, fine.  But I do have a problem with blatant dishonesty.  It is dishonest to alter the Bible to fit your beliefs, and then use that to show people "what the Bible really says".  

If the Watchtower can't be trusted on Bible translation, it certainly cannot be trusted with Biblical interpretation.  

Images: Google Images/CARM
[Update May 2014 - See also my article on the 2013 revision of the New World Translation]

He is Risen!

Happy Easter!


Today is Easter Sunday - the day we remember Jesus resurrection.  


This was what persuaded me Jesus is who he says he is.  Whatever you make of Jesus you have to take seriously the resurrection narrative.  That was the turning point in the Christian story.  The one thing all the ancient evidence agrees on is that Jesus dies on Friday, was buried and the tomb was found empty on Sunday.


If Jesus is still dead, Christianity is a fraud.  But if he really did rise from the dead, then that changes everything.


There are broadly three options, and I know this is a gross simplification. 


1. Jesus enemies took the body
This is the least credible option.  They would simply have produced it to quash resurrection claims.  It also fails to account for the conversion of Paul a few years later.


2.  Jesus friends moved the body
This explanation fails on several counts.  The disciples were scared, scattered and wondering if they would be next.  Why didn't the burial site become a shrine?  What would explain the change in the disciples from terrified wimps to courageous proclaimers of the Gospel?  What would account for James, Jesus brother, converting?  


Above all, why were the followers of Jesus all willing to die for what they knew was a lie.  While people often die for what they believe, they do not die for what they know for sure is a lie.


3.  Jesus really did rise from the dead
This is the only explanation which accounts for all the facts.  Occam's Razor says that once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable must be the truth.


This explanation also explains why millions of people today claim to have met Jesus and been changed, healed and forgiven by him.  It explains my experience of him.


In the Bible God makes a promise.  In Jeremiah 29:13 God promises "If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me."  Jesus himself promised, "I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends." (Revelation 3:20)


Why not take him at his word?

Jesus' Death

Good Friday.  The day Jesus died. The day Jesus was punished for the sins of the world - the day Jesus said he had come for.


I find it ironic that we call today good.  What Jesus did for us is good, but it is also a tragedy.  Jesus didn't deserve to be tried by a kangaroo court, tortured and brutally murdered.  That breaks my heart.  We often see the innocent suffer, and today we see that in Jesus own experience.  


When we remember who Jesus is, God in the flesh, this is all the more amazing.  Jesus allowed this to happen, because he knew that only in this way could justice and mercy be satisfied.  There's a song that is often sung at Easter called "In Christ Alone".  One verse says,


This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied -
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.


That is what Good Friday is about.  Because Jesus died, we can have eternal life.  It's ours for the asking.  All we have to do is receive it.


The disciples were left scattered on Friday, lost and in mourning they didn't yet understand what had happened.  But Jesus' death is not the end of the story.  Sunday is coming...


Image: Google Images

Palm Sunday

Today is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week which is the central week in the Christian year. 


It was on the first Palm Sunday that Jesus was welcomed to Jerusalem by the people - but just a few days later, those same people would be calling for his blood.


On Palm Sunday the people saw a Messianic figure and they welcomed him.  By Friday they took back the honour they'd given him, and called for his death.  Jesus knew what would happen.  On Palm Sunday he knew that the cross was ahead.  He came anyway, because, as he said, it was for this he came.  


Today we will receive a palm cross in Church to remind us of Palm Sunday.  But later each year we burn our palms to mark each others foreheads with ashes at the start of Lent.  Personally that reminds me that we often take back what we gave God, and can literally turn our lives into ashes compared to what God would have for us.  


But Jesus came to bring us to the cross. He came to lift us out of the ashes, to a freedom and forgiveness that is only possible in Jesus.