Frank Goad
Well-Known Member
Why did Jehovah let the bible go through so many different translations?Until it got to the jws?
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I have a question about the bible.
- Thread starter Frank Goad
- Start date
Why? I think that according to the religion of the Jehovah's Witnesses only the governing body of those can rightly assume "why".
Nimos
Well-Known Member
If the bible was meant for everyone, then why did God reveal it in a language hardly anyone spoke or understand today?
Neuropteron
Active Member
The term Jews is derived from Israelites that belonged to the tribe of Judah, copies and translations of the Torah and other parts of the Bible were made long after the term Jew was adopted.
Only those that can read old Hebrew, Aramaic and Koine Greek dont require translation in their language. Everybody else does.
God's promise was to father Abraham that through Abraham and son Isaac ALL families and ALL nations would be blessed.If the bible was meant for everyone, then why did God reveal it in a language hardly anyone spoke or understand today?
Blessed with the benefit of coming 'healing' for earth's nations as per Revelation 22:2.
No other book has been translated into as many languages as the Bible.
Modern technology has helped make possible rapid Bible translation so people even in remote areas can now have Scripture in their own language or mother tongue.- www.jw.org
leov
Well-Known Member
People did it.
This is why you need a study Frank.....
When you understand where we are in the stream of time, you can see that we are living in the last days of this present system of things, and have been since 1914, when this time period began. (Matthew 24:3-14) The Bible doesn't tell us when they end, but judging by the state of the world, we are getting very close to the final phase.
The world is in dire need of "Peace and Security" and an announcement for such, we believe is imminent. It will be a lie.
https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/awake-no1-2019-mar-apr/
Revelation 12:7-12 explains why we are experiencing all these troubles that were to go from bad to worse as these days progressed.
"And war broke out in heaven: Miʹcha·el and his angels battled with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels battled 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them any longer in heaven. 9 So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him. 10 I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come to pass the salvation and the power and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ, because the accuser of our brothers has been hurled down, who accuses them day and night before our God! 11 And they conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their witnessing, and they did not love their souls even in the face of death. 12 On this account be glad, you heavens and you who reside in them! Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing that he has a short period of time.”
During this period the devil has intensified his anger towards God's people. Most of the thousands of denominations in Christendom have emerged during this period, creating much confusion.
When the Protestant Reformation took place, the Bible was given back to the common man.....the Catholic Church had taken it out of their hands and kept their flocks in ignorance because no one had the means to check for themselves if what 'the church' taught was the truth. No other 'Christian' religion deviated so far from the teachings of Jesus Christ....the Protestants realized this and removed many of their spurious doctrines but did not purge enough. Their core doctrines remained and Christianity was still fatally flawed. But translations of the Bible into various languages were made available to the people who wanted to read God's word for themselves.
By the latter part of the 1800's, a group of men from various denominations in Christendom met together to undertake the mammoth task of prayerfully sifting through the scriptures to discern if the doctrines held in Christendom were actually Bible based. They were led by Charles Taze Russell.
The group had observed that the practice of the Christian faith had deviated greatly from the simple practices of the first Christians, so they decided to ditch everything the church had taught, and go back to the beginning and start from scratch.
After much study, they discerned that most of Christendom's doctrines were adopted from pagan concepts; things not taught by Jesus Christ at all. Like Judaism, Christendom had fallen into the same trap of relying on man-made traditions, rather than on the word of God. Their translations had also fallen victim to their erroneous doctrines so that bias was seen in the way they translated various passages....not to mention how language changes over time. Archaic English is not reliable when getting to the correct understanding of a matter.
Jehovah's Witnesses originally favored using the ASV (the default version used here on RF) because it restored the divine name back into the Hebrew text where it had been substituted almost 7,000 times.
But because it was a revision of the KJV, it still retained some biased translating of some passages. It was determined that we needed a Bible translation that eliminated bias and restored God's name to his own word.
It was a slow and painstaking process with much research attached to the renderings.....it took 12 years, 3 months, and 11 days of hard work to complete the task. In the early 1970's, the New World Translation became available and has since been translated into 160 languages....available online.
https://www.jw.org/en/library/bible/
In the first century, God provided the means for visitors to Jerusalem to hear the Christian message in their own language. Christ's disciples were granted the miraculous ability to speak in foreign languages....today, technology has provided that means. There are few in the world who cannot access the internet, or receive a visit from us.
Everyone can now access God's word in their mother tongue...the language of the heart. JW's preach in all nations...even where our work is banned. God makes it possible.
I hope that has answered your question....
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Actually, different translations may help us to understand it better! Other translations of the Scriptures really can’t be helped, when translating from one language to another.
He’s kept His Word pretty much intact...the Dead Sea Scrolls verify it.
It’s amazing, though, when I’m talking with someone who has a different view of a certain passage....when we read it, even in his / her own version, by reading the surrounding verses (the context), many times they’ll see their understanding is mistaken. Not every time, but more often than not. Especially when accompanied with other verses dealing with that subject. Just like you came to realize.
Keep in mind, Satan is behind this world...he’s behind a lot of misinformation....even, IMO, getting people to take Jehovah God’s Own Name out of Jehovah God’s (Yahweh’s) Scripture! That was a master stroke, imo.
But, Yahweh allowed it to occur. It sort of “muddies” a lot of verses, though.
As Jehovah’s people, we love others & don’t disparage anyone...but we’ve found that many have been taught quite a few inaccuracies....and according to 1 Timothy 2:3-5, it’s part of doing God’s “will” that we find honest-hearted ones & teach them the “truth”.
“The one who does the *will of God* remains forever” 1 John 2:17; Matthew 7:21
Take care.
I see some interesting and some rather fanciful response here Frank, but I think the bottom line is to accept the JW version without question. Do that and you should be good to go.
One criticism to your style that sets you apart and may be inhibiting your progress is your style of posting short and to the point. You really need to make your posts incredibly long and wordy, condescending, and burgeoning with different fonts, different colored fonts, random bolding and an excessive, almost wanton, use of emojis. Also, add references to conspiracy theories as if they were established facts.
You crack me up...really!
I know we may have polemic views, but your sarcasm is a lot like mine!
If we could not mention our respective worldviews, I could see us being good friends. Grief, it’s like a mirror!
Take care, *my cousin*
Oddly, that thought has struck me as a possibility as well.
It is not that you believe as you choose to or what you believe, but what you assert on the basis of that belief.
@Frank Goad , I thought you might enjoy our (JW) daily text for today...it’s from a publication entitled, “Examining the Scriptures daily - 2019”. Here it is (I bolded & italicized what I thought were points you might appreciate):
Monday, December 9
Do not become upset and turn to doing evil.—Ps. 37:8.
There will be times when we will be irritated by the words or actions of fellow believers—or when they will be annoyed by ours. This can be a serious test. As with other tests, Jehovah allows us to prove our integrity by learning to work unitedly with dedicated men and women whom he loves despite their imperfections. That Jehovah does not prevent his servants from being tested is illustrated by the account of Joseph. As a young man, Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous half brothers and taken to Egypt. (Gen. 37:28) Jehovah saw what was happening and no doubt was grieved to observe the way his friend, righteous Joseph, was being treated. Still, He did not intervene. Later, when Joseph was accused of trying to rape Potiphar’s wife and was thrown into prison, Jehovah still did not step in. But did God ever abandon Joseph? On the contrary: “Jehovah made whatever [Joseph] did successful.”—Gen. 39:21-23. w18.01 9-10 ¶12-14
Just think of all that injustice Joseph endured! For a big portion of his life.
Yet, it will pale into insignificance when he Is brought back to life again (the Resurrection), under Jesus’ Kingdom rule. All injustices, that everyone’s endured, will be rectified in the Resurrection. And families reunited! John 5:28-29
What blessings the Earth, and the people living on it, will then receive! Revelation 21:3-4.
Monday, December 9
Do not become upset and turn to doing evil.—Ps. 37:8.
There will be times when we will be irritated by the words or actions of fellow believers—or when they will be annoyed by ours. This can be a serious test. As with other tests, Jehovah allows us to prove our integrity by learning to work unitedly with dedicated men and women whom he loves despite their imperfections. That Jehovah does not prevent his servants from being tested is illustrated by the account of Joseph. As a young man, Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous half brothers and taken to Egypt. (Gen. 37:28) Jehovah saw what was happening and no doubt was grieved to observe the way his friend, righteous Joseph, was being treated. Still, He did not intervene. Later, when Joseph was accused of trying to rape Potiphar’s wife and was thrown into prison, Jehovah still did not step in. But did God ever abandon Joseph? On the contrary: “Jehovah made whatever [Joseph] did successful.”—Gen. 39:21-23. w18.01 9-10 ¶12-14
Just think of all that injustice Joseph endured! For a big portion of his life.
Yet, it will pale into insignificance when he Is brought back to life again (the Resurrection), under Jesus’ Kingdom rule. All injustices, that everyone’s endured, will be rectified in the Resurrection. And families reunited! John 5:28-29
What blessings the Earth, and the people living on it, will then receive! Revelation 21:3-4.
From this, I think we understand completely what condescension looks like.....
I will never exceed your ability at it or the malice you deliver it with. You are quite the witness.From this, I think we understand completely what condescension looks like.....
Sarcasm, satire and on point observation.From this, I think we understand completely what condescension looks like.....
whirlingmerc
Well-Known Member
Perhaps it would be helpful if you gave some examples of what you mean.
I'm not sure I agree with you.
God did not change but showed Himself various ways emphasizing something more as he did until 'in the fullness of time' Jesus was born.
"Let"? Who said He 'let'? But He gave mankind free will, and that's what they ended up doing.
Couldn't possibly be that it wasn't meant for everyone...If the bible was meant for everyone, then why did God reveal it in a language hardly anyone spoke or understand today?
I find the ancient people of Acts of the Apostles 17:11 did Not accept Scripture without question.
They searched or researched the Scriptures daily to see if what they were hearing was really so.
When you say, 'good to go' I wonder 'good to go' where _________________
The world basically believes ' good to go ' to Heaven.
However, I find the Bible also speaks of ' good to go ' to a future coming paradisical Earth.
The time is coming when those ruining the Earth will be brought to ruin - Revelation 11:18 B.
There will be a great crowd of people who will survive the coming great tribulation of Revelation 7:14,9.
The wicked will be 'destroyed forever' as per Psalms 92:7
Whereas humble people will inherit the Earth just as Jesus promised - Matthew 5:5; Psalms 37:9-11.
So, to me the bottom line is to go to www.jw.org with an inquiring mind.
The people of Genesis 6:11 sure used their free-will choices but for the wrong reasons.
We are all free to act responsibly toward God.
The responsible ones will be part of the ALL families and ALL nations that will be blessed through father Abraham.