The appearance of the dreaded [] brackets...

by AuldSoul 20 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  AuldSoul

  I present this as a complementary thread to LDH's "eplipsis" thread: The appearance of the dreaded ellipsis [. . .]

  ozziepost already posted this one in that thread:

  Colossians 1:16,17 They use it here to make it appear as though God created Jesus first, then all other things were created through him. They have the word "other" in brackets. The fact is that Colossians 1:16 teaches that Christ created "all things". Therfore, Christ cannot be a created being.

  Here are those verses in paragraph context, with the brackets highlighted:

  Colossians 1:13-20 — He delivered us from the authority of the darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, by means of whom we have our release by ransom, the forgiveness of our sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; because by means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, no matter whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All [other] things have been created through him and for him. Also, he is before all [other] things and by means of him all [other] things were made to exist, and he is the head of the body, the congregation. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that he might become the one who is first in all things; because [God] saw good for all fullness to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile again to himself all [other] things by making peace through the blood [he shed] on the torture stake, no matter whether they are the things upon the earth or the things in the heavens.

  Here's another example:

  1 Corinthians 15:29 Otherwise, what will they do who are being baptized for the purpose of [being] dead ones? If the dead are not to be raised up at all, why are they also being baptized for the purpose of [being] such?

  Any others that strike you as clearly reinforcing doctrine instead of translating Scripture?

  Respectfully,
  AuldSoul
• 

  funkyderek

  2 Peter 1:1: Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith, held in equal privilege with ours, by the righteousness of our God and [the] Savior Jesus Christ:

  Compare with a nearly identical phrase in v. 11 of the same chapter which they left unaltered:

  In fact, thus there will be richly supplied to YOU the entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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  Legolas

  Wow these are good keep them coming!
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  carla

  Here's a site where they misquote, and what scholars really said---

  http://www.forananswer.org/Top_JW/Scholars%20and%20NWT.htm
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  M.J.

  Not a biblical one, but another misuse of brackets by the WTS is when they quoted their amended corporate charter. They claim, incidentally, that this amended wording to the charter fulfilled Daniels prophecy of the 2,300 days:

  ***

  w71 12/15 p. 759 A Governing Body as Different from a Legal Corporation ***

  "The purposes of this Society are: ...to teach, train, prepare and equip men and women as ministers, missionaries, evangelists, preachers, teachers and lecturers; to provide and maintain homes, places and buildings for gratuitous housing of such students, lecturers, teachers and ministers; to furnish gratuitously to such students, lecturers, teachers, educators and ministers suitable meals and lodging and to prepare, support, maintain and send out to various parts of the world Christian missionaries, teachers and instructors in the Bible and Bible literature, and for public Christian worship of Almighty God [through] Christ Jesus..."

  The actual text reads "...for public Christian worship of Almighty God and Christ Jesus..."

  Just another coverup by the Society regarding their own history.
• 

  Leolaia

  This is the funniest example of the "dreaded brackets", a "corrected translation" from the "bombshell" Finished Mystery book, published in 1917 (p. 84-86):

  The following is a corrected translation of Job 40:15 to 41:34, with comments thereon from the pen of one of Pastor Russell’s followers: "Behold now one with great heat [the stationary steam engine], which I have made to be with thee; he will consume fodder [peat, wood, coal] as do cattle. Behold now his strength is in his loins [boiler plates], and his power is within the parts bent in a circle [boiler shell] of his belly. His tail [smoke stack— opposite the feeding end] will set upright like a cedar; the couplings of his leaping parts [connecting rods, pitmans] will be clamped together. His bones are tubes of copper; his solid bones [grate bars] are as hammeredout bars of iron. He is the greatest of the ways of power. He that made him [the Lord] can make His sword [Word] to approach unto [reveal] him. [Isa. 26:20, 21.) He shall rest under thin shelter [steam jackets] within a covering of fibrous reeds [jute] and clay [mortar]. The willows of the valley [the trees overhead] will enclose him around about. Behold [as a pumping engine] he will drink up an overflowing river without much exertion; he will cause the people to trust [that their cellars will keep dry], though a Jordan should rush forth over its border. He will gather it up in his fountains by means of traps and with a perforated nozzle.

  "Thou wilt lengthen out leviathan [the locomotive] with a hook [automatic coupler] or with a snare [couplingpin] which thou wilt cause his tongue [coupling-link] to drop down. Wilt thou not place a ring [piston] in his nostrils [cylinders] or pierce through his cheeks [piston-ends] with a staff [piston-rod]? Will be make repeated supplication unto thee [to get off the track]? Or will he utter soft tones unto thee [when he screeches with the whistle]? Will he make a covenant with thee, that thou mayest take him for a servant forever [without repairs]? Wilt thou play with him as with a bird [make him whistle at will]? Or wilt thou bind [enslave] him for thy maidens [so that you can take them to a picnic or convention]? Companies [of stockholders] will feast upon him [his earnings]; they will share him among speculators. [Psa. 74:14.] Thou wilt fill his skin with pointed irons [bolts], and his head with a cabin of fishermen [a cab similar to the cabins on fishing vessels]. Place thy hand upon him, be mindful of the conflict [raging within the boiler] and thou wilt add no further questions. Behold, his confidence [boiler] being deceived [not properly supplied with water], shall not at once his mighty form be spread asunder [by an explosion]? There is none so bold that he will stir him up [to run at his very highest possible speed], and none who will then place himself before him [to be run over]. Who will compete with this one and endure [pass him on the track]? Under the whole heaven, none, unless [one like] himself. "I will not pass in silence his members, nor the cause of his mighty forces, nor the beauty of his equipment. Who can strip off the facings of his jacket? Who can penetrate between the double lap of his shield [the overlapping sections of the boiler plates]? Who can force open the doors of his shield [the boiler ends]? The circuits of his teeth [rows or rivets] are formidable. His strength depends on courses of shields [sections of plates] closed up tightly with a seal [calked]. They shall join one upon another so that a hiss of air [steam] shall not escape from between them. One to the other shall adhere. They will be welded together that they cannot be sundered. In his sneezing [when he puffs from the cylinders] light will shine, a flood of light prevading the mass of vapors: and his eyes [headlights] will be as the eyelashes of the morning [as rays of light from the rising sun]. Out of his mouth [fire-door] will leap forth flaming torches, and [from the smoke stack] glowing sparks will slip themselves away. From his nostrils [cylinders] will issue forth vapor as from a boiling pot or caldron. His inhaling [forced draft] will vivify burning coals, and a flame will leap forth from his mouth. Within his neck abideth strength, and a desolation will dance with joy [become a prosperous community] at his presence. The separable parts of his body are connected together; all will be made fast upon him; nothing will be shaky. His heart will be indurated similar to a stone, and will be firm as a piece of the lower [rocks]. When at his full speed the most courageous will fear [lest]. from accidents. they lose themselves. When dryness exalteth him [or renders him furious], he will not have power to withhold; the curved vault [fire box] being caused to tear away, and also the armor. He will esteem iron as straw, and brass as rotted wood. The archer cannot make him flee; missiles [of war] will be turned unto him as chaff. The [strokes of a] hammer will be esteemed as chaff; he will rejoice at the poking of the fireman. Hewed [or notched] timbers of the craftsman [ties] are under him; he will spread an embankment [or trench] upon the mire. He will [as a marine engine] cause deep [places] to become as a boiling pot [about his propellers]; he will make the sea to appear like boiling ointment. He will make a path to shine after him; one will think the deep to be growing gray. [Psa. 104:26; Isa. 27:1.] Upon the earth there is not his like— he that is [so] constructed that he can fear nothing. He can oversee [control by his work] all that which is great; he is indeed king over all conceptions of power."

  This is presented as proof that Job "describes the steam engine -- stationary, railway, and marine" (p. 84).
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  M.J.

  This indeed is a fine example of "meat in due season" carefully examined and approved by Christ.
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  TD

  2 Peter 1:1: Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith, held in equal privilege with ours, by the righteousness of our God and [the] Savior Jesus Christ:

  I agree. Strictly speaking, the "our" in verse 11 is not there in the original text either; it is understood from the genitive noun case ...tou kyriou hemon kai soteros iesou christou

  "The" strikes me as really out of place here in verse 1. I'm not even sure what reasons the NWT translators could have had for this interpolation. As with verse 11, a minor interpolation is required for understandable English, but in my opinion, it should be an unbracketed "our" ...en dikaiosune tou theou hemon kai soteros iesou christou
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  funkyderek

  TD:

  "The" strikes me as really out of place here in verse 1. I'm not even sure what reasons the NWT translators could have had for this interpolation.

  Without the "the", it's quite obvious that the term refers to the same person: "our God and Savior Jesus Christ". That doesn't fit the Watchtower's docrines though, so they changed it. With the "the" added, they become separate people "(1)our God and (2)[the] Savior Jesus Christ".
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  Jankyn

  Yeehaw! Keep up the good work.

  Jankyn, sick of ellipses and brackets