According to JWs ... Is the original bible texts "Accurate and Preserved"?

by ithinkisee 9 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  ithinkisee

  Is the original bible texts “Accurate and Preserved”? Or “Tampered With”?

  
  
  

  TAMPERED WITH

  AWAKE!, 1957, January 8, 1957 p. 25 "The evidence is, therefore, that the original text of the Christian Greek Scriptures has been tampered with, same as the text of the LXX has been."
  
  

  ACCURATE & PRESERVED

  AWAKE! Sept. 8, 1957, p. 26 "The interval between the dates of the original composition and the earliest extent evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible. and the last foundation for Any doubt that the scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written down has been removed"
  
  

  TAMPERED WITH

  Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, 1969, p. 19 "The evidence is that the original text of the Christian Greek Scriptures has been tampered with, same as the text of the LXX has been. Sometime during the second or third centuries C.E."
  
  

  ACCURATE & PRESERVED

  Aid To Bible Understanding 1971 p. 1107 "Appreciation of the reliability of the Bible is greatly enhanced when it is realized that, by comparison, there are only very few extant manuscripts of the works of classical secular writers and none of these are original, autograph manuscripts. Though they are only copies made centuries after the death of the authors, present-day scholars accept such late copies as sufficient evidence of the authenticity of the text...Manuscripts and versions of the Greek Christian Scriptures bear UNASSAILABLE TESTIMONY TO THE MARVELOUS PRESERVATION AND ACCURATE TRANSMISSION OF THAT PORTION OF GOD'S WORD."
  
  

  TAMPERED WITH

  Aid To Bible Understanding 1971 p. 887 "Evidently because by the time those extant copies were made (from the third century C.E. onward) the original text of the writings of the apostles and disciples had been altered."
  
  

  TAMPERED WITH

  Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures,1985, p. 10 "The evidence is that the original text of the Christian Greek Scriptures has been tampered with, same as the text of the LXX has been. (See App 1A, B.) Sometime during the second or third centuries C.E."
  
  

  ACCURATE & PRESERVED

  Insight on the Scriptures, Vol. 1, 1988, p. 313 "All credit and thanksgiving for the Bible's survival in view of such violent opposition is do to Jehovah, the preserver of the word."
  
  

  TAMPERED WITH

  Insight on the Scriptures", Vol. 2, 1988, p. 10 "Evidently because by the time those extant copies were made (from the third century C.E. onward) the original text of the writings of the apostles and disciples had been altered."
  
  

  ACCURATE & PRESERVED

  Insight on the Scriptures, Vol. 2, 1988, p. 317, 318 "Appreciation of the reliability of the Bible is greatly enhanced when it is realized that, by comparison, there are only very few extant manuscripts of the works of classical secular writers and none of these are original, autograph manuscripts. Though they are only copies made centuries after the death of the authors, present-day scholars accept such late copies as sufficient evidence of the authenticity of the text...Manuscripts and versions of the Greek Christian Scriptures bear UNASSAILABLE TESTIMONY TO THE MARVELOUS PRESERVATION AND ACCURATE TRANSMISSION OF THAT PORTION OF GOD'S WORD."
  
  
  
  More Flip-Flops
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  journey-on

  By doing their flip-flop dance, no matter which argument you present to them, they can show the opposite by using the other statement. They've got both bases covered, and for those who don't do their homework like you've done, they never know the deceitfulness of this little trick.
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  sir82

  Same basic line of reasoning for things with "pagan origins"

  Weddings rings, pinatas, luaus, etc. have "pagan origins", but are acceptable because they are no longer viewed as pagan by the community at large.

  Christmas, toasting, the cross, etc. are no longer viewed as pagan by the community at large, but are not acceptable because they have "pagan origins".

  Nothing like having it both ways!
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  M.J.

  Great writeup.

  With the importance the WTS places on preserving the Divine Name, its supposed removal would be a HUGE bit of tampering.
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  Mad

  Such clever deception! Why not include enough of the context to see what was REALLY said?

  the Mad JW
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  BizzyBee

  Help! What was really said, Brother Mad?
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  ithinkisee

  People like MAD always say stuff like that. ex-JWs are "taking things out of context". No, they're not. Feel free to point out where I am wrong.
  
  I will say this though, Mad, as you read through the whole articles you will notice the general rules seem to be:

  If the article is encouraging doing what the bible says, then the argument is always that the bible is accurate and preserved.
  
  If the article is about the need to read the New World Translation only, then the argument is always that the bible has been tampered with.

  
  
  Now let me know how these quotes are out-of-context. I'll be happy to apologize.
  
  
  
  
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  Gill

  It doesn't really matter which way they 'cut it' there are NO original, the first, the first one and only, manuscripts in existence.....only copies. Copies change and that matters, especially when you are using things like non existent punctuation to create a whole new interpretation of an ancient manuscript on which you then expect people to live and die!

  I've spoken to JWs, BA Christians and others and many are still under the mistaken belief that the ORIGINAL manuscripts still exist, one even claiming to have seen them in Jerusalem, instead of realising that these are the earliest to survive and often by hundreds of years from the very first.

  The WT has to flip flop! It's the nature of Bull Shitting and it has the art off to a 'T'!
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  jwfacts

  Brilliant.

  The JWs are in a bind. They have to say the Bible is perfect and inspired so that they can teach unquestioning obedience to WTS absolute truth. But they have to say it has been tampered with as an excuse for why they have added the word Jehovah to the New Testament. Why the dishonest addition of Jehovah. I believe it is an important part of the control, trying to make salvation being contingent on being a follower of "Jehovah", hence only Jehovahs witnesses will be saved.

  They same paradox arises when they say "we are directed by Holy spirit but we are not inspired".?????
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  jwfacts

  To assist MAD see the context here are a few longer quotes:

  Reasoning from the Scriptures p. 64 “In the introduction to his seven volumes on The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri, Sir Frederic Kenyon wrote: “The first and most important conclusion derived from the examination of them [the papyri] is the satisfactory one that they confirm the essential soundness of the existing texts. No striking or fundamental variation is shown either in the Old or the New Testament. There are no important omissions or additions of passages , and no variations which affect vital facts or doctrines. The variations of text affect minor matters, such as the order of words or the precise words used . . . But their essential importance is their confirmation, by evidence of an earlier date than was hitherto available, of the integrity of our existing texts.””

  The Bible – God’s Word or Man’s? pp. 59-60 “Kurt and Barbara Aland, scholars of the Greek text of the Bible, list almost 5,000 manuscripts that have survived from antiquity down to today, some from as early as the second century C.E. 8 The general testimony of this mass of evidence is that the text is essentially sound. Additionally, there are many ancient translations—the earliest dating to about the year 180 C.E.—that help to prove that the text is accurate .... Hence, by any reckoning, we can be sure that legends and myths did not infiltrate into the Christian Greek Scriptures after the original writers finished their work. The text we have is substantially the same as the one that the original writers penned, and its accuracy is confirmed by the fact that contemporaneous Christians accepted it.”

  So apparantly there are no important ommissions. "Oh, did we forgot to mention there is one, God's name". Or maybe the WTS don't consider that to be important?

  New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures – With References p.1564 1D The Divine Name in the Christian Greek Scriptures “Sometime during the second or third century C.E. the scribes removed the Tetragrammaton from both the Septuagint and the Christian Greek Scriptures and replaced it with Ky´ri·os, “Lord” or The·os´, “God.””