emPHASis on the FAther - favored Witness fallacy

by jgnat 4 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  jgnat

  As I complete my hubby's revelation study this evening, I came across a common Witness fallacy. The particular fallacy is called Accent and is described here: http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/mathew/logic.html

  A classic example of accent is the Witness interpretation of John 13:35, excusing thereby their neglect of neighbour:

  KJV By this shall all [men] know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

  Whereas common folk would rather notice:

  KJV By this shall all [men] know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

  Also de-emphasized in the bible is the worship of Jesus, and I just came across another example in the Revelation study this week, Chapter 15, par 21, page 88:

  Paul wrote: "God exalted [Jesus] to a superior position....that Jesus Chist is Lord to the glory of god the Father." (Phillipians 2:9-11) (Italics theirs, bolding mine)

  I would rather think the following words in Paul's message are emphasized:

  "God exalted [Jesus] to a superior position and kindly gave him the name that is above every other name, so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend ....Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." (Phillipians 2:9-11) (bolding mine)

  Can you come up with other examples where Witnesses use false accent to change the meaning of scriptures to fit their beliefs?
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  moggy lover

  I am not sure if this falls under the same category but here goes:

  At Gen 2:23, the WTS Leadership always puts the emphasis on the expression "At LAST" in an implied attempt to suggest that rather than be created in the same calender year as Adam, Eve was created several years, possibly even decades later. The odd thing is that this Hebrew word: "payim" is translated by Freddy Franz the Wonder Oracle of "god" as "now" twice at Prov 7:21. Translating it as "now" at Gen 2:23, as several more intelligent translations do, makes Adam's word one of welcome, rather than relief, as the WT "translation" makes out.

  Another example of flawed emphasis that I can think of is at Isa 42:8. Here Yahweh talks of two His qualities: Glory and Praise. With the former, the WT "translators" have added the word "own" which is not in the original text [oddly enough, they have not even acknowledged their insertion in the form of square brackets] the emphasis is thus placed on the uniqueness of Yahweh's glory, hence an attempt to deflect any unintended application to Jo 17:5. The odd thing is that the second noun, "praise" which either has no doctrinal relevance,or any particular entrenchment that the WT Leadership needs to protect, and which is exactly the same construction, has no "own" !!!

  Go figure.

  Cheers
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  jgnat

  It seems Adam was happy to have a partner. I'd think his celebration is the point, not how long it took.
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  inbyathread

  It seems Adam was happy to have a partner. I'd think his celebration is the point, not how long it took.

  How would Adam know how long it took? Since we was (suppose) to live forever, he would have had no concept of time.

  He probably did acknowledge gestation periods of the different animals but wouldn't have applied these frames of time to himself.
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  drew sagan

  I tend to think of Acts 5:42 and 20:20 where much emphasis is put on the 'house to house' reference. The main thrust in these passages is the preaching of the gospel, but the JWs make the biggest deal out of the fact that 'door to door' is mentioned (even though their own translation says 'in private homes' in the footnotes!)
  
  Of course, most cults require their members to be recruiting others into their groups. This change of emphasis is good for trying to prove that this particular method is required for true christians.