John 17:3 - Redux
When you've been an active demonized apostate for as long as I have, you would have to conclude that outside of "new light" and current events in dubland, everything that could be written about the follies of the WTS has already been written and discussed many times.
Yet there are many new ex-dubs who haven't had the time to find this out. I see it in here all the time. Someone finds a site that contains information that s/he thinks is explosive and starts a new thread about it, not knowing that myself and others are quite familiar with that information. Yet, some subjects are still worth "resurrecting" from time-to-time.
The NWT reading of John 17:3 is a good example. Now EVERY dub knows that verse:
*** Rbi8 John 17:3 ***
3 This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.
Dubs on average only know about 15-25 scriptures total in the Bible, but this is one of the biggies for them and they all know this one.
What's wrong with the translation of this verse? Well, it is different from any other translation I've ever seen.
The WTS version states that everlasting life comes from gaining knowledge about God and Jesus. All other versions state that everlasting life comes from KNOWING God and Jesus. This infers an intimate relationship that goes far beyond just knowing stuff. The WTS spends precious little time encouraging their members to get to KNOW God and Jesus, but they spending a hell of a lot of time encouraging their members to take in knowledge (from WTS publications) about God and Jesus.
This is not a distinction without a difference, either. It's like a person saying to another, "you know all about me, but you don't know me at all."
I will assert that a person can come to know God without reading a single verse in the Bible, or any other holy book. I will assert that a person can come to know Jesus, while being ignorant of many of the things written about Jesus.
But only "learning" sells books and magazines, and the "taking in of knowledge" is a never-ending cycle which requires books and more books because "taking in" implies a life-long continuum of learning.
Learning about but never being able to know God is the WT Gospel. Yes, it sells books, but what misery it creates for poor little dubbies who believe they can only intellectualize God, but never really know God.
Fred Franz knew exactly what he was doing when he "translated" John 17:3. He knew his version would sell books.
Farkel