JW's always say you can use you own bible, true?

Champion

I remember when I was young and still a JW we always said to the prospect"you can use any bible you want". Is that really true?

. Could you use an NIV or King James at the meetings? Would the brothers have a problem with that?

Good question. I used a nkjv and told my grandmother. She gave me a lecture and offered to send me a nwt. Apparently, these rules only apply to those going to meetings regularly. It seems that the hh can do what they want but only for a short time while being love bombed, then it's time to toe the line.

WTWizard

That is just another attempt to put up a mainstream front to those on their way in. At first, they will allow you to use a King James version or some other neutral translation. However, once you get in a ways, they will start telling you that you will not get the benefit unless you use the New World Translation.

sacolton

They will say that to you at first ... when you are first studying. Believe me, they will attempt to ween you off any Bible except their own. It'll get to the point that if you don't use their bible - you could be considered an apostate. I mean, you certainly CAN'T read from any other Bible except the NWT at the meetings.

Eyes Open

They do say that to interested ones if they bring up the issue of tranlsation, but it's an unspoken rule that faithful Witnesses use the NWT. I think I've heard verses read from a different translation at a meeting before, but only very rarely.

blondie

It will be "noticed" if you use another translation. I remember an elder that would quote from another translation from time to time who was "counseled." It doesn't matter that the WTS itself occasionally quotes from other translation. It is all appearance, what will jws and non-jws think.

tak

Which bible version is best? Obviously not the nwt

yknot

Usually what happens is someone offers a NWT (sometimes engraved w/name) once the person is approved for baptism or right after baptism. There also of course is the peer pressure to conform and be a model JW.

Other Bible versions (KJV & NIV) are only used as a tool in FS.

lavendar

I can't imagine them liking the idea of a JW using any other translation besides the NWT.....since the NWT has been changed to fit their false doctrine.

Athanasius

I always used other Bible versions in my talks when I was a JW. In fact after giving public talks there were always a few JWs who would ask the names of the different Bibles that I used so that they could get a copy for themselves. Often they would comment that the verse that I read from the New English Bible, the New International Version, the Jerusalem Bible, the New American Bible, or the Today's English Bible was so much more easily understood than the NWT. I also noticed that other brothers were using the New English Bible in their talks. One brother even used the New English Bible for the Bible reading in the Theocratic Mininstry School. However, in 1983 there was a Watchtower article that was critical of other Bible translations and boasted that only the NWT had the proper understanding. Therefore, non JW Bibles should not be used, and most brothers complied with this new directive. Nevertheless, I continued to use other Bibles in my talks, field service, and personal study. I liked to use the New International Version in field service to show the householder that JW doctrines could be found in any Bible. Interestingly I was never counseled for disobeying the Watchtower directive. I left the JWs in 1984, so I don't know what the current rules are concerning the use of other Bible translations. However, it was by reading non-JW Bibles and later the Watchtower's condemnation of their use that started me on the road to freedom.