The emphasis is on Jesus, even in the New World Translation

by JimmyPage 31 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  JimmyPage

  This was a point from "In Search Of Christian Freedom" that I really appreciated.

  In the New World Translation the name "Jesus" appears in the Christian Greek scriptures 912 times. Compare that to "Jehovah" which appears (or has been inserted) 237 times.

  And there are 7 letters written by the apostles where the "divine name" doesn't appear at all: Phillipians, 1 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and the 3 letters of John. Can you imagine a JW congregation getting a letter from the Governing Body today that doesn't mention the name "Jehovah"?

  Even the WT will tell you that the animal sacrifices and Mosaic law covenant of the Hebrew scriptures paved the way for Jesus.

  To me, that all tells me the entire thrust of the Bible is about the importance of God's son.
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  JimmyPage

  bttt
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  passwordprotected

  Spot on Jimmy.

  Did you notice on that other thread that Reniaa called Christians "Jesus worshippers"? I mean, how far removed from Christianity does the WTS make people that they use terms like that as pejoratives?

  It was as we read through the NT that my wife and I started to realise that the focus of Christians should be completely on Jesus. I mean, it's not like the Bible describes him as the 'chief agent of life' whom we should be focused on intently does it?

  Oh wait, that's exactly what it says...
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  thomas15

  JimmyPage,

  "To me, that all tells me the entire thrust of the Bible is about the importance of God's son".

  You my friend, have spoken a great truth. I couldn't agree with you more.

  As I have mentioned before and will continue to because I want to be totally honest with everyone on this board, I have never been a JW. Rather I'm an Evangelical Conservative Born Again Bible Believer. For some odd reason, I enjoy studying Protestant theology and comparative faith issues like Roman Catholic and WT theology. I find it very interesting and helpful in defining my personal theology.

  So, for that reason I have some WT literature including a copy of the NWT. This volume literally gets lost in my collection of Bibles and New Testaments as I have over 100 different translations, versions, editions and so forth. When I think about the value of the NWT, a story comes to mind.

  My wife and I moved into our first house in 1985. We had a small yard with no trees. Sue, my wife, planted a sapling willow tree. This species grows very fast and in a few years we had a large tree with a fat trunk. Our kids wanted a swimming pool and the only logical place to locate one was right by the tree so I had to cut it down.

  Most of the tree fell to the saw very quickly. But the trunk, with it's spider-web root system, that was a project. With summer fast approaching I'm out there hacking away at the roots and thinking I would never get this tree out of the ground. It literally took me 4 weekends to get it out and I remember thinking that if all I had to chop this tree down with was a pocket knife, then it could be done, it just depended on how much effort and time I was willing to spend. When I finally severed the last of the attached roots, a simple shove pushed the whole trunk down onto it's side. Sucess came but only after much effort and patience.

  And so it is with the NWT. The Gospel message is in there but it is like using a pocket knife to chop down a great tree. It's just not the best tool for the job. It has a small dull blade, a thin uncomfortable handle, a built in sense of hopelessness and it's not the real McCoy, rather it is a knock-off made by someone who doesn't really know carving tools.

  I didn't mean to hijack this thread but I wanted you to know Jimmy that you have in my opinion spoken a great truth. Amazing how simple that truth is, isn't it?
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  JimmyPage

  Thanks for the story, Thomas. Yes, the plot gets lost pretty quickly in Watchtower-World!
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  passwordprotected

  Great story, Thomas, thanks for sharing. Great to have you here.
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  Narkissos

  Worse imo than the way the NWT is translated is the way it is used in JW-land. Skipping from one verse-long, context-free prooftext to another in support of "answers" to non-scriptural questions.

  When a JW starts reading the NT, even in the NWT, s/he can hardly miss the "Jesus-emphasis" -- even less so as it stands out against JW talk. But that rarely happens.

  I would say that the NWT is comparatively less "nocive" to the Gospels than to the epistles. The point of narratives and parable-teaching stands however poor the translation. The type of rhetorical argument which can be found in the epistles, otoh, is more easily broken by translation inconsistency or fantasy (e.g. the "Jehovah" insertions). The difference of emphasis remains though, but really understanding the point is way more difficult in many cases.
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  passwordprotected

  We came to faith in Christ by reading the NT in the NWT. We then quickly moved onto the NIV...
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  Amazing

  Jimmy,

  Very good post and important observation. The whole WTS shift of emphasis to "Jehovah" from "Jesus", started with Rutherford's changing the "The Watchtower and Herald of Christ's Presense" to "The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom" is not in keeping even with the New World Translation. In a way, the Watchtower Society quite openly exhibits the traits of the anti-Christ.
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  Narkissos

  Thinking again, I was probably too affirmative on the "can hardly miss" part.

  I had read the whole Bible a number of times during my JW years. I even started with a Protestant Bible as the complete French NWT was only published a couple of years after I became a JW (age 13). When the "Jesus emphasis" in the NT really struck me was only the last time (of course).

  I was then a translator in Bethel, had been learning some Greek on my spare time and started reading the NT again using the KIT. The French NWT was still in my mind (as well as the English one on the page). But somehow I was more "ready" to "get it" than I had been before -- although I can honestly say that Jesus had always been central to my JW faith; just not that central.

  At some point in this process I decided to resign from Bethel; my official letter to the Branch Committee was rather ambiguous, but I did explain my reasons very clearly to the "brother" in charge of the translation department who was a good friend. I told him that I felt our literature actually did more to obscure the Gospel than to make it clear. To my surprise, he said he understood what I meant and, to an extent, wished he could do the same. The reason why he didn't was a sense of loyalty. He felt morally indebted to the organisation.

  I didn't want to leave it either, although I knew I was heading to a clash. I engaged in a half-"suicidal," half-idealistic undertaking of resuming my "pioneer" service and focusing on the NT. I quickly forsook any use of WT literature, making my "Bible studies" simple readings of the NWT with minimal comments, letting the "students" express their understanding quite freely. It was very interesting but it couldn't last very long.

  As I have told already, my first head-banging with the local elders (+ 2 COs) after the next Memorial (where I and a fellow pioneer partook) was on this very topic. We were speaking too much of Jesus. And our response was precisely this: it seems impossible to focus more on Jesus than the NT does. All they could say is that the WT literature honors Jesus but we must be careful not to honor him more than Jehovah. I said the NT writers didn't seem to worry very much about that, and quoted (JW-style) 1 John 2:23 (NWT): "Everyone that denies the Son does not have the Father either. He that confesses the Son has the Father also." That had them open their Bibles to check that verse was really there.