A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. From the Nov 1 WT

by life is to short 44 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Borgia

  There's nothing wrong with self diagnoses. You don't have to consult a medic everytime you have a cold. BUT ... it goes to show that WHEN you want someone to do a diagnosis for you, you go to an acredited professional. Someone who has studied medicine for years at an universty of repute and has a good reputation. In cases you doubt, you get a second opinion. And depending on your own considerations you do what you think is neccesary.

  Now let's see where the WTS fits the description of being an acredited professional having studies for years at a university of repute .....

  Cheers

  Borgia
• 

  TD

  As precautionary statements, there's nothing really wrong with what I read in the OP

  The problem is, a Bible student who knows absolutely nothing about Greek is even more likely to stumble into those pitfalls than someone who knows even a little.

  As proof of this, Jehovah's Witnesses themselves are among the worst offenders when it comes to picking the definition of a Greek word that most suits their theology and plugging it into a passage regardless of whether or not the definition in question is semantically and/or grammatically viable.

  One of the best recent examples of this was the 1995 reinterpretation of Matthew 24:34 where they attempted to define the Greek word, genea based on how it had been used elsewhere in the Bible. The problem with that approach is that the word occurs at Matthew 24:34 as part of a temporal reference (..ou me parelthehe genea aute eos an panta tauta...) and not a simple nominative statement. In their ignorance, Watchtower writers were comparing apples with oranges. The result was an embarassing piece of nonsense that made no sense in Greek or English and had to be revised again in just a few short years.

  It's almost axiomatic that when The Watchtower cautions the rank and file on something, it is the leaders and policy makers themselves that are the actual guilty party.
• 

  bobld

  "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.How so?.Could the WBTS be referring to a baptized 11 year old child of Jehovah's Wintnesses.Also they describe life force found within all living creatures.see below.

  Just to add another comment on the same mag.Myth 1: "At death a person ceases to exist" They back it up with Ecc 9:5,10.However,Myth 2: "In reality,one of two destines awaits the righteous"

  Bob
• 

  cattails

  I'm finding it very hard to read a response post on learning Greek or Hebrew

  from a person who spells the Savior's name as "JAHESHUA MISCHAJAH".

  But anyway...

  That the WT doesn't want people learning Greek or Hebrew a risible matter.

  The article doesn't really come out and say you shouldn't, it tries in its

  mind controlling way to put fear into the learner's heart by giving all the negatives

  and warning about the pitfalls of making an effort in trying to learn these languages.

  Where do they get the experts in Hebrew and Greek at Bethel who can expound

  on the meaning of words for so many WT articles? If a blind man follows a blind man

  both will fall into a pit.
• 

  Narkissos

  TD

  I first read the 1995 article on this board, not so long ago, and the general survey of hè genea autè in the Synoptics struck me as better than what they had made of it before -- and later. Of course the enormous flaw was taking the temporal implication of the word out of it where the context made it explicit (the Olivet discourse), under the pretext that is was not that explicit elsewhere... but that's where they had to land at that point, whatever the path they would follow to get there. Playing the pejorative connotation of hè genea autè against its temporal meaning (although they are absolutely not incompatible) was clever if disingenuous. I wondered if that was basically F.W. Franz's posthumous work -- in that case, not exactly the misunderstanding from "a little knowledge".
• 

  TD

  Narkissos,

  At the time, I think a significant change that was not talked about as much was the redefinition of the term "pass away." This happened one month prior to the November article, "Saved From A Wicked Generation."

  In the article entitled "Guard Your Sense Of Urgency", the October 1st, 1995 issue of The Watchtower had stated on page 28:

  "Jehovah God in his infinite wisdom has always given his servants enough information for them to keep their sense of urgency alive. He has kindly assured us that we are in "the last days" of this corrupt system of things. (2 Timothy 3:1) We are continually reminded that we must shine as illuminators until the generation in which we live passes away in the great tribulation, its climax being at HarMagedon.Philippians 2:15; Revelation 7:14; 16:14, 16".

  Were it not for this, I wouldn't have been so critical of the subsequent article . At the time it struck me as someone plugging in definitions without stopping to think about the effect on the sentence. To me, the idea that ..those living during the sign who take no note of it will not pass away at the conclusion of the system until the sign of the conclusion of the system occurs... crosses the line between sense and nonsense.
• 

  blondie

  The WTS is always encouraging jws to move to a foreign-language congregation to help out. Why is learning a new language in this case not discouraged? Does this mean no one should apply to Gilead?
• 

  Jadeen

  Why didn't they just say, "Learning hurt brain!" in their best Tarzan voice? Isn't that basically what the WTS teaches? Don't go to college, don't research anything, don't think for yourself, etc.
• 

  PSacramento

  In regards to the mdeical analogy, it is truly a case of misdirection and apples and organges.

  People that have a medical dictionary may use it to get a better handle on an illness in CONJUCNTION with their doctor but they don't think for a minute that they are doctors or can cure themselves.

  Same goes for wanting to understand the bible in its original language.

  To take in knowledge of God is never wrong.

  In regards to the translators of the NWt, it seems that all they trully did was get their hands on lexicons and such and use whatever meaning for a wrod that they felt suithed THEIR doctrine and beliefs best, regardless of context or any of the standard rules of translation.

  They played fast and loose with what words mean so that they could make them mean what they wanted and they don't want anyone studying the words and their meanings or bible commentaries because that woudl call into question whay they choose meaning C over meaning A when meaning A is the far more applicable one.
• 

  Heaven

  Yes, language is dangerous too, and it changes over time. Perhaps we should all adopt hand gestures.