why does the GB exclude the word "grace" From its new world basterization of the Word?
by freckles12 15 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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BluesBrother
Too "churchy".......it smacks of Bab the Great.
Notice in this dictionary "divine grace" is the 8th listed suggestion for the meaning
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/grace
On JW.org they said that
http://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/activities/events/annual-meeting-report-2013/
"The Bible was written using the common, everyday language of average people —farmers, shepherds, and fishermen,” Brother Morris said. “A good translation of the Bible makes the message it contains understandable to sincere people, regardless of their background.”
This translation was written for the "average man", the working people who watch TV shows, only rean newspapers and have no more than basic education, hence "ass" in now donkey, "longsuffering" is now patience etc.
I thought this point in that on line article was telling
For example, Brother Jackson explained that the earlier English editions of the New World Translation said at 1 Samuel 14:11 that Jonathan and his armor-bearer “exposed themselves to the outpost of the Philistines.” To avoid a possible misreading, the new revision says that they “revealed their presence.”
Cannot have double entendr'e at the Kingdom Hall, can we
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sarahsmile
Because cults want their own system of unique words seperate from Christian to control minds.
Point taken I knew nothing about grace until about twenty years out of the WT.
Kind of strange for Christians to not understand Gods grace.
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mouthy
Because they dont like me.....GRACE GOUGH or Mouthy....Eh Labelicker>????
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DATA-DOG
If you look at the word "grace" in a Strong's Concordance it become instantly clear why the GB hate that word. I won't spoil the fun of researching it. Ask yourself this, Why didn't the GB put the most correct meaning of the word in the Uber-bible??? They had the perfect opportunity to make it the most accurate, just like the rest of the Silver Sword.. ( ahem...)
Let's just say the GB don't want JWs to understand the true depth of the word. Yet "Undeserved Kindness" is something that the GB really love!!
DD
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suavojr
Spot on DD! When I started waking up, the word grace was the first thing that kept popping up in other bibles. When I started to hear pastors talking about the grace of God, this was completely foreign to me but when I finally understood the meaning... WOW! It was a like 1000lbs off my shoulders!!!
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snowbird
"Grace" invites; "undeserved kindness" repels.
Bastardization is certainly apropos.
Sylvia
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Londo111
Last year, I was mentioned Grace in passing to my JW grandfather. He asked, very confused, "What is grace?" It was not a concept he was familar with.
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fulltimestudent
If you just want to bang on about the Jws, don't bother to read this. If you want to try and understand something, then my brief comments may add to your understanding.
And, I'm not interested in banging on about words. However, just by accident I once saw a book by Professor James Davidson (Warwick University - http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/classics/staff/jamesdavidson/ ) and found a fascinating discussion of the word's usage.
The greek word charis, which is often translated into English as grace, is complex in its meanings in greek. Just to grab a meaning in another language, without full knowledge of the layers of meanings potentially in the use of the word, may sometimes miss the point. I think I understand the use of the word in modern American Christianity.
So is this your understanding too?
Grace in Christianity is the free and unmerited favour of God as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowing of blessings. [3] It is God's gift of salvation granted to sinners for their salvation. Common Christian teaching is that grace is unmerited** mercy (favor ) that God gave to humanity by sending his son to die on a cross, thus delivering eternal salvation.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_grace
** Is 'undeserved' a useful synonym for unmerited? The gift God gives is undeserved and supposedly comes from his love (kindness??).
So did Freddy stuff up in deciding to translate charis as undeserved kindness? Or, is it an accdeptable alternative translation that may add another layer of meaning to the word?
IF you'd like to think about it some more, go to the International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia and read some more information, part of which says:
Grace as Power:
Naturally, the various meanings of the word were simply taken over from ordinary language by the New Testament writers. And so it is quite illegitimate to try to construct on the basis of all the occurrences of the word a single doctrine that will account for all the various usages. That one word could express both "charm of speech" and "thankfulness for blessings" was doubtless felt to be a mere accident, if it was thought of at all. But none the less, the very elasticity of the word enabled it to receive still another-new and technically Christian-meaning. This seems to have originated in part by fusing together two of the ordinary significances. In the first place, as in (e) above, charis may mean "a gift." In 1Co 16:3; 2Co 8:19it is the money given by the Corinthians to the Jerusalemites. In 2Co 9:8 it is the increase of worldly goods that God grants for charitable purposes. In 2Co 1:15 it is the benefit received by the Corinthians from a visit by Paul. In a more spiritual sense charis is the endowment for an office in the church (Eph 4:7), more particularly for the apostolate (Ro 1:5; 12:3; 15:15; 1Co 3:10; Eph 3:2,7). So in 1Co 1:4-7margin charis is expanded into "word and all knowledge," endowments with which the Corinthians were especially favored. In 1Pe 1:13 charis is the future heavenly blessedness that Christians are to receive; in 3:7 it is the present gift of "life." In the second place, charis is the word for God's favor, a sense of the term that is especially refined by Paul (see below). But God's favor differs from man's in that it cannot be conceived of as inactive. A favorable "thought" of God's about a man involves of necessity the reception of some blessing by that man, and "to look with favor" is one of the commonest Biblical paraphrases for "bestow a blessing." Between "God's favor" and "God's favors" there exists a relation of active power, and as charis denoted both the favor and the favors, it was the natural word for the power that connected them. This use is very clear in 1Co 15:10, where Paul says, "not I, but the grace of God which was with me" labored more abundantly than they all: grace is something that labors. So in 2Co 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness"; compare 2Ti 2:1, "strengthened in the grace," and 1Pe 4:10, "stewards of the manifold grace." Evidently in this sense "grace" is almost a synonym for the Spirit (see HOLY SPIRIT), and there is little real difference between "full of the Holy Spirit" and "full of grace and power" in Ac 6:5,8, while there is a very striking parallel between Eph 4:7-13and 1Co 12:4-11, with "gifts of grace" in the one passage, and "gifts of the Spirit" in the other. And this connection between grace and the Spirit is found definitely in the formula "Spirit of grace" in Heb 10:29(compare Zec 12:10). And, as is well known, it is from this sense of the word that the Catholic doctrine of grace developed.
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snowbird
... almost a synonym for Holy Spirit, from which the Catholic doctrine of grace developed?
Now, Freddy couldn't have any of that could he?
Tee hee hee.
Unmerited favor, imo, sounds much more humane than undeserved kindness.
Sylvia