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For those in the Watchtower who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible
by opusdei1972 21 Replies latest watchtower bible
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cha ching
Hmmm.... good questions
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opusdei1972
a Christian is wasting their time being a Christian.
It depends on how one decides to live his christianity. To me is by trying to do the good, without slaving the life of others. But I don't think that it is an issue of salvation to be a christian. The New Testament contains contradictory statements, so it can't preach 100% truth.
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Doug Mason
“Inerrancy” refers to the words written by the original writer.
“Absolute inerrancy is therefore to be attributed to the written Word of God. This is true of the original writings, none of which are known to exist today.” (“Insight on the Scriptures”, Vol. 1, page 1206)
The scrolls were perishable and in constant use, so they were continually copied and recopied. In the process, people kept changing the contents. By the time of the New Testament writers, they had to choose between the text of the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint) and the text of the Hebrew Old Testament.
“In a number of cases the writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures evidently made use of the Greek Septuagint translation when quoting from the Hebrew Scriptures. At times the rendering of the Septuagint, as quoted by them, differs somewhat from the reading of the Hebrew Scriptures as now known. … In a few cases the quotations made by Paul and others differ from both the Hebrew and Greek texts as found in available manuscripts.” (“Insight”, Vol. 1, page 1206)
Therefore, “inerrancy” does not refer to the Bible as it exists today.
“The copies of those original writings and the translations made in many languages cannot lay claim to absolute accuracy.” (“Insight”, Vol. 1, page 1206)
This means that the “inspired” Scriptures being read by Timothy are not the “inerrant” Scriptures that were originally written. He was reading words that were “inspired” but the words were not “inerrant”.
The “inerrant” texts no longer exist, so it is impossible to know how the existing text compares with the original.
To cope with the difference between “inerrancy” and “inspiration”, certain Christians use the term “inscripturation” to describe the transmission of information to the original writers.
The “Insight” book goes as far as saying that the only parts of the Septuagint which are “inspired” are those words that are quoted by a New Testament writer.
“Whether the original Hebrew text contained the phrase found in the Septuagint cannot be stated with certainty. Whatever the case, God's spirit guided Paul in his quotation, and therefore these words have divine authorization. This does not mean that the entire Septuagint translation is to be viewed as inspired”. (“Insight”, Vol. 1, page 1206)
Statements in the New Testament about “Scripture” refer to the texts used by the Hebrews (the “Old Testament”).
“(Joh 10:34, 35) … (Mt 5:18) … (Mt 22:29-32: Mr 12:24) … Mt 26:54; Mr 14:27, 49. These statements of course apply to the pre-Christian Hebrew Scriptures.” (“Insight”, Vol. 1, page 1205)
2 Timothy 3:6 does not indicate which Hebrew scrolls were “Scripture”. The list (canon) of Hebrew Scriptures was not decided until at least 100 years later, probably much later.
The list (canon) of New Testament writings took the Church many centuries to achieve general acceptance, although not universally. This casts serious doubts on the veracity of the following statement:
“That the Christian Greek Scriptures were likewise presented and accepted as inspired is also clear.” (1Co 14:37; Ga 1:8, 1 1, 1 2; 1Th 2:13). (“Insight”, Vol. 1, page 1205)
Not only was there no list of New Testament writings, none of the original New Testament writings exists, only copies.
Dooug
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AndDontCallMeShirley
It depends on how one decides to live his christianity. To me is by trying to do the good, without slaving the life of others
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"Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones." --- Marcus Aurelius
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"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." -Albert Einstein
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opusdei1972
“Whether the original Hebrew text contained the phrase found in the Septuagint cannot be stated with certainty. Whatever the case, God's spirit guided Paul in his quotation, and therefore these words have divine authorization. This does not mean that the entire Septuagint translation is to be viewed as inspired”. (“Insight”, Vol. 1, page 1206)
Another Watchtower absurdity and contradiction. "The entire Septuagint is not inspired, but certain portions do". How convenient !. For instance, if I were Trinitarian I would prefer the Hebrew version of Isaiah 9:6, in which the Messiah is called "Mighty God". On the other hand, if I were Unitarian I would choose the Septuagint which says "the Angel of Great Counsel", instead of "Mighty God". If I were a Jew I would choose the Hebrew version of Isaiah 7:14 which says that Immanuel born from a maiden (almah), but if I were a christian I have to choose the Septuagint, which says "virgin"(greek: parthenos), instead of "maiden". It is a mess.
“That the Christian Greek Scriptures were likewise presented and accepted as inspired is also clear.” (1Co 14:37; Ga 1:8, 1 1, 1 2; 1Th 2:13). (“Insight”, Vol. 1, page 1205)
If I were to accept the letter of Jude as inspired Scripture, I must do the same for the book of 1 Enoch, which is quoted by Jude. Also, in the second century, the Muratorian Canon ignores the letters of Peter and the Apocalypse. Why didn't Paul quote any of the four Gospels? Why does the Gospel of John contradict the synoptics Gospels??
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daringhart13
JW's don't mention this because JW's don't read the Bible. They couldn't tell you anything about it's contents.
Hell....they don't read their own literature.
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Doug Mason
opus,
At (document) pages 22 to 26 of:
http://www.jwstudies.com/God-breathed_Scriptures.pdf
you will find a listing of allusions to and citations of non-canonical writings such as 1 Enoch throughout the New Testament, including Jesus' words at the Sermon on the Mount. See also (document) page 21 of my Study.
(I wrote "document pages" because the "PDF page" numbers are 26 to 31).
Doug
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Doug Mason
opus,
What interesting observations you create.
The different versions (Septuagint versus Masoretic, Symmachus, Theodotian, etc) reflect the biases and amendments made by the translators and copiers, right from the outset. The WTS does the same with its NWT version, which in turn is based on which OT and NT sources that it selected. Consider the enormous differences between the versions of Jeremiah in the Septuagint (LXX) and in the Masoretic Text (MT). And it is not as if there is one version of the LXX; there are several.
If the NT references from the LXX indicated that the verses being cited were "inspired" but the rest of the LXX is not inspired, what does this say of the people who created and edited the LXX? Was their "inspiration" switched on and off as they worked their way through the pile of Hebrew scrolls? And it must be noted that the Hebrew text they worked from was at least 1300 years older than the earliest Hebrew text that is available to us.
If an NT writer had to resort to the Greek text of the Hebrew ("OT") scrolls, then using the WT's logic, what does this say of the equivalent text in the Hebrew OT scrolls? Does this show that the Hebrew passage was not inspired?
Inasmuch as NT writers regularly resorted to Hebrew scrolls that were later deemed to be non-canonical, what does this say of these non-canonical writings?
Doug
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Doug Mason
When did Jesus become a Christian?
Doug