(((((Dear Ross)))
First, I apologize for being tardy into attending your last post.This time I had decided to answer posts in priority sequence and not in numerical sequence.
Please don't feel ignored, Ross. I don't shun people!
With regards to why I use the NWT Bible: It's the Bible that I foremost trust. I wholeheartedly/sincerely believe the NWT has been blessed/approved by Jehovah God. As a Jehovah God Witness, I trust it completely.
I didn't research the Bible you referred me as there is no need to because I am a Jehovah God Witness ,and I have put my trust on the NWT Bible.
I am very pleased to share with you quotes from Bible scholars/critics/experts on their opinions of the NWT Bible published by the Watchtower Society:
Christian Love,
AAF
The excerpts bellow copied from: hector3000.futureeasyspace.com/nwt.htm
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J.D. PHILLIPS: (J.D. Phillips was a Church of Christ Minister, schooled in the
original tongues). "Last week I purchased a copy of your New World
Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures of which I take pride in being an
owner. You have done a marvelous work...I was happy, indeed, to see the name
Jehovah in it. But you have made a marvelous step in the right direction, and I
pray God that your Version will be used to His glory. What you have done for
the Name alone is worth all the effort and cost!"
BENJAMIN KEDAR: (Benjamin Kedar is a
professor at Hebrew University in Israel). "In my linguistic research in connection with
the Hebrew Bible and translations, I often refer to the English edition of what
is known as the New World Translation. In so doing, I find my feeling
repeatedly confirmed that this work reflects an honest endeavor to achieve an
understanding of the text that is as accurate as possible. Giving evidence of a
broad command of the original language, it renders the original words into a
second language understandably without deviating unnecessarily from the specific
structure of the Hebrew...Every statement of language allows for a certain
latitude in interpreting or translation. So the linguistic solution in any given
case may be open to debate. But I have never discovered in the New World
Translation any biased intent to read something into the text that it does not
contain."
S. MACLEAN GILMORE: "In 1950 the Jehovah's Witnesses published their New World
Translation of the New Testament, and the preparation of the New World Old
Testament is now far advanced. The New Testament edition was made by a
committee...that possessed an unusual competence in Greek." (The Andover Newton
Quarterly, September 1966, Vol 7, #1 page 25, 26) C. HOUTMAN: Mr. Houtman
notes that on the point of translator bias "the New World Translation of the
Jehovah's Witnesses can survive the scrutiny of criticism." (Nederlands
Theologisch Tijdschrift, [Dutch Theological Magazines] 38 1984, page 279-280)
WILLIAM CAREY TAYLOR: (William C. Taylor was a Southern Baptist Minister
schooled in the original tongues). "Just when the infidel universities of this
land thought they had laughed out of court the very name Jehovah, up...surges..
"Jehovah's Witnesses". ...And with considerable scholarship they get out their
own New Testament and lo and behold, they put Jehovah into the New Testament two
or three hundred times...It ought to be there [in the entire Bible] many times"
(The New Bible Pro and Con, 1955 Page 75)
C. HOUTMAN: Mr. Houtman notes that on the point of translator bias "the New World Translation of the Jehovah's Witnesses can survive the scrutiny of criticism." Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift, [Dutch Theological Magazines] 38 1984, page 279-280
CHARLES FRANCIS POTTER: "the New World Translation of the Christian Greek
Scriptures...the anonymous translators have certainly rendered the best
manuscript texts...with scholarly ability and acumen." (The Faith Men Live By,
1954, Page 239)
EDGAR J. GOODSPEED: (Edgar J. Goodspeed was a Professor of Greek at the
University of Chicago, and also translated the New Testament portion of "The
Bible an American Translation"). "I am...much pleased with the free, frank and
vigorous translation. It exhibits a vast array of sound serious learning, as I
can testify." (Personal Letter to Arthur Goux of Brooklyn Bethel, December 8,
1950; See also Watchtower September 1, 1952 page 541, where Goodspeed is quoted
as stating that the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures was
"an interesting and scholarly work" )
ROBERT M. MCCOY: "The translation of the New Testament is evidence of the
presence in the movement of scholars qualified to deal intelligently with the
many problems of Biblical translation." (The Andover Newton Quarterly, January
1963, Vol. 3, #3, Page 31)
STEVEN T. BYINGTON: (Steven T. Byington translated the version known as "The
Bible in Living English"). "If you are digging for excellent or suggestive
renderings this is among the richer mines." (Christian Century, "Review of the
New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, November 1, 1950 page
1296)
JASON BEDUHN: (Jason Beduhn teaches at the University of Indiana). "I have just
recently completed teaching a course for the Religious Studies Department of
Indiana University, Bloomington, ...This is primarily a course in the Gospels.
Your help came in the form of copies of the Kingdom Interlinear Translation of
the Greek Scriptures which my students used as one of the textbooks for the
class. These small volumes were invaluable to the course and very popular with
my students...Simply put, it is the best interlinear New Testament available. I
am a trained scholar of the Bible, familiar with the texts and tools in
use in modern biblical studies, and by the way, not a member of the Jehovah's
Witnesses. But I know a quality publication when I see one, and your 'New World
Bible Translation Committee' has done its job well. Your interlinear English
rendering is accurate and consistent to an extreme that forces the reader to
come to terms with the linguistic, cultural, and conceptual gaps between the
Greek-speaking world and our own. Your 'New World Translation' is a high
quality, literal translation that avoids traditional glosses in its faithfulness
to the Greek. It is, in many ways, superior to the most successful translations
in use today."
The Harper Collins Bible Dictionary calls it one of the "major translations of the Bible into English," along with the Knox translation, the Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible and the New English Bible. p. 292
ALEXANDER THOMPSON: "The translation is evidently the work of skilled and
clever scholars, who have sought to bring out as much of the true sense of the
Greek text as the English language is capable of expressing." (The
Differentiator, April 1952, Page 52)
EDGAR FOSTER: (Classics Major, Lenoir-Rhyne College)
"Before I formally began to study Greek, I simply compared the NWT with lexicons,
commentaries, and other translations to try and determine it's
accuracy. It passed the litmus test then and it also passes the test
now for me...The NWT is a fine translation. In my mind, it is the translation
_par excellence_. But I feel just as confortable with an RSV or an
NASB. Mostly I prefer my UBS Greek text."
End of excerpts.
