Posts by Mebaqqer2

2

partial translation of possible-san's page

by Mebaqqer2 in

well, everyone was wondering about what the japanese text said on the page possible-san referenced (http://godpresencewithin.web.fc2.com/pages/jw/akashijunzo.html) so i worked on translating it.

i placed it here rather than his post as his post has ready scrolled out of the new topic area and i wasn't sure if anyone would see.

anyways, here is the first part.... the words of junzo akashi.

Mebaqqer2

Well, everyone was wondering about what the Japanese text said on the page possible-san referenced (http://godpresencewithin.web.fc2.com/pages/jw/akashijunzo.html) so I worked on translating it. I placed it here rather than his post as his post has ready scrolled out of the new topic area and I wasn't sure if anyone would see. Anyways, here is the first part...

The Words of Junzo Akashi

- Contents of the letter sent to president Nathan H Norr after World War II by the pre-war representative Junzo Akashi (July, 1889 – November 14, 1965) of the Japanese branch (Todai Company) of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (Jehovah’s Witnesses) –

(picture stuff omitted for now)

Hikari Bulletin. Special Edition. 3 rd issue. July 15, 1947:

1 . For at least the past ten years, I can not approve of the signs of progression in the explication of Biblical truths.

2 . In regards to the present, the desperate claims for the campaign to recruit citizens [for God’s Kingdom] does not biblically conform with the so-called theocratic(1) establishment.

3 . The policy of encouraging the so-called witnessingcampaign of God’s kingdom, in brief, is no more than for recruiting members into the Watchtower Society.

4 . The guidelines of the headquarters, as concerns loyal Christians, causes (them) to live peacefully in a cheap, self consultative place outside of the sole standard specified in the Bible.

5 . In spite of their own being conscience or not, the manufacturing of various personal rules and regulationssnatches away the freedom that has been awarded at long last to true Christians by means of the Lord Jesus and, with regards to the Watchtower headquarters, causes a result in which compulsion through blind obedience to their superiors to be apparent .

6 . In spite of the headquarters currently teaching non-compromise with this world in regards to Watchtower followers, the actions of the headquarters itself show clear proof of compromise in regards to this world.

7: The construction of the so-called “Gilead Seminary” was an absolutely rebellious reversal(2) to what is indicated in the Bible."

(1) The Japanese word for "Theocratic" here is shinkenseiji. The bold emphasis from possible-san's page is only on part of this word, so I have tried to reproduce that emphasis here.

(2) I could not figure out how to translate the word haihangyakkou accurately. This is actually a compounded word. haihan means "revolting; rebellion; going against; contradiction; antinomy" and gyakkou means "adverse; go backward; retrograde". "rebellious reversal" is the best I could to to make sense of the compounded idea.

...The words that follow will have to wait for another time as it would take me more time that I can devote right now.

Mebaqqer

5

Information on the J Sources?

by Mebaqqer2 in

i was wondering about two things.

does any one have more detailed information on the j-sources used by the new world translation?

names of books, publisher, etc.?

Mebaqqer2

Thanks to all who responded to my inquiry. My aim in asking about the J-sources was really to get more information on the sources themselves. I understand that all the J-sources are relatively modern and translations from GREEK into other languages, mainly Hebrew (except the debatable example of J2, Shem-tov's Hebrew Matthew). I guess what I was looking for can be more clearly seen in the following example:

In the "Textual Symbols" section of The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures it says this concerning J9:

"Gospels, Heb. and Lat., by Giovanni Battista Jona, Rome, 1668"

This is a little vague. The section "Explanation of Symbols" in The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures gives a little more detail:

"Gospels in Hebrew. In 1639 John Baptist Jonah, a Jew who joined the Roman Catholic Church, completed his translation of the four Gospels into Hebrew from the Latin Vulgate. Jonah was a professor of Hebrew in the Roman Academy, Rome. His Hebrew translation was finally published in Rome in 1668 by the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda (S.C. Prop. Fidei). It contained a page of dedication to Pope Clement IX."

Neither of these, however, gives the exact title of the book. Fortunately, however, with the available information we can figure out the work referred to is:

Iona, Ioanne Baptista. Arba?a abne hag-giljonim me-hat-Tora ha-?adaša ašär nä?taqu mil-lešon romi lel-lešon ?ibri, Qvatvor Evangelia Novi Testamenti Ex Latino in Hebraicum fermonem verfa. Rome: S. C. Prop. Fidei, 1668.

Some of the books referred to, however, have not been as easy to figure out. For example, I have been unable to find out any further information on either the old and new J19 (this source was changed in 1984 to a different book). Thus, I was hoping someone out there had exact information on J-sources of these kind.

Secondly, I was wondering if anyone had any of the J-sources available. I myself have on hand J1, J2, J4, J17, J21, J24, and J25. I was wondering if anyone else had some of these sources on hand or available in PDF / scanned form.

Mebaqqer

5

Information on the J Sources?

by Mebaqqer2 in

i was wondering about two things.

does any one have more detailed information on the j-sources used by the new world translation?

names of books, publisher, etc.?

Mebaqqer2

Greetings all,

I was wondering about two things. Does any one have more detailed information on the J-sources used by the New World Translation? i.e. names of books, publisher, etc.? The information on some of the J-sources, particularly those in Hebrew, are kind of vague. The 1950's New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures at times sheds some light on these sources, but others I have still not been able to get exact information on.

Also, does anyone have some of these J-sources in PDF or scans in those places referenced by the New World Translation? I have found some on the internet and some I have purchased. However, many of these sources have proven to be very old and elusive. Those who wish to may message me offline as well.

Mebaqqer

Migne volumes on Google books

by Mebaqqer2 in

for those who might be interested in seeing the greek texts of patristic works, i just found migne volumes on google books.

these works were produced in the 1800's so for many of the works, there are no doubt better editions out there (i personally use the tlg cd).

but what do you expect for free?

Mebaqqer2

For those who might be interested in seeing the Greek texts of patristic works, I just found Migne volumes on Google books. These works were produced in the 1800's so for many of the works, there are no doubt better editions out there (I personally use the TLG CD). But what do you expect for free? ~~Anyways, here is the link to get anyone started:~~

~~http://books.google.com/books?as_q=&num=10&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_libcat=0&as_brr=0&as_vt=&as_auth=Jacques-Paul+Migne+&as_pub=&as_sub=&as_drrb=c&as_miny=&as_maxy=&as_isbn=~~

Be warned, there is no English translation with these. All the translations of the Greek texts are in Latin. Still, you might find these useful if used in conjunction with the ANF series, etc.

Thank you for positing that bit of information. It seems, however, that most of what they said there can be found in their New World Translation with references. Their statement about the Greek word genos has some merit, but not in the way they think.

The beginning of categorizing organisms probably began with Aristotle. What is interesting in Aristotle's usage is that genos was a broad category while eidos was used as a more limited category within a genos. It is interesting to note that this usage of genos and eidos is reflected in the writings of the first century Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria as well when he turns to interpret Genesis 1 and 2. For him, Genesis 1 shows the creation of animals according to genos, but Genesis 2 shows their creation according to eidos. Thus, he writes, "what had been previously created were genos is plain from what he says, "Let the earth bring forth living souls," not according to eidos but according to genos. And this is found to be the course taken by God in all cases; for before making the eidos he completes the genos, as he did in the case of man: for having first modelled the generic man, in whom they say that the male and female sexes are contained, he afterwards created the specific man Adam." (Legum allegoriarum 2.13) Thus, the Greek word genos most naturally refers to "genus," while eidos most naturally refers to "species."

What this means is that those Jews who translated the Septuagint in the 3rd century BCE did not see the Hebrew word min as constituting a very narrow category and so used the broader category genos. However, the term "kind" as used by Jehovah's Witnesses is highly restrictive and groups together only those organisms who are interfertile. Had Jews reading min thought this word referred to such narrow classification, they would have used eidos not genos. Incidently, genos is not the only translation offered for min in the Septuagint. Genesis 1:12 actually contains a double translation and so reads "according to genos and according to likeness (omoioteta)." Similarly, throughout the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy min is translated as "its like" (ta omoia auto). What all this combined shows is that for those who translated the Septuagint, min constituted a broad category whose members were included on the basis of appearence.

There is more on this I could go into, but that will have to wait until another day.

Mebaqqer