Posts by Anony Mous

27

Quality of jw.org translation?

by Wonderment in

someone asked the following question to an artificial intelligence (ai) website:.

how does the most translated website ensure accuracy of translations?.

answer: .

Anony Mous

@Phizzy: it is interesting to look at the people that praise it vs those that criticize it. Either they are JWs themselves (at least 2 of them), most of them are evangelicals and some others with a specific religious bent. Theological, historical and critical reviews (the majority) all reject the translation. It is ‘a’ translation mostly borrowed from extant English translations.

There is no evidence in my opinion that they actually re-translated from the original languages, which is why the translation feels so wooden (which is the most common critique), it pays no attention to the actual flow of the original language, especially the Hebrew scripture which was itself based on oral tradition and thus is poetic in nature. What I think happened is they took a few interlineair translations and tried to restructure that into an English text and then obviously layered on their own theology which is how you get that result, you lose the original meaning.

This pattern is even more obvious when you look at Kingdom Interlinear, they quite literally copied W&H, changed the words wherever they needed to and then released that as their own. It is also obvious that whenever their teachings have changed over the years, they have released updated Bibles with those changes embedded which wouldn’t happen if you had an accurate translation to begin with, or if the claim is that they honestly re-translate every so often, then more would change than just a few passages.

27

Quality of jw.org translation?

by Wonderment in

someone asked the following question to an artificial intelligence (ai) website:.

how does the most translated website ensure accuracy of translations?.

answer: .

Anony Mous

@slimboyfat: not nearly enough for actually understanding an old book like the Bible which the original text is often incomplete. I’ve done 1 year of Latin and 1 year of Russian, because the latter is a different alphabet, I know enough to know the alphabet, a basic level of grammatical and other structures and how to pronounce the words, a basic conversation (although if you don’t use it frequently, you forget it). But could I read War and Peace in the original language or Cicero, write a translation or thesis, know the meaning and the historical context, no, not even remotely. Most people here speak decent English, many people have taken English literature in college, but even Middle English you will have a hard time understanding and translating the works, especially incomplete ones without at least a PhD level (8 years of hard work) on the subject and even then, it takes a few years to be taken seriously in the field, to get to that level, we are talking 20-25 years of continuous education and immersion in not just the work but also the history, research, peer reviewed papers - there are people that spend their entire careers on a single book, you think WTBTS can just translate the entire Bible, independently, with a 2y starter course from a low grade University? It is obvious from any serious review of their translations that they borrow heavily from other translations and simply inject their own ideas outright.

The WTBTS and many religious types over time, even some people here attempting to do some independent scholarship all suffer from the Dunning-Kruger effect. If you want to be taken seriously, there are plenty of places to get independent review from scholars in the field, yet every single one of them is afraid to openly publish as they aren’t going to be taken seriously.

47

Norway

by St George of England in

so the wt society is going to contest the recent norway ruling.. jehovah’s witnesses to appeal unconstitutional ruling in norway (jw.org).

their true colours are shown in the statement: "the decision to deregister jehovah’s witnesses denies us the financial aid and other benefits that the government provides to over 700 registered religious communities in the country.

additional consequences include losing the right to appoint and authorize ministers of jehovah’s witnesses as officiants for weddings.".

Anony Mous

Why is WTBTS accepting cash from the government in the first place. Being no part of this world etc etc, they should return the money they receive because money (esp.government money) always comes with strings attached. The strings here is that the government will dictate how they run their organization, which as a donor, is their right to direct how the money is used.

17

How Does WT Explain away, "Absent from the Body, Present with the Lord"?

by Sea Breeze in

5now he that wrought us for this very thing is god, who gave unto us the earnest of the spirit.6being therefore always of good courage, and knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the lord 7(for we walk by faith, not by sight); 8we are of good courage, i say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the lord.

9wherefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well-pleasing unto him.. since watchtower teaches there is only one "you" and not three (soul, body & spirit); how do jw's deal with the fact that scripture says that it is possible for a person to be absent from their body and to be present with the lord in heaven?when i was pioneering, i don't recall a householder every dropping this verse on me; and i'm not sure how i would have handled it if they did.

what say you?.

Anony Mous

Their NWT is pretty clear that this only applies to spirit anointed Christians and not to ‘all’ Christians. They also claim the nakedness Paul talks in v3 about is death in a grave prior to the resurrection which would only happen later in 1914. So they claim that when Paul says do your best “not to be found naked” and “to be present with the Lord” that for people that died from 0-1914, Jesus will regardless find them naked in 1914 and they will not have been present with the Lord for well over 1800 years. It makes no sense, but that is their interpretation.

The NWT is a lot more obscure with their language so it can be bent in the way they think it should read.

25

JW Expanded Volunteer Activities?

by doinmypart in

jw
friends

i think the gb needs to expand publishers' volunteer activities beyond door knocking.. gb has shifted away from door-knocking to more varied forms of witnessing and no longer counting time for publishers.

my prediction is that the gb will start encouraging jws to participate in broader community volunteer efforts: clean-up drives, food banks, senior citizen support, and other non-proselytizing activities.

this move could help them gain goodwill with government agencies and the public.. expanding volunteer activities could significantly shift how jws are perceived by the wider community.

Anony Mous

I don’t think it would ever involve giving to the community, as others have pointed out, every cent given by the membership for those things is not spent on the WTBTS. That is also why they curtailed the meetings and ministry, driving a car is expensive, heating buildings is expensive, the $20/month/publisher saved they hope will go to them in the near-tithing they have been promoting, if not completely at least partially. Same for expensive suits (this used to cost me upwards of $600/year for a pair of very cheap suits), which are now downgraded to slacks and shirts which can be had at an upscale outlet for $50.

My estimation is that there will be more consolidation, less literature in paper, less emphasis on spending time and money in service. Perhaps even fully virtual congregations.

13

How long before we see a Bro. wearing one of THESE ??

by Phizzy in

.

Anony Mous

I know earrings have long been allowed in certain places, due to culture. I’m talking 20-30 years ago, fishers wear them in one ear with their initials and ship name. This was a major issue initially, but was accepted. It was a loophole for some though.

I know many that have discreet tattoos (places people won’t see). I think tattoos are also allowed in some cultures and I know initially (80s and 90s) people were pressured in getting them removed, but later I’ve seen elders with at least arm tattoos from when they were ‘worldly’.

They’ve gotten a lot more popular and even 10 years ago before I left, some people had nice ones, I don’t think I have seen the strict no policy published for a really long time.

73

Rekindled Light — The Narrative Structure of the Hexaemeron (Genesis 1:1–31)

by Mebaqqer2 in

i used to comment here many years ago when i had an interest in biblical research in relation to jehovah’s witnesses.

these days my biblical research is little concerned with jehovah’s witnesses.

i feel my time is better spent researching the diachronistic development of the biblical text and ascertaining what the biblical writers and editors intended in the times in which they lived.. i have recently placed a summary diagram for a paper that i have written with original research entitled the narrative structure of the hexaemeron on academia.edu.

Anony Mous

@Mebaqqer2 - I actually work in higher education/research. There are various offshoots of the ArXiV including some for religious/philosophical work (eg SocArXiV). I am in the STEM field myself, hence my opposition to commercial entities like academia.edu which, perhaps because my IP address originates from a .edu will not let me view/download without getting my library to buy a subscription and as I said, the Apple ID option (also .edu) just loops back onto the login/payment page. I know I can find ways around it, but if you’re asking even an assistant professor level to put that much effort into just looking at your paper, that is painful. Best to publish it as a PDF on a public site. Most of our public peer review requests are literally in attachment to an email through the department mailing list, those requests are vetted by the chair or co-chair, but getting it reviewed for pre-print on any OSF repo is pretty much a guarantee that it will go through.

73

Rekindled Light — The Narrative Structure of the Hexaemeron (Genesis 1:1–31)

by Mebaqqer2 in

i used to comment here many years ago when i had an interest in biblical research in relation to jehovah’s witnesses.

these days my biblical research is little concerned with jehovah’s witnesses.

i feel my time is better spent researching the diachronistic development of the biblical text and ascertaining what the biblical writers and editors intended in the times in which they lived.. i have recently placed a summary diagram for a paper that i have written with original research entitled the narrative structure of the hexaemeron on academia.edu.

Anony Mous

Just as a hint as to why people may not read your paper: it’s on academia.edu, it’s a bad site, it won’t let me read the papers (for free), it wants my personal information and the only anonymous option (Apple ID) is broken.

That being said, the part of the preview I can see has no references. You cannot write a paper and have no references as to the authority or even if you are going to go against the mainstream, what specific things you try to disprove, nobody will take you seriously. I saw something you quoted Augustine, but there was no reference to the actual quote which makes it hard to verify your statements, however If you quote things (intentionally or unintentionally) without attribution and reference, that can be considered plagiarism.

If you want to be taken serious by serious scholars, publish on a serious, non scammy site like one of the ArXiV or OSF and get it peer reviewed but you need to do a bit better than an essay.

54

If the org. Is being advised by consultants, is a name change in the works?

by nowwhat? in

let's be honest, there's a stigma to the name jehovah's witness.

if they are going more mainstream.

i imagine the first recommendation was a name change.

Anony Mous

I can imagine certain parts of the name being less emphasized, like they are already doing, leaning on the JW.org instead of Jehovah’s Witnesses. As others pointed out, eliminating the word Watchtower or even retiring the legal entity Watchtower Bible and Tract Society may be a legal thing to get rid of the bad name and debt without the majority of JWs even noticing. They try to do this all the time in CSA lawsuits, by eliminating the shell corporation that a local Kingdom Hall is and then re-incorporating it under another name with another set of elders, it makes it harder to go after them and recover any damages and they can claim this was ten years ago with a group of rogue leaders and they no longer exist and that reduces damages significantly.

So I think the private/public Watchtower and Awake will be eliminated, they’ll probably combine them into something a bit more modern. They may even go ‘back’ to a magazine that is a bit more substantial but combine their 3 magazines in one, something like Eternal Decades.

194

GB Update #2, March 2024: Women allowed to wear pants, no ties/coats required if not giving a talk, & now able to greet DF ones in the KH!

by WingCommander in

jw
friends

you heard me correct, this is not a joke, and it is not april fools day!

the asl portion of the governing body updated #2 (march 2024) has been released a bit early and someone caught it.

summary: .

Anony Mous

@Dagney: partially that, but they have been making the conversion to a ‘mainstream’ church for a while now. My main issue is that people won’t leave as much anymore but it will always have that culty tinge. I think a lot of hardcore ones will take this as an opportunity to pressure those have left to rejoin. They’ve plastered over the superficial issues, but unlikely they will have changed their core.