Apparently, with my recent change in faith-view, I have uncovered a great love for apologetics. I have been spending most of my available time over the past three months absorbing/devouring as much information about Christianity as possible, and the Holy Bible in particular.
This gift for absorbing information started as a desperate defense to save my family from being ripped apart. I will not go into the full details in this post (details will be forthcoming soon), but it involves a VERY heavy influence from the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
I was forced into a position where I had to become a non-Christian, Christian Apologist. I gave myself a headache just typing that sentence.
I went into deep bible studies with no interest in what was there for myself, it was just to counter the false teachings of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society that were threatening to destroy our family. In the end, while I had no desire to search for God, God and Jesus had chosen me, and I found myself filled with a faith that came not from me. This was the most powerful experience I have ever felt, and it is, as the Apostles stated:
Acts 4:19-20 But Peter and John answered them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard."
This is why I recently tracked down a copy of one of the most "dangerous" and useful books available when it comes to the project I mentioned in an earlier post.
Today, a book that the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society would love for people to just forget that they ever published, was delivered to my mailbox. Within this simple, 1165+ page purple book, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society proves that their own translation of the Holy Scriptures is flawed purposefully mistranslated to further their goals. The book that they would love for the world to forget is The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures. They put out two versions before they realized that there was no way they could re-edit it to the point that their changes to the Greek texts would not be exposed. The first edition was a 500,000 copy run, printed in 1969 (what was delivered today). The text was then revised in 1985 before it was finally pulled from circulation.
For those who do not know what an interlinear translation is, I will let the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society explain what this book is:
"By Way of Explanation" on page 5
In the broad left-hand column of the pages of the main material will be found the original kioné Greek text as revised (in 1881 C.E.) by the renowned Greek scholars B. F. Wescott and F. J. A. Hort, and in between the lines of the Greek will be found the word-for-word English translation. In the slim right-hand column of the page will be found the twentieth-century language translations entitled "New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures," in its latest revision. The word-for-word interlinear translation and the New World Translation are arranged parallel on the page, so that comparisons can be made between the two readings and the accuracy of any modern translation can be determined.
The key phrase here is: so that comparisons can be made between the two readings and the accuracy of any modern translation can be determined.
When you actually compare the word-for-word translations below the Greek text and the NWT, glaring mistranslations/omissions can be seen. While the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society call Wescott and Hort, "renowned Greek scholars", they apparently believe that they are more studious when it comes to Greek, because in several places they felt that the accepted translations from these "renowned Greek scholars" needed to be changed.
Now, you may say that I have a strong bias against the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and will just say what justifies my agenda. I will never claim that I am not biased against the "Society", but I will not state something that I cannot backup with concrete proof. Until I can get our scanner to work, here is a site that can give you a taste of "anomalies" between the original Greek text and the NWT.
--Listening to: Casting Crowns - Lifesong - Set Me Free
Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures quotes are from the First Edition Printing, copyright © 1969 by Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Used pursuant to the
