S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

The New World Translation (NWT) is defined by the Jehovah's Witnesses' parent organization (the Watchtower Society) as 'a translation of the Holy Scriptures made directly from Hebrew, Aramaic and G...

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July 01 2013 • 6 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Chris Eleam Supporter Chris Eleam

Recently on Jeopardy, one of the answers was "It is the most accurate translation of the Holy Scriptures?" No one got the correct answer so Alex Trebek said " What is the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures printed by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society" Those who are critics of this Translation can take heart of over 200,000 scrutinized questions and answers maybe they got this one wrong. Jason David BeDuhn is the associate professor of Religious studies at North Arizona University in Flagstaff who has more degrees in Religious studies than i can count and no one would question his authority in languages particualrly in Greek, his comparison of Nine Engish Trnanslations  KJV, AB,NAB, NASB, NIV, NW, NRSV,TEV guess which on was the most accurate as regards to truth in Translation. For the serious bible student, If you wish to read his Book it is entilted " Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testement. It is a free in pdf format

July 24 2013 • 4 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jack Gutknecht Supporter ABC/DTS graduate, guitar music ministry Baptist church

I once was out witnessing with a bilingual pastor of a Mexican Gospel Mission church in Phoenix, Arizona. After talking with the family for a while, he saw the New World Translation in the home and said, "This book belongs in the garbage!"

Other comments by solid Christian scholars include:

In 1953, former American Bible Society board member Bruce M. Metzger concluded that "on the whole, one gains a tolerably good impression of the scholarly equipment of the translators," but identified instances where the translation has been written to support doctrine, with "several quite erroneous renderings of the Greek." Metzger noted several "indefensible" characteristics of the translation, including its use of "Jehovah" in the New Testament.

In 1954, Unitarian theologian Charles F. Potter stated about the New World Translation: "Apart from a few semantic peculiarities like translating the Greek word stauros as "stake" instead of "cross", and the often startling use of the colloquial and the vernacular, the anonymous translators have certainly rendered the best manuscript texts, both Greek and Hebrew, with scholarly ability and acumen."

F. E. Mayer wrote: "It is a version that lends support to denial of doctrines which the Christian churches consider basic, such as the co-equality of Jesus Christ with the Father, the personhood of the Holy Spirit, and the survival of the human person after physical death. It teaches the annihilation of the wicked, the non-existence of hell, and the purely animal nature of man's soul."

In 1963, theologian Anthony A. Hoekema wrote: "Their New World Translation of the Bible is by no means an objective rendering of the sacred text into modern English, but is a biased translation in which many of the peculiar teachings of the Watchtower Society are smuggled into the text of the Bible itself."

Julius R. Mantey, co-author of A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament and A Hellenistic Greek Reader, said about the New Testament of the NWT that it's "a distortion not a translation."

In 1982, Robert H. Countess in his critical analysis The Jehovah's Witness' New Testament wrote that the NWT "must be viewed as a radically biased piece of work."

Theologian William Barclay concluded that "the deliberate distortion of truth by this sect is seen in the New Testament translation.... It is abundantly clear that a sect which can translate the New Testament like that is intellectually dishonest."

Theologian John Ankerberg accused the New World Translation's translators of renderings that conform "to their own preconceived and unbiblical theology." John Weldon and Ankerberg cite several examples wherein they consider the NWT to support theological views overriding appropriate translation.

July 28 2019 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Rev. Carolyn Davis Supporter

No! This version has been modified too much out of content. Jehovah Witnesses beliefs do not line up with Christianity, therefore this translation should NOT be used by a Christian!

August 09 2019 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report