christianwitnesses.com

GLARING FLAWS IN WATCHTOWER'S
NEW WORLD TRANSLATION

The main responsible translator on the translation committee for Watchtower's version of the Bible called the New World Translation was Frederick Franz who later became a Watchtower President. He had no training in Hebrew or Greek but consulted previous translations, in particular that of former Jesuit turned Spiritist Johannes Greber, and one or more Hebrew experts. Knorr was on the committee and knew some Spanish but neither Biblical language. George Gangas knew modern Greek but not Biblical ("Koine") Greek. It is said that Franz brought to the table what he had done during the week and mostly they just rubberstamped what he had done. He slanted translation toward his own beliefs, for example teaching that Christ is a lesser spirit being, even as some of the following examples clearly show.

THE MAIN SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR WATCHTOWER'S TRANSLATION WAS
THE JOHANNES GREBER TRANSLATION

Watchtower often claims (falsely) that its New World Translation is the best or at least one of the best Bible translations, but most experts disagree. Also, one of the sources of influence for its translation was the spiritist Johannes Greber, something Watchower has admitted although still continuing to use the same Bible they made under influenced by Greber.

Jehovah's Witnesses and Johannes Greber (part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8q_LPtZ0kc

Jehovah's Witnesses and Johannes Greber (part 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBtcmdBYsPc&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Johannes Greber's spiritist influence on the New World Translation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH3AzzpjlI8

SUBTLE ROMANS 6:23 CHANGE NOTED THAT CAUSES MAJOR
CHANGE IN MEANING

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/193629/1/Found-another-NWT-lie-Romans-6-23-Wages-sin-pays-is-death

WATCHTOWER USES "GIFTS IN MEN" INSTEAD OF "GIFTS TO MEN"

Watchtower’s New World Translation says at Ephesians 4:8 "Wherefore he says: 'When he ascended on high he carried away captives; he gave gifts in men.'” The New International Version says: Ephesians 4:8This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.” Why this glaringly wrong translation by Watchtower? They use “gifts IN men” to mean the elders they appoint, pretending they are gifts from Jehovah God Almighty to rule over congregations on their behalf.

WORDS ADDED IN THE NEW WORLD TRANSLATION OF
THE WATCHTOWER (FREDERICK FRANZ)

Colossians 1:15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn [(prototokos meaning first-ranked not first-created (protoktistos)] over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn [(prototokos meaning first-ranked not first-created (protoktistos)] from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him

Why did Freddy Franz put “other” there? It causes readers to go along with Watchtower’s biased claim that the word firstborn there means first-created. Instead the Greek word actually used is “prototokos” (first born) meaning first in the sense of being first in rank, not in order of birth. Originally the Watchtower's translation had brackets around the word [other] to show it had added the word. This causes Jehovah's Witnesses and other readers to misthink of Christ as a created being who had a beginning instead of being eternal; plus his going from saying that Christ "made all things" to he "made all other things" is also deceptive. Instead Christ the Son, who later became on earth the Father's chief spokesman or Word, had existed all along with the Father.

GLARING MISTRANSLATION AT ROMANS 10

In the New International Version, Romans chapter ten clearly says the following: ⁹That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. ¹¹As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." ¹²For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

But Frederick Franz, now deceased Watchtower President and Governing Body member, changed "the Lord" in verse 13 to "Jehovah" even though it refers to Jesus Christ. His doing so also cannot be defending by virtue of thinking he used "Jehovah" because the verse refers to some Old Testament scripture that uses the tetragrammaton (i.e. YHWH >Yahweh/Yehuwa/Jehovah.....). His doing what he did has the effect of lowering readers' esteem for Christ.

WORDING CHANGED AT COLOSSIANS 1

The New World Translation adds the word “other” four times in Colossians 1:15-19, so that it says Christ created “all other things,” meaning everything except for himself. However the word “other” is not in the Greek manuscripts. The translation committee of the New World Translation, headed by Frederick Franz, the same person who told Jehovah’s Witnesses to expect Armageddon in 1975, added the word “other” there.

WATCHTOWER HAS CHANGED THE MEANING OF "GRACE"

The word for "grace" appears nearly 170 times in the Holy Bible, but it has been removed from Watchtower's New World Translation. Instead the New World Translation has substituted "undeserved kindness," an expression which is much weaker in meaning than "grace." Grace is not just undeserved kindness but rather it is where God freely gives blessings or favors to humans despite their not meriting those, as when He gives us the resurrection hope despite our glaring imperfections or sins due to the ransom sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. This false translation thus presents a distortion of the original meeaning of the Bible and the view in it of the true value of Christ.

GOD/LORD SWITCHED TO "JEHOVAH" BASELESSLY
EVEN WHERE NOT CITING AN OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE

Watchtower has put the name Jehovah into the New Testament (Greek) part of the Bible in over 200 places even though none of the early Greek manuscripts has it. Revelation condemns anyone changing or adding to God's word.

BASELESSLY SWITCHING "THE" TO "A"

The Watchtower book The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures at John 1:1 gives: “En arche en ho logos kai ho logos en pros ton theon kai theos en ho logos” which correctly translated (as the Kingdom Interlinear shows) word-for-word is: “In beginning was the Word and the Word was with the God and God was the Word."

But yet the New World Translation baselessly changes the last “the” to “a”: In the beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.” In fact Koine Biblical Greek emphasizes words or phrases by putting them at the end of a sentence. So Watchtower’s “the Word was a god” is false and should be “the Word was God.”