Page 18 - Cults and Marginal Groups - Textbook w videos short

Study Section 3: What is the basis of their belief structure?

3.1 Connect.

When a Jehovah’s Witness comes to your door, they will quote many verses from the Bible.
But from what Bible are they quoting? They have written their own NEW version of the Bible
and changed, altered, added to, and “corrected” hundreds of verses in their Bible to
accommodate their errant doctrines. We need to be cautious about how verses have been
altered and be aware of how to deal with these modifications.

3.2 Objectives:

1. The student should be able to describe the New World Translation of the Bible, their translation of
the Bible. You will see how the translators of this version of the Bible have systematically modified and
changed God’s Word to fit their errant doctrines.

2. The student should be able to scrutinize various verses that have been modified or altered.

3. The student should be able to become aware of the numerous alterations and additions the
translators of the New World Translation have made. You are encouraged to use accurate translations
of the Bible when dealing with a Jehovah’s Witness. They accept the King James Version of the Bible as
accurate.

3.3 The New World Translation of the Bible

The Jehovah Witness belief about the Bible is that it is the Word of God as long as it is translated
correctly. They have produced their own (corrected) translation of the Bible, in which many
verses have been changed to support their beliefs. It is called The New World Translation
(NWT). 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 Greek
into modern day English by a committee of anointed witnesses of Jehovah." The NWT is the
anonymous work of the “New World Bible Translation Committee.” Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that the
anonymity is in place so that the credit for the work will go to God. Of course, this has the added benefit
of keeping the translators from any accountability for their errors and prevents real scholars from
checking their academic credentials. However, Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that the New World
Translation (NWT) Bible is the “work of competent scholars.”

Here is a quote from a Jehovah’s Witness about the NWT:

“The New World Translation used by Jehovah Witnesses comes from the actual “Dead Sea Scrolls” that
were written in Hebrew. It contains exact scriptures (in English) and puts God’s name back in the Bible
over 7,000 times where it is supposed to be. That is the only difference in their Bible. Why do the newer
versions of the King James Bible leave out God’s name? Psalm 83:18 clearly says his name is Jehovah.
Other scriptures are Exodus 6:3, Isaiah 12:2, Isaiah 26:4, Genesis 22:14, Exodus 17:15, and Judges 6:24.
In the newer King James versions, his name is taken completely out. In my opinion to truly know

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