Page 19 - Cults and Marginal Groups - Textbook w videos short

someone it starts with knowing their name. How can you truly know someone if you don’t even know
what their name is? Therefore, would you want to use a Bible that leaves God’s name out, or would you
want to use one that sanctifies it? The choice is yours.” -- Angela

Reply to Angela

The NWT does not come directly from the “Dead Sea Scrolls.” The primary source material for the Old
Testament in the NWT was Kittel’s Biblia Hebracia. This edition first appeared in 1906. Multiple
secondary sources were used including the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The New Testament for the NWT was taken from the Westcott and Hort manuscripts. The Kingdom
Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures published by Watchtower organization admits Westcott
and Hort were the primary New Testament text utilized. These manuscripts are accepted as valid texts
for the New Testament. The problem is not the original New Testament texts; the problem is how the
Greek in the NWT was translated into English and how words were added that were never in the original
text.

Second, Jehovah is not a Biblical word. It was created by combining the original Hebrew name for God
YHWH and adonai (word used by Jews who didn’t want to say God’s name). The resulting combined
word, “Jehovah” has been used for the name God by many groups, but it is not found in the Bible.
Nowhere do you find the word Jehovah in the original languages, Hebrew or Greek.

Third, forcing the word Jehovah into the New Testament is simply wrong. When your translators did this
they went against thousands of Greek manuscripts of the New Testament; some of which date back to
the second century. Instead the New Testament uses the words “Lord” [Greek: Kurios] and “God”
[Greek: Theos] when talking about God. The writers never used Jehovah, even when quoting the Old
Testament. The Greek New Testament source for the New World Translation, Westcott and Hort, never
used Jehovah. They used kurios for Lord and Theos for God. The Kingdom Interlinear confirms Jehovah
was never in the original text. This interlinear published by the Watchtower Organization shows how
kurios (Lord) and Theos (God) were changed to Jehovah in the English translation. Stating God’s name
was left out of the King James or any other version of the Bible is false. Angela, I suggest finding a
Kingdom Interlinear at your hall so you can see for yourself. When your organization says they removed
the name, they are lying to you.

It is highly revealing that the Watchtower Society has always resisted efforts to identify members of the
New World Translation committee. The claim was they preferred to remain anonymous and humble,
giving God the credit and glory for this translation. However, as former Jehovah witness David Reed
notes, “an unbiased observer will quickly note that such anonymity also shields the translators from any
blame for errors or distortions in their renderings. And it prevents scholars from checking their
credentials.”

The five know members of the New World Translation committee are as follows: chairman, Nathan H.
Knorr; Fred W. Franz (vice president of the Watchtower Society), George D. Gangos, Milton G. Herschell;
and A.D. Schroeder. With the exception of F.W. Franz, none of the committee attended college. None
of the committee members read New Testament Greek, or for that matter, Hebrew or Aramaic. They
“translated” a text that they could not read. In the words of the late Dr. Edgar Goodspeed, a Greek and
Hebrew scholar who endorsement they sought and were refused, “Their grammar is regrettable.”
(Jehovah of the Watchtower, p. 176)

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