Are the WT doctrines based on well defensible evidence. Can they be defended rigorously? Or are they based on authority - somebody, like the Pope, who decides what is the truth? Can the doctrines pass rigorous questioning and testing?
Interesting article on "Two Translators Who Restored God’s Name to the New Testament." This article celebrates two translators (Lancelot Shadwell 1808-1861 and Frederick Parker 1804-1888) for using God's Name in their translations. The article highlights Shadwell's study of biblical languages. Who were the translators of the NWT? Were there any experts in biblical languages among them?
What's the difference between propaganda and education?
WT March 15, 1976 states that early JWs gave an “overbalanced importance” to Christ. “Down till then, these spiritual Israelites had given overbalanced importance to the Messiah Jesus and his Bride, the Christian congregation.” What is the testimony of Scripture? Whose name was the focus in the early church?
They admitted in a 1970 article that they inserted the word “other” in Col 1:15-20 for doctrinal reasons:
*** w70 4/15 p. 255 Questions From Readers ***
In considering this matter it is well to note that Bible writers often took for granted that certain things would be understood, just as writers in our day do. For example, the apostle Paul states, as we read at Colossians 1:16, that by means of Jesus Christ all things were created in the heavens and on earth. But since we know from Revelation 3:14 that Jesus himself was also created, the New World Translation adds the word “other,” which clearly is what the apostle had in mind.7 But even here, it might be added, that, were it not for the prevalence of the trinitarian teaching that Jesus was not created, it would not have been necessary to add the word “other.” [Emphasis added]
Find facts, shift the burden of proof, and change the direction of conversation.
False interpretations usually arise because the reader is not paying attention to the text. Thus, the authors of Scripture warn their readers not to twist what they were saying (2Pe 3:16). Twisting Scripture is effected by doing the following:
The Bible cannot be interpreted just anyway one wants. This is not how we treat other literature. The Bible should be subject only to those normal rules of interpretation which we all follow when reading any piece of literature. No special rules should be used which, if applied to any other, ancient or modern literature, would be disastrous.
When incarnate Deity picked up the Bible and interpreted it on the basis of grammar and syntax (Mat 22:23-33), this is how we are to interpret the Bible (1Jo 2:6). To dismiss how Jesus interpreted the Bible as "rabbinical," does not solve the issue of how we are to interpret the Bible. On what grounds do modern theologians assume that Marx or Freud is a better interpreter of Scripture than the Lord Jesus Christ?
The way the apostles interpreted the Bible cannot be brushed aside in the name of contextualism because they interpreted the Scriptures under the infallible inspiration of the Holy Spirit who was not bound by the space/time continuum or by any human culture (2Pe 1:21). In hermeneutics, as well, in epistemology, God is the Origin of truth and the measure of all things.
The only logical alternative to the relativizing, humanistic principle of man as the measure of all things is the biblical principle that God is the measure of things. Everyone begins either with man or with God. There is no middle ground. There is no compromise. It is one way or the other.
*** Watchtower Apr 22, 1970, p.
8 ***
One of the reasons is that people are disturbed by what is happening in their churches. Yes, millions of persons have been
shocked to learn that things they were taught as being vital for salvation are now considered by their church to be wrong.
Have you, too, felt discouragement, or even despair, because of what is happening in your church? A businessman in
Medellín, Colombia, expressed the effect the changes have had on many.
“Tell me,” he asked, “how can I have confidence in anything? How can I believe in the Bible, in God, or have faith? Just
ten years ago we Catholics had the absolute truth, we put all our faith in this. Now the pope and our priests are telling
us this is not the way to believe any more, but we are to believe ‘new things.’ How do I know the ‘new things’ will be the
truth in five years?”
Let's briefly outline some of the things which Trinitarians expect to find in the Bible. In the table below, an ✖ in the Unitarian column means that a Unitarian would never write like this when referring to God.
| Expectation | Trinitarians | Unitarians |
|---|---|---|
| We expect to find in the Bible that there is only one, true, living, eternal Being who is God by nature and Maker of heaven and earth. more 🕮 | ✔ | ✔ |
| We expect to find in the Bible that the one true God is incomprehensible. more 🕮 | ✔ | ✔ |
| We expect to find in the Bible that the one true God exists in three Persons called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God would be referred to as a compound or composite oneness. Both singular and plural words would be used at times to speak about God. Plural nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, etc. | ✔ | ✖ |
| We expect to find that when the triune God of the Bible is viewed in terms of Being, all three persons are co-equal in all things. | ✔ | ✖ |
| We expect to find in the Bible that when the triune God is viewed in terms of function, each member of the Trinity has His own specific task, office, and authority. | ✔ | ✖ |
| We expect to find in the Bible that the man called Jesus actually pre-existed His birth from all eternity and was never created or brought into existence. | ✔ | ✖ |
| We expect to find in the Bible that divine titles, attributes and works are attributed to Jesus. | ✔ | ✖ |
| We expect to find in the Bible that Jesus was called “God” and was worshiped as such by the first Christians. | ✔ | ✖ |
| We expect to find in the Bible that divine names, attributes, and works are applied to the Holy Spirit. | ✔ | ✖ |
| In short, we expect to find in the Bible all the essential elements which form the basis of the doctrine of the Trinity. | ✔ | ✖ |
| Point of Comparison | Trinitarians | Unitarians |
|---|---|---|
| Plural Titles | In OT: El/Elohim, Adonai, Creators. One/Many
"Elohim" is plural; the singular is "El." "Adonai" is plural; "Adon" is singular. "Maker" is plural in Ecc 12:1. |
Would never use plural titles |
| Plural words | We, Us, plural verbs, nouns, pronouns, adverbs and adjectives. Hebrew: echad/yachid contrast. echad is used of a
composite unity; yachid is an absolute singularity. Maimonides (1138-1204 AD) changed the Shema Israel (Deut 6:4) from echad to yachid in the Middle Ages. |
Would never speak in plural pronouns |
| Works | attributed to both the Father and the Son | Would never attribute works to both, only to one |
| Ontology | speak about both natures, human and divine | Would not speak about 2 natures, only one |
| Soteriology | Would ascribe all 3 as being involved in salvation | Only the Father would be spoken about as saving anyone |
| Creation | Would ascribe all 3 as being involved in creation | Only the Father would be spoken about as creating the world |
| Appearances | God appeared in human form on earth. | God is and always has been invisible. |
| Worship | Would ascribe bowing, serving, glorifying, honoring, reverence and fear of God, praising, blessing, praying to and obeying the Father and the Son. | Would never ascribe the same honour, praise, and thanks to anyone other than the Father. |
But what if we do not find what we expect to find? Or worse, what if we find the direct opposite of what we expect to find? Since the denial of the consequence is always valid in logic, the doctrine of the Trinity could not survive under those circumstances.
…the Hebrew Scriptures contain God’s name more often than any other name. With the Christian Greek Scriptures, the “New Testament,” the situation is different. Manuscripts of the book of Revelation (the last book of the Bible) have God’s name in its abbreviated form, “Jah,” (in the word “Hallelujah”). But apart from that, no ancient Greek manuscript that we possess today of the books from Matthew to Revelation contains God’s name in full." — The Divine Name That will Endure Forever 1984 p. 23