Conflicts,
Inconsistencies, and
Changes,
in the Jehovah Witness
'New World Translation'.
"We have
made our own Bible translation, the New World Translation, the most correctly
translated Bible ever. The translators names are kept secret, so as the
honor of this translation goes to Jehovah - not to men."
So says the file 'What do Jehovah's
Witnesses Believe' as taken from their website at http://194.234.87.103.
This website address has not answered for several months, and no one seems
to know why. I will email the full text of their beliefs, as posted, upon
request.
Okay, since Jehovah is given all the credit for writing
this translation, and if Jehovah is GOD, then this truly must be a perfect
translation, as GOD is perfect, and cannot dispense error. Dispensing error
is satan's job, right? I then must ask why there are so many conflicts,
inconsistencies, and changes in the NWT? In this file I will list only
a few.
John 1:1, "...and the Word was 'a' god."
'A' god means multiple god's, does it not? Did you notice the small 'g'
for god as used in this verse? JW's openly admit that Jesus Christ is a
lesser god than Jehovah.
Jesus Christ is considered the 'mighty god', whereas Jehovah is the 'almighty
God'.
Isaiah 44:6, "I am the first and the last, and
besides Me there is no GOD." Well Jehovah himself said he is
the only god. He also said the same thing in Deut 32:39, Isa 43:3, Isa
43:10-11, Isa 44:6, Isa 45:5,21. How can Jesus Christ be 'a god', if Jehovah
said he is the only God? And how many times does GOD have to repeat Himself
before we humans get the message?
The Watchtower Society (WTS) teaching that Jesus Christ is 'a god', is
an open admission that Jehovah is not the only god. That alone is a violation
of the first commandment, "I am the Lord, your GOD. YOU
SHALL NOT HAVE
OTHER GODS BESIDES ME." Exodus 20:1-3
On page 1640 of the NWT, it says 'we
RENDERED the Tetragrammaton (YHWH or Lord)
6828 times to read 'Jehovah'. So the NWT now reads Jehovah instead of Lord
as in other Bibles.
Note!
The word 'rendered'
as used by the Watchtower Society in the above reference, is their subtle
way of admitting that they changed the wording in the Old Testament without
having to use the word 'changed'
which is really what they did. After all, 'changed'
is a direct violation of all those verses which admonish anyone not to
change the Bible, such as, Deut 4:2,13:1, Prov 30:5-6, Gal 1:8-9, 2Pet
3:15-16, and of course Rev 22:18-20.
Are you CURIOUS about 'KURIOS'?
It is not to their credit when they selectively did some of the same name
changes in the New Testament, but only when it became necessary to suit
'their' teaching. They changed the name when support was needed to show
that Jesus Christ is not GOD, and did not change it in other verses for
the same reason. They will openly admit that the word 'Lord'
as used in the New Testament is a reference to Jesus Christ and not to
Jehovah. An example is, "...there was born to you a Savior, who is
Christ the 'Lord'..."
Luke 2:11
Now, if you taught that Jesus Christ is 'Lord', but not GOD, then I suppose
you would be forced to go to the Old Testament and remove all reference
to 'Lord' and replace it with another word, such as a made up one like
'Jehovah' for example. After all, with the 'Lord' in both testaments, it
would be impossible to separate them as two persons, one who is God, and
one who is 'a' god, as the Watchtower Society has attempted to do.
Here are some examples of what I mean which amplify the
inconsistencies of the NWT...
Are you curious about 'KURIOS'?
If not, then you certainly should be. The next time Jehovah's Witnesses
come to your door, ask them to explain this debacle.
JW's believe St. Michael is Jesus Christ:
Jude 9, Michael, the archangel was fiercely disputing with the devil about
the body of Moses when he said, "May the Lord
(KURIOS
in the Greek), rebuke thee."
The NWT reads, "May Jehovah rebuke
you."
Please show me how you get the word 'Jehovah' from the Greek word, 'KURIOS'
here?
Now if they had left 'Lord'
in this verse, it would have proven that Michael and the Lord are not one
in the same.
JW's believe that the Son is not GOD, and so when verses quote the Father
and the Son as two persons, they leave the word 'Lord'
alone:
Eph 1:2, "...GOD our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ."
The NWT reads, "...God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ." Hmmm, identical translations.
They translated 'KURIOS'
to 'Lord' in this verse.
I suppose 'Jehovah Jesus Christ' would not be in the Watchtower's best
interest.
Phil 2:11, "...that Jesus Christ is 'Lord'..."
They let this one stand, as it would have proved an embarrassment for them
to change that 'Lord',
and in doing so, having to admit that Jesus Christ is Jehovah.
Hey, Watchtower Society!
Since you 'RENDERED'
the word 'Lord' to 'Jehovah' over 6800 times in the Bible, why did you
not 'RENDER'
this verse as well? Inconsistencies abound in the NWT.
Luke 4:12, "And Jesus answered and said to him, "It is said,
Thou shalt not tempt the 'Lord'
thy GOD."
The NWT reads, In answer Jesus said to him: "It is said, 'You must
not put Jehovah your
GOD to the test.'"
Why did the Watchtower Society 'RENDER'
this 'KURIOS'
to 'Jehovah'?
Because it would have said Jesus Christ is GOD, that is why. Show me the
word 'Jehovah'
in the Greek text?
2Cor 3:17, "Now the 'Lord'
is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the 'Lord'
is, there is freedom."
The NWT reads, "Now 'Jehovah'
is the Spirit; and where the spirit of 'Jehovah'
is, there is freedom."
This is an interesting verse. In other Bibles, Jesus Christ and the Spirit
are the second and third persons in one GOD. Jehovah Witnesses teach that
the Spirit is a 'force'
of GOD, and not a 'person'.
Here they admit that Jehovah and the Spirit are the same, making the first
and third persons GOD, while still denying the divinity of Christ. This
is a major inconsistency of the NWT.
Again, show me the word 'Jehovah'
in the Greek text?
2Cor 6:18, "...says the Lord Almighty."
As pointed out already, JW's teach that Jehovah is the 'Almighty'
GOD, and Jesus Christ is only the 'mighty'
god. Guess what they did to this verse?
The NWT says in 2Cor 6:18, "...says 'Jehovah'
the Almighty."
Again yet, where do they get the translation of 'Kurios'
to be Jehovah?
Dear Watchtower Society:
I have a question for you. Since the Greek word, 'KURIOS',
which means 'LORD',
is the same word used throughout the New Testament, how can you change
it here and there to suit yourselves, but not be consistent and change
it everywhere it is used? You have tried to separate Jesus Christ from
Jehovah, in order to show from your teaching, that Jesus Christ is not
GOD. Since the word 'Lord' is used throughout the Bible as a name for GOD,
you were forced to change the word 'Lord' to 'Jehovah' every time it was
used in the Old Testament. That part was easy since Jesus Christ had not
appeared on the scene yet. However when it came to the New Testament, both
GOD and Lord are synonymous since Jesus Christ IS GOD. Now you are faced
with a dilemma. You cannot change every word 'Lord' in the New Testament
to 'Jehovah' as that would show that all of the verses that applied to
Jesus Christ would prove that He and Jehovah are one in the same GOD. So
what did you do? You changed every word 'Lord' which signifies GOD, to
'Jehovah', and you let stand every word 'Lord' that meant Jesus Christ.
Now, I submit that in all of the New Testament which was written originally
in Greek, except for Matthew which was written in Aramaic, the same Greek
word for 'Lord' which is 'KURIOS',
is used every time. 'Lord' is used over 600 times in the New Testament
and of this number you have changed it over 230 times to 'Jehovah'. Please
explain to me, from the original Greek New Testament, how you managed to
translate the Greek word for 'Lord', 'KURIOS',
to 'Jehovah' over 230 times, and 'KURIOS'
to 'Lord' over 370 times?
I have shown only some of the numerous inconsistencies in the NWT. Following
are many more.
Just who is the Savior according to the NWT?
How many gods are there?
Who is the Redeemer?
How many Redeemers are there?
Note! All verses in this section are quotes from the NWT.
Isaiah 43:3,and 43:11, "For I am Jehovah your God, the Holy One of
Israel your Savior....and besides Me there is no
Savior."
So Jehovah said he is the Savior and there is no other, and he repeated
himself in two verses. Why did he have to say it twice?
Isaiah 49:26, "And all flesh will have to know
that I, Jehovah, am your 'Savior' and your 'Repurchaser' (Redeemer),
the Powerful One of Jacob."
Isaiah 47:4, "There is 'One Repurchasing'
us Jehovah of armies is his name..."
Isaiah 48:17, "This is what Jehovah has said, your 'Repurchaser',
the Holy One of Israel..."
Isaiah 49:7, "This is what Jehovah, the 'Repurchaser'
of Israel, his Holy One, has said..."
These verses raise a lot of questions. First, Jehovah repeats yet again
that he is the Savior. Then, he calls himself the Redeemer.
Now, just who is the Repurchaser/Redeemer?
He is the one who suffered and died on the cross for our sins. The Redeemer
is Jesus Christ and none other. So now is Jehovah saying it is he who suffered
and died for us? These verses show that Jehovah and Jesus Christ are one
in the same GOD.
Isaiah 59:20, "And to Zion the 'Repurchaser'
will certainly come, and to those turning
from transgression in Jacob," is the utterance of Jehovah.
Oops, here Jehovah plainly states that the Redeemer
will come, which he certainly did, but in
the person of Jesus Christ.
Watchtower Society, just who is the Redeemer
and how many Redeemers
are there?
Isaiah 43:10, "Before me there was no God formed, AND
AFTER ME THERE CONTINUED TO BE NONE."
Well, it seems there were not any gods before Jehovah and there never will
be any after.
Isaiah 45:21, "...Is it not I, Jehovah, besides
whom there IS NO OTHER GOD; a righteous God
and a Savior, there being none excepting me."
Here, Jehovah said it again that he alone is the Savior, and he states
in these two verses that he is the 'ONLY'
God. Why does anyone, especially GOD, repeat himself? He does it to drive
home a point. In this case, THERE IS ONLY
ONE SAVIOR AND THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD. Also,
I thought previously that in John 1:1, the Word was 'A'
god, meaning there are multiple gods. It seems there is a contradiction
between John 1:1, and Isaiah 45:10 and 21, but only in the NWT. Contradictions
and inconsistencies abound in the NWT.
Moses had something to say along these lines. Deut 32:39, "See now
that I-I am he And there are no gods
(note the lower case 'g') together with me."
It sounds like Moses and Isaiah are in agreement that there IS
ONLY ONE GOD. But what about John 1:1 and
'a' god? Confused?
Isaiah 45:5, "I am Jehovah, and there is no one else. With
the exception of me, there is no God."
Jehovah again said there is only ONE God.
Jehovah repeats himself...Again!
He has gotta drive home that point, I suppose.
Isaiah 9:6, "And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, 'Mighty
GOD' (Jesus Christ is the 'Mighty
GOD', remember?), Eternal Father, Prince of
Peace."
Here is a prefigurement of the coming of Jesus Christ, a 'Mighty
GOD'. I thought Jehovah said he was the 'ONLY'
god repeatedly.
Watchtower Society, just how many gods are there? And while you are at
it, how many saviors?
1John 4:14, "...the Father has sent forth his Son as Savior
of the world."
Hmmm, I thought in Isaiah, in a previous example, that Jehovah alone was
the Savior, but here he is sending his Son as the Savior." There is
inconsistency on top of inconsistency in the NWT.
Luke 2:11, "...there was born to you today a Savior, who is Christ
the Lord."
This verse says Jesus Christ is the Savior, not Jehovah. But I thought
Jehovah had said he was the 'ONLY' Savior
many times above.
Tit 1:3, "...under command of our Savior, GOD."
Jehovah is GOD (capital 'G'), right? This verse says Jehovah is the Savior.
Tit 1:4, "...peace from GOD [the] Father and Christ Jesus our Savior."
This says Jesus Christ is the Savior, not Jehovah. Answers anyone?
Tit 2:10, "...the teaching of our Savior GOD, in all things."
This contradicts Tit 1:4, by saying Jehovah is the Savior...again!
Tit 2:13, "...of the great GOD and of [the] Savior of us, Christ Jesus."
Now we are back to Jesus Christ as the Savior.
Tit 3:4, "the part of our Savior, GOD..."
Back to Jehovah as Savior.
Tit 3:6, "...through Jesus Christ our Savior..."
Back to Jesus Christ as Savior.
I feel like a bouncing ball in reading these verses. I am getting confused.
I guess St. Paul must have been confused also when he wrote his Epistle
to Titus (but only for the NWT translation). It would appear that he could
not decide between Jehovah and Jesus Christ either, as to exactly which
one was the Savior. According to the NWT, three of these verses from Titus
say Jehovah is the Savior and three say Jesus Christ is. Isaiah 43:11,
does say right from the mouth of Jehovah, "...and
besides me there is no Savior", yet,
I have shown many verses here that the NWT says Jesus Christ is the Savior.
I would say for sure that these verses say Jehovah and Jesus Christ
are one in the same GOD. You will remember also that in John 1:1, the NWT
demoted Jesus Christ to 'a' god (small 'g' for GOD), yet in all the verses
above that refer to the Savior GOD, there is a capital 'G'.
I think we had better summarize what we have found, according to what the
NWT says that is:
1. Isaiah said there is only one God and only one Savior, and he said both
are Jehovah and none other. Also he repeated this in many verses in order
to make sure we got the message.
2. John said there is more than one god and you can tell them apart by
the way you spell the word 'god'. A capital 'G' for one and a small 'g'
for the other. Just a thought...'a' god, as in John 1:1, could mean more
than 2 gods. Why did I have to think of that? I am confused enough.
3. Luke says 'a' Savior in Luke 2:11. That means he thinks there is only
one Savior, but then 'a' savior could mean multiple Saviors also in order
for us to be consistent with 'a' god in John 1:1. I guess Luke did not
know which way it was.
4. Paul, in Titus, definitely said there are two Saviors. Jehovah was mentioned
three times, since Jesus Christ was not mentioned, and there was a capital
'G'. Jesus Christ was mentioned three times by name. But wait, every time
Jesus Christ was mentioned, there was a capital 'G' also. Paul appears
to disagree with Isaiah except if you throw in the confusion factor of
the 'cases' for the letter 'g', then he agrees with Isaiah. Paul must have
been confused.
5. Along comes John again in 1John 4:1 to confuse us even more. He appears
to agree with Isaiah, but then he disagrees with himself in John 1:1. It
sounds like he is confused too.
6. Then Luke decides definitely in Acts 4:12, that Jesus Christ is the
Savior. "...there is no salvation in anyone else, for there is not
another name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must
get saved."
Instead of being 'undecided' as he appeared to be in Luke 2:11, Luke comes
out strongly against Isaiah in Acts 4:11.
7. Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 41:14, 43:14, 44:24, 47:4, 48:17, 49:7, 49:26,
54:5, and 54:8, that Jehovah is the Redeemer. He hints in Isaiah 59:20
that another is the Redeemer. The Gospels, Acts, and many other New Testament
books read that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer.
Conflicts, and Inconsistencies abound in the NWT.
Are there any Jehovah's Witnesses who care to respond?
Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First
and the Last, all mean essentially the same thing. Alpha and Omega are
merely the Greek words for 'First and Last'.
Rev 21:5-6, And the One seated on the throne (it has to be Jehovah, the
capitol 'O' in 'One' proves it) said: "Look! I am making all things
new." Also he says: "Write, because these words are faithful
and true. " And he said to me: "They have come to pass! I am
the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end." So it is Jehovah
who is the beginning and the end, not Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 44:6, "I am the First and the Last, and besides me there is
no god."
So it is Jehovah who is the first and the last, not Jesus Christ.
Rev 1:8, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, says Jehovah GOD", "the
One who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty." This says
it is Jehovah, not Jesus Christ.
Rev 2:8, "...the first and the last, who became dead and came to life
[again]." Who other can this mean but Jesus Christ? Did Jehovah die
and come back to life? I thought Jehovah said he was the first and the
last in Isaiah 44:6 above. Rev 2:8 could be only about Jesus Christ and
proves that 'Jehovah' and Jesus Christ are one in the same GOD according
to the NWT.
Rev 22:13, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last,
the beginning and the end."
This would clinch it if we could show who said it. Rev 22:16 proves it
is Jesus Christ who said it, "I, Jesus, send my angel to bear witness
to you people of these things for the congregations."
Not surprisingly, the NWT, in verse 6 said "...These words are faithful
and true, yes, Jehovah the God of the inspired expressions of the prophets
sent his angel forth to show his slaves (? Slaves?) the things that must
shortly take place." So Jehovah sent the angel in Vs 6, and Jesus
sent the angel in vs 16. Once again, the NWT proves that Jehovah and Jesus
Christ are one in the same GOD.
Once again, "Watchtower Society, please show me the Greek word for
'jehovah' in Rev 22:6?"
Who will send the Holy Spirit?
John 14:26 - Jehovah will.
John 16:7 - Jesus Christ will.
Who is the Judge?
Isaiah 33:22 - Jehovah is.
2Tim 4:1 - Jesus Christ is.
Who is the Shepherd?
Psalm 23:1 - Jehovah is.
Jn 10:11 - Jesus Christ is.
Who is the Light of the World?
Psalm 27:1, Micah 7:8 - Jehovah is.
John 8:12 - Jesus Christ is.
Who is the King of the Jews?
Isaiah 33:22,44:6 - Jehovah is.
Matt 27:37, John 19:21 - Jesus Christ is.
Who raised Jesus Christ from the dead?
Acts 3:15 - Jehovah did.
John 2:19-21 - Jesus Christ did.
Who is Lord of Lords?
Deut 10:17 - Jehovah is.
Rev 17:14, 1Cor 8:6 - Jesus Christ is.
Who is Worshiped?
Matt 4:10 - Jehovah is.
Heb 1:6, Rev 5:11-14 - Jesus Christ is.
They changed Zech 12:10 from...
"...And they have looked upon Me, whom they have pierced."
To, "...and they will certainly look to the One whom they pierced
through..."
Clearly GOD had said HE was pierced. The NWT says One was pierced. It would
be embarrassing for the Watchtower Society to admit that the Son, who was
the one pierced, is GOD.
They changed Heb 1:8 from...
"...Thy throne, O GOD, is forever and ever..."
To, "GOD is your throne forever and ever..."
The Father calls the Son GOD in this passage, but not in the NWT.
They added the word 'other' four times in Col 1:16-17...
This is the section where Jesus is described as being the creator of all
things. Since the JW's believe Jesus Christ is a created being, they inserted
these words to show He was before all 'other' created things, thus implying
that He too is created. The word 'other' (heteros or allos) does not appear
in the Greek text.
JW's teach that Jesus Christ was Michael the Archangel
before he was born of Mary. At that point, Michael disappeared forever.
However, the NWT translators forgot that little 'fact', or maybe St. John
did, when he wrote the Book of Revelations. For in Rev 12:5, there is Jesus
Christ, and in Rev 12:7, there is Michael again. Hmmm, they look like separate
persons to me, according to the NWT.
"I and the Father are ONE."
John 10:30
If they are ONE, then
both have to be GOD.
"The Father is greater than I am." John 14:28
Is there a contradiction here?
No, not at all. JW's teach that Jesus Christ is man and not GOD.
Since he spoke as man, which he did in John 14:28, then that verse is correct.
However, almost all other Christians teach that Jesus Christ is GOD AND
man.
He has two natures, one human and one divine.
Therefore he could speak in his human nature as a man, and the Father is
greater in John 14:28.
He spoke in His divine nature as GOD in John 10:30, and is therefore One
with the Father.
These are but a few Conflicts,
Inconsistencies
and Changes,
out of hundreds in the NWT, but I think you get the drift. This book is
so full of errors that GOD could not possibly have had a hand in producing
it. It has been called, 'THE WORLDS MOST DANGEROUS
BOOK'.
"EVERY WORD OF
GOD IS TESTED;
HE IS A SHIELD TO THOSE WHO TAKE REFUGE IN HIM.
ADD NOTHING TO HIS WORDS, LEST HE REPROVE YOU,
AND YOU BE EXPOSED AS A DECEIVER."
Proverbs 30:5-6
Written by Bob Stanley, 1998
Updated on September 27, 1999
Updated on January 19, 2000
Back
to Home Page...
Back
to Defenders....