PTM WEEKLY UPDATE -- JUNE 22, 2009

Which Bible translation can I use to defend myself?

Q. Recently I have been "attacked" by Jehovah's Witnesses for reading a Bible that is out of date and inaccurate (according to them). At one time I used only the KJV Bible. Now I own 15 different translations, yet I don't know which one to trust. How can I defend my faith with regard to issues such as the Trinity or the divinity of Jesus if I am not sure that a translation is accurate? For example, I looked up John 1:1 in the Greek interlinear Bible, but because I am not an expert in Greek, I can't be certain that the translation is accurate.

Also, I have some Messianic Jewish friends (not ethnic Jews) who constantly shove the Sabbath and Old Testament commandments at me. I need a Bible translation I can trust in order to answer them. I'm afraid that my faith is just about to die -- and I don't know where to turn except to you. I trust you guys because I know you have come out of legalism and stick to what the Bible says instead of what is popular.

A. You have two distinct groups -- or philosophies - that are confronting you:

1) Jehovah's Witnesses (Watchtower Society). What if you were a lawyer, and stood in a court room to defend your client only to have the prosecuting lawyer argue that the established law and precedents of that court, state, province or nation were insufficient and that a new "version" of those laws was needed to resolve this case? I believe the judge would question the qualifications and experience of the prosecution.

What If you were a football team, and just before the game started the opposing coach attempted to convince the referees that the goal posts needed to be move, that six attempts at a first down would be allowed, that a first down would result if five yards, not ten yards, were gained ... ?

I think you get my point. Jehovah's Witnesses attempt to convince Christians that the basis of our faith is flawed -- that our versions and translations of the Bible are in adequate -- that the body of Christ is not universal, but that it is limited to their group and their practices and beliefs -- that salvation is not by God's grace, but by the works that their group prescribes -- that God is not the God of the Bible, that Jesus is not the second person of the triune God from eternity, but rather he had a beginning, as a created angel -- that Christian history is not Christian at all -- etc.

The Watchtower's foundation is fatally flawed. Of course they want you to feel inadequate (as you say, you're not an expert in Greek, and neither are 99.9 percent of the people on whose doors they knock). Well, guess what? Using a "secret" team of translators, they have created their own, special version of the Bible -- the New World Translation. While many passages in this version are rendered accurately, many other passages seem to have distinctive (and heretical by historical Christian standards) Watchtower doctrine "shoehorned" in. Because the Watchtower Society will not reveal the identity of the translators, we have no way of knowing or evaluating their qualifications. Once Jehovah's witnesses convince others to read the New World Translation and the New World Translation alone, much of their task of "proving" their tragically flawed teaching is complete.

With regard to popular Bible translations, The King James is an excellent translation -- the New King James is probably better, as it is easier for modern men and women to understand. The New International Version is also an excellent translation, as is the Revised Standard Version and New Revised Standard Version. If you use any or all of those translations, you will be reading faithful translations, given to us by reputable Hebrew and Greek scholars.

2) Messianic Jews, Saturday sabbatarians, etc. These people are to our day, in terms of an challenge to Christianity, what the Galatianizers, the Judaizers, were to the Galatian Christians of Paul's day -- see and study the book of Galatians. Once again, their premise is that they are Christians, but their propositions, presuppositions and beliefs deny the power and sufficiency of the cross of Christ, as they insist that portions of the old covenant are required for Christians today. By their very insistence on the old covenant as necessary and obligatory they deny the name of Jesus, and therefore you must understand that any conversation you have with such individuals will be difficult, for they define Christianity in an entirely different way than does the historic body of Christ.

We have many resources here on our website about the heretical notions and ideas of both of these groups -- please use our feature "search our site" and enter the relevant search words or topics. Click here to read an excellent article from the July/August 2007 Plain Truth magazine on the bizarre history and beliefs of the Watchtower Society.

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