WATCHTOWER - OCTOBER 15, 1997

 

Page 6: Before dying, Adam and Eve passed on to their offspring their human characteristics, their innate conscience, and the capacity for spirituality. The human family was not downgraded to the level of the animals. We can become reconciled to the Creator. (2 Corinthians 5:18) As intelligent creatures, humans continue to have the power to choose whether to obey God or not.

Correction: Everyone has turned away from God making necessary the death of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, everyone, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

 

Page 6: Even now, thousands of years after the original Paradise was lost, we humans are still capable of making the right choice. We have a functioning conscience and a basic capacity for obeying God's laws.

Correction: Only by receiving Jesus Christ into ones life can a person please God.

John 1:12-13 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

 

Page 6: The Bible speaks of "the man we are inside" and the man "within." (2 Corinthians 4:16; Romans 7:22) These expressions relate to the inborn potential we all have to reflect God's personality, to think his thoughts, to be spiritual.

Correction: The person within us is our soul.

Psalm 131:2 Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, Like a weaned child with his mother; Like a weaned child is my soul within me.

 

Pages 6-7: One might ask though, 'If we all have a natural inclination to worship God and, as a result, to enjoy genuine happiness, why is unhappiness so widespread?'

Correction: We all have a natural inclination to sin.

Romans 3:23-24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

 

Page 7: Jesus outlined two important principles in the developing of spirituality. One is to acquire accurate knowledge of God, and the other is to submit obediently to his will. (John 17:3)

Note: Jesus Christ is the key!

John 16:27 "for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God."

John 6:40 "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

 

Page 7: We do not have to spend many decades in a trial-and-error search for happiness. Experience is not the key to happiness. Rather, only godly wisdom and obedience to our Creator can lead to true joy in life. - Psalm 19:7, 8; Ecclesiastes 12:13.

Note: We need to take in knowledge of Jesus Christ and obey Him.

John 15:12 "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

Colossians 2:2-3 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Page 9: Relatively few translators knew Hebrew and Greek so as to translate directly into a vernacular language. Therefore, when the British and Foreign Bible Society sponsored translations, the translators very often based their work on the English-language King James Version.

Note: The Watchtower will subtly criticize others but use the same techniques.

Page 12: Translating from the English, rather than working directly from the Hebrew and Greek, offers important advantages. Besides shortening translation time, it makes possible greater unity of expression in all languages. Why? Because it is much easier to translate precisely from one modern language into another than to translate from an ancient language into various modern ones.

 

Page 11: Because Sinaiticus was among the oldest original-language manuscripts, it not only revealed that the Greek Scriptures had remained essentially unchanged but also helped scholars to uncover errors that had crept into later manuscripts. For example, the reference to Jesus at 1 Timothy 3:16 in Sinaiticus reads: "He was made manifest in the flesh." In place of "he," the majority of then-known manuscripts showed an abbreviation for "God," made by a small alteration of the Greek word for "he." However, Sinaiticus was made many years before any Greek manuscript reading "God." Thus, it revealed that there had been a later corruption of the text, evidently introduced to support the Trinity doctrine.

Note: Codex Sinaiticus contains spelling errors and several non Scriptural books. For example, the codex contains several non-canon books such as Maccabees, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Epistle of Barnabas. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible.

 

Page 11: A translation committee of experienced anointed Christians was organized to produce the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures in English.

Note: The self-appointed "scholars" who made up the Translation Committee were Frederick W. Franz, Nathan H. Knorr, Albert D. Schroeder, Milton Henschel and George D. Gangas. It is interesting to note that none of the Committee members even knew biblical Greek or Hebrew. Dr. Edgar J. Goodspeed, was asked for his evaluation and recommendation of the New World Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. Dr. Goodspeed replied, "No, I'm afraid that I could not do that. The grammar is regrettable." We Left Jehovah's Witnesses, pages 75-76.

 

Page 20: That Jehovah even asks us to proclaim the good news of his Kingdom affords us a privilege.

Correction: True Christians will proclaim Jesus Christ.

Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

 

Page 20: As we preach to others about God's Kingdom, as we proclaim an end to wickedness, as we proclaim an end to wickedness, as we explain to people his marvelous love in providing a ransom, as we open his living Word and teach its precious contents to honesthearted people, we are naturally drawn closer to our Creator, Jehovah. - Psalm 145:11; John 3:16; Hebrews 4:12.

Correction: True Christians are to preach Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:23-24 ... but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

 

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