AboutBrenton Hepburn Expertise I am one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
I can answer questions on the reliability of the NWT, the so called mind control problems, so called prophecies, and general practices and history of Jehovah’s Witnesses.....
>>>>WARNING<<<<<< ....Please be aware that there are at least ... 3 .... people here who ARE NOT practicing JWs and, (at other times there have been as many as 5.) These ones will, at times, appear to have an agenda against JWs., and will often give answers that are not correct in regard to JW teachings and practices. If you are after a answer from one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, please read some of the answers that the various experts have published before choosing someone. If you want to ask them a question that is fine, but if you want a balancing view after asking one of the NON JWs, ask a JW the same question
Experience I have been a publisher since 1964. When I first went on the internet I found a lot of negative information dealing with Jehovah’s Witnesses covering prophecy, mind control and what many said was a very bad translation of the Bible known as the NWT. It shook my faith. After may hours researching these topics I could see why some felt that way, but, I was also able to explain why there were these misleading views. I can now set matters straight for anyone that has negative information about Jehovah’s Witness to show them that such information is at best misleading and at worst dangerous lies.
Education/Credentials I have been a student of the Bible for many years, am trying to teach myself Biblical Greek.
Was a public tax accountant for many yrars untill SEP 2009 when I gave it up.
Question I notice you use the Revised Standard Version (RSV)in your answers. Why?
Do you think there are any Bibles todat that are 100% accurate.
Thank You
Answer Hello John
Thank you for your questions
Why do I use the RSV in most of my answers, because a lot of people will not accept the NWT. There is a misconception that it is a poor translation, so to be able to answer questions with out the reader being turned off by the Bible I use, I decided to use one that seems to be accepted by most people. However there are some that will only use, and accept the 1611 King James Version. There again there are many that do not like the King James Version.
Do I think that there are any Bibles that 100% accurate?
No. There are no Bibles that are 100% accurate. All Bibles are translations (or reproductions) of other peoples works.
No original documents from the original writers exist. Every thing we have are copies of copies, and errors have crept in to the manuscripts either by mistake or on purpose.
How do they get in by mistake?
By many ways. In days long before printing presses, careful scribes would count each letter and each line. AT times scribes would forget to count, (or did not bother), > When they did not count, at times different scribes missed a line or missed words, added the same word twice. This sort of thing can be picked up by comparing texts. So the more texts (ancient manuscripts) that are compared the closer (in theory) one comes to the original.
There are more than 13,000 manuscripts of the Christian Greek Scriptures, and there are many textual variations. The 5,000 manuscripts in the Greek language alone show many such differences. We can well understand that each copy made from early manuscripts would contain its own distinctive scribal errors. As any one of these early manuscripts was sent to an area for use, these errors would be repeated in the copies in that area and would become characteristic of other manuscripts there. It was in this way that families of similar manuscripts grew up
At times scribes deliberately changed wording to suit the times that they lived in (languages are always evolving), or to put their theological bias on a text.
ALL translations today no matter if they are the King James or any one of the many Bibles translated in the last century have some form of theological bias, including the New World translation. From the studies I have done the NWT has the least bias in translation. The bias that is there is minor compared to most other translations.
The King James is said to be based on the Received Text. However even that is debated among JKV only advocates. If one does an inter net search on the “Received Text� or as it is sometimes called “textus receptus� we will find that scholar disagree as to its origin. Here are a few sites I found
After the King James Version was published more manuscripts came to light, some of them much older the ones used for the King James. This cause some scholars to examine the “Received Text� in light of the findings and several “master Greek texts� appeared after the “Received Text�.
Now this is where the problem lies. Most scholars will prefer the later Greek texts such as the ones produced by Griesbach, Tischendorf, Westcott and Hort, Nestle-Aland. KJV only abvattes insist that the KJV has no errors. while other scholars recognize that errors did creep into the various copies.
Each individual must do their own research and decide which side of the argument they want to be on. Why? Because if one will only use the 1611 JKV then there will always be debate as to a particular doctrine. If one id prepared to use a more modern Bible then doctrinal differences can be overcome in ones search for truth.
Personally I have software that gives me the use of the following Bibles to compare.
Bible Holman Christian Standard
Bible New King James Version
Bible THE MESSAGE Bible by Eugene Peterson
Bible 1901 American Standard Version
Bible 1769 Authorized Version
Bible 1769 Authorized Version Red Letter Edition
Bible 1965 Bible in Basic English
Bible Calvin Partial Bible Translation & Comments
Bible 1884 Darby Version
Bible 1865 Diaglot NT
Bible 1899 Douay Rheims Version
Bible English Standard Version
Bible God's Word to the Nations
Bible Jubilee Bible - Russel Stendal
Bible Jewish Publication Society Old Testament
Bible 21st Century King James Version
Bible 1853 Leeser Old Testament
Bible Living Oracles (Obsolete Version 6 Module)
Bible Tyndale (Rogers, Coverdale) Bible
Bible 1833 Webster Bible
Bible 1912 Weymouth NT Translation
Bible 1936 Williams New Testament
Bible William TyndaleNew Testament 1525-1526
Bible 1898 Young's Literal Translation
Bible An English translation of the LXX
Bible Messianic NT by John McKee
Bible 1851 Murdoch New Testament
Bible 1869 Noyes Translation (Job - Re)
Bible Philips New Testament (1972)
Bible 1902 Rotherham Bible
Bible 1885 English Revised Version
Bible 1947 Revised Standard Version
Bible Revised Webster Bible by Larry Pierce
Bible Ben Asher Morphological Hebrew Text
Bible Ben Asher Hebrew Text
Bible Interlinear Greek New Testament
Bible 1991 Byzantine Majority Greek Text
Bible 1872 Tischendorf Greek NT
Bible TR 1550 - Textus Receptus Text
Bible 1881 Westcott Hort Greek Text
Bible LXX Septuagint
Bible LXXM Analytic Septuagint
Bible 1905 Syriac Peshitta New Testament
The NWT is derived from the following, and is one reason why I think it goes a long way in presenting a very good rendering of the original writings.
Sources for the Text of the New World Translation Christian Greek Scriptures
Original Greek Writings and Early Copies
Armenian Version
Coptic Versions
Syriac Versions Curetonian, Philoxenian, Harclean,
Palestinian, Sinaitic, Peshitta
Old Latin
Latin Vulgate
Sixtine and Clementine Revised Latin Texts
Greek Cursive MSS.
Erasmus Text
Stephanus Text
Textus Receptus
Griesbach Greek Text
Emphatic Diaglott
Papyri (e.g., Chester Beatty P45, P46, P47; Bodmer P66, P74,
P75)
Early Greek Uncial MSS.�Vatican 1209 (B), Sinaitic (�),
Alexandrine (A), Ephraemi Syri rescriptus (C), Bezae (D)
Westcott and Hort Greek Text
Bover Greek Text
Merk Greek Text
Nestle-Aland Greek Text
United Bible Societies Greek Text
23 Hebrew Versions (14th-20th centuries), translated
either from the Greek or from the Latin Vulgate, using
Tetragrammaton for divine name
Sources for the Text of the New World Translation�Hebrew Scriptures
Original Hebrew Writings and Early Copies
Aramaic Targums
Dead Sea Scrolls
Samaritan Pentateuch
Greek Septuagint
Old Latin
Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian
Hebrew Consonantal Text
Latin Vulgate
Greek Versions Aquila, Theodotion, Symmachus
Syriac Peshitta
Masoretic Text
Cairo Codex
Petersburg Codex of the Prophets
Aleppo Codex
Ginsburg's Hebrew Text
Codex Leningrad B 19A
Biblia Hebraica (BHK), Biblia Hebraica
Stuttgartensia (BHS)
