Why
it is a Jehovah’s Witness—right on time for his divinely scheduled appointment
to hear God’s truth? I say a quick prayer as I answer the door, “May I not get
in the way of your Word—may the seed fall on fertile soil.”
JW: “Good morning!
He hands me a WT pamphlet (“ONE MAN DIED FOR ALL” inviting me to the “Memorial of Jesus Christ’s Death.” I attended and wrote about it here)
He also hands me The Watchtower for March 1, 2013.
I look through the WT and stop on page 6 under FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS. The second question, on the page: “Where will the resurrected ones be?” The WT answer, “Some will be resurrected to immortal spirit life in the heavens to rule with Christ as kings and priests over the earth. (Revelation5:9, 10)”
I had just read Revelation and remembered Revelation 5:10 slightly different.
Revelation 5:10, "And Thou has made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign UPON the earth.” (NASB) The KIT (Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures—a WT publication which has the Greek on the left side with a word-for-word translation above the Greek words and on the right side the way the WT Bible renders the verse) confirms the accuracy of Rev. 5:10, it says: “and you made them to the God of us kingdom and priests, and they are reigning UPON the earth.”
The problem for the WT is that WT doctrine states that the 144,000 (or the ‘anointed class’) mentioned in Revelation chapters 7 and 14 are to reign OVER the earth IN HEAVEN while the ‘other sheep’ or the ‘earthly class’ lives forever UPON a paradise earth. There is NO WAY, in WT doctrine, that those in heaven are to reign UPON the earth. They are to “rule as kings OVER the earth.”
What is the WT to do? No problem. Just change the verse. In the NWT, Revelation 5:10 now reads, “ . . . and they are to rule as kings OVER the earth.”You can see how intellectually dishonest the WT is by looking at Revelation 5:13—on the Greek side of the KIT it reads, “and every creature which is in the heaven and UPON the earth . . . and UPON the sea . . . sitting UPON the throne.” In all three instances UPON is translated on the NWT side as ON, “on the earth . . . and on the sea . . . and sitting on the throne.” However, in Rev. 5:10 the KIT reads, “ . . . and they are reigning UPON the earth,” but on the NWT side (the right side) it reads . . “and they are to rule as kings OVER the earth.” If the WT were consistent, it should read, “and they are to rule as kings ON the earth.” But that is contrary to WT doctrine and so instead of bowing to the Bible and changing their doctrine they bow to their doctrine and change the Bible.
Back to the JW at my door. I pulled out my KIT and showed him the above. I also reminded him of Revelation 22:18, 19 (“If anyone makes an addition to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this scroll; and if anyone takes anything away from the words of the scroll of this prophecy, God will take his portion away from the trees of life.”)
I pointed out that the WT in Revelation 5:10 has taken away the Greek word that God had put in and added a Greek word that went along with WT doctrine. In one verse the WT has taken away and added.
The JW then tried to tell me that the Greek word for “upon” means to be “on” something or over the top of something. Thus their translation “over” is permissible. I turned to the first page of the KIT and showed him a diagram illustrating basic meanings of Greek prepositions. There the word “upon” is shown as touching the thing it is on. The Greek word “over” is shown to be over or above something. Revelation 5:10 in the KIT is shown below.
JW: “Good morning!
He hands me a WT pamphlet (“ONE MAN DIED FOR ALL” inviting me to the “Memorial of Jesus Christ’s Death.” I attended and wrote about it here)
He also hands me The Watchtower for March 1, 2013.
I look through the WT and stop on page 6 under FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS. The second question, on the page: “Where will the resurrected ones be?” The WT answer, “Some will be resurrected to immortal spirit life in the heavens to rule with Christ as kings and priests over the earth. (Revelation5:9, 10)”
I had just read Revelation and remembered Revelation 5:10 slightly different.
Revelation 5:10, "And Thou has made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign UPON the earth.” (NASB) The KIT (Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures—a WT publication which has the Greek on the left side with a word-for-word translation above the Greek words and on the right side the way the WT Bible renders the verse) confirms the accuracy of Rev. 5:10, it says: “and you made them to the God of us kingdom and priests, and they are reigning UPON the earth.”
The problem for the WT is that WT doctrine states that the 144,000 (or the ‘anointed class’) mentioned in Revelation chapters 7 and 14 are to reign OVER the earth IN HEAVEN while the ‘other sheep’ or the ‘earthly class’ lives forever UPON a paradise earth. There is NO WAY, in WT doctrine, that those in heaven are to reign UPON the earth. They are to “rule as kings OVER the earth.”
What is the WT to do? No problem. Just change the verse. In the NWT, Revelation 5:10 now reads, “ . . . and they are to rule as kings OVER the earth.”You can see how intellectually dishonest the WT is by looking at Revelation 5:13—on the Greek side of the KIT it reads, “and every creature which is in the heaven and UPON the earth . . . and UPON the sea . . . sitting UPON the throne.” In all three instances UPON is translated on the NWT side as ON, “on the earth . . . and on the sea . . . and sitting on the throne.” However, in Rev. 5:10 the KIT reads, “ . . . and they are reigning UPON the earth,” but on the NWT side (the right side) it reads . . “and they are to rule as kings OVER the earth.” If the WT were consistent, it should read, “and they are to rule as kings ON the earth.” But that is contrary to WT doctrine and so instead of bowing to the Bible and changing their doctrine they bow to their doctrine and change the Bible.
Back to the JW at my door. I pulled out my KIT and showed him the above. I also reminded him of Revelation 22:18, 19 (“If anyone makes an addition to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this scroll; and if anyone takes anything away from the words of the scroll of this prophecy, God will take his portion away from the trees of life.”)
I pointed out that the WT in Revelation 5:10 has taken away the Greek word that God had put in and added a Greek word that went along with WT doctrine. In one verse the WT has taken away and added.
The JW then tried to tell me that the Greek word for “upon” means to be “on” something or over the top of something. Thus their translation “over” is permissible. I turned to the first page of the KIT and showed him a diagram illustrating basic meanings of Greek prepositions. There the word “upon” is shown as touching the thing it is on. The Greek word “over” is shown to be over or above something. Revelation 5:10 in the KIT is shown below.
JW: “I don’t want to argue. Have a good
day.”
Me: Silently to myself: “Lord I pray I did not get in the way of your word and may the seed fall on fertile soil.”
FASCINATING. During the visit I noticed that the JW looked at the front of his Bible often even though we were not talking about anything in Genesis. I asked if I could look at his Bible. In the front of his Bible was a copy of “Reasoning from the Scriptures”—a WT book that has the WT’s position on 68 different topics with questions to ask and scriptures to quote on each topic. There are also “Openings” on various topics to be used when the JW knocks on a door. In addition, there are responses to “Conversation Stoppers.”
MY POINT—JW's use the “Reasoning from Scripture” book more than the Scriptures themselves. Why is this? See my blog on “Why do you see JW’s studying their WT magazines and rarely the Bible” here.
Me: Silently to myself: “Lord I pray I did not get in the way of your word and may the seed fall on fertile soil.”
FASCINATING. During the visit I noticed that the JW looked at the front of his Bible often even though we were not talking about anything in Genesis. I asked if I could look at his Bible. In the front of his Bible was a copy of “Reasoning from the Scriptures”—a WT book that has the WT’s position on 68 different topics with questions to ask and scriptures to quote on each topic. There are also “Openings” on various topics to be used when the JW knocks on a door. In addition, there are responses to “Conversation Stoppers.”
MY POINT—JW's use the “Reasoning from Scripture” book more than the Scriptures themselves. Why is this? See my blog on “Why do you see JW’s studying their WT magazines and rarely the Bible” here.
Knock! Knock #3 is here.
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