EXEGESIS or EISEGESIS
I recently was given a copy of a WT booklet, "What Can the Bible Teach Us?" I also just happen to have listened to a sermon where two words were defined and examples given for each. The words: EXEGESIS and EISEGESIS (also know as Conformation Bias.)
I decided to read through this WT book, look at some of the teachings of the WT and ascertain if the WT used EXEGESIS or EISEGESIS to determine their doctrine.
In my pic to the left, you may have noticed I took out the word "Bible" and substituted in "False Prophet." Why? Read any or all of my four blogs below exposing the Watch Tower as a False Prophet. The title of their booklet claiming that it contains truths taught by the Bible is incorrect. It contains the doctrines of the WTBTS, a False Prophet.
#1--Prophecy of 1878--The End of the Harvest which is here.
#2--Prophecy of 1914--The Destruction of Christendom and the End of Human Rulership which is here.
#3--Prophecy of 1925--Resurrection of the Patriarchs
#4--Prophecy of 1975--Armageddon Promised!
Before analyzing the WT book, two definitions are needed. WT quotes are in BLUE.
Exegesis is the process of drawing out the meaning from a text in accordance with the context and discoverable meaning of its author,
Where As
Eisegesis occurs when a translator imposes his/her interpretation into and onto the text. In Biblical Eisegesis a translator has a pre-conceived doctrine, then goes to the Bible and translates a verse in a way that supports that doctrine. The word Eisegesis literally means “to lead into,” which means the interpreter wants to lead the reader to a particular conclusion--a conclusion that he supports but the Bible, if studied correctly, does not support.
On to the book! Page 12, God has told us that his name is Jehovah. Psalm 83:18 reads, "May people know that you, whose name is Jehovah, you alone are the Most High over all the earth." And at Exodus 3:15, "Jehovah . . . is my name forever." Here the WT goes into their usual argument that God's name is actually Jehovah. I blogged extensively about this here (What Does the Bible Really Teach? (WDTBRT) WT book—Chapter 1, "What is the Truth About God".)
Why does the WT want a potential convert to think that God's name is really Jehovah? Because the WT has stated, "How can you recognize true worshippers? Consider these five identifying marks: #2: Jesus' true followers honor God's name, Jehovah. Where you live, which religion makes God's' name known?" Good News From God a WT booklet page 20-21. To make the point that God's name, Jehovah, occurs throughout the Bible, the WT has replaced "Lord" or "Christ" with Jehovah 237 times in the New Testament when "Jehovah" does not occur in any of the 25,000+ manuscripts and partial manuscripts of the New Testament.
Where did the name "Jehvoah" come from? Jehovah is a name made-up by a Catholic monk (Raymundus Martini) in 1270 when he took the consonants from Yahweh and combined them with the vowels from Adhonay and Elohim and then anglicized it with a hard "J", thus "Jehovah" (see Aid to Bible Understanding pg. 884-885 and my blog on this subject here). It was not widely used until the 1400's. The Hebrew language has no hard "J" sound. Thus, if a JW could hop into a WayBack machine and end up in the time of David or Daniel or Jeremiah, etc. and ask one of them, "let's go worship Jehovah," the ancient Israelites would have no idea who they were talking about. Many Bibles use the name "Jehovah" but only JW's state that IT IS God's name and it is of the UTMOST IMPORTANCE to use God's name. (WDTBRT page 195)
So has the WT used EXEGESIS or EISEGESIS to claim that "God has told us that his name is Jehovah?"
Back to the book, page 50. TRUTH 2 Jesus was an angel before he came to the earth. . . What did Jesus do in heaven? Colossians 1:15, 16, "Jehovah created Jesus first, and then he used Jesus to make all other things." (New World Translation--the WT's Bible).
I recently was given a copy of a WT booklet, "What Can the Bible Teach Us?" I also just happen to have listened to a sermon where two words were defined and examples given for each. The words: EXEGESIS and EISEGESIS (also know as Conformation Bias.)
I decided to read through this WT book, look at some of the teachings of the WT and ascertain if the WT used EXEGESIS or EISEGESIS to determine their doctrine.
In my pic to the left, you may have noticed I took out the word "Bible" and substituted in "False Prophet." Why? Read any or all of my four blogs below exposing the Watch Tower as a False Prophet. The title of their booklet claiming that it contains truths taught by the Bible is incorrect. It contains the doctrines of the WTBTS, a False Prophet.
#1--Prophecy of 1878--The End of the Harvest which is here.
#2--Prophecy of 1914--The Destruction of Christendom and the End of Human Rulership which is here.
#3--Prophecy of 1925--Resurrection of the Patriarchs
#4--Prophecy of 1975--Armageddon Promised!
Before analyzing the WT book, two definitions are needed. WT quotes are in BLUE.
Exegesis is the process of drawing out the meaning from a text in accordance with the context and discoverable meaning of its author,
Where As
Eisegesis occurs when a translator imposes his/her interpretation into and onto the text. In Biblical Eisegesis a translator has a pre-conceived doctrine, then goes to the Bible and translates a verse in a way that supports that doctrine. The word Eisegesis literally means “to lead into,” which means the interpreter wants to lead the reader to a particular conclusion--a conclusion that he supports but the Bible, if studied correctly, does not support.
On to the book! Page 12, God has told us that his name is Jehovah. Psalm 83:18 reads, "May people know that you, whose name is Jehovah, you alone are the Most High over all the earth." And at Exodus 3:15, "Jehovah . . . is my name forever." Here the WT goes into their usual argument that God's name is actually Jehovah. I blogged extensively about this here (What Does the Bible Really Teach? (WDTBRT) WT book—Chapter 1, "What is the Truth About God".)
Why does the WT want a potential convert to think that God's name is really Jehovah? Because the WT has stated, "How can you recognize true worshippers? Consider these five identifying marks: #2: Jesus' true followers honor God's name, Jehovah. Where you live, which religion makes God's' name known?" Good News From God a WT booklet page 20-21. To make the point that God's name, Jehovah, occurs throughout the Bible, the WT has replaced "Lord" or "Christ" with Jehovah 237 times in the New Testament when "Jehovah" does not occur in any of the 25,000+ manuscripts and partial manuscripts of the New Testament.
Where did the name "Jehvoah" come from? Jehovah is a name made-up by a Catholic monk (Raymundus Martini) in 1270 when he took the consonants from Yahweh and combined them with the vowels from Adhonay and Elohim and then anglicized it with a hard "J", thus "Jehovah" (see Aid to Bible Understanding pg. 884-885 and my blog on this subject here). It was not widely used until the 1400's. The Hebrew language has no hard "J" sound. Thus, if a JW could hop into a WayBack machine and end up in the time of David or Daniel or Jeremiah, etc. and ask one of them, "let's go worship Jehovah," the ancient Israelites would have no idea who they were talking about. Many Bibles use the name "Jehovah" but only JW's state that IT IS God's name and it is of the UTMOST IMPORTANCE to use God's name. (WDTBRT page 195)
So has the WT used EXEGESIS or EISEGESIS to claim that "God has told us that his name is Jehovah?"
Back to the book, page 50. TRUTH 2 Jesus was an angel before he came to the earth. . . What did Jesus do in heaven? Colossians 1:15, 16, "Jehovah created Jesus first, and then he used Jesus to make all other things." (New World Translation--the WT's Bible).
The 'WT'S
TRUTH 2' doesn't stand up under the magnifying glass of truth. The WT states
that "firstborn" means "first created." It DOES NOT! The
Bible defines it to mean Preeminent One, the
Ruler, the Head, and I have blogged about that fact here under Big Lie#2 and here.
They also state that God "used Jesus to make all other things."
The WT's own Kingdom Interlinear Translation (on the Greek side) states,
"because in him (Jesus) it was created the all things in the heavens and
upon the earth." The word "other" has been added to the WT Bible
so verse 15 reads, "because in him (Jesus) it was created the all other things," and thus does not contradict WT doctrine. I have blogged about Colossians
15:16+ here.
So has the WT used EXEGESIS or EISEGESIS to claim that, "Jehovah created Jesus first, and then he used Jesus to make all other things."
On to Part 2 here.
So has the WT used EXEGESIS or EISEGESIS to claim that, "Jehovah created Jesus first, and then he used Jesus to make all other things."
On to Part 2 here.
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