Authority of the New World Translation -------------------------------------- >>Colossians 1:16-17 states >>that Jesus made all things. The JW's say "made all other things", >>implying that He Himself was made. > >Again there is excellent support for this, which can easily be provided. >The question is, will you set aside your own prejudices long enough to >give it an objective look? Support...yes...excellent? No. The word "other" isn't in the Greek AND changes (not completes) the meaning of the verse. You might want to ask your elders why in older NWTs the word "other" wasn't in brackets. Regarding translations: Are you aware of "The New Testament" by Johannes Greber (a medium of God's Spirit World)? In this translation John 1:1 and Hebrews 8 and 9 matches exactly (among others). In 1956 the February 15th issue of The Watchtower wrote: Says Johannes Greber in the introduction of his translation of The New Testament, copyrighted in 1937: "I myself was a Catholic priest, and until I was forty-eight years old had never as much as believed in the possiblity of communicating with the world of God's spirits. The day came, however, when I involuntarily took my first step toward such communication, and experienced things that shook me to the depths of my soul....My experiences are related in a book that has appeared in both German and English and bears the title, Communication with the Spirit-World: Its Laws and Its Purpose." Fully aware of this the WTB&TS cited his translation for support in major doctrines in future publications. See the Sept. 15, 1962 issue of the Watchtower, as well as the October 15, 1975 issue AND the April 15, 1976. Other publications where Greber is quoted for support are: Aid to Bible Understanding (page 1669, 1134; Make Sure of all things (page 489) and The Word (page 5). Johannes Greber's doctrines mirror Jehovah's Witness doctrines exactly, this information alone ought to make any person who truly seeks the truth about who God is sit up and take notice. For example: 1. JESUS CHRIST IS NOT GOD. "Christ was therefore the Son of God, and claimed to be nothing more. He was not the Deity. Not once did He say: 'I am God'." (Communication with the Spirit World p. 330) 2.JEHOVAH ONLY IS GOD--THE FATHER. "I am Jehovah thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods besides me." (Communication with the Spirit World p. 331, 333, 328, 302). 3. JESUS CHRIST IS A CREATED BEING. "At that time you were told that Christ is the highest of the spirits created by God and the sole one to be created directly." (Communication with the Spirit World p. 301) 4. MICHAEL IS A god. "In mystic and occult writings, Michael has often been equated with the Holy Ghost, the Logos, God, Metatron, etc...Michael derives originally from the Chaldeans by whom he was worshipped as something of a god." (Dictionary of Angels by Gustav Davidson). 5. CHRIST'S BODY WAS NOT RESURRECTED. "Not even Christ's natural body was raised... The 'resurrection of the dea' has therefore not the slightest reference to the resurrection of the physical body." (Communications with the Spirit World p. 385) 6. BODY OF JESUS WAS DEMATERIALIZED. "The body of Jesus similarly to the bodies of Enoch and Elijah have been dissolved" (Communications with theSpirit World p. 385) 7. THERE IS NO ETERNAL HELL. "I hope I have convinced you with my explainations, that there is no authority in the Bible to suport your inhuman and untrue doctrine of an everlasting Hell." (Communications with the Spirit World p. 379) 8.HIGHER POWERS OF ROMANS 13 ARE NOT THE EARTHLY GOVERMENTS. "Paul is not speaking here of temporal authorities bt of the spirtual ones which God assigns to ever man...In the case of temporal authorities, also, obedience is due them only to the extent that their laws do not conflict with those of God." (Communication with the Spirit World p. 414,415) 9. THE BIBLE IS NOT INSPIRED OR DEPENDABLE. "I availed myself of this contact with the source of truth to seek enlightment above all in regard to the text of the Bible as we know it to-day; for on the occasion of my first experience with the world of divine spirits my attention had been called to the fact that the books of both the Old and the New Testament contained a great deal of spurious matter which had given rise to many erroneous ideas prevailing in the Christian churches of our day. Subsequently I learned about these falsifications in detail...In the rare instances in which a text prounced correct by the divine spirits can be found in none of the manuscripts available to-day, I have used the text as it was given to me by those spirits." (The New Testament by Johannes Greber p. 15) 10. THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH TODAY IS NOT PREACHING THE GOSPEL. "The later Church which banished the Divine spirits became, under the influence of the Powers of Evil, a church of spiritual slavery in which the leaders arrogated to themselves an authority which clashed with the will of God, and by virtue of this authority, barred the direct path to God to the faithful." (Communications with the Spirit World p. 426) Every major doctrine which every Jehovah's Witness holds close to their heart and teach others daily are the same doctrines demons teach to their disciples as well. On page 300 of Communication with the Spirit World, Greber further writes: After I had convinced myself at the spiristic meetings that God's spirits speak to men through mediums, as they had spoken to the early Christian communities, my first thought was to beg for full enlightment on these problems concerning Christ. Who was Christ? My request was granted, to the smallest details, and that knowledge thenceforth constituted the most precious possession of my soul. In what follows, I shall repeat the truths regarding Christ. His life, and his work of Redemption, as they were imparted to me by the spirit which taught them." It is my hope that every Jehovah's Witness who reads the above will be concerned enough to reconsider whether the Watchtower really teaches the truth. -- -- Finger gnat@metronet.com for information about Jehovah's Witnesses from an orthodox Christian perspective. Info changes each Saturday.