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Is it true the WBTS used Johannes Greber, a Catholic priest for the NWT translation of John 1:1c? In this 1983 Watchtower article the JW leaders say it was in 1980 they read in Greber's book "The New Testament by Johannes Greber" and deemed it improper to make use of his translation work relating to his use of spiritism...

Watchtower 1983 4/1 p.31
"Why, in recent years, has The Watchtower not made use of the translation by the former Catholic priest, Johannes Greber?

This translation was used occasionally in support of renderings of Matthew 27:52, 53 and John 1:1, as given in the New World Translation and other authoritative Bible versions. But as indicated in a foreword to the 1980 edition of The New Testament by Johannes Greber, this translator relied on “God’s Spirit World” to clarify for him how he should translate difficult passages. It is stated: “His wife, a medium of God’s Spiritworld was often instrumental in conveying the correct answers from God’s Messengers to Pastor Greber.” The Watchtower has deemed it improper to make use of a translation that has such a close rapport with spiritism. (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)"

The 1983 article ONLY mentioned Greber's 1980 book, and yet the headline question of that article asked why the Watchtower no longer made use of Greber's works only recently? I found an article dating way back to 1955, where the WBTS actually condemned Greber's earlier 1932 book and his work in spiritism along with the Catholic Church...

Watchtower 1955 10/1 p.603
"In such lands the Catholic people, even up to 90 per cent, mix spiritism or voodooism right in with Roman Catholicism, practicing both at the same time with no objection or penalty by the priests. It comes as no surprise that one Johannes Greber, a former Catholic clergyman, has become a spiritualist and has published the book entitled “Communication with the Spirit World, Its laws and Its Purpose.” (1932, Macoy Publishing Company, New York) In its Foreword he makes the typical misstatement: “The most significant spiritualistic book is the Bible; for its principal contents hinge upon the messages of the beyond to those existing in the present.” "

And in a 1956 article, again, the WBTS this time wrote up nearly a whole page regarding Greber's work as a spiritist, this time I will only paste a small section...

Watchtower 1956 2/15 p.110-111
"10 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 possibility 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.” (Page 15, ¶ 2, 3)"

With all this previous knowledge the WBTS had about the spiritist named Greber, why would they cite his use of John 1:1c at least up to the 1961 edition of the NWT (see the John 1:1c footnote), and here is another Watchtower paste showing the WBTS made use of Greber's work up to 1976...

Watchtower 1976 4/15 p.231
"A report in the Bible, as translated by Johannes Greber, says that when Jesus died, “the earth quaked, and the rocks were shattered. Tombs were laid open, and many bodies of those buried there were tossed upright."

Why did they take so long before they finally decided to stop cite his work when he wrote his 1980 book "The New Testament by Johannes Greber", even though way back in 1955 they knew about his spiritist work in the 1932 book “Communication with the Spirit World, Its laws and Its Purpose.” ?
Mythbuster...It took them 28 years to finally realize that mistake?

I am amazed how they knew Greber was a spiritist/occultist in 1955 from that first book he wrote in 1932, used him as a scholar to support the NWT, and then finally decided to let him go in 1983 after the last book he wrote in 1980.

Would you keep citing a spiritist's book for so long before tossing it out the window?
Mythbuster...I was not questioning Greber's translation skills, but I was questioning how the WBTS took so incredibly long to cite his works of spiritism/occultism before finally deciding to let him go?

Gotta love this redirection from Me me me:
Why Christians killed muslims in Iraq if they are suppose to love their enemies not blow them?? lalalalalalal I can't hear youuuuu!

Anyway, the answer to the question is that people wrote in to the WT and pointed out the hypocrisy ofquoting from spiritists when it is convenient and it gives support to the NWT. Only after the whistleblowers made public the WT use of the spirit medium Greber, did they print the FAKE questions from readers to explain away their previous use of the medium for the past several decades.

In other words THEY WERE CAUGHT RED HANDED CONSORTING WITH SPIRITISTS!

2009-08-31 08:41:36 by Tim F

On Perspectives: The Weekly Edition for November 11, 2011, Pedro delves into the world of Catholic publishing with Joseph Sinasac, Publishing ...

A few examples of professional commentary on the Trinity:

"There is in the Old Testament no indication of distinctions in the Godhead; it is an anachronism to find either the doctrine of the Incarnation or that of the Trinity in its pages"
("God," Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. 6, p. 254).

"Theologians today are in agreement that the Hebrew Bible does not contain a doctrine of the Trinity"
(The Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. Mircea Eliade, Macmillan Publishing Company, 1987,
Vol. 15, p. 54).

"The doctrine of the Trinity is not taught in the Old Testament"
(New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. XIV, p. 306).


"The Old Testament tells us nothing explicitly or by necessary implication of a Triune God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.... There is no evidence that any sacred writer even suspected the existence of a [Trinity] within the Godhead.... Even to see in the Old Testament suggestions or foreshadowings or ‘veiled signs’ of the Trinity of persons, is to go beyond the words and intent of the sacred writers"
(Edmund J. Fortman, The Triune God, Baker Book House, 1972, pp. xv, 8, 9).


"The Old Testament is strictly monotheistic. God is a single personal being. The idea that a Trinity is to be found there is utterly without foundation."
"There is no break between the Old Testament and the New. The monotheistic tradition is continued. Jesus was a Jew, trained by Jewish parents in the Old Testament scriptures. His teaching was Jewish to the core; a new gospel indeed but not a new theology…And he accepted as his own belief the great text of Jewish monotheism:
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God"
(L.L. Paine, A Critical History of the Evolution of Trinitarianism, Houghton Mifflin and Co., 1900, p. 4).
What a homo lol. Always remember Jesus loves you! What fing fag. LOL Dude you refute truth. Christianity and its doctrine is a lie.

Just as the Maccabees liberated the Holy Temple, so to were the Jews expecting a REAL liberator (as they thought in 110 ce with Bar Kochba, which failed). Many of the material from his time were introduced into the NT, like "I have come not to bring peace, but the sword ..." also, pitting father (a pagan) against a son that was a God-Fearer, as in the NT). Thus, there was no spiritual aspect to the war, only a Holy one if they succeeded in rebuilding the Temple in 3 years time), also mentioned in the NT.

As Creator, God is absolutely different from anything else that exists. He is therefore unknowable. That is why Jews were arrested by Romans for heresy & atheism, Romans couldn't understand how God could be invisible, if invisible, can't exist. For Rome, a god had to have fingers, toes, sex, wives, etc. Although God is unknowable, we can to some degree, understand His relationship to the universe. We speak of God thru His attributes of action, thus we can't know what God is, we can learn what He is not. In this sense, we speak of Gd using "negative attributes." People in their own religions thought of each attribute of their "God" like peace, His Spirit, His creating humanity, mercy, all-knowing, into separate God-like gods or persons. You find trinities in Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Arianism, & Christianity. Trinities are not new, just old definitions being put on Moses' God of Israel. To divide God where no division can take place, is denying His absolute Unity (see "The Handbook of Jewish Thought" by Aryeh Kaplan).

The universe contains many galaxies (sages before 700 bce knew there were 20^23 suns out there, scientists today say 20^24), each consisting of innumerable stars & planets, there is 1 God who is Author & Creator of them all. It is absolutely impossible to conceive of more than one Absolute Being. While there are other universes, physical & spiritual, God is One over all. (Ps. 145:13). Thus, the Hebrew Bible & her sages, reject any concept of plurality with respect to God. Separating His manifestation in creation, redemption & revelation into separate entities is no different than adding "Peace", "Merciful", "Justice" also into entities or "persons" (God-Forbid).

Since any additional quality would add an element of plurality to God's essence, we conceive Him as being absolutely simple. His simple essence, implies each attribute with which He created & rules His universe. This paradoxical situation develops because when we speak of God thru negative attributes, we speak of Him as being simple, when we speak of Him thru attributes of action, we speak of Him as having every possible perfection.

2009-08-09 17:12:38 by Sὶℜὶሁᔑ Rℓgℓɳℓrαtℓd

Price: $11.00

I'm a junior in high school. My English teacher is an incredible teacher and has already changed my whole perspective of life. He incorporates lots of philosophy with his lessons. He is only 24 years old.

From the second week of school, he has been telling us that he is not what we think. He has been very slowly letting out clues to find out "who he really is". Not many people in the class aren't interested but I always talk to him after class (about his mind-blowing lectures).
So here is everything I know about him (excluding his name):
He is 24 years old.
He lives in a 30ft. sailboat with four cabin rooms.
He built this sailboat himself, and he started it four years ago.
He docks his boat away from land and rows to shore, and takes his solar-powered car to work. He went to a Catholic School up until 11th grade.
He dropped out junior year and "found a way" (test out) out of school.
He said "I was in New York when 9/11 happened, and I was in London when the recent bombings happened."

Today I pretty much found out what he really does, but not who he is.
I found out that he is an author.
He goes by a pen name on his book(s).
(The terrorists attacks were both a coincidence, he was at his publishing companies both times.)
"If they found out the subject I wrote about I wouldn't be able to teach at this school.

I really need help finding out who he is. Is there a list of pen names somewhere I can see?
He won't tell me his publishing company. Yes, I will let you guys know when I find out. email me so I have your address- archaelius@gmail.com
To "This Guy!", apparently you did not thoroughly read the details. HE IS A WELL KNOWN AUTHOR. He told us this, "Imagine being 17 years old, dropping out of school, and telling your parents that you can pay for their every expense for the rest of your lives as long as they don't ask how you're paying for it".

He came up to me personally today and said, "What if all the theories humans been taught we all wrong? What if someone were to come up with a theory that disproved all of them?" Then there was a long silence. I told him "..Did you discover this theory?" And he shook his head and slowly walked off as I stood there dumbfounded. He is going to tell us his theory later on in the year.

I can give you some possibilities, He wrote about marijuana's or about the benefits of socialism. Either one could get him fired.

2008-09-24 16:56:20 by SIXTOO