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Hi, this video will address Question One which reads:
In the New World Translation every time the Greek word
proskuneo is used in reference to God
it is translated as worship.
Everytime proskuneo is used in reference
to Jesus
it is translated as will obeisance,
even though it is the same word in the Greek.
Especially compare the Greek word
prosekunhsan used with reference to God in Revelation 5:14
7:11
11:16
and 19:4
and used with reference to Christ in
Matthew 14:33
28:9
and 28:17.
What is the reason for this inconsistency?
If the New World Translation was consistent in translating proskuneo
as worship,
how would the verses above referring to Christ read?
So first thing I'm going to do is, I'm gonna highlight the questions that I've
recognized here:
One in the Introduction
and two parts here Question One.
Okay, so first believe it's important to consider a few fundamental points about
translating from Biblical Greek to a modern language such as English.
The Biblical Greek language
(also known as Koine Greek) had a much smaller vocabulary compared to today's
English language.
This means that many of the ancient original words could translate to a
variety of English words.
In other words,
there isn't a one-to-one relationship between the Biblical Greek
and the English vocabularies.
Also much more is involved than a simple here and there
translation consistency.
Other factors are involved such as
understanding the grammatical rules of both the ancient and modern languages of
interest.
Consideration of the context in which the writings were recorded
(this would include understanding the scene of events associated with the
writings, as related by eye witness testimony for example,
as well as the context of
overall scriptural harmony).
Also considering
other ancient translations and even writing styles of the individuals who
penned
certain writings can help understand how translation decisions were made.
Now let's consider some examples of of a few English words that have synonymous
relationships with one another.
Some words will have a different weight of emphasis
with either subtle or obvious differences while still sharing a common
general meaning.
Let's uh... take a look at some of these examples:
I selected three words: "angry",
"mad",
and "furious".
Now, this reminds me of the of a game - I decided to present it
in the way in the game or in terms of a little uh...
uh, school assignment.
Which word doesn't belong?
Or which word stands out as the most different?
So I think
"angry" and "mad"
have a much softer weight
whereas "furious"
stands out as much stronger. So I'm going to have to highlight that it's a different
word. If you agree great. If you don't, well, you know i can
I can uh appreciate the difference but I think it's very important to look up
these words, which I've already done,
and
read their definitions, and again, that's going to... it might be a little
different between cultures because
different cultures have uh... different
patterns of usage with these words. So...
But generally I believe furious stands out as a much stronger type of anger
um... or or emotion of discontent.
So the next group I'm going to consider is the words "like, "love",
and "fancy".
So which word to use stands out
as one of the stronger words compared to the others?
So I'm going to choose my word which is "love". "Love" is a very strong and powerful
word, whereas "like" is much more softer as well as "fancy".
"Yeah, I "fancy" her or I "like" her or
or I "like" that
verses "love" being much more powerful.
Okay so now we're going to consider another...
a third example in this
game type or assignment format.
And that's these three words: "worship",
"obeisance", and "homage".
Now before we go ahead and answer this I'm going to actually look these up
in this video response because
these words
directly
uh... relate
to
the... the question
that has been asked.
So what i'm going to do is go to
my web browser and if you notice (...close this blank page)
I already have
"worship". I did a basic "worship" definition
keyword search
and while I've looked these up in different dictionaries already I'm going
to just use the default
just for simplicity.
So if you notice the verb
has the synonyms of "adore", "idolize", "deify", "venerate", and "revere".
So the definition as a verb is to show reverence
and adoration
for a deity.
Honor with religious rites. So that's pretty
powerful.
Okay that's a... so far because I've looked at the other words I can
tell you that I believe that's a pretty strong and that word stands out
quite a bit from these next words so we're gonna look up these next words
let's look at
uh... "homage". That's not in the right order but let's look up "homage".
uh...
Only as a noun, so its special honor respect shown publicly, formal
public acknowledgement of
feudal
allegiance.
Let's look at the synonyms:
We have
"obeisance", "tribute", "respect".
So now let's go to
"obeisance".
(and we'll zoom in)... Sorry for the inconsistencies in zooming in at
different points.
Deferential respect
as they paid hob.. obeisance to the
prince.
uh...
A gesture of expressing deferential respect such as a bow our curtsy.
Let's look at the synonyms:
reverence
amish
respect about kurds
so so far by
by the some of them is alone
you have a pretty clear relationship
between these two
whatever is "worship" stands out
quite a bit different.
So we were to go back to my Word document I would have to say
this one stands out based on that evidence.
Now what does this mean? Okay.
Well going to theWord
software that I uh...
that I use,
I have
the scriptures already linked in here.
So if we consider one of the examples: Revelation 5:14...
First off notice that I have the Douay-Rheims Bible here,
which uses "adored".
I have the Good News Bible here.
I have been New American Bible here.
And I have the New Jerusalem Bible here.
So, I've looked these up already and I made a table.
So I encourage
anybody to pause the video and look these up yourselves if you have these Bibles and feel
free to look up other Bibles,
and I'm going to go back to my document and pull up this table that I made
which has the New World Translation in column one
and then these other four translations that i've just mentioned.
Now what's significant about these other four translations?
Well, in my
experience speaking to various Roman Catholics,
I found it
any of these Bibles
uh... may be found
um... to be used by a Roman Catholic that the Douay-Rheims Bible has been used, the
Good News Bible, New American Bible as well as the New Jerusalem Bible.
What stands out to me the most is
this New Jerusalem Bible here, which I'm going to bold, that.
Let's actually make that red. The reason; why is this standing out?
Well not just that the table
shows
a quote-unquote
apparent
uh... as the question raised, inconsistency
(see because all of these words, "worship", "worshipping",
"worshipping", "worshipped", and
"worshipped"
the root word being "worship")
translated these this way in relation to God,
which I'll highlight red on the left,
but, the same Greek word as posed in the question and the related... and the
related scriptures,
in relation to Jesus,
are using different words for the most part - except for this one:
Luke 24:52 used "worship", but the rest used "bowed down", "homage",
"fell down in homage".
So, what I want to do now is
go to my web browser,
go to catholic dot org website,
and I'm going to click on "Bible"
and
you're gonna see that there is this New Jerusalem Bible that comes up.
And what's significant to me about this is, while I live in the United States and,
you know, enjoy living here, um... i know that
the big picture in the world is not all about
United States.
Um... similarly
if someone was to ask what the heart
of the earthly representation of Catholicism is
many might agree it's, you know, the Vatican.
And
with that said (let me close this pop-up),
I want to read these words:
"The New Jerusalem Bible
(NJB) is a Catholic translation of the Bible published in 1985.
The New Jerusalem Bible has become the most widely used to Roman Catholic Bible
outside of the United States".
So is this a weighty
Roman Catholic Bible? - Sorry, this...
get a lot of web stuff / pop-ups on this site but.
I think the answer is a clear "yes".
So going back to my point here,
while these other Bibles do have a measure of consistency because
"adored"
in the context here is...
does mean "worship".
So it's "adored" in both references in relation to God and Jesus.
Um...
The Good News Bible also is consistent; "worshipped", "worshipped"
between the two groups.
The New American Bible though
is a little less, I mean there some changes here. What's the reason for those
changes?
uh... - Would be my question first off, um...
And so what I, what I see here is
other Bibles,
in fact not just on the Bible's but Bibles
from the
direction which the question was posed,
also
doing a similar
translation. Because they've chosen the word
that is much closer to "obeisance"
than "worshiped".
Okay so finally represent a conclusion.
I'll begin by responding to the first part of Question One:
What is the reason for this inconsistency?
Well as i believe the evidence has shown, there isn't a one-to-one relationship
between proskuneo
an anyone in this word.
Translating proskuneo consistently
to one and only one English word in all places
is not the norm for a number of Bible translations
If your Bible translation wasn't mentioned and did translate as worship
consistently,
you can be sure that there are a number of other examples where an ancient word
is not translated to single English word
and some translations have even been subject to spurious texts.
Also note that two out of the four Catholic Bibles presented
also translated proskuneo differently in reference to Jesus
as compared to God.
Okay so now I'll address the second part of Question One:
If the New World Translation was consistent in translating
proskuneo as "worship",
how would the verses above referring to Christ read?
Let me start by saying that translating proskuneo as worship
in reference to Jesus
might indirectly imply that Jesus, as a Trinity,
was as God, deserving to be worshipped.
Now I say "implied" because, in actuality and in my opinion,
I see this choice of translation in conflict with the overall scriptural
context.
You see, if Jesus was God as a Trinity,
then maybe he might be due worship after being exalted back in heaven.
But certainly not while on the earth having been "made a little lower than the
angels".
What's more:
Such worship would oppose Jesus' own teaching to his followers.
Now to add some clarity on my point please consider the following:
Let's consider what it means to be a Christian.
Christian basically means follower of Christ,
from the Latin Christianus which in turn comes from the Greek
Christianos.
So being Christian would include following Jesus' example
of prayer,
submission,
and worship.
To emphasize this point let's consider some questions"
Number one:
To whom the Jesus direct his prayers?
Please consider Matthew 6:9.
Number two:
Who's will
did Jesus want done?
We can consider uh... Jesus' prayer in Matthew 6 as well as
Luke 2:42.
Question number three:
Who did Jesus view as a good?
See Mark 10:18.
and finally Question four: Who did Jesus worship?
and notice atthew 4:10 which
you might also in your Bible look up the footnotes and see that this is a quote
from Deuteronomy.
And this has significance
in itself but i'm not going to go into that in this particular video/
So the New World Translation actually translates consistently
and in harmony with the Jewish belief of One God as One Person while also
harmonizing the context of Jesus' own actions during his earthly ministry
in the first century CE.
Okay so finally I'll address the question
presented in the
opening to the questions:
Why did the Watchtower Tract Society changed their own Bible?
Well, it's my feeling that the Watchtower Tract Society distributes the New World
Translation
as a largely literal and accurate translation
that maintains an overall scriptural consistency.
I do believe that the translators of the New World Translation consulted a
variety of sources as depicted in this image i found online.
You see I'll click on this image and
briefly show
the sources consulted for the Hebrew Testament
... close that and then we'll go down to the
the Greek translation
the Greek Testament.
Okay. Now, if that New World Translation
is different then
your Bible translation by believe that the evidence shows, at least in relation
to question one here,
that it is not for reasons of tampering or deception
but it's to sincerely translate restoration of the original writings
before numerous traditions of man, such as removing God's divine name nearly
seven thousand times,
influenced both the teachings and versions of the Bible that are popular
to this day.
So with that,
I thank you for watching and hope you found some benefit in this presentation.