The New World Translation, and Q&A

Heard all across the United States, Canada, and around the world. This is the Bible Answer Man broadcast with Hank Hanegraaff. Hank is president of the Christian Research Institute. At CRI, our desire is to equip you not only to defend the historic Christian faith, but to become a winsome witness to a spiritually hungry but skeptical world, because life and truth matter. To learn more, or to find resources to help you grow in grace, call 888-7000-CRI, or go online to equip.org. That's equip.org. The following program was pre-recorded. And now, here's Hank Hanegraaff.

Thank you very much, Randy. Jehovah's Witnesses contend that Bible translations, other than their own, are corrupted by religious traditions. They're rooted in paganism. But in reality, the New World Translation of the Watchtower Organization is a frightful mistranslation. It is both erroneous and reprehensible. It translates the Greek scriptures so as to expunge the deity of Jesus Christ against all credible scholarship. Jesus is downgraded from God to a God and demoted from the creator of all things to a mere creature who created all other things. According to the translation committee of the Watchtower Society, Jesus was created by God as the Archangel Michael. During his earthly sojourn, he

was merely human And after his crucifixion, he was recreated an immaterial spirit creature. Not only that, but the Translation Committee has sought to conform the New World Translation to their religious tradition by replacing the cross of Christ with a torture stake. And so in Matthew 10.38, They've altered the text to read, and whoever does not accept his torture stake and follow after me is not worthy of me.

Because in Watchtower lore, the cross is a pagan symbol adopted by an apostate Christianity when Satan took control of the early church. The Watchtower Society claims that the Christian scriptures have been tampered with. Why? In order to eliminate the name Jehovah from the text. In truth, however, it's the translation committee of the New World Translation that can rightly be accused of tampering. In well over 200 cases, the name Jehovah has been gratuitously inserted into the New Testament text. In passages like Romans 10.13, it's done to obscure the unique deity of Jesus Christ. In other passages, it is done under the pretext that referring to God as Lord rather than Jehovah is patently pagan. And I

bring all of that up at the beginning of the broadcast for an important reason. We can differ when it comes to secondary issues. But essentials such as the deity of Jesus Christ are deal breakers. If someone denies that Jesus Christ is God, that he spoke and the universe leapt into existence, you now have moved your way into another gospel. If you do not believe that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh, if you think he was merely human, in the Incarnation. You have moved to a different gospel. And as Christians, we need to be so familiar with those essentials that we can use them to reach the Watchtower organization. Without those that support this ministry and pray for this ministry, the transformation of lives worldwide

would not happen. And so I want to thank those that support this ministry. Send in a gift on thewebedequip.org. You can write me at Box 8500, Charlotte, North Carolina, zip code 28271. Or as always, you can talk to our resource consultants at 888-7000 and the letters CRI. First up today is Joe. He's listening in Los Angeles, California. Hi, Joe.

Hey, good morning. Hi, Brother Hank. How are you doing, sir?

I'm doing good. Nice to talk to you.

All right. Well, first of all, I want to say thanks for taking my call. My prayer is that I learn the Bible and learn a bunch of stuff like you know. So God bless you for that.

Well, God bless you for that prayer. That's my prayer as well.

Amen. I've got a problem. I married a girl to keep her in the country because she had just had... a set of twin boys, and her brother was trying to throw her out of the country, and it was pretty disastrous. So I married her to keep her in the country, and I think, I hope I don't get in trouble, but I thought it, you know, I was trying to help someone out in a dire situation. But anyway, since then, you know, I didn't have any love for this woman, so... Now we've been separated for 12 years, and, you know, I've since given my life to Christ and trying to come back and try to do the right thing, Brother Hank. But I know that God hates divorce. Where do I stand on that? She won't get back with me,

but I don't know. I mean, I know God hates divorce, but I just want to do the right thing, you know?

Well, you know, I think, you know, just putting it plainly, you broke the law. But from this standpoint... remember that you can't unscramble the egg, which is to say what's in the past is in the past. You know, if there is a possibility of reconciling with this woman, and if there is a possibility of making a marriage that's glorifying to the Lord, I wouldn't prohibit that possibility. In other words, you can't undo what you did, but you can move forward and obey God and be pleasing to Him in your life. So you did make a commitment.

You weren't a believer. You did this while you were a pagan. Now you're a believer. Now you want to follow the will of the Lord Jesus Christ and you want to live according to his will. And what he would want is for you to be true to the obligation if there's any possibility. But if the unbeliever doesn't want to be in that relationship, you can't force her to be in the relationship.

How do I stand with the divorce thing?

Well, in 1 Corinthians 7, it says if the unbeliever leaves, you are not bound in that circumstance. So I think your responsibility is to do everything possible to reconcile as a believer. And that becomes an avenue of being a wonderful testimony to her. And who knows what God can bring out of that. God can bring beauty or gold out of ashes. So if your heart is open for reconciliation and that possibility, I think it would be wonderful.

But if she is completely close to that, you are not bound in that circumstance. So I think, again, the greater good is the opportunity to reconcile. But again, I'm a little hesitant to give a lot of advice on something that I don't know all the details with. So if you hang on, let's see if we can talk you off the air as well. I want to go back to the phone lines, talk to John in Oklahoma. Hi, John.

Hey, sir.

How are you?

I'm good. How are you?

I'm doing well. A young woman called, and she was asking about election. And I've been listening to you for years, and I've heard you talk about election, and it seems like every time you talk about it, you get really passionate, and I can understand that. But you mentioned something about being in Christ, that Christ was the only elect, and that we are elect when we're in Christ. But in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, And starting at verse 26, but I won't read all of it, down to verse 30, he says, but of him are you in Christ, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. And so he's saying, you know, God has chosen the foolish things, God has chosen this, God

has chosen this, and then he closes by saying that it is because of God that we are in Christ, not because of... a choice or something that we made prior to being regenerated?

Well, it's a debate within Christian circles. The debate is whether God chooses based on his own purpose and predilection, or whether God chooses based on his foreknowledge of whether we would believe. This is a debate. I hold the position that Jesus Christ is the elect one. In other words, the position that Jesus is the royal seed of Abraham, and therefore if you are Jesus Christ, the elect one, by virtue of that you yourself are elect. I mean, you see the Dublin tundra, as it were, in Galatians chapter 3, where Paul says, Abraham only had one seed, not seeds plural, but seeds singular. But when you get to the end of the passage, Paul makes clear that if you are in Christ, whether you're Jew or Greek,

whether you're a slave or free, whether you're male or female, you are an heir according to the promise. So the emphasis from my perspective is on Jesus Christ. He is the elect one. If you are in Jesus Christ, By virtue of that, you're elect. But I readily acknowledge that this is a debate that Christians have. They debate this vigorously. Ultimately, I don't think it's a deal breaker. We'll be right back with more answers to your questions.

Pastor Martin Niemöller spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. Reflecting on the camps where millions would die, Niemöller said, First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me. To ensure that your voice is heard and that someone is speaking for you, become a member today of CRI's support team. Simply call 888-7000-CRI. That's 888-7000-CRI. Or visit our website at equip.org. Don't tune out. Hank will be back after the break. The Complete Bible Answer Book Collector's Edition is the comprehensive collection of the most often asked questions Hank Hanegraaff has received throughout his four decades as host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast.

With more than half a million copies already in print, this newly revised and expanded Collector's Edition Help seekers and skeptics alike sort through the truth on topics such as reliability of the Bible, religions and cults, the resurrection and afterlife, and many more issues vital to a better understanding of God in Christ and our relationship to Him. To receive your copy of the complete Bible answer book, Collector's Edition, revised and expanded, call 888-7000-CRI. and make a gift to support the Christian Research Institute's life-changing outreaches, 888-7000-CRI, or visit us at equip.org. Anyone who's been paying attention knows there's a war going on, not just on traditional morality, civility,

and decency, but even more fundamentally on historic notions of truth. And the enemy isn't just the onslaught of fake news facilitated by a post-truth culture and turbocharged by growing legions of ideological spin doctors. No, the real enemies of truth range from post-modernist convictions that there is no objective truth to militant scientism that claims that only science can determine truth and religion is little more than primitive superstitions. But CRI support team members are not waving a white flag of surrender. They're holding the fort by undergirding every one of Christian Research Institute's mind-shaping and life-changing outreaches 24-7. To learn how you can make a difference and enjoy all

the benefits of support team membership, simply visit equip.org. Has God spoken? Are the words of Scripture merely human in origin, or are they in fact the very words of God Himself? Three years in the making, and based on two decades of research and reflection, Hank Hanegraaff's monumental book, Has God Spoken?, answers what is surely the most important question facing our world.

In Has God Spoken? Memorable Proofs of the Bible's Divine Inspiration, Hank counters the contentions of the Bible attackers and clearly shows that belief in the Holy Scriptures is not a guess or wishful thinking. It is the only logical conclusion after an honest examination of overwhelming evidence. Order Has God Spoken from the Christian Research Institute by calling 888-7000-CRI or go online to equip.org, equip.org. Let's return to your host, Hank Hanegraaff.

Thank you very much, Randy. You're right back to our phone callers. Next up is Eric listening in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Hi, Eric.

Hi, Hank.

Thanks for taking my call.

Pleasure.

Quick question.

I noticed this book about the neurobiology of porn addiction, and that got me thinking about this article, this brief article that I read in one of the news mags that discussed this new genre called, being labeled at least as Christian porn. Are you familiar with this at all?

I'm not.

Okay, well, the article didn't describe it too much other than it's more of a contextual difference in which it's geared toward Christian married couples and depicts Christian married couples. And I did a couple of Google searches about this, and not too much comes up, but it seems to be like everything that regular pornography depicts, you know, the explicitness and everything, just in different contexts and So I was just kind of confused of how this fits with biblical teaching.

Well, it doesn't sound like it does. Again, I haven't looked into this myself, but it sounds to me like an oxymoron, kind of like talking about flaming snowflakes. I mean, the bottom line is with pornography, you have a commodity that you use rather than a relationship that you cherish. And pornography hijacks a part of our nature that is intended for something better. So I think it's completely in antithesis to how relationships are meant to function. In fact, when we get to heaven, the pleasure that a male and a female will experience in one another will be infinitely magnified because in eternity our earthly conception of sex will have been eclipsed. And the real issue here is a matter of selfishness as opposed to selflessness. In other words, ultimately,

experience in intimacy is a function of selflessness. And when we see people as objects to satisfy our own desires, as opposed to relationships to be nurtured, then we miss the point.

Yeah, I mean, that definitely makes sense. And so that's why I was just confused by this notion. And I didn't see any organizations that were producing these DVDs or anything. I don't know how Christian or Bible-based they are. I can imagine that they are that much. But it also looked like this idea stemmed from a Christian married couple videotaping themselves. Now, I wonder how that kind of fits into, if it's not distributed like pornography is, but kept within the couple, kept within the relationship.

Well, that's a different thing. And first of all, I'm not ratifying it in any sense, but there's a far different thing from the label Christian pornography. But the thing that you want to make sure that you do within relationship is cherish and nurture the other person, not exploit the other person. Now, if the other person doesn't feel exploited in the process, and somehow or other, you can, within the sanctity of your own marriage, use this in some edifying way, which escapes me at the moment. If that's possible, maybe we can talk later. But it seems, as I said at the very beginning, to be an oxymoron.

It just doesn't smack right in terms of how relationships work and how intimacy develops.

Right, right. Well, a difficult topic. I appreciate it.

Well, I appreciate your call.

All right, thanks, Hank.

You got it. I want to go back to the phone lines, talk to John in Greenville, South Carolina, listening on the web. Hi, John.

Hello, Hank. Thanks for taking my call. My question is regarding the sinner's prayer. There are those out there, like Paul Washer, for example, that teach against using a sinner's prayer. They cite all the bad examples of people who have said the prayer at a Billy Graham crusade or something like that, and they've fallen away. They never really saved in the first place. They're false converts. And he used a lot of that. I've listened to a couple of his sermons. He used a lot of bad, negative examples, and then he preaches against a sinner's prayer. He says it's not in the Bible and this and that. But most evangelists, most preachers, pastors and teachers out there use it as prayer. I mean, obviously, it's not the prayer

that saves you. God saves you. But personally, I don't see anything wrong with the prayer, but I know he has a following, and he's got an argument. I don't know if you're familiar with Paul Washer. I kind of want to get your take on this issue here.

Well, I think what's important is to recognize the principle of is if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, according to Scripture, you will be saved. Paul says that explicitly in Romans chapter 10. So what happens in salvation is you realize you're a sinner, you repent of your sin, you receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and then you identify visibly with the body of Christ through baptism, which is the first act of obedience as a believer where you say, to an unbelieving world, I've been buried to my old life and raised to newness of life through his resurrection power. And I'm identifying visibly with the body of Christ in his burial, death, resurrection,

and ascension. So to do that publicly, confessing with your mouth in prayer that Jesus is Lord, and being baptized publicly, I think is a biblical admonition.

Same with me, I agree. So what would be his argument against it?

Well, I've never heard his argument, and the arguments I have heard in this vein have been arguments that hold very, very little water. They make for great rhetoric, but they have little biblical reasoning on which to found themselves.

I see. Well, thank you so much, Hank. I love your ministry. God bless you, my friend.

You got it. Appreciate your call. We'll go back to the phone lines to talk to Michael. He's listening on Longview, Texas. Hi, Michael.

Howdy. Can you explain to me Luke 14, 26, and tell me how exactly we're supposed to hate our parents and also children, how we're supposed to hate our children?

Yeah, well, we have to read the Bible in the sense in which it is intended. If we do not read it in the sense in which it is intended, we'll come up with all kinds of unintended meanings here. And hate here means love less, which obviously could not mean anything else in that we are told to honor father and mother. And here's how I would explain this.

There's hyperbole that is being used. in the passage. We must love Christ more. And the operative word here is more. We must love Christ more than even father and mother and family. And this would, of course, have been a very offensive kind of a thing for Jesus Christ to say within the context of Luke chapter 14 under the rubric of the cost of being a disciple. To be a disciple of Christ is We must love him more than even mother or father or family. And the Jews held that only God is to receive greater honor and devotion than family. So you see what's going on here is Jesus is requiring of his disciples the admission that he is God because only God could attain that status.

Only God could. deserves that kind of reverential awe in worship and adoration. So Christ here is implicitly, at least, making a claim that he is in fact God in the context of people that do not want to accept him as God. But again, hate does not mean that you are to hate your mother and father in the sense that that some people might take this if they don't know the panoply of Scripture because obviously one of the commandments given to the Jews, the Decalogue itself, and vicariously of course us, teaches us to honor father and mother.

And the family structure itself is a family structure that defines the fabric of society. So obviously Christ is not saying forget about the fabric of society, hate your mother and father. No, You can't love them as much as me. And the only reason I can say that is because I am indeed God.

Okay.

All right. Thanks a lot. I just was thinking maybe it might mean like hate what they do or hate their sins and stuff like that because back then they were, those people's fathers and mothers weren't, probably weren't all about Jesus. They were about the The Old Testament, I mean, like, you know, the laws and stuff.

No, no, and that is not what it means in context.

Okay.

I mean, certainly we have to recognize that our fathers and mothers and our family members are imperfect, but that's not the point. The point here is that we have to love God above all things, and Jesus Christ here is implicitly claiming to be God.

Okay, well, thank you very much, Hank.

You got it, and this is a beautiful passage because it is the cost of being a disciple, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. said that. What does it mean to be a disciple? You have to take up your cross and daily follow Christ. And Christ himself says in this passage, suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will you not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation, he's not able to finish it. Everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, this fellow began to build and was not able to finish. The point here is that that if you lose your saltiness, if you simply have a said faith rather than a real faith, then you cannot truly take up your cross and follow

him because he is the one who empowers you to be a disciple. He not only justifies you, but he sanctifies you and one day will glorify you. To God be the glory. If we are truly in Christ, he is. Himself will cause us to be an overcomer. He Himself will give us the grace to follow through on a commitment that is not made by might nor by power, but by His Spirit. So we receive Jesus Christ by God's grace through faith on account of the Savior Jesus Christ who gives us the strength to carry on to completion what we have started in Him. Thanks for tuning in today.

Thanks for tuning in to the Bible Answer Man broadcast. Our website, equip.org, has an abundance of resources to sharpen your discernment skills and help you grow in life and truth. We provide books, videos, and informative articles. You can also listen to the broadcast, download archived programs, get answers to pressing Bible questions, or connect with us via social media.

All this and more at equip.org. Again, the address is equip.org. The Bible Answer Man broadcast is supported by listeners like you. We're on the air because life and truth matter. The Complete Bible Answer Book Collector's Edition is the comprehensive collection of the most often asked questions Hank Hanegraaff has received throughout his four decades as host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast. With more than half a million copies already in print, this newly revised and expanded Collector's Edition Help seekers and skeptics alike sort through the truth on topics such as reliability of the Bible, religions and cults, the resurrection and afterlife, and many more issues vital to a better understanding of God in Christ and our relationship to Him.

To receive your copy of the complete Bible answer book, collector's edition, revised and expanded, call 888-7000-CRI and make a gift to support the Christian Research Institute's life-changing outreaches. 888-7000-CRI or visit us at equip.org.

The New World Translation, and Q&A

Kapitelklicken springt direkt hin

Shownotes

Transkriptvom Podcast bereitgestellt · Zeitmarken springen hin