First, (Jehovah's) Witnesses only accept the Bible as God's inspired Word and base all their teachings on it alone as the final authority of what is Truth.
However, there is absolutely nothing wrong with using standard reference works, lexicons and dictionaries from all types of authors. (Jehovah's) Witnesses also cite and quote many other non-Witness scholars, even some Trinitarians, to support their interpretations. Does this mean (Jehovah's) Witnesses agree with Trinitarians’ false beliefs?!!
[This kind of] logic is ludicrous!
It is perfectly legitimate to quote scholars where they stick to verifiable facts. Even the Apostle Paul, quoted the pagan scholars Aratus, Cleantes and Epimenides (Ac.17:28; Tit 1:12-13).
Any criticism of (Jehovah's) Witnesses quoting non-Witness scholars is laughable since it is illogical as well as hypocritical. People don't quote scholars for their theology but because of their scholarship. There are well known bible scholars who are atheists and yet they are regularly quoted by religious reference works. So [it] is unreasonable to criticize someone for using references just because they were authored by non-believers!
Demanding that people accept ALL the beliefs of every scholar they quote is absurd. We do not have to agree with anyone in toto to quote them in certain aspects. Such a demand would holds us to a standard that is not required of anyone else.
Do people refuse to quote Isaac Newton's views on gravity because he had other scientific misconceptions which were derived from alchemy?
How many reject the validity of the KJV/NKJV because the textual ancestry of these versions have links to scholars who were involved in the occult. How about the NIV whose translation team included a Spiritist? In fact almost EVERY modern translation can be linked to scholars who were involved in spiritism.
Look at the NKJV logo. It is a symbol which was used in the ancient Egyptian mysteries. It was also used by Satanist Aleister Crowley around the turn of this century. The symbol can be seen on the covers of New Age books.
While almost EVERY translation can be linked to scholars who were involved in spiritism there is nothing wrong with using translations like these because the basis for their translations is the original Greek text. And the actual proof for their accuracy does not rest on the translators' personal beliefs.
Creationists constantly quote evolutionists who make statements which argue against evolutionary ideas.
But, quotes should be used to demonstrate FACTS and conclusions by a variety of UNBIASED sources. And more important, these facts should be confirmable by our own independent examination.
(Jehovah's) Witnesses' beliefs are solidly based on the Scriptures and the majority of our beliefs can be supported by non-Witness scholars and standard Bible reference works. This has been repeatedly proven by many answers from myself and other (Jehovah's) Witnesses even on this forum.
SOURCE: This is an answer provided by BAR_ANERGES to a question at Yahoo Answers.
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However, there is absolutely nothing wrong with using standard reference works, lexicons and dictionaries from all types of authors. (Jehovah's) Witnesses also cite and quote many other non-Witness scholars, even some Trinitarians, to support their interpretations. Does this mean (Jehovah's) Witnesses agree with Trinitarians’ false beliefs?!!
[This kind of] logic is ludicrous!
It is perfectly legitimate to quote scholars where they stick to verifiable facts. Even the Apostle Paul, quoted the pagan scholars Aratus, Cleantes and Epimenides (Ac.17:28; Tit 1:12-13).
Any criticism of (Jehovah's) Witnesses quoting non-Witness scholars is laughable since it is illogical as well as hypocritical. People don't quote scholars for their theology but because of their scholarship. There are well known bible scholars who are atheists and yet they are regularly quoted by religious reference works. So [it] is unreasonable to criticize someone for using references just because they were authored by non-believers!
Demanding that people accept ALL the beliefs of every scholar they quote is absurd. We do not have to agree with anyone in toto to quote them in certain aspects. Such a demand would holds us to a standard that is not required of anyone else.
Do people refuse to quote Isaac Newton's views on gravity because he had other scientific misconceptions which were derived from alchemy?
How many reject the validity of the KJV/NKJV because the textual ancestry of these versions have links to scholars who were involved in the occult. How about the NIV whose translation team included a Spiritist? In fact almost EVERY modern translation can be linked to scholars who were involved in spiritism.
Look at the NKJV logo. It is a symbol which was used in the ancient Egyptian mysteries. It was also used by Satanist Aleister Crowley around the turn of this century. The symbol can be seen on the covers of New Age books.
While almost EVERY translation can be linked to scholars who were involved in spiritism there is nothing wrong with using translations like these because the basis for their translations is the original Greek text. And the actual proof for their accuracy does not rest on the translators' personal beliefs.
Creationists constantly quote evolutionists who make statements which argue against evolutionary ideas.
But, quotes should be used to demonstrate FACTS and conclusions by a variety of UNBIASED sources. And more important, these facts should be confirmable by our own independent examination.
(Jehovah's) Witnesses' beliefs are solidly based on the Scriptures and the majority of our beliefs can be supported by non-Witness scholars and standard Bible reference works. This has been repeatedly proven by many answers from myself and other (Jehovah's) Witnesses even on this forum.
SOURCE: This is an answer provided by BAR_ANERGES to a question at Yahoo Answers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BACK TO HOME PAGE INDEX