The following Wikipedia definition of the New World Translation is accepted as accurate by most people. So I have no reservations in using it.
The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWT) is a translation of the Bible published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in 1961; it is used and distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses. Though it is not the first Bible to be published by the group, it is their first original translation of ancient Classical Hebrew, Koine Greek, and Old Aramaic biblical texts. It was produced by the New World Bible Translation Committee, formed in 1947. This committee is said to have comprised unnamed members of multinational background. The New World Bible Translation Committee requested that the Watch Tower Society not publish the names of its members, stating that they did not want to "advertise themselves but let all the glory go to the Author of the Scriptures, God," adding that the translation, "should direct the reader... to... Jehovah God". The publishers believe that "the particulars of [the New World Bible Translation Committee's members] university or other educational training are not the important thing" and that "the translation testifies to their qualification". Former high ranking Watch Tower staff have claimed knowledge of the translators' identities.
We will be taking a good look at the translators of the NWT and their qualifications to translate "Holy Scripture". The following quote should send up an immediate red flag as to the qualifications of the translators.
"The publishers (of the NWT) believe that "the particulars of the New World Bible Translation Committee's members university or other educational training are not the important thing." Really? It would seem to me that the credentials of anyone attempting to translate the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the Bible would be at the utmost importance. We will be taking at look at the credentials of those translators.
The publisher of this version may not have made public the names of the translators, but former members of the Governing Body of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization have identified the members of the committee as Nathan H. Knorr (President of the organization), Frederick W. Franz (Vice-President), George D. Gangas, Albert D. Schroeder Karl Klein and Milton Henschel. According to Raymond V. Franz, the "principal translator of the Society's New World Translation" was Frederick W. Franz. And M. James Penton said; "to all intents and purposes the New World Translation is the work of one man, Frederick Franz." We will be examining Franz shortly. But for now, let's take a look at the translators one at a time.
First, Nathan H. Knorr (president of the organization). Knorr had absolutely no formal education to speak of. Infact there is no record, that I could find, of Knorr even finishing high school.
At the age of 16, he left the reformed church in 1922 and was baptized on July 4, 1923 as a Bible student following a baptism talk by Frederick W. Franz, with whom Knorr became close friends. Knorr became a volunteer at the Watch Tower headquarters in Brooklyn on September 6, 1923, and became its factory manager in September 1932. On January 11, 1934, at age 28, Knorr was elected director of the Peoples Pulpit Association (now Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.), and was made its vice president the following year. No education, but yet he felt confident enough to assist in retranslating the Bible. The only thing certain is that Knorr knew the right people in the right places. What can certainly be attributed to Knorr is, the doctrine of not accepting blood transfusions was introduced during Knorr's leadership. What a great legacy.
Next, let's take a look at Nathan Knorr's mentor, Frederick Franz.
Frederick Franz attended the University of Cincinnati where he studied liberal arts and later (for two years) Biblical Greek. He learned German and could read Latin and Greek and in later years learned Spanish, Portuguese and French and a BASIC UNDERSTANDING of Hebrew. It would appear that Ranz's highest accomplishment of foreign languages was merely two years of Greek. He mastered NONE. Note his grasp or Hebrew was a "basic understanding". I wonder if these credentials would even qualify him to teach in today's high schools. Unrelated and having no part in translating the NWT, Franz's nephew Raymond Franz, a member of the governing body of the Jehovah Witnesses, had this to say;
"I had spent nearly forty years as a full time representative, serving at every level of the organizational structure. The last fifteen years I had spent at the international headquarters, and the final nine of those as a member of the worldwide Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses. It was those final years that were the crucial period for me. Illusions there met up with reality. I have since come to appreciate the rightness of a quotation I recently read, one made by a statesman, now dead, who said: 'The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth—persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. I now began to realize how large a measure of what I had based my entire adult life course on was just that, a myth — persistent, persuasive and unrealistic." He was DISFELLOWSHIPED.Since there is so very little to share about the four remaining "translators", we will look at them all at once.
Milton G. Henschel: Had no training in biblical languages. He was the private secretary and traveling companion to N. H. Knorr from late 1940s until early 1970s. 4th president of WTS from 1992 to 2000. Albert D. Schroeder: Had no training in biblical languages. He took 3 years of mechanical engineering, unspecified language courses in college. He dropped out in 1932 and soon entered Brooklyn headquarters. Registrar of "Gilead School" from 1942 to 1959. Karl Klein: Had no training in biblical languages. He entered Brooklyn headquarters in 1925 and was a member of Writing Dept. since 1950.
George D. Gangas: Had no training in biblical languages. Gangas was a Greek-speaking Turkish national, who entered the Brooklyn headquarters in 1928 as a Greek translator from English to modern Greek publications.
So it would appear that the commitee (Frederick W. Franz) who assembled this team was not particular as to experience and qualifications. Infact we can clearly see that they were not properly educated for such a task. But yet an entire religion was founded and based off of this complete and utter misinterpretaion of the Holy Bible.
"But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction." 2 Peter 2:1
John 1:1 is the most infamous translation error. Most of the scriptures that have been changed are scriptures that refer to the deity of Christ, a scriptural fact Jehovah's Witnesses try to deny.
John 1:1
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Remove this truth and all of Christianity falls apart! If Jesus is not God then there is no salvation. For only God is uniquely qualified to atone for the transgressions of man against the laws of a righteous and just God. If Jesus is not God then he would not have been the PERFECT sacrifice and he would have fallen short and failed at the cross. But he did NOT fail and all sins were atoned. Therefore JESUS IS GOD!!!!!!!!!!!
May the truth of the Lord be your goal.
Ernest Eulenfeld