Even knowing Johannes Greber was a spiritualist, the Watchtower was willing to use his satanic translation to endorse their own mistranslation of biblical texts.
The Watchtower was well aware of Greber’s spiritualism. In the October 1, 1955 Watchtower pages 603-604 they wrote this: “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 the February 15, 1956 Watchtower pages 110-111, Greber again is identified as a spiritualist: “ 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) In keeping with his Roman Catholic extraction Greber’s translation is bound with a gold-leaf cross on its stiff front cover. In the Foreword of his aforementioned book ex-priest Greber says: “The most significant spiritualistic book is the Bible.” Under this impression Greber endeavors to make his New Testament translation read very spiritualistic.”
Yet, in the September 15, 1962 page 560, Watchtower, Greber’s book is used to support the Watchtower’s mistranslation of John 1:1 (“the Word was ‘a’ god”): “The New Testament—A New Translation and Explanation Based on the Oldest Manuscripts, by Johannes Greber (a translation from German into English), edition of 1937, the front cover of this bound translation being stamped with a golden cross.”
In the Watchtower’s book, Aid to Bible Understanding (1971 p. 169), the organization continues to use a spiritualist translation to support their mistranslation of John 1:1: “A translation by a former Roman Catholic priest, Johannes Greber (1937 ed.) renders the second appearance of the word ‘god’ in the sentence as ‘a god.'”
In the October 15, 1975 Watchtower page 640, Greber is again cited to support the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New World Translation: “Without wresting the Greek grammar, a translator can render Matthew 27:52, 53 in a way that suggests that a similar exposing of corpses resulted from the earthquake occurring at Jesus’ death. Thus the translation by Johannes Greber (1937) renders these verses: “Tombs were laid open, and many bodies of those buried there were tossed upright. In this posture they projected from the graves and were seen by many who passed by the place on their way back to the city.”—Compare the New World Translation”
The April 15, 1976 Watchtower, page 231, also quotes Greber’s translation to support the Watchtower’s view of Matthew 27:51-53: “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. In this posture they projected from the graves and were seen by many who passed by the place on their way back to the city.” Hence, rather than a resurrection, as some Bible translations imply, there appears to have been merely an exposure of the dead to observers, as in Guatemala.—Matt. 27:51-53.”
Under the heading, Questions from Readers, in the April, 1, 1983 Watchtower, page 31, the Watchtower returns to its former position to reject Greber’s translation: “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 andJohn 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 JohannesGreber, 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 scholarship that forms the basis for the rendering of the above-cited texts in the New World Translation is sound and for this reason does not depend at all on Greber’s translation for authority. Nothing is lost, therefore, by ceasing to use his New Testament”.
What’s the point here? Well, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is not above using a spiritualist translation which they admitted was such in 1955 and 1956 to support mistranslations of Scripture in their own New World Translation. When someone complained, they returned to their original position and decided to recognize the Greber’s “translation” for was it is: spiritualist hogwash.
AnswersAZ 