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Vakttornet och spiritisten Johannes Greber Artikeln uppdaterad: 2005-03-17 Utskriftsvänlig version... Spiritism Sällskapet Vakttornet fördömer all form av spiritism, det vill säga kontakt med osynliga andar. Enligt organisationen så fördöms spiritism "strängeligen i Bibeln" (Reasoning, sid 384). Trots vad spiritism är och trots dessa fördömanden så har Vakttornet genom åren hämtat stöd från en spiritist avseende bibeltolkningsfrågor. Sedan 1981 har organisationen upphört med detta. Men det som är särskilt anmärkningsvärt är att organisationen visste redan på 1950-talet att Greber var en spiritist och ändå åberopade Grebers stöd samt att man 1981 försökte ge sken av att organisationen inte visste förrän 1980 att Greber var en spiritist. Bibeltolkningar Sällskapet Vakttornet har sin egen bibelöversättning, Nya Världens Översättning (New World Translation). Denna översättning har tillrättalagt ett antal kritiska passager särskilt avseende vem Jesus är så att texterna bättre överrensstämmer med Vakttornets teologi. För en av de mest centrala av dessa passager, Joh 1:1, har sällskapet åberopat stöd från Greber. Greber har nämligen också utgivit en egen bibelöversättning som han påstår att han har fått hjälp med av osynliga andar. "Greber har blivit en spiritist" I Vakttornet 1955, 1 okt, sid 603 kan man läsa att organisationen vet vad Greber är! “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 its Foreword he makes the typical misstatement: "The most significant spiritualistic book is the Bible; for its principal contents hinge upon the messages of the beyond to those existing in the present." (VT 1955, 1 okt, sid 603) Artikeln redogör om spiritism och ägnar stort utrymme åt att visa att den katolska kyrkan använder sig av spiritistiska metoder. En artikel från 1956 berättar mer om Johannes Greber och hans metoder: “10 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. 11 Spiritualism claims that there are good spirits and bad spirits and that it does not want to have anything to do with the bad spirits but tries to communicate only with the good spirits. At 1 John 4:1-3 the Bible says: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world." Greber's translation of these verses reads: "My dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to learn whether they come from God. For many false spirits have emerged from the abyss and gone out into the world, and are speaking through human mediums. This is how you can find out whether a spirit comes from God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ appeared on earth as a man, comes from God. While every spirit who seeks to destroy belief in Jesus as our Lord incarnated does not come from God, but is sent by the adversary of Christ. You have been told that such spirits would come, and they are already appearing in the world." Very plainly the spirits in which ex-priest Greber believes helped him in his translation”. (VT 1956, 15 feb, s 110, 111) Vi har med dessa två artiklar klarlagt här att organisation visste 1955-1956 vad Greber var! Efter dessa två artiklar använder sig organisationen av Johannes Greber för att söka stöd för sina bibeltolkningar. "En modern tysk bibelöversättare!" I denna artikel från 1967 kallas Greber för en "modern tysk bibelöversättare". Sammanhanget är att organisationen försöker finna stöd för sin uppfattning att Matt 27:52-53 inte handlar om en kroppsligt uppväckande från de döda. “Nor is the New World Translation alone in rendering these verses thus. A modern German translation reads quite similarly: "Tombs were laid open, and many bodies of those buried 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."-Matt. 27:52, 53.” (VT 1961, 1 jan, s 30) Liknande artiklar publicerades 1975 och 1976: "Questions from Readers • Does Matthew 27:52, 53 mean that at the time of Jesus' death some persons in the grave were resurrected? 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.” (VT 1975, 15 oktober, s 640) “The recent Guatemalan earthquake affected even some of those already dead. "Time" magazine reports that "several mourners who went to bury their dead in family plots found that the coffins of long-dead relatives had been uncovered by the quake." Something similar occurred during an earthquake in the Jerusalem area at Jesus' death. At that time, dead bodies were customarily placed in vaults or chambers cut from Palestine's soft limestone rock, often in hillsides. 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.” (VT 1976, 15 april, s 231) "Ordet var en gud" Det vanligaste sammanhanget i vilket organisationen åberopar spiritisten Johannes Greber är dock i sin översättning av Joh. 1:1. Istället för att översätta den med: "... Ordet var Gud" så översätter Vakttornet: "Ordet var en gud" och därmed attackerar man Jesu guddom. Greber var av samma uppfattning: Jesus var en gud, inte Gud. Denna hade Greber erhållit genom kontakter med den osynliga andevärlden. Det är skrämmande att man vänder sig dit för att ta reda på vem Jesus är. “5 But most controversial of all is the following reading of John 1:1, 2: "The Word was in the beginning, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. This Word was in the beginning with God." This reading is found in The New Testament in An Improved Version, published in London, England, in 1808. Similar is the reading by a former Roman Catholic priest: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. This was with God in the beginning. Everything came into being through the Word, and without it nothing created sprang into existence." (John 1:1-3)* * [Footnote to page 554] 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.” (VT 1962, 15 sept, s 554) "Vi har upptäckt att Greber är en spiritist" I "Frågor från läsekretsen" 1983 så ställs frågan varför organisation inte längre åberopar Greber som stöd längre. I svaret ges sken av att man först 1980 fick reda på att Greber var en spiritist: “Questions From Readers • 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 and John 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 Johannes Greber, 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.” (VT 1983, 1 april, s 31) Visserligen är det bra att man avsäger sig all kontakt med Johannes Greber. Faktum är dock att organisationen från början kände till vad Johannes Greber var och att man, trots detta, sökte stöd i hans bibelöversättning för att visa att Nya Världens Översättning är korrekt. Det är skrämmande att Vakttornet vilat på sådana stöd. |
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