Interpretations in Matthew

1. "Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east." 2:1-2
   Does the bible condemn astrology?

2. "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
   If a man who looks at a woman with lust commits adultery, and the penalty for adultery is death (Lev.20:10), then shouldn't the man (and the woman?) be put to death? 5:27-28
3. "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen."
   These words (used in the Protestant version of "the Lord's Prayer") were probably not in the original gospel, since they are not found in Luke's version (Luke 11:2-4) or in the oldest manuscripts of Matthew's gospel. 6:13

4. Does God approve of slavery? 8:5-9, 23:10

5. "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." 10:28
   Notice that Jesus makes a clear distinction between the soul and the body in this verse. Why would he do that if, as the Governing Body of the Jehovah's Witnesses teaches, the soul is the body?

6. "And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. 10:34
   Jehovah's Witnesses use these verses to justify forcing members to disfellowship (shun) their own family.

7. Does Hell exist? 13:41-42, 18:8-9, 22:13, 25:41, 46

8. "Thy mother and thy brethren" 12:47, 13:55-56
   The fact that Jesus had brothers shows that Mary, contrary to Catholic teaching, was not always a virgin.

9. "Pearl of great price"
   This phrase was adopted by the Mormon (LDS) church as the title of one of its standard works. The Pearl of Great Price is a part of Mormon scripture. 13:46

10. "But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod." 14:6-8
    Is dancing a sin?

11. "Two or three witnesses" 18:16
    Jehovah's Witnesses use this verse (along with Dt.19:15 and 1 Tim.5:19) to justify their refusal to report or investigate incidents of child molestation unless two or three JWs have witnessed the event. If witnesses do not come forward (and they are discouraged from doing so since it would embarrass the organization), then the victim is told to be quiet about it.

12. "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God." 19:17
    "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" 27:46
    Is Jesus God?

13. Is polygamy OK? 19:4-5, 25:1

14. "They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." 24:30
    Will Jesus' second coming be visible to all? Well, not according to the Jehovah's Witnesses, anyway. Even though in this verse Jesus says he'll return "on the clouds of heaven with great power and glory" and Rev.1:7 says that "every eye shall see him," The Governing Body claims that Jesus returned invisibly in 1914 without clouds, glory, or being seen by anyone.

15. "Learn a parable of the fig tree." 24:32-34
    Based on these versese, Hal Linsey's The Late, Great Planet Earth predicted that the end of the world would occur before 1988. The fig tree represents Israel, Israel came back to life in 1948, and Jesus said the end would come within one generation (40 years).

16. "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." 24:34
    The Jehovah's Witnesses used to interpret this verse to mean that some of those who witnessed Jesus' return in 1914 would still be alive when Armageddon happened. Now that those alive in 1914 are now pretty much dead, the JWs have given up on this prediction.

17. "Not the angels of heaven, but my Father only" 24:36
    The best and earliest Greek manuscripts say, "not the angels of heaven, neither the son, but the Father only." But apparently it bothered the scribes that there were some things Jesus didn't know, so they fixed it by omitting the phrase, "neither the son."

18. "Who then is a faithful and wise servant?" 24:45
    For JWs, this is the most important verse in the bible. It is the basis of their central dogma, that the governing body of the Jehovah's Witnesses is the "faithful and wise servant," or as the NWT puts it "the faithful and discrete slave." As such, the governing body must be obeyed in all matters and all of their teachings must be accepted. Those who do so will survive Armageddon; those who do not, will not.

19. "That evil servant" 24:48
    The "evil servant" ("evil slave" in NWT) is any of the 144,000 anointed Jehovah's Witnesses that are (or were) going to heaven, but have since left the organization. They are collectively called the evil slave class.

20. "Eat; this is my body." 26:26-28
    Jesus tells his disciples to eat his body and drink his blood. Did he mean this literally or figuratively? The question has divided Christians since the Reformation, but it's impossible to tell from the passage itself. If God inspired the Bible, shouldn't he have made its interpretation clear?

21. "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." 26:29
    Is it OK to drink alcohol?