Doesn’t more than one translation says “‘the Word was a god?”
Question:
Regarding your statement on in "Jesus is God":
"To get what Jehovah’s Witnesses wish to claim, that Jesus was just a god in the sense that some men are “gods” in that they are God’s representatives you would need “and the Word was God” (καὶ θεός ?ν ὁ λόγος) in the Greek. This is why no translation, outside the Jehovah’s Witnesses own poorly done one, says that the Word was a god."
Regarding Jehovah's Witnesses' "New World Translation" Bible and its rendering of John 1:1, it may interest you to know that there is soon to be published an 18+ year study (as of 01/2010) in support and explanation of their wording of this verse entitled, "What About John 1:1?" In fact, not only is your statement "no translation, outside the Jehovah’s Witnesses own poorly done one, says that the Word was a god" simply not true, but there has been located over 125 examples, in 10 languages, of where Bible Translators / Scholars have, indeed, rendered the third clause of John 1:1 as, 'and the Word was a god.'
Answer:
You are correct, there are a handful of other bad English translations that mistranslated John 1:1. (Less than 5?) I updated the statement accordingly. That you managed to find 125 bad translations is unimpressive in the sea of translations out there. Nor does it prove your point. Just as current arguments that there is global warming because there is a consensus of scientist supporting the idea doesn't make good science (and recently has been shown to be a sham), finding a few documents with an indefinite article doesn't mean that it is a proper Greek translation to English. Having to reach into other languages is even worse since every language treats articles in different ways.
