In Recent Court Documents: TWI Admits to Wrongly Dividing the Word

[James Trimm]

In Recent Court Documents:

TWI Admits to Wrongly Dividing the Word

or

A Comparison of the Theology of The Way International in its Books Vs. The Theology TWI Advocates in its Court Documents

By James Trimm

In recent court documents The Way International has argued that the actual words with which the Bible is translated and written are not doctrine. Instead they argue that doctrine is not “what the words [of the Bible] say”

TWI claims that “doctrine” is only “a principle or body of principles presented for belief.” TWI says for an example:

"The Way teaches, that when someone dies, he is not judged immediately,

but is 'asleep' until the time of the last judgment, when all the dead are awakened and judged. This... is an example of a doctrine, which can be taught, believed or rejected..." (Response to Motion to Dismiss TWI vs. Trimm and SANJ)

But of the actual words of the Bible they say:

"It is what the words say; it is not itself a ‘principle presented for acceptance or belief...’” (Ibid)

This is in sharp contrast to the beliefs of most Protestants in America who hold the words of the Bible to be doctrine and inseparable from doctrine. As the reformer Calvin said:

This, then, is the difference. Our opponents (speaking of the Roman Catholic Church) locate the authority of the Church outside God's Word, that is, outside of Scripture and Scripture alone. But we insist that it be attached to the Word and to not allow it to be separated from it. And what wonder if Christ's bride and pupil be subject to her spouse and teacher so that she pays constant and careful attention to His words. For this is the arrangement of a well-governed house. The wife obeys the husband's authority. This is the plan of a well-ordered school, that there the teaching of the schoolmaster alone should be heard. For this reason the Church should not be wise of itself, should not devise anything of itself but should set the limit of its own wisdom where Christ has made an end of speaking. In this way the Church will distrust all the devisings of its own reason. But in those things where it rests upon God's Word the Church will not waiver with any distrust or doubting but will repose in great assurance and firm constancy.

(Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion, Volume 1, Chapter VIII)

Ironically TWI founder Victor Paul Wierwille taught in his Power for Abundant Living Classes that the greatest secret in the world today is that "the Bible is the revealed Word and will of God," or that "the Word of God is the will of God." Wierwille emphasized

reading the words of the Bible directly as opposed to “principle presented for acceptance or belief...”. He even stated that one day he hauled over three thousand volumes of theological works to the city dump, because he found that "equally intelligent men, talking about the same verse of scripture, would be miles apart on their conclusions." (Power for Abundant Living, pp. 119-120) Wierwille maintained that God’s Word itself is doctrine and scoffed at “principles” and “dogma” taught by men.

Yet TWI argued in court documents that the actual words with which the Bible is written are not constitutionally protected “doctrine” only the “principals” and “dogmas” taught by men are constitutionally protected as “doctrine.

In other court documents in this same case TWI has argued that the Scriptures may be translated in a variety of ways. In speaking of Bible translation TWI says:

...a single word can be translated in a variety of ways.

(Brief in Support of Summery Judgment p. 11)

The Preface to the AEINT opens by saying:

In his years of Biblical research, Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille often expressed his gratitude for the contributions of others to the understanding of the rightly divided Word of God.

In order to understand this statement it is important to understand Dr. Wierwille’s teaching on “the rightly divided Word of God”. In his book Power for Abundant Living Dr. Wierwille states concerning 2Timothy 2:15:

[speaking of 2Tim. 2:15] Its intricate nuance of meaning is that there is only one way to rightly cut The Word; all other ways are wrong cuttings.... 2 Timothy 2:15 says we are to "study to show ourselves approved unto God by rightly dividing." There is one way to rightly cut The Word; all other ways are wrong cuttings. Now do you understand why we have splits, denominations and sects in so-called Christianity? They stem from the wrong dividing of The Word.

The first word in 2Timothy 2:15 is "Study." The very first thing a person must do to rightly divide The Word is study. He is not told to study commentaries of secular writers; he must study The Word. If we are ever going to rightly divide The Word, we have to study The Word and not what people say about it. For years I did nothing but read around the Word of God. I used to read two or three theological works weekly for month after month and year after year. I knew what Professor so-and-so said, what Dr. So-and-so and the Right Reverend so-and-so said, but I could not quote you The Word. I had not read it. One day I finally became so disgusted and tired of reading around The Word that I hauled over 3,000 volumes of theological works to the city dump. I decided to quite reading around The Word. Consequently, I have spent years studying The Word—its integrity, its meaning, its words.

(Power for Abundant Living Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille; American Christian Press; The Way International, 1971; p. 119-120)

From this we learn that Victor Paul Wierwille and TWI clearly maintained in this exposition on 2Timothy 2:15 that “rightly divide” in this verse means that there is only one right way to “rightly divide” The Word.

Now the AEINT translates this verse as follows:

And be diligent that you present yourself mature before God,

a worker without shame, who is rightly proclaiming the word of truth.

2Tim. 2:15 AEINT

Thus “rightly divide” may be understood as “rightly proclaiming”. There is, according to Wierwille and the AEINT only one way in which to rightly proclaim The Word.

The Preface to the AEINT immediately continues saying:

He was able to draw from their vast backgrounds of expertise in order to teach God's Word to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. One of these men was Dr. George M. Lamsa, who contributed much in Aramaic studies. Dr. Lamsa finished proofreading his translation of the Bible from Aramaic into English in the home of Dr. and Mrs. Wierwille.

In the Preface it is clear that “Word of Truth” refers to “God’s Word.” For a good understanding of how Dr. Wierwille understood the term “God’s Word” (or “Word of God”) we may turn to his own writings:

Now I said that no translation, let alone a version, may properly be called the Word of God. As far as anybody knows, there are no original texts in existence today. The oldest dated manuscript is written in Estrangelo Aramaic...."

(Power for Abundant Living Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille; American Christian Press; The Way International, 1971; p. 127)

In other words the “Word of God” in reference to the New Testament is understood by Wierwille to refer to the original Aramaic. The AEINT Preface cites Dr. George M. Lamsa, his contributions in Aramaic Studies and his translation of the Bible from Aramaic into English as an example of “the contributions of others to the understanding of the rightly divided Word of God.” In other words “rightly dividing” or “rightly proclaiming” may be understood as applying specifically to the task of “translation of the Bible from Aramaic into English”. In other words TWI has historically taught that there is only one

way to translate the Word of Truth, not that a single word can be translated in a variety of ways.

Amazingly in the same court document TWI admits to what they themselves call "many simple errors made in the AEINT translation.” (Brief in Support of Summery Judgment p. 9) That’s right TWI is now admitting they themselves have been dividing The Word of Truth in error!

[Gen-2]

I wonder if their admission stems from the fact that none of the people that worked on that translation are still standing with The Way. It may just be their way of distancing themselves from people that walked away from them.

After all,... they're still "Right", so those people must have been wrong. THEM, THOSE PEOPLE,... yanno?

It's difficult in life when you're always "right",... ...such a burden and all........!

Edited May 22, 2010 by Gen-2

[OldSkool]

Can you link to the transcripts, please?

[chockfull]

Dr. Trimm,

After reading through your documents, I wanted to say congratulations on firmly trouncing Rosalie's lawyers in court. The ease of which you were able to do this is undoubtedly due to your decades of authentic diligent effort in translation work done on the HRV. I actually look forward to obtaining a copy after further reading about your work.

The Way is just playing a self protection game. Out of all of their followers, classes, fellowships, there are probably less than 5% of their people that have actually read their Aramaiac translation or even used them in any context.

And it's very clear in their depositions they use double-talk, inconsistency, and outright lies to protect themselves. They are not a group of leaders that cares about truth, they are a group of leaders that cares about self-preservation and self-protection, including assets. Their attachment to the work done by many people they have kicked out simply goes to protecting the legitimization of their organization as having roots in Biblical research. You yourself are a far more diligent scholar than any the Way has currently employed, and more than any except a handful they've ever employed.

Best of wishes to you.

Shalom!

[potato]

twi's doublespeak seems to be their flavor du jour, every day, now. pretty soon now I expect them to declare outright that the devil made them do it.

thanks for bringing more of twi's two-faced policy to light.

man, I love the internet!

[James Trimm]

My attorney Larry Meadows deserves much of the credit, and all total he only got paid $700 for almost a year of work on this case. But he stood Strong against TWI and its lawyers. Larry is not a fancy $5,000 suit lawyer, he is a Men's Warehouse suit lawyer scratching out a living with a one man business. If anyone would like to make a donation to the legal fund and help compensate Larry for all of his work, donations can be sent by paypal.com to:

nazarene-legal-fund@meadowsllp.com

[bliss]

My attorney Larry Meadows deserves much of the credit, and all total he only got paid $700 for almost a year of work on this case. But he stood Strong against TWI and its lawyers. Larry is not a fancy $5,000 suit lawyer, he is a Men's Warehouse suit lawyer scratching out a living with a one man business. If anyone would like to make a donation to the legal fund and help compensate Larry for all of his work, donations can be sent by paypal.com to:

nazarene-legal-fund@meadowsllp.com

and WHY did he do this?

[James Trimm]

and WHY did he do this?

Because he believed it was the right thing to do. He would have liked to do it strictly bro bono, but even bro bono cases incur expenses, and Larry scratches out a living, so the time taken from paying cases was quite a burden on him and his family. Anyone who wishes to contribute may, anyone who does not wish to do so may abstain. Its pure free will, do as you wish.

[potato]

I've met a couple of lawyers like Larry. wish there were more of them.