RF:
You should not be so quick to question the motives of Bible translators.
Which theological view would lead translators to use "indefinitely lasting
life" rather than "everlasting life"?
In my view there are linguistic rather than theological reasons behind
"indefinitely lasting life". I can see three possible reasons for the
choice of the NWT translators:
1) A careful study of the lexical meaning of (LM and its use in the OT.
2) The principle of concordance, i.e., the use of one English word for each
Hebrew word whenever possible.
3) The principle that the readers should have a part in the translation
process whenever possible.
As for 1), there is no doubt that the reference of (LM in many instances is
to unending time, but that is not true in all cases. Translators should
differenciate between the lexical meaning of a word, which is the concept
in the mind of native speakers that is signalled by the word, and its
reference. The core of the concept signalled by the verb (LM is "hide,
hidden," and the same may be the case with the noun. The time whose length
is hidden may be rather short or it may be everlasting.
As for 2), the translators use the same words or similar words, e.g., "time
indefinite" when the noun (LM is found. The advantage of this is that the
readers can know when the same Hebrew word is used in differeent English
passages.
As for 3), the words "indifinitely lasting" and "time indefinite" are more
ambiguous than "everlasting". The translating process begins when the
author writes the words, and it ends when the reader grasps the message. By
using an English term that both can be interpreted as everlasting and not
everlasting, the final interpretation of the word is left to the individual
reader.
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