Are Happy and Blessed Interchangeable?

Comment by Adam on 2021-02-23 20:12:12

In my experience, not too many truly spiritual people in the Jdubs. Attempts to change the subject bringing up a spiritual subject would be a conversation stopper except with the very few.
I think this is because of having been being denied the full Christian hope through Jesus, but rather have a hope of getting to live in someone else's luxury house, the owner of whom died at Armageddon, coupled with fear of dying at Armageddon themselves, poor sods. ?
This material outlook is looking forward to "happiness", not "blessedness".
Maybe it's with this earthly hope in mind that "happy" is there instead of "blessed", a truly dastardly thing if it was.

• Reply by Ad_Lang on 2021-02-24 09:15:47

  I don't think there's anything wrong with an earthly hope as many witnesses see it.
  
  You're totally right about the spirituality, generally. Again applies this: you do not know if a person is nice (spiritual, loving etc.) until you have seen how that one behaves in a conflict or when not getting their way. I had that with a long-standing elder who became abusive when he couldn't handle Scriptural reasoning as he tried to compel be to keep quiet about the mishandling of child sexual abuse in the Netherlands. None of my business?
  
  You'll probably get much closer to the motives if you see this purely in terms of love versus fear. The love in the congregations is smothered by the fear of the governing body, the fear of being disfellowshipped as an apostate if you dare to say something different. If you use any Scriptural evidence it's called "twisting the Scriptures". You'll enjoy learning about psychological projection - I can recommend it.
  
  The reaction of my group overseer was a telltale, when I suggested we should have at least as much attention for each other as for people in the world. Pioneering (70 hrs) means we should first have at least 70 hours per month for others in the faith (Joh. 13:35). Maybe if you mention this in a congregation meeting, you too will find how painful it is for us to realise how much we fall short in the things that matter most.

Comment by Fani on 2021-02-24 05:07:52

En français les bibles "Louis Second" "Sacy" "osty" "Jérusalem" "Darby" "Abbé Crampon 1923" traduisent toutes par heureux ou bienheureux et non béni.

Dictionnaire "Le Robert" en français pour bienheureux = heureux, béni, enchanté.
Heureux et béni sont des synonymes et semblent donc interchangeables.

Pourtant, selon la Bible, comme c'est bien souligné dans le sermon sur la montagne, c'est un bonheur qui découle de l'approbation de Dieu, de sa bénédiction.
Math 5 : 9/10 "Heureux ceux qui favorisent la paix, puisqu'ils seront appelés fils de Dieu".

C'est ce que souligne également la concordance Strong :
"3107 makários (de mak -, "devenir long, grand") - correctement, quand Dieu étend Ses avantages (les avantages qu'Il confère ); béni .

3107 / makários ("bienheureux") décrit un croyant en une position enviable ("chanceuse") en recevant les dispositions de Dieu ( faveur ) - qui (littéralement) étendent ("font long, grand") Sa grâce (avantages). "

En français, le terme bienheureux a 2 sens :
Littéral = heureux
Religieux = qui a été béatifié (blessed)

En France, Bienheureux est un terme utilisé par l'église catholique pour béatifier les défunts.

Donc je ne pense pas qu'il soit faux de traduire "makarios" par heureux, à condition de se rappeler que c'est un bonheur qui découle de la bénédiction de Dieu, comme l'a souligné le Christ.
Heureux et béni sont étroitement liés ; l'un ne va pas sans l'autre.
Il est vrai que le mot "béni" souligne mieux l'importance de Dieu dans ce bonheur ce que omettent beaucoup de traductions et pas seulement la TNO.

Merci Elpida

Comment by Ad_Lang on 2021-02-24 08:57:24

First of all, I am not an expert, but since that doesn't stop me from using my brain, I might share a few bits that I have noticed. I'm using the NWT for this. The answer to the question posed in the article is... in the final paragraph.

To start with the idea of being blessed, depending on the context it may have different meanings, like a favourable outcome of an endeavour or strength and support during a trial. It is an umbrella term for something favourable. Perhaps equivalent to "good luck", except that where being lucky is a result of purely random circumstances that turn out well, being blessed acknowledges the involvement of a particular force and/or entity (person) that can affect a situation.

To give a Scriptural reference, in Isaiah 65:11, Jehovah complains about his people abandoning him for the gods of Good Luck and Destiny. To be sure, our understanding is that the meaning of Jehovah says that he "causes to become". In other words, Jehovah is the God of Opportunity (empowering), where good luck and destiny completely rely on the idea of being powerless to do anything that might change the outcome of a situation or course of events. There is nothing real about our concerns with good luck. After all, as soon as people get involved in any ritual for good luck, they are trying to create an opportunity, futile as their attempt might be.

In contrast, happiness is indeed an effect. One that I have experienced myself. Jesus' words in Luke 11:13 assure us that the Father will give holy spirit to those asking him. That is being blessed. As a result, we can experience joy as one of the fruits of the spirit (Gal. 5:22). In my own case, I noticed because despite being depressed and stressed continuously, when I go outside it's like a cheerful mood engulfs me sometimes, like putting on a coat. Some in town have given me the nickname "Smilie", because of that cheerfulness, even if I can feel that underneath it there is something totally different. This cheerful feeling may be a gift to be grateful for.

There are alternative explanations of the term happiness. Some see it as a positive movement, not a favourable situation. The focus is on the journey, not the destination. So you can be happy because of moving toward the achievement of a goal, rather than feeling happy once the goal has finally been achieved. Some are happy even despite awful circumstances. Have you never looked forward to a certain, favourable outcome of a difficult or challenging situation?

The declarations in Matthew 5:3-12 have a common structure: declaration, actuality, outcome. Jesus declares happy those who have an attitude, life course or negative circumstance (actuality), because the final outcome will be good for the reasons given. For example, in verse 4 "Happy/Blessed are those who mourn" seems to be a contradiction given that this mourning is an ongoing process, but then the result will be comfort. Or in verse 6: "hungering and thirsting for righteousness" is not a nice thing to be living through. However, their being filled is going to be a certain and permanent outcome (see 2 Peter 3:13). For that reason, such ones can already be considered happy: it's a matter of time.

Meanwhile, we must not forget that there is more than just the final outcome, because people who experience the actualities that Jesus mentioned can already enjoy Jehovah's favour right now. The happiness is the result of the blessing and, specifically as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, I would take the stance that translating "Happy" probably does take some of the implied meaning away. A more obvious instance is "long-suffering" in Galatians 5:22, listed as one of the fruits of the spirit. Although it does mean patience (the new rendering in the NWT), I'm still in favour of long-suffering, because it captures the essence of what patience actually is. Using simpler terms and wording is not wrong in itself, but when it takes away (potential) meaning, it can be an oversimplification. Sometimes the right answer is not changing the material, but educating people to enable them to grasp the material in it's fullness. Long-suffering can indeed come across as something we don't want, unless you change perspective and realise what it means if someone is long-suffering with you.

In conclusion, I would say that "happy" and "blessed" are not interchangeable. The governing body has taken a direction of making the Scriptures accessible to everyone (e.g. Simplified Watchtower), but it seems that they have taken it too far at times. Perhaps tempted to take the easy option. After all, why increase the burden of having to potentially educate millions in the understanding of difficult words, if you could substitute those words with simple alternatives, thereby taking away the need to be educated? Or are we fooling ourselves here? The chosen solution may turn out to have some negative side-effects...

• Reply by Elpida on 2021-02-24 15:39:11

  Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. How wonderful it would be if this sharing was permitted at a JW meeting.

Comment by Frankie on 2021-02-24 17:03:58

I cannot be happy without God's blessing.
When God blesses me, then I am happy.

• Reply by Elpida on 2021-03-01 09:07:10

  Frankie: I completely understand that. I like to do what the Bereans did in Jesus' time and that is to research the Holy Scriptures. It is not a case of happy or blessed as much as what did Jesus say? From all indications, the only bible who uses the word 'happy' was NWT and the Kingdom Interlinear and Byington. I think if Jesus meant 'happy', He would have said so.

  • Reply by Jeremiah on 2021-03-01 15:24:11

    Elpida, have you read some of the other comments?

    • Reply by Elpida on 2021-03-01 18:44:53

      Jeremiah: Yes, I have. I very much appreciate all comments. I am far from perfect about my understanding and I am learning so much from all of you. Your insights are welcoming. To be able to see your's and others' understanding is what is so precious in studying the Holy Scriptures. Thank you.

      • Reply by Jeremiah on 2021-03-02 13:30:26

        Then I am happy! Thank you Elpida for your gracious reply.

Comment by Menrov on 2021-02-25 12:03:10

YLT also has HAPPY. If you check here: https://studybible.info/strongs/G3107
you can see both words can be used. It depends in my view what you like to stress. In this case, I do not have a real preference.

Comment by Jeremiah on 2021-02-26 05:53:54

The question why the JW bible substitutes blessed with happy is an assumption that blessed is correct in the first place. Rather we may find that english translators of old substituted happy with blessed and for good reason at the time. Here is a comment I found on stackexchamge which I feel explains the reasons for using happy instead of blessed.

As you have noticed, English has changed a lot since the first translations were made. Now, the original meaning of 'blessed', according to the etymology, is 'consecrated', but it started to pick up a second meaning—over time it started to sound like more like the word 'bliss', and so, following on the idea of being consecrated, the idea of blissfulness or happiness was added to it. (This is explained at dictionary.com. For another example of how unrelated words can influence each other's senses, compare how the word 'niggardly' came to be politically incorrect.)
It may also be instructive to look at the meaning of 'happy' in the past. The word 'happy' comes from the word 'hap', meaning what happens by chance. The words 'mishap' and 'happen' itself are related; the former is a bad chance occurrence, and the latter is what just happens to occur. The root meaning of 'happy' thus is what we might describe as 'lucky' or 'fortunate'—as the familiar saying goes, "happiness is based on happenstance".
While we do not strongly associate the idea of good luck with 'happy' today, the association was stronger in the past, so the translators of the time may have preferred not to use it here, though people who wrote dictionaries would use it to specify when they said 'blessed' that they mean this sense.

Which sense is actually meant?

We can find out by looking at the original language. While English uses 'bless' for both the idea of consecration and the idea of happiness, Greek has two different words: εὐλογέω (eulogeō) is to bless as in to consecrate, and μακάριος (macarios) is happy.
In the original Greek of the beatitudes, 'μακάριος' is used. So indeed the sense of happiness is intended here; Jesus is talking about the future happiness of people who are not traditionally considered to be happy, not the future consecration of people who are not traditionally considered to be consecrated.
(In Latin likewise there are two different words -- benedico is to bless as in to consecrate, and beatus is happy. It is from the latter that we get the name 'beatitudes'.)

But 'happy' is different from 'blessed' somehow

Now, as you say, you "don't believe that happy and blessed do coalesce, at least not on earth". You have reason to say this, but this is less about the meaning of the words and more about their associations. The idea of 'blessed' happiness is strongly tied to the religious idea whose name it shares and so we tend to use the word only in religious contexts or with religious feeling -- and because we make it a religious idea, we tend to think about it more and realize that real happiness is not of or in this world.
Because 'happy' has no such religious association, we tend to use it more lightly and don't think of it in such a way. But the idea is still in the word; one may see it when we are talking about happiness in a philosophical but non-religious way, as when we speak of the saying of Solon, "call no man happy till he is dead"—the original Greek for the 'happy' here is also of the same root as μακάριος.

So why change 'blessed' to 'happy' in the translation?

It's true that 'blessed' already has more of the connotations that one would want in this text. But, especially for those not raised to religious terminology, the word is kind of obscure — and without use in a variety of contexts, it's hard for people to learn what a word means; the meaning tends to get muddled. By updating 'blessed' to 'happy'—which we can do now that 'happy' no longer means 'lucky'—we at once make the original idea more accessible, and hopefully stimulate in the word 'happy' the kind of thinking about happiness we have already done when using the word 'blessed'.

• Reply by Chez on 2021-02-27 07:20:54

  Excellent commentary on that “Days Text” Elpida
  Good solid research Jeremiah. I wish I could put thoughts into words as well as you do.
  I also reckon WT would not use the word “blessed” in line with their idea that they are “not like those other ordinary” religions. A form of reverse snobbery perhaps?