Thanks for the reply.
"Taking them away in a continuous sense"
not sure what this means.
As to pruning...it cannot mean pruning because Jesus speaks about pruning in the very next sentence and the outcome is different:
John 15:2
2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
Every branch that DOES NOT bear fruit, God takes away. (God removes from the Vine).
THEN it goes on to speak about pruning:
Every branch that DOES bear fruit, God PRUNES so that it will produce even more fruit.
So taking away cannot mean to prune.
And I've heard other odd explanations that are incorrect.
We should trust that the translators knew what the writer wanted to say....
they use hermeneutics and other language skills that we do not have.