The Feb 1st WT has a banner headline on the cover "Must We Always Tell The Truth" - inside it says (p1) "' I hate lies and I hate being lied to" exclaimed a 16 year old girl" ... So , O.K. we must expect that anyone printing such things must themselves be absolutely honest and truthful .
So why do they use misleading quotations that are, practice, nothing short of lies? Many have been documented but this one came my way recently while using another thread .
The book "Let Your Kingdom Come" has an appendix dealing with Babylonian and Jewish chronology .
kc
p.188AppendixtoChapter14***Furthermore, Josephus elsewhere describes the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and then says that "all Judea and Jerusalem, and the temple, continued to be a desert for seventy years." (AntiquitiesoftheJews X, ix, 7) He pointedly states that "our city was desolate during the interval of seventy years, until the days of Cyrus." (AgainstApion I, 19) This agrees with 2 Chronicles 36:21 and Daniel 9:2 that the foretold 70 years were 70 years of full desolation for the land. Second-century (C.E.) writer Theophilus of Antioch also shows that the 70 years commenced with the destruction of the temple after Zedekiah had reigned 11 years.—See also 2 Kings 24:18–25:21.
OK. , Not a big point but I had underlined it in my study copy. I taught the group in good faith, that Josephus had written it and it supported the Watchtower teaching of a seventy year desolation of Jerusalem.
What did Josephus actually write?
"This Berosus, therefore, following the most ancient records of that nation, gives us a history of the deluge of waters that then happened, and of the destruction of mankind thereby, and agrees with Moses's narration thereof. He also gives us an account of that ark wherein Noah, the origin of our race, was preserved, when it was brought to the highest part of the Armenian mountains; after which he gives us a catalogue of the posterity of Noah, and adds the years of their chronology, and at length comes down to Nabolassar, who was king of Babylon, and of the Chaldeans. And when he was relating the acts of this king, he describes to us how he sent his son Nabuchodonosor against Egypt, and against our land, with a great army, upon his being informed that they had revolted from him; and how, by that means, he subdued them all, and set our temple that was at Jerusalem on fire; nay, and removed our people entirely out of their own country, and transferred them to Babylon; when it so happened that our city was desolate during the interval of seventy years, until the days of Cyrus king of Persia. "
Book 1 :19
Not readily apparent ( to a layman like me at least) because he writes in a long winded style . but he clearly says that somebody else had written that it was seventy years destruction. This Berosus, another historian some while before Josephus, had written it.
Over the page he goes on to say
21. These accounts agree with the true histories in our books; for in them it is written that Nebuchadnezzar, in the eighteenth year of his reign, laid our temple desolate, and so it lay in that state of obscurity for fifty years; but that in the second year of the reign of Cyrus its foundations were laid, and it was finished again in the second year of Darius. I will now add the records of the Phoenicians; for it will not be superfluous to give the reader demonstrations more than enough on this occasion. In them we have this enumeration of the times of their several kings: "Nabuchodonosor besieged Tyre for thirteen years in the days of Ithobal, their king; after him reigned Baal, ten years; after him were judges appointed, who judged the people: Ecnibalus, the son of Baslacus, two months; Chelbes, the son of Abdeus, ten months; Abbar, the high priest, three months; Mitgonus and Gerastratus, the sons of Abdelemus, were judges six years; after whom Balatorus reigned one year; after his death they sent and fetched Merbalus from Babylon, who reigned four years; after his death they sent for his brother Hirom, who reigned twenty years. Under his reign Cyrus became king of Persia." So that the whole interval is fifty-four years besides three months; for in the seventh year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar he began to besiege Tyre, and Cyrus the Persian took the kingdom in the fourteenth year of Hirom. So that the records of the Chaldeans and Tyrians agree with our writings about this temple; and the testimonies here produced are an indisputable and undeniable attestation to the antiquity of our nation. And I suppose that what I have already said may be sufficient to such as are not very contentious.
Josepus Against Apion , Book 1:21
Ok, so he now says that the time of desolation is fifty four years . I do not claim to know the true interval of time, that is not the point of this post . The point is that the words of Josephus were missapplied! I was misled. Millions of us who studied the Kingdom Come Book were misled - and that angers me.
If it were an individual, I could believe that an honest mistake had been made . But this was the WTB & T Soc. , a massive publisher who say they printed 2 million of these books in 1981. One would expect that they researched it and the writer knew what he was talking about. No doubt he did know , so why mislead us ??
Of course the Watchtower's fondness for misleading quotations is well documented. I recall an essay written by Alan Fuernbacher (sp?) after he met with Harry Peloyan of the Writing Committee, in Brooklyn. he said,
Eventually I was able to point out another big error in the “Creation” book, where “Popular Science” magazine was said to have stated that mankind may have only been around for a few thousand years instead of millions. I pointed out that the magazine, in it's editorial voice, had not said that at all, but that it was only quoting what a 7th-Day Adventist physicist had said, and that this was actually his religious view. Peloyan's response was, "Well it's in the magazine, right? So we didn't misquote anything." I said that of course it's a misrepresentation, because just suppose that “The Watchtower” quoted an evolutionist as saying "evolution is true", and then someone else wrote that the Society had now accepted evolution because “The Watchtower” was now saying that "evolution is true". Peloyan wouldn't comment and he obviously got the point. Then he again resorted to his argument that in the overall context of the “Creation” book's purpose, this was of no consequence. I wanted to point out that this was a perfect illustration of bending the truth to defend God, but thought the better of it.
So what do we have . We have an organization that trumpets the cause of truth, yet bends and falsifies truth whenever it suits their purpose to do so, and they apparently see nothing wrong with it !! - The victims were you and me and still are the 6 million dupes within their clutches .
As the current mag says (p7) "Jehovah will soon put an end to all lies and liars"
Don't we wish?