WHY THE LONG..................................SILENCE???

by Terry 21 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Terry

  The Jews were isolated, insular and anti-progress UNTIL the invasions and conquests of Alexander's armies forced them into a new world of philosophy, science, logic and semantics.

  In less than a century after Alexander came and went, the Jews were speaking Greek and not Hebrew!

  They weren't just speaking Greek! They were thinking Greek!

  What Greek Philosophy brought to the world was a chain of reasoning which had to be validated by logic.

  The impact on Jewish theology was devastating!

  You'll find (if you care to try it) that Plato's descriptions of how Socrates dealt with his questioners/opponents is mirrored in accounts of Jesus speaking to Pharisees. Why? Because, Greek ideas, methods and thinking were the highest standard possible!

  (Socrates answered a question with a question. Jesus did the same.) (Socrates wandered about the city engaging people in deep discussions and gathered a following. Socrates was accused of misleading people, especially the young and of being destructive to religion. He was sentenced to die and accepted his fate with serenity.)

  The Roman world adopted all things Greek and merely changed the names of its gods and heros without tampering with the particulars.

  Simply put: GREEK ETHOS had set a standard in the world of Rome and Judaism that changed the way you had to represent reality/religion/philosophy.

  That is the chief and most important reason why the Old Testament is so vastly different from the New Testament.

  Take a hard look at the SILENCE______________________________between the last book of the OT and the first book of the NT. That silence is there for a reason!!

  Nobody dared speak the old way or tell outrageous mythic semite tales of a mono-God dealing only with one tiny ethnic people.

  Alexander WAS a god! He "PROVED" it by conquering everyone and everything INCLUDING JEHOVAH!! That was the reality the Jews had to swallow and digest before picking themselves up and dusting off their theology!

  It is not too surprising that Jesus was elevated to demi-god status and eventually became "divine". He had to to compete!
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  emptywords

  Hi Terry.. I was actually going to make start a thread on what you said....

  "you saying that Alexander was a god and defeted Jehovah... " My question is, Who was or is Jehovah then,? this powerful God that defeted many powerful nations to defend the Jews. Was it all fairy tale, is that what you think. Who is Jehovah.?

  .Alexander WAS a god! He PROVED it by conquering everyone and everything INCLUDING JEHOVAH!! That was the reality the Jews had to swallow and digest before picking themselves up and dusting off their theology!
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  WTWizard

  I suppose this had something to do with mankind's breaking out of bicameral mode. Socrates was among the first to do this on a wide scale, though King David was conscious and abused that power. Socrates was trying to set man free from bicameralism. Plato, on the other hand, was trying to use the new power of human consciousness to keep the masses in bicameral mode so he could get the benefits. Aristotle, on the other hand, sought to free man from bicameralism. Jesus was also a liberator who paid for his attempt to set man free with his life.

  It is these people that misuse their power to perpetuate mysticism that keep man from soaring today. Man has the capacity to solve all his problems, but as long as a few are going to use the power of consciousness to hold the masses in bicameral mode, this is never going to happen (OK, I will define bicameral mode as following orders from either one's inner self or from outside). Note that the people that are prominent in forcing people to follow (which are the truly wicked) include St Augustine, who used religion to set off the first Dark Ages. He is the guy that started the cult that became the Catholic church, and pruned the Bible to fit its needs.

  Also note that this is going on now. Russell started another cult, that is today known as Jehovah's Witnesses. And the leaders of that cult, like the Catholic church's early leaders, are forcing people to become followers with threat of imminent destruction (the Catholics used hell, the Tower is using Armageddon). Prominent evil people, which are called neocheaters, liars, cult leaders, and tyrants, include Joseph Rutherford and Ted Jaracz. Albert Schroeder was among those, as well. No matter what you call them, all seek to control mankind and render existence meaningless. And they will set off the Second Dark Ages if they are successful (which is a major reason I want so much for that cult to die suddenly and sooner than later).

  Aristotle had it right, and Jesus' true message when unburied from Catholic and Puketower mysticism is mankind is better off with a minimum of rules and regulations. Actually, the only rules that are really needed proscribe initiating the use of force, threat of force, or fraud against another person or their property. Any rules above and beyond that are harmful, unnecessary, and will stifle freedom and flow of knowledge. In turn, that will act as the brakes on prosperity and peace. Stagnation results, and people seek kicks like drugs, committing petty crimes, and dangerous thrills to break from it. And, if the leaders are too strict like the Puketower Society, they can cause many a psychiatric problem where none needed to exist.

  Possibly this also explains why the Bible is silent. Or, maybe St Augustine threw it away because it worked against what he was trying to accomplish (sounds like what the New World Translation is trying to do?).
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  Terry

  Hi Terry.. I was actually going to make start a thread on what you said....

  "you saying that Alexander was a god and defeted Jehovah... " My question is, Who was or is Jehovah then,? this powerful God that defeted many powerful nations to defend the Jews. Was it all fairy tale, is that what you think. Who is Jehovah.?

  Excellent question!

  The Jews wrote about their defeats long after the fact. They colored their mythic history carefully with this sort of logic:

  1.We alone are God's chosen people. God protects us and treats us special.

  2.Umm, we got our ass whipped by so and so because...um...because we didn't obey Jehovah and he let us be chastised!

  When Alexander conquered everybody something changed. Something was different this time.

  Greek culture!

  Greek culture trumped Semetic culture on a vast insuperable scale!

  The Jews were like inbred yokels with tall tales compared to the amazing stories, science, literature, history, vocabular, medicine, mathematics of the Greeks!

  Herodotus had no counterpart in Judiasm. The Jews set about changing all that with revisionism.

  Jehovah had to shut up when Alexander marched through and trampled semetic theology. Jehovah's mouth and antics were indefensible to enlightened peoples!

  What Jehovah actually was is now clear. Jehovah was the chip on the Jew's shoulder and their Jiminey Cricket.
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  WTWizard

  What Jehovah actually was is now clear. Jehovah was the chip on the Jew's shoulder and their Jiminey Cricket.

  And a Baghead--nothing but an almighty bag of hot air.
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  Terry

  St Augustine, who used religion to set off the first Dark Ages. He is the guy that started the cult that became the Catholic church, and pruned the Bible to fit its needs.

  Also note that this is going on now. Russell started another cult, that is today known as Jehovah's Witnesses

  St. Augustine used Aristotelian logic (badly) and so did Thomas Aquinas. The Catholics were like their fellow citizens in being very conversant with philosophy and greek thought.

  What they tried to do was provide a rational basis for Christian belief. They invented many concepts which Christians take for granted (such as original sin.)

  The Dark Ages, however, were the result of invasions which snuffed out society in the West. It was the Church (ironically) and Muslims who preserved knowledge and Greek science/philsophy!
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  emptywords

  Thank you for you're very enlightening post WTWizard. I have taken that on board, and hope to learn more.
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  Narkissos

  Hi Terry,

  Where do you buy those broad brushes again?

  Only from the perspective of Protestant fundamentalism on OT canon and datation is there such a "long silence". Actually literary production in all segments of Judaism was continuous, reflecting a diverse and gradual reception of Hellenistic influence from the 4th century BC to the 1st century AD.

  Moreover, Jewish monotheism was not that old, and it had also built over against foreign influence -- especially Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian and Persian. As has often been pointed out, the earlier defeat of the old national Judean god Yhwh by Babylon was instrumental to his promotion as "the only God" in the first place.

  Finally, as massive as Greek cultural superiority may seem, it remains to be explained why the Jewish-Christian version of "God" came to be so fascinating to the late Graeco-Roman world, rather than its popular philosophical versions in Middle- or Neo-Platonism...
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  emptywords

  Thank's Terry for you're answer, I have a lot of histroy to read, I thought I was being educated with the WTS, I used to feel proud that I had read the "Let youre will be on earth book"

  Will be reading more outside the tower, I thought they were truthful but I guess they used us all.
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  Narkissos

  St. Augustine used Aristotelian logic (badly) and so did Thomas Aquinas.

  Augustine was a notorious neo-Platonist. Aristotle made its way into Christian theology (e.g. Thomas Aquinas) much later, through the mediation of Islamic thinkers such as Avicenna and Averroes. Earlier Christianity had "forgotten" almost everything about Aristotle.