Kepler: thank you for your explanation. It will help me in finishing my notes on Daniel. For instance, I knew by other websites that the book of Baruch (another forgery of the second century BCE) had the same error as Daniel, by telling that Belshazzar was the son of Nabuchadnezzar. This may be was a common error of that time.
Darius the Son of Ahashuerus?
by opusdei1972 13 Replies latest watchtower bible
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fulltimestudent
opusdei1972:
I knew by other websites that the book of Baruch (another forgery of the second century BCE)
It is not helpful to see the Book of Baruch and the others that belong to the same genre, as forgeries. All these documents (and, there are many) were written for a purpose (think of the Maccabees), understanding that purpose will help us to understand what the people who claimed to follow Yahweh (at the time) were thinking and hoping. The possibility exists that some of the documents in the NT were of the same genre.
For example, how can we demonstrate that, A Letter of James, was actually written by any of the characters in the NT whose name was James? It's true that the probability is high that it was written by the James who became the eventual leader of the Jerusalem Christian Community, but the possibility also exists that it was written after his death as a reminder of what he taught. We look in vain for evidence in the NT, that this James was the author. Similarly, how do we prove that any of the WTS claimed authors of the gospels, were the actual authors.
Some of these documents were highly regarded in their day. The Shepherd of Hermas was possibly written before Revelation, - the Wikipedia entry ( Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shepherd_of_Hermas ) on this document notes:
The Shepherd had great authority in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. It was bound as part of the New Testament in the Codex Sinaiticus , and it was listed between the Acts of the Apostles and the Acts of Paul in the stichometrical list of the Codex Claromontanus .
We learn a great deal about the lives of ordinary Christians in the late first and/or early second centuries by reading this book.
You may find Bart Ehrman's, After The New Testament- A Reader in Early Christianity (Oxford, 1999) an interesting addition to your knowledge of early Christianity.
( http://www.amazon.com/After-New-Testament-Christianity-Justice/dp/0195114450 )
I doubt that the communities of early Christians were very similar to that imagined by the writers of WT publications.
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Crazyguy
Its also interesting to learn that there is 3 more chapters of the book thats not included in protestant bibles but they do appear in other bibles. One chapter seems to be talking about the battle with the serpent of the sea again Tiamat. Its just crazy when one leaves religion and seas the bible for what it really is that any of us believed. I mean the bible was canonized by a pagan the books were taken out others never added, more books taken out then christians sects change their own bibles so it will reflect their dogma. The holy spirit is really sleeping on the job and how can anyone be held responsible by god under these conditions, its all crazy.
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opusdei1972
Of course, I know that the book of Daniel was written for the purpose to encourage the Jews to resist Antiochus` persecution. So, the author wrote as he were a prophet called Daniel. In the same way, there was one writer who wanted to use the name of Enoch, and composed the book of the Watchers for a especific theological purpose. This happened with many books, as Deutero-Isaiah, and so on. However, most of the readers thought that the content was a true prophecy, and not a mere theological book to give comfort. But those were forgeries as Bart Ehrman has pointed out. This dishonest practice can also be found in Christian literature.