Double Standard of Proof

by neat blue dog 15 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  neat blue dog

  There's a new article about John the Baptist (not sure why they reverted to Baptist instead of the modern English 'baptizer'), and it goes into several areas of his life followed by quotes from Josephus showing that these specific things were historically documented. The article is summarized by saying:

  The first-century historian Josephus viewed John the Baptist as a real person. So can we.

  That's the thrust of the whole article. If it's good enough for Josephus, it's good enough for us.

  Fun fact: Josephus also said that Jesus was killed on a cross, that the proper name of God was not being used in Jesus time, and that Jerusalem's desolation lasted 50 years instead of 70, destroying 607 and therefore 1914.

  Now what say you?
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  Magnum

  I'm assuming the article is in a JW publication? Is that right?
  
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  sir82

  LOL.

  Yep, that's their MO.

  Same sort of thing where they say we can have full assurance that 539 BCE is the date that Cyrus defeated the Babylonians, due to astronomical measurements and contemporary historical accounts....

  Which precisely identical astronomical data and contemporary historical accounts provide a date of 586 for Jerusalem's destruction, not 607.

  The WTS - putting the MO in MORONS for 140 years.
  
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  Pete Zahut

  ...and that Jerusalem's desolation lasted 50 years instead of 70, destroying 607 and therefore 1914

  I'm guessing this wasn't in a JW publication.

  Besides....how do we know that Josephus really existed and even if he did, how does any of it make JW's the one true religion?
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  Vidiot

  Creationists do the same thing.
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  neat blue dog

  I'm assuming the article is in a JW publication? Is that right?

  Yes, a new article on JWdotORG.
  
  
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  Anna Marina

  This is like saying Henry VI viewed Henry V as a real person, so can we. Thing is no one questions whether or not Henry V was a real person. And I have never heard anyone say John the Baptist wasn't a real person.
  
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  carla

  I always thought it was weird when my jw would say 'John the baptizer'. I had never heard it that way, it was always 'John the Baptist'. Naturally that was in the non jw world.
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  smiddy3

  So does that mean that the "christian religion" that call themselves Baptists should really be called "Baptizers"?
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  Simon

  They always wheel Josephus out and describe him as a historian, but he was anything but: he was a captured jewish rebel who worked his way up society in Rome where he wrote about seeing Caesar ascend to heaven.

  So hardly a solid eye-witness of what was happening in Judea, but even then, he didn't claim to be - the older the manuscript, the less there is about "Jesus", until the oldest where it's written in margins, obviously a later addition and an unbelievable one - who would write about such a fantastical person ... but then not really write anything about them at all.

  It's like believing in Voldemort because Harry Potter does.