minimus.....Yep, the un-biblical doctrine of a 66-book Bible, borrowed from Protestantism, has closed the minds of many (not just JWs) against looking at other books -- even those regarded as inspired by Catholics or early Christians (and even quoted in the NT, for God's sakes) -- which may help to explain many odd or obscure expressions. What the Society has done in interpreting this scripture from 2 Corinthians is a PERFECT example of what happens when you ignore the actual literary context and let your imagination roam free within the confines of the artificial 66-book canon. 2 Peter 3:16 indeed notes that Paul's letters "contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures," and I have to say that the weird allusion to "third heaven" in 2 Corinthians is a prime example of this from our own modern point-of-view, cut off as we are from the intellectual universe of first-century Christianity. Keeping within the artificial confines of the 66-canon (which did not exist until many centuries later), one could invent one's own interpretation of the text which corresponds to nothing the readers of Paul's epistle could have imagined, or one could determine how Paul's readers would have themselves understood the verse by seeing how first-century Christians and Jews themselves talked about "third heaven". Paul wasn't inventing a brand-new concept; he was merely alluding to a concept that had already existed.
Oct 15th WT View of The Third Heaven--What a Scream!
by Mary 34 Replies latest watchtower bible
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frankiespeakin
Leo,
I think you got enough posted on JWD to write a good book on the bible or atleast a good book on understanding the bible.
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frankiespeakin
Leo,
What a lot of JWs as well as other fundys forget is that book of Jude clearly quotes the book of Enoch and that the writer of Jude clearly views this book as part of scripture and true.
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Leolaia
frankiespeakin....Yep, and it's not just 1 Enoch, but other intertestamental works are alluded to as well in the NT, such as Wisdom, Sirach, etc. Think too about the reference of Jannes and Jambres in 2 Timothy 3:8-9, names which appear nowhere in the OT but do appear in the pseudepigrapha, especially the Book of Jannes and Jambres (c. first century AD). There is also an intriguing case to be made for the use of the lost Book of Eldad and Modad in the letter of James. And Alan Garrow has demonstrated pretty convincingly that the author of Matthew used the Didache as one of his sources, though this is not certain beyond doubt.
Going off topic, I don't know about writing a book of any sort, but I was thinking earlier today of maybe starting a blog (or blogs, one on the JWs and another on biblical literature), at least sometime when I have time for something like that.
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confusedjw
Between Worlds said this:
It's so incredibly galling how they make EVERYTHING in the universe, including God, the prophets, the bible etc. etc. Revolves around THEM!! Apparently the witnesses are the center of the universe.
Now that is hitting the nail on the head! Good observation!