scholar pretendus wrote:
: Zechariah 7:1-5 simply indicates that there was already a period of fasting that continued right up to the 4th year of Darius.
At long last you admit that you agree with the text and the Society on this. For a long time, you wouldn't even acknowledge the point.
So we all agree that the period of fasting continued up through 518 B.C.
: This period of fasting began after the Fall of Jerusalem
Immediately after the fall of Jerusalem, yes. So we all agree on this, too.
: in 607
If the period of fasting ran from 607 through 518 B.C., then counting inclusively, it was a period of 90 years.
Of course, the text says nothing about "90 years". It mentions only 70 years.
: and continued as a tradition right up to the present as the 4th year of Darius.
Right, which means that the period of fasting -- using your claimed date of 607 -- was 90 years.
I will also point out for the record that, because you've admitted that the period was a continuing one, you've also admitted that it had not yet ended. In other words, if the answer from Jehovah was that they should continue to fast, then the period would have gone on to 91, 92, 93, ... years. Of course, the text does not tell us what Jehovah's answer was, so whether the fasts continued is unknown. In other words, the period was an ongoing one that, up to the point of time when the Jews inquired of Jehovah, had run for 90 years (according to you and the Society) and might well run a lot longer.
: Obviously, this tradition of annual fastingt continued past the seventy year which was the solemnization of that annual tradition
This is absolute gobble-de-goop. Can't you manage to write in coherent sentences?
: so the question was only logical to ask as to how long they should continue this annual practice of fasting.
Right. And that's what the text said the Jews asked about.
So far so good, scholar pretendus. But you go on to blow it by massive special pleading and thoroughly stupid arguments.
: The evidence is quite clear that the seventy years period must have already expired
This is pure special pleading. You need such a ridiculous claim to be true for no other reason than if it isn't, then you have to admit that Zech. 7:1-5 proves conclusively that Jerusalem fell in 587 B.C.
But look what you've done, logically: You claim that a period of fasting beginning in 607 B.C. and continuing up through 518 B.C. had some sort of break point at 70 years. But the text gives no indication of such a break point. Indeed, as you've agreed, the period is continuous from beginning to end, 607 to 518 B.C. -- again using your own dates. Therefore, your claim is pure special pleading, and is nothing more than a circular argument.
: otherwise it could not have been seventy years
But above you've admitted that the period of fasting you claim lasted 90 years was a continuing one, and therefore it had not yet ended. And when we use the 70-year figure that the text actually assigns to the period of fasting, that 70 years was also a continuing one. Thus your argument is proved irrelevant.
: so then this period ran from 607 until 537 which was a period of annual mournings and fastings.
You've merely pulled this claim out of your ass. As I've demonstrated, it's nothing but special pleading, and it results in an argument that's entirely circular.
: My comment on the scholarly status of Frederick William Franz is simply my personal opinion
So what? It's obviously based not on pure opinion, but on information you've gotten from JWs you trust. Obviously, since no one outside Bethel officially knows who wrote what publications, your information had to come ultimately from Bethelites or former Bethelites. In other words, your sources are the same as ours.
: and is not meant to imply that he was a member of the NWT C ommittee because it is impossible to know the said identity of that commitee.
The committee members -- all Bethelites -- certainly knew who they themselves were. The many Bethelites who worked with them certainly knew who they were. For example, Barbara Grizzuti Harrison worked as a proof reader for the NWT committee in the early 1950s. Many years later, long after she left Bethel and the JWs, she wrote the book Visions of Glory about her experience as a young JW, and she revealed the identitites of some of the translators. A former poster on this board, Maximus, also worked as a NWT proof reader in the 1950s, and confirmed everything that Barbara Grizutti had said, and a lot more besides. And of course, we have the testimony of former Governing Body member Raymond Franz, who as a GB member, was certainly in a position to know. Thus we have three witnesses, and we also have other witnesses I've not mentioned. So it's perfectly evident that someone you trust, with Bethel connections, told you that Fred Franz was THE NWT translator as well as the author of numerous WTS publications -- otherwise you'd have no reason to praise him in the worshipful way you do.
So, scholar pretendus, you've been caught once again with your pants down, claiming that it's impossible to know the NWT committee members' identities, yet knowingly praising its most prominent member.
: Franz was an accomplished writer, researcher and scholar, responsible for much of our literature published in his lifetime so on that basis alone his stature is assured alone, independent of any speculative involvement with the foresaid NWT Committee.
Make such silly claims all you like. We know the truth.
AlanF