Watchtower Gives Up Explaining 607 BCE Date! (page 2)

Woodsman

Scholar,

It is not apostate thinking but scholarly thinking. Unless the WTS now calls Anthroplogists, Historians and Archeologists apostates.

Hellrider

Reefton Jack:

Which WTS "scholars" do you have in mind, and what are they "celebrated" for?

I have asked him that question a hundred times. There is no reply. Never has been, and never will. He is just in awe over the fantastic WTS, but he doesn`t even know the names of those retards that write those articles. I have tried to explain to him, that obviously, the 70 years (approximately 70 years) refer to the power of Babylon over Judea, and not the destruction of the temple, but he won`t listen, as long as the WTS says otherwise. To hardocre dubs like (celebrated WT) Scholar JW; if the WTS said that the moon was made of swiss cheese, and God lived on the planet Alcycione in the Pleiads, but occasionally goes on vacation to Mars, then that`s how it would be, that would be "the Truth". There is no rationality, no intelligence, nothing.

Darth Yhwh

“This must mean something, but what? Perhaps that The Watchtower doesn't have anything new to say on the topic, or perhaps that they don't want people delving too deep in researching the dates 608/587 BCE. After all, COJ's book, The Gentile Times Reconsidered, is easily found by anyone starting to research the matter, and The Watchtower certainly does not want anyone finding out about that book!”

The WBTS is not silent on this issue because they have already shared “these delightful, correct words of truth”. This “truth” should not be questioned because it is published in written form by Gods medium for communicating with his people. It will also continue to be “truth” until the need to correct it via new light. You know this routine, don’t you?

Big Dog

Woodsman, excellent first post, welcome to the forum!!!! Hope to hear more from you.

jst2laws

Jeffro,

Excellent post.

Woodsman,

You don't sound like a woodsman. Must have had a little college before heading for the woods. Welcome to the board.

Itsupport

Nail driven home.

Steve

jgnat

Compared to the older publications, I do think they rush through the calculations now. Telling are the directive questions on the bottom of page 96 of the Daniel book. Very little explanation or justification is offered in the Daniel book on why they chose to interpret the "seven times" in this way:

27. Why would you say that the "seven times" that began in 607 BCE did not end 2,520 literal days later?

28. (a) What rule must be applied to the 2,520 days of the prophetic "seven times"?

(b) How long were the prophetic "seven times," and what dates mark their beginning and their end?

Hellrider

The entire "day for a year"-crap, is something that has been with the JWs from the beginning, from the time they called themselves Bible Students, and it`s something they inherited from the adventists, I think. The one day for a year-"rule" is ripped out of context, from

Numbers 14:34
34 For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.'

This is probably the most outstanding example of out-of-context-lunacy in the entire JW-doctrine. They just take this scripture from Numbers, completely ignore not only the context, but also the theme, and shove it into Daniel and Revelations, and voila, a doomsday-sect is born. It`s utterly pathetic, and quite revealing of the average JWs intelligence that they are not able to see it.

I was just about to open a new thread, but maybe this would be as good a place as any to ask this question: This whole idea that there are "hidden messages", or "hidden codes/meanings" in the Bible, relating to such things as detailed preophetic statements about the future (that the future is written in code, as this is what JWs actually believe), does anyone have any clue about who first came up with this? To me, it reminds me a little bit about what little I know about Kabbalah. Could there be a link between Kabbalah, and this kind of thinking? Anyone have any thoughts on this?

startingover

I really like reading threads about 607, but if I hear "celebrated WT scholars" one more time I think I'm going to lose it!

VM44

Hi Hellrider,

Guess what is up over at http://www.watchtower.org as a featured article for this month? Ties right in with your questions.

Does The Bible Have A Hidden Code?

Should a hidden code be the basis for believing that the Bible is inspired of God?

http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2000/4/1a/article_01.htm

Here is a paragraph from the article that talks about the origins of finding "codes" in the Bible.

A New Idea?
The idea of a hidden code in the Bible text is not new. It is a central concept in the Cabala, or traditional Jewish mysticism. According to Cabalistic teachers, the simple meaning of the Bible text is not its true meaning. They believe that God used the individual letters of the Hebrew Bible text as symbols, which when properly understood reveal a greater truth. In their view, each Hebrew letter and its position in the Bible text was set by God with a specific purpose in mind.
According to Jeffrey Satinover, a researcher of the Bible code, these Jewish mystics believe that the Hebrew letters used to record the creation account in Genesis hold incredible mystical power. He writes: "Genesis, in short, is not simply a description; it is the very instrument of the act of creation itself, a blueprint in the mind of God made manifest in physical form."
A 13th-century Cabalistic rabbi, Bachya ben Asher of Saragossa, Spain, wrote of certain hidden information that was revealed to him by reading every 42nd letter in a portion of Genesis. This method of skipping over letters according to a particular sequence in an attempt to discover hidden messages is the basis for the modern Bible-code concept.

lawrence

VM - interesting notice of the 17 years without a major composition to educate the flock as to why 607 B.C.E..

Scholar -

At 8 years old I read and spoke more Hebrew than the translator(s) of the Hebrew Scriptures for the WTS. Was I to be considered a "Translator" as I translated and studied daily the Torah? At 12 as I made my way through the Minor Prophets was I to be considered a "Scholar"? Man, take a look at these men for who they were - a 1/3 were frauds, a 1/3 were henchmen, and a 1/3 liked to read and study, but ALL and I mean ALL were delusional.

VM-

Have read both of Drosnin's Bible Codes and Jeffrey's work (his book first) and have found the websites of interest as well. Kabalah I explored a while back (Jewish and Christian) and what a trip! Dig the folks these days with the 16 dollar red strings (Madonna, etc.).

Watchtower Gives Up Explaining 607 BCE Date!

Numbers 14:34 34 For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.'

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Numbers 14:34
34 For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.'