Posts by HowTheBibleWasCreated

1

Codex Sinaiticus

by ILoveTTATT in

jw
friends

most of the ones who have done any research on bible manuscripts know that the codex sinaiticus is up on line.

but it can become tedious to download or take a snippet of every single page.... .

turns out you can download this program:.

What proof do we have that Moses was a real person???

by jam in

i personally believe moses was largely or entirely mythical.

is because much of his biography, if not most of it, is tied to events.

that never happened, meaning that a historical moses could not .

HowTheBibleWasCreated

I am working on this topic for my book having finsished the historical David.

The problem is the scant referance to Moses in the prophets. Once by Jeremiah (Micah's mention is post exilic) Jeremiah says that if Ms(e)s or Samuel were here Yahweh would still bring his judgement.

SSamuel can be set aside as a seer from the past. Moses is harder. It has a root in Egyptian names.

For instance:

AhMOSE

RaMSES

Thus it is likely Moses was historical as a Levitical (Egyptian) priest living in the northern kingdom sometimes before 722 BCE. But no long before. Historical memory doesn't go back that far.

Moses is later givien the status of lawgiver in the Dtr. History.

Later the stories of the Esodus are expanded and Moses plays a promient role. (E and J) Finally the Birth narratives and such (P) were added in the 5-4 century BCE

As to what role the priest played it is hard to say but there is a curious referance in the book of 2 Kings to the copper serpant which Moses made. Hezekiah destroys it. (later writers came up with numbers 21) If this is true it appear Moses was a cult leader living prehaps during the time between 850-722 BCE

There is one last thing to be mentioned. Elijah. Elijah and Moses have about 20 parallels in their stories that we could possibly say they were the same person but I haven't decided yet. If so Moses/Elijah lived in the 870-840s

28

Why was the Book of Enoch omitted from the Bible..

by jam in

the book of enoch taught women magic, the art of war.

and cosmetic..they felt this book was too far out in left field.. the show "bible secrets revealed".. ok, magic vs having a monster baby by a angel.. so happy they omitted that book, otherwise women would.

be leaders of the militaries.

HowTheBibleWasCreated

I listened to the BOE on audio a few months ago. It's made of two books. One deals with fallen angels or watchers. The other is about end time snad uses astronomy to predict the end times. The final chapters are classic and funny as israel is portayed through history as animals. .. giving the time of writing as 100-50BCE

609

What is spirit, exactly?

by Viviane in

i've always wondered that.

recently i asked that question on another thread and didn't really get ananswer.

cofty made an excellent point that we often hear what it isn't, but that really isn't useful.. so, what is it?

HowTheBibleWasCreated

I never had a problem with this. When I grew up I always thought God was like Q. lol Energy

23

THE PROBLEM with reading the Bible literally is . . . you can't think too hard

by Terry in

i want to begin with a quotation by stephen colbert: "we're not talking about truth, we're talking about something that seems like truth the truth we want to exist" - stephen colbert on the origin of the word "truthiness.".

moses brought 10 plagues upon egypt to change pharoah's mind about letting jehovah's people go.. the 5th plague is to destroy only the egyptian livestock:.

6 and the next day the lord did it: all the livestock of the egyptians died, but not one animal belonging to the israelites died.. a few days later the 7th plague is described:.

HowTheBibleWasCreated

I'm an athiest and the text is most likely quite knowable! The church father quoated enough that most of it can be reconstructed. There are of course thousands of varients but most are slips of the pen. Bart Ehhrman makes a big deal about gnostic texts but the fact is half of Paul's letters are gnostic

35

Live Forever on a Paradise Earth

by HeyThere in

sometimes this sounds good...but....forever?

forever in a jw idea of perfection?

does this mean no sports, or detective tv shows, or bad neighborhoods?

HowTheBibleWasCreated

And when the sun becomes a red giant? When the sky goes black because stars are too far apart? When the 'Great Rip' tears apart atoms? When two branes eventually colide again and form a new universe? Yep we will live forever

25

Evidence For Life After Death

by Space Madness in

jw
friends

i'm not sure if i believe in life after death but i thought of something that has me leaning toward that direction.

unlike other living beings, humans have a consciousness that is separate from our brain.

two prime examples of this are addiction and dieting.

HowTheBibleWasCreated

I guess dolphins and elephants have afterlifes too. They have self conciousness.

Actually although I'm an athiest I do believe in a sort of afterlife but it's more on the quantum level.

28

Why was the Book of Enoch omitted from the Bible..

by jam in

the book of enoch taught women magic, the art of war.

and cosmetic..they felt this book was too far out in left field.. the show "bible secrets revealed".. ok, magic vs having a monster baby by a angel.. so happy they omitted that book, otherwise women would.

be leaders of the militaries.

HowTheBibleWasCreated

Because the stories were designed for a Jewish Mystical audiance. It needs to be noted that the writer of Jude (Second Centery CE) quote a verse from the book.

Revelation's cosmology is based on the Book of Enoch.

35

Are we seeing the beginning of the end for Kingdom Halls?

by nicolaou in

jw
friends

after all, "at this time,over 13,000 kingdom hall projects and 35 assembly hall projects are needed worldwide.".

hmmm, not too sure about that but all the recent re-branding seems to be heading .

could this be the long game?

HowTheBibleWasCreated

Simple.. KHs cost money.Internet is paid for by you to listsen or watch the talks and school. I imagine they will come up with a skype version for commenting at the WT lol.

However with the dismiss of KH will come more conventions or more elder's visits

5

The Josephus Problem

by HowTheBibleWasCreated in

jw
friends

someone made a comment today that josephus cannot be trusted as a historical source.

they are right or half right.

obviously josephus was a self-centered historian.

HowTheBibleWasCreated

Someone made a comment today that Josephus cannot be trusted as a historical source. They are right or half right. Obviously Josephus was a self-centered historian. Example:

1. Third person ... He talks of himself in third person. A literay tactic to fool the reader into thinking he is humble.

2. Josephus has too many close misses. Like the cave.... here is the guy the WT quotes from all the time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXNFyzv2z1U

Also spears are thrown at him... he gives speeches and wins over Roamn genrals. And predicts when cities will fall to the day<<< do you believe this? I don't

However despite this he is our main source for the Jewish War. He spends huge amount of time writing of the Essenes and I have my suspicions he was not really a Pharesee.

Why do I find a Josephus quote every 3rd or 4th WT article. Don't they know this guy was a traitor and a liar? I use his history sparingly and with skepticm.