Posts by kwintestal

43

El vs. YHWH or El into YHWH. for those who've read "The Bible Unearthed"

by kwintestal in

i've been thinking about this for quite a while and i'm not exactly sure how the best way of putting it out there, so if it seems like i'm blabbering at points, i more then likely am and i'm sorry.

i'm kind of merging two different thoughts together, historical info i got from the book, "the bible unearthed" and personal research and discussions with others regarding "el".. el obviously played an important part in early hebrew language as it was their word for "god".

but, el was a caananite god, and to them the god of all gods, supreme god father of all things and humankind.

kwintestal

I've been thinking about this for quite a while and I'm not exactly sure how the best way of putting it out there, so if it seems like I'm blabbering at points, I more then likely am and I'm sorry. I'm kind of merging two different thoughts together, historical info I got from the book, "the Bible Unearthed" and personal research and discussions with others regarding "el".

El obviously played an important part in early Hebrew language as it was their word for "god". But, El was a Caananite god, and to them the God of all gods, supreme God father of all things and humankind. Here's the wikipedia entry for El: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_%28god%29 .

So if the Jew's word for "god" was "El" wouldn't it make sence that their god prior to YHWH was "El"?

Now the book "The Bible Unearthed" shows (or tries to show) through archogical evidence that the bible was created by King Josiah and/or Hezikiah and basically the whole bible (prior to Josiah) was a work of fiction, and it does a good job at proving it.

My thoughts are if the bible was in fact created around the time of Josiah, YHWH beging created at the same time, the language would change around the same time, with the word for God being switched from "el" to variations of "YHWH". Now words that were common wouldn't change, so that's why we have words like "bethel" - house of god, "shekel" - money of god and not "bethyah" or "shekyah".

So how do we find changes in the language? The only way I could think of is changing of names, to include portions of YHWH. In the bible, there are at least 89 names that include "El" in them with their Hebrew translation and at least 30 that use a variation of YHWH. see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophory_in_the_Bible

I was thinking that a geneologist or language specialist would almost be able to pinpoint a date (and by pinpoint I mean within a few hundred years) as to when they started using YHWH in their names. It would be interesting if the date would coincide with the rule of Josiah.

Any thoughts on this or other input? Anyone know if this type of study has been done?

Kwin

5

JW calling on me left a card for me after my cutting up Bible Teach brochur

by kwintestal in

so i've been having an elderly jw call on my for the last few months, but i haven't seen her for most of the summer because i've been quite busy doing other things.

anyway, the last time she called she left the brochure "what does the bible really teach?

" and asked for me to read it and give my opinion.

kwintestal

So I've been having an elderly JW call on my for the last few months, but I haven't seen her for most of the summer because I've been quite busy doing other things. Anyway, the last time she called she left the brochure "What does the Bible really teach?" and asked for me to read it and give my opinion. So I read it and put sticky notes through out with comments, disputes regarding claims and various other research I did on the brochure.

She called on Saturday morning and I gave her the copy back with all the comments. She seemed surprised and said that I was the only person to have done that and that she would get back to me.

Well today, I came home from work and in the mailbox was an envelope with my name on it. I opened it up to see a card saying the following:

Dear Kwin!
Thank you for being so kind + thoughtful with us despite the fact that you really don't have any interest in the Bible. After reading your notes I can see now more what your feelings are. Still despite that you've always been respectful I find it refreshing in this day + age. I do hope we can have the opportunity to talk again in the future. I've found your thoughts very interesting. You certainly made some good points! Take Care!
S****** W********
P.S. Just wanted you to know!

I thought it was quite thoughtful of her.

Kwin

42

tattoos and piercings, do they have a meaning for you?

by memario in

jw
friends

lately on here someone got a piecing and my question is did it mean anything to you or was it a thing to do?

i have thought of getting a tattoo but i don't know what to get.

it needs to repersent something of significance in my life.

kwintestal

Thanks. I'll post a pic when it's done!

Kwin

42

tattoos and piercings, do they have a meaning for you?

by memario in

jw
friends

lately on here someone got a piecing and my question is did it mean anything to you or was it a thing to do?

i have thought of getting a tattoo but i don't know what to get.

it needs to repersent something of significance in my life.

kwintestal

alt

I'm getting this on my back, across my shoulders (minus the purple rays) next month. It represents the strugles associated with free thinking.

Kwin

118

Isn't Jehovah a wonderful God?

by nvrgnbk in

jw
friends

when i look around at all the people in the world, i'm comforted to know that jehovah will soon destroy them.. i'm talking about people that don't attend our encouraging christian meetings.

yes, people that don't zealously participate in the preaching of the good news.

'what good news?

kwintestal

Yes, Jehovah is wonderful and fair and just too. Don't forget fair and just.

Kwin

26

Why do KH's not have any windows?

by jibberish in

jw
friends

what is the real reason why kingdum halls don't have windows?

to people on the outside looking in that is just too wierd and very cult like like they have something to hide.

wasn't in the 80's when they started to build them without windows?

kwintestal

Why do they do anything? $$$$

Kwin

46

Shunned at Walmart

by Grammy in

the greeter was a woman i once called friend and who (unfortunately now) was baptized after studying with me for a year.

when i walked in i was the only one coming through the door so it's not like she didn't see me, she turned away and ignored me...not wanting to lower myself to her level i simply got a shopping cart and went about my shopping, my first instinct was to report her to management for dereliction of duty but i thought better of that because my doing so would show her it upset me.

i really owe her a debt of gratitude because it was at her baptismal talk that my first strong doubt that it was the truth finally penetrated my foggy brain, as i sat and repeated the baptismal questions to myself at the assembly when she was being baptized i realized they were not the same ones i answered in 1974, that started me on my journey out of the org.

kwintestal

My wife had the same experience a few years ago and posted about it here: Shunned by the WalMart people greeter!

After talking to the manager, we never saw this JW working there again. Mind you we're not there often because we're not big fans of shopping at walmart because of their corporate policies, but that's another story.

Kwin

119

Anyone Else from Canada?

by Miss 8572 in

i'm really intrigued by that fact that i may know some of you and yet not know that i know you.

i just want to know how many people from canada are here.

if you don't mind and don't care about posting your province (cause i'm too timid to) we could all get an idea of just how many canucks are really out there.

kwintestal

Golf is as much of a Canadian sport as hockey is .. I mean after the Leafs and Canadians get eliminated (if they even make the playoffs) what do they go do?

For the record, I'm in Niagara Falls.

Kwin

10

sleep apnea

by bigdreaux in

well guys, i had a sleep test last night, and it's confirmed, i have sleep apnea.

does anyone else suffer from this?

does c-pap work that good as promised?

kwintestal

When you get used to the machine you'll sleep like a baby. I couldn't get used to mine so it's sat in the box it came in for the last couple years. I may give it another go soon though.

Kwin

20

MYSpace....How Do You REALLY feel about it?

by onlycurious in

jw
friends

this is for all those parents of teens out there..... do you really want your child on myspace?.

my 12 (almost 13) yr old opened her own acct without my permission....knowing full well i don't want her on it!!!.

she gets to do a lot but she's starting to try to be a lot more independent from me and when it comes to the web, i am very careful.. anyone dealt with this one?.

kwintestal

I prefer facebook.

Kwin