Scholar,
As far as the passages in Zechariah are concerned, the angel in Zechariah 1:12 says "how long will you yourself not show mercy to Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah, whom you have denounced these seventy years?". The angel indicates a 70 year period, but does not say that it had ended; rather the question 'how long' suggests very much that it had not yet ended. As the period is of a known length, it becomes clear that the question is asked both in frustration, and in hoped-for anticipation of its end. (Compare this to the expression at Amos 8:5, where the question "How long will it be before the new moon passes?" is asked. Here too a period of known length is referred to, and the point of the question is eager anticipation concerning the end of the period.) This is supported by Zechariah 7:1-5 where, in 517BC, Regem-melech and Sharezer asked the priests if the fasting could now end (therefore they were still fasting), to which the priests replied referring to the seventy years which had now ended.
Simply put, the priests were asked if fasting (that commemorated the destruction of the temple (Jeremiah 52:12) and the death of Gedaliah (Jeremiah 41:1)) should continue and the priests replied that they had been fasting for 70 years (NOT 90 YEARS). This was in Darius' 4th year (Zec 7:1). That 70-year period therefore started in 587, in harmony with secular history.
The bible agrees with archaeology. It is only the Society's interpretation of the desolation of Jerusalem that is at odds with anything.
The reasoning that the Society uses for saying Jerusalem was exiled for the entire 70 years is contradicted by its reasoning for saying that the 70 years of Isaiah 23:15 did not fully apply to Tyre.
Posts by Jeffro
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763Daniel's Prophecy, 605 BCE or 624 BCE?
by Little Bo Peep inhello all, i've been reading your site for a couple of years now, and have found, for the most part, it to be very helpful.
i must say, at first i was very "scared" at what i might find, but contrary to what i grew up learning, there is a "wealth" of information outside of the watchtower organization.
i haven't attended meetings for about two years now, and like many i've read about, have spent many hours researching, telling myself "i'm not wrong for searching", and doing more research.
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Jeffro
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763
Daniel's Prophecy, 605 BCE or 624 BCE?
by Little Bo Peep inhello all, i've been reading your site for a couple of years now, and have found, for the most part, it to be very helpful.
i must say, at first i was very "scared" at what i might find, but contrary to what i grew up learning, there is a "wealth" of information outside of the watchtower organization.
i haven't attended meetings for about two years now, and like many i've read about, have spent many hours researching, telling myself "i'm not wrong for searching", and doing more research.
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Jeffro
Scholar, you call me a "confused little boy" to mask your own lack of scholastic effort, then suggest that your theory is backed by archaeology. You state that historians report nothing significant for the year 609. I don't have time to dredge up every possible record, but a very quick search of the British Museum reveals that your comment is an outright lie. As I have previously stated, in 609BC Babylon replaced Assyria as world power, and its 70 years of domination began. This is completely ratified by information held at the British Museum. For example see here and here.
Specifically the quotes "Following the defeat of the Assyrians (as described in the Chronicle for 616-609 BC)" and "In 610/9 Ashur-uballit and the Egyptians who had come to his aid withdrew west of the Euphrates and Napopolassar sacked Harran. The Assyrians and Egyptians attempted to retake the region, but their siege failed. From this point on the Assyrians and their king disappear from history."
Scholar you are just wrong. -
121
i need some skeptic input... dreams that come true
by googlemagoogle inlisten to this: the other day my wife was talking in her sleep and she said "sister xyz died".
i just thought, well she's dreaming.
the next day one of my friends told me "sister xyz died yesterday".
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Jeffro
LittleToe,
It's the distance between me and a burning faggot
I assume by 'burning faggot' you refer to the traditional sense of the word, ie 'sticks and twigs used as kindling' rather than a disparaging term suggesting a biggoted act of violence.
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121
i need some skeptic input... dreams that come true
by googlemagoogle inlisten to this: the other day my wife was talking in her sleep and she said "sister xyz died".
i just thought, well she's dreaming.
the next day one of my friends told me "sister xyz died yesterday".
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Jeffro
But I assure you that "believers" know what they feel.
Though not exactly relevant, this statement reminded me of all the times the Society has given accounts of Witnesses being tortured or whatever and them saying they felt Jehovah's protection because they didn't feel any pain, and had a sense of calm.
These experiences don't indicate God's protection. The sensation referred to is called: shock, induced by trauma. There is nothing mystical nor surprising about such experiences.
Feeling is believing...? -
27
Apple to Intel, platform switches, and the cult mindset
by Midget-Sasquatch inyesterday's news on apple's transition to intel processors, made me.
nostalgic over the heyday of alternative platforms.
for all my boasting about not really ever buying into either the jws .
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Jeffro
$2500!!! (And I assume that's American dollars!!) It's a rip-off regardless of whether they're bringing out something else or not!!
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24
A Moral Dillema... and ideas?
by Abaddon inokay, background info;.
my ex-wife is threatening to cut contact between me and my daughters (12 and almost 15).. she has done a great job of being the parent with the lions share of rasing them (especialy as she's become inactive) and has always resisted 'excessive' involvement as well as always being resentful and obstructive of contact with them, down to them not feeling comfortable to call me due to her reaction.
last year my x cut off contact for three month as she was 'under stress'... or more accurately, i'd asked to have them for a week in the summer holidays and she can't stand to see me have anything that makes me happy even if it spoils things for her daughters.... this year, in addition to repeating the request for holidays, i spoke to her about a few problems i'd found out about regarding my daughters.
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Jeffro
From what I see, I agree with Anglise. Try for custody.
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27
Apple to Intel, platform switches, and the cult mindset
by Midget-Sasquatch inyesterday's news on apple's transition to intel processors, made me.
nostalgic over the heyday of alternative platforms.
for all my boasting about not really ever buying into either the jws .
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Jeffro
interesting post, abaddon...
You have to read between the blank spaces. I think it's what he isn't saying that really counts. LOL
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121
i need some skeptic input... dreams that come true
by googlemagoogle inlisten to this: the other day my wife was talking in her sleep and she said "sister xyz died".
i just thought, well she's dreaming.
the next day one of my friends told me "sister xyz died yesterday".
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Jeffro
That's a good one... a well spotted typo...
Not really that well spotted, as what was spotted wasn't actually there... Ming (the Merciless) is Flash Gordon's arch-rival. The typo you didn't spot (somewhat less of Flash Gordon's arch-rival) would have had an 'e' on the end.
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27
Apple to Intel, platform switches, and the cult mindset
by Midget-Sasquatch inyesterday's news on apple's transition to intel processors, made me.
nostalgic over the heyday of alternative platforms.
for all my boasting about not really ever buying into either the jws .
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Jeffro
If you rearrange the letters of 'Apple', and squint just a bit, it spells 'Satan'. OK, I might have made that part up... But Apple computers are certainly overpriced, and are not as easily upgradable as a 'PC'. (Of course technically they're ALL 'PCs'.)
Apple's software may be more friendly to newbies, but I find it irritating. Being told 'System Error 12 has occurred' is no more helpful than many of the unhelpful Microsoft messages that are so often mocked by Mac devotees.
Microsoft tries to go too far, makes programs that try to do everything, and in the process makes terribly resource-hungry apps packed full of features that most people seldom if ever use.
Apart from Luna (the new optional Windows XP visual styles), XP is very similar to Windows 2000.
My first computer was a Commodore 64 which in many respects was well ahead of its time. Games on the Commodore were many times better than their IBM-compatible counterparts. The C64 boasted 16 colours and 3 simultaneous audio channels using 4 different waveform types, and 8 simultaneous hardware driven 'sprites'. Compare this to the 4-colour CGA graphics, single PC speaker with control of only pitch, and no hardware support for sprites at all of IBM-compatible computers of the time. For some reason the half-hour it took to load certain games off the Commodore 1530 tapedrive didn't seem like time wasted at the time. And the programming was fun too... doing things like filling the keyboard buffer with keystrokes (POKE 631 to 640), forcing a warm reboot (SYS 58260) PRINTing commands on the screen and then executing them from the keyboard buffer (POKE 198) without lifting a finger. Yeah a bit lame, but I was 10. -
24
A Moral Dillema... and ideas?
by Abaddon inokay, background info;.
my ex-wife is threatening to cut contact between me and my daughters (12 and almost 15).. she has done a great job of being the parent with the lions share of rasing them (especialy as she's become inactive) and has always resisted 'excessive' involvement as well as always being resentful and obstructive of contact with them, down to them not feeling comfortable to call me due to her reaction.
last year my x cut off contact for three month as she was 'under stress'... or more accurately, i'd asked to have them for a week in the summer holidays and she can't stand to see me have anything that makes me happy even if it spoils things for her daughters.... this year, in addition to repeating the request for holidays, i spoke to her about a few problems i'd found out about regarding my daughters.
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Jeffro
one of the reasons I left her is she's a mean-spirited irrational neurotic bitch
Do you say that kind of thing about her in front of the children?