Posts by Doug Mason

18

JWs Chronology VS. Peace With God

by writetoknow in

is the bible written for self-preservation or dependency upon god for salvation?

bible chronologist seems to imply that all depends upon their personal intellect or ability to figure out bible dates for salvation.

furthermore, they arent often concern with helping people understand the rest of the bible, that is, finding peace with god.

Doug Mason

Tula,

The words go beyond the screen for me too, whether I am in Firefox or IE mode.

I tried converting it to a PDF file but the text was too small.

So I copied the text from the PDF file into Word, and then made all of the characters 11 pt high.

Then it needed reformatting. What a pain!

I wrote about this subject (my Post # 306) at JCanon's Thread at

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/141990/1.ashx

Doug

2

The Divine Name in Exodus iii.14

by Doug Mason in

some 30 years ago, i obtained a copy of the article the divine name in exodus iii.14 by william arnold, journal of biblical literature (jbl), 24 / 1905, pages 107 165.. i have made it available at:.

http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=582f2547f2b9e6db63ad362818d6361c.

for the small group who will be interested.

Doug Mason

I have been reliably informed that the article -- much cleaner than mine -- is available at the following site, for a fee.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-9231(1905)24%3A2%3C107%3ATDNIEI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5

Doug

2

The Divine Name in Exodus iii.14

by Doug Mason in

some 30 years ago, i obtained a copy of the article the divine name in exodus iii.14 by william arnold, journal of biblical literature (jbl), 24 / 1905, pages 107 165.. i have made it available at:.

http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=582f2547f2b9e6db63ad362818d6361c.

for the small group who will be interested.

Doug Mason

Some 30 years ago, I obtained a copy of the article “The Divine Name in Exodus iii.14” by William Arnold, Journal of Biblical Literature (JBL), 24 / 1905, pages 107 – 165.

I have made it available at:

http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=582f2547f2b9e6db63ad362818d6361c

for the small group who will be interested. I do not pretend to understand all that Arnold says, and I have no ability reading Hebrew or Greek. This does not prevent me making this available to the more scholarly amongst you.

I apologize for poor quality at times. The material went through a few stages – 35mm film, photocopy, scanning and reversing of the black and white image. Hopefully, someone might have access to a better quality original that could be made available.
-----------------------
To give an idea of the material, the first page reads:

The section of the Book of Exodus in which this verse occurs is a familiar one. It describes Jahweh's initial appearance to Moses and the latter's commission to deliver the Children of Israel from the Egyptian bondage. The Jahwistic and Elohistic sources have been so closely interwoven at this point that the greatest difference of opinion exists among critics as to the attribution of the material. There are hardly two writers who do not disagree at some point or other in the course of the third chapter, while some make no attempt at a complete analysis. There is, however, universal agreement regarding the fact that the passage which has to do with Moses' inquiry after the proper name of the god of Israel's fathers and the ensuing reply, is to be assigned to the E source. Not merely has it the earmark of the appellative [Hebrew characters] but the J source has no room or occasion for such an episode, whereas the E document almost requires it. Dillmann, Wellhausen, Kuenen, Jülicher, Kittel, Driver; Cornhill, Bacon, Baentsch, Holzinger, Moore, Carpenter and Harford – all are agreed that vss 10-15 contain no J material, though a number of them maintain that redactional elements are not lacking. That is the position assumed in this paper.

Nor, for the purposes of our discussion, does it make any difference whether or not we hold with Steuernagel that all the subsequent passages in the E document in which the name [Hebrew characters: HWHY] occurs, together with vss 13-15 of this chapter, in which the name is formally introduced, are additions from the hand of E2, the original E1 source knowing nothing of [end of first page].

Doug

2

FDS/GB spokeperson for God

by bobld in

the fds/gb claim they speak and intepret the bible correctly.ex.jan01/07 wt,"john saw in vision the announing of the sealing of the 144k.than he saw "a great crowd".the identity of the great crowd is revealed to john by one of the 24 elders,and these elders represent the 144k joint heirs with christ in their heavenly glory.

"note:john was on earth in 98c.e.

when the elder spoke to him in vision per fds/gb.however, the fds/gb pinpoint the 1st resurrection of the 144k started in 1918 c.e.so how can someone(144k) gave a vision when he/she was not born?.

Doug Mason

bob1999,

Excellent!

When the NT writers were talking about the "last days" they were talking about their own time. When Jesus spoke about the generation that would see Jerusalem destroyed, he was talking about the people who were alive at that time.

Doug

28

Why is the "Cross" an issue?

by Doug Mason in

what does the wts hope to achieve by creating an issue of the shape of the implement that jesus was nailed to?

why are they prepared to go so far as to misrepresent authorities through selective quotations, such as of lipsius as well as of liddell and scott?

this is not about the shape of the implement, but to unearth the reason why the wts has this position.

Doug Mason

What does the WTS hope to achieve by creating an issue of the shape of the implement that Jesus was nailed to?

Why are they prepared to go so far as to misrepresent authorities through selective quotations, such as of Lipsius as well as of Liddell and Scott?

This is not about the shape of the implement, but to unearth the reason why the WTS has this position.

I wonder if the following thoughts might be relevant?

1. Create a distraction from significant issues.

2. Make their translation of the NT appear “superior”.

3. Provides a sign of differentiation (“them” and “us”).

4. Make it difficult for a shaky JW to return to a church where the symbol is used.

It is not as if the death of Jesus is relevant to most of the WTS’s followers. Jesus is said to have died for only the handful of “FDS domestics”, who are the “Elect”, but not for the millions of its adherents.

It is not as if the “Cross” is not a Christian form of executing people, but a “Stake” is.

Doug

4

The location of Rose Ball Henninges' grave

by Doug Mason in

rose ball henninges is buried at burwood cemetery (near melbourne, victoria, australia).. the grave reference is: meth section 8 grave 102, which is the same grave as her husband's.. as those who have a picture of her husband's headstone, rose's name does not appear on it.

hence her name is not listed on the transcription of headstones available at libraries and historical societies.. if you want to visit the grave, it on the left hand side looking south from burwood highway, just beyond the first roundabout.. i have temporarily provided a picture of the grave at:.

http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/henninges__graves.jpg.

Doug Mason

I have removed the earlier pictures re the Henninges' grave.

In their place, I have provided a PDF file that includes other photos that I took of the cemetery. I might remove this file at some time.

http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/Henninges_grave.pdf

Doug

4

The location of Rose Ball Henninges' grave

by Doug Mason in

rose ball henninges is buried at burwood cemetery (near melbourne, victoria, australia).. the grave reference is: meth section 8 grave 102, which is the same grave as her husband's.. as those who have a picture of her husband's headstone, rose's name does not appear on it.

hence her name is not listed on the transcription of headstones available at libraries and historical societies.. if you want to visit the grave, it on the left hand side looking south from burwood highway, just beyond the first roundabout.. i have temporarily provided a picture of the grave at:.

http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/henninges__graves.jpg.

Doug Mason

I have temporarily provided the printouts from the Burwood cemetery at:

http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/Henninges_cemetery_records.jpg

These show that Rose and Ernest share the same grave location. The headstone does not reveal this, although there might be room to provide that information. Or I presume a plaque could have been added.

The headstone is in a poor state and I do not expect it will last. I will contact the "Henninges" people here but am not too hopeful of a positive outcome.

Doug

22

Jehovahs or Yawehs name ,JW's got it right?

by wozadummy in

ok i'll admit i just posted this to get rid of obve topic being stuck on the first page....but while i'm here i have'nt seen an explanation given here for whether the jw's are correct in putting gods name back into the old testament.. i just thought some here could voice their opinions on this for the benefit of new ones reading topics on this site.. as for me ,it does puzzle me as to why all versions of the old testament don't have it in all 6000 odd places ,seems to me people here could be seen as ignoring the hard questions if good reasons are'nt given to oppose the standard jw stand ,if indeed that needs to be done?

.

Doug Mason

To Jews, a "name" was more than a sound, it was the very being of the person. Hence the need to change a person's name at a critical point in some person's lives (Peter, Abraham, etc., etc.)

The issue is not the vocalisation but what the Name represents, or means.

An interesting exercise is to examine the geographic and tribal sources of each of the Names (El, YHWH, etc.,) and also to see the attempts at harmonizing the various sources, such as the J and E sources for the accounts of Creation (when does YHWH first appear? etc.)

We also need to recognize the strenuous efforts of the Yahwists to make their name the pre-eminent one (and the problems they had to try and eradicate Asherah as YHWH's wife).

Ultimately, the NT speaks to us about the "name" of Jesus being paramount. Christians are to witness to his name, and they will be persecuted for the sake of his name.

Doug

4

The location of Rose Ball Henninges' grave

by Doug Mason in

rose ball henninges is buried at burwood cemetery (near melbourne, victoria, australia).. the grave reference is: meth section 8 grave 102, which is the same grave as her husband's.. as those who have a picture of her husband's headstone, rose's name does not appear on it.

hence her name is not listed on the transcription of headstones available at libraries and historical societies.. if you want to visit the grave, it on the left hand side looking south from burwood highway, just beyond the first roundabout.. i have temporarily provided a picture of the grave at:.

http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/henninges__graves.jpg.

Doug Mason

Rose Ball Henninges is buried at Burwood Cemetery (near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia).

The Grave reference is: METH Section 8 Grave 102, which is the same grave as her husband's.

As those who have a picture of her husband's headstone, Rose's name does not appear on it. Hence her name is not listed on the transcription of headstones available at libraries and historical societies.

If you want to visit the grave, it on the left hand side looking south from Burwood Highway, just beyond the first roundabout.

I have temporarily provided a picture of the grave at:

http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/Henninges__graves.JPG

Now for my next question: who can provide photos of Ernest and Rose Henninges?

Doug

19

Qumran, meet Brooklyn

by Doug Mason in

loyal jws are required to obey the edicts of the gb because of whom it claims to be.. to interpret scripture, particularly eschatological passages, the gb does not use literal interpretation, since it promotes secondary applications, employs its own allegories, and so on.. by analyzing another apocalyptic, eschatological group that also anticipated the imminent appearance of the messiah, we gain an insight into the gbs approach.

this other group is the jews who lived at qumran during the 1st and 2nd centuries bce.. the following is a synopsis of the way those jews used scripture.

the gb does not consciously imitate the jews at qumran, since its approach is a legacy from rutherford in the 1930s.. the approach taken by the people at qumran:.

Doug Mason

quietlyleaving,

As I researched the subject, I saw some critical comments about her writings. I make no claims of expertise, but did as you have done and studied information that is available. One problem with the information on the www is that every person can now put out their own weird ideas and people accept them because they appear on the www.

You will need to see if there are real experts (I am not one) here or on the www who can help you to form your own opinion. Look for a balance of views. I am cautious about extremist views.

My interest is in seeing how the information may be applied to tackling the WTS's methods.

In that respect, as when discussing the meaning of the "FDS parable", it might come down to discussing the respective methodologies (processes) used when interpreting, and see how these stack up, before discussing the ultimate interpretation (outcomes or outputs).

This might be a significant departure from previous practice, but could prove more meaningful.

If you find anything useful or interesting, please share them with me.

Doug