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Rather than carry over the methods used in the Hebrew Scriptures for the Divine Name(s), the early Christians developed their own set of sacred words that are now known as the "Nomina Sacra".
In this process, and there were 15 words created using this method, they abbreviated the selected divine word with two letters and then they drew a line over these letters, to show what they were.
Searching the www for "nomina sacra", in the context we are discussing, will provide the details.
Doug
ok heres another thing that always worried and puzzled me... moses made great sacrifices to lead the isrealites and endured great hardship to do so... but he makes one mistake and suddenly all that counts for nothing and he gets no rewards for his pains at all!????!.
this has never seemed fair to me.
basicly what is seems to be saying is that you can lead a exemplary life at great cost to your self, but if you make one mistake... thats it youv'e blown it!.
When these Bible writers recorded their history, their sole purpose was to influence their own community. Their records were concerned with theology, rather than with historical precision.
It does not matter whether Moses was a real person or not. It does not matter if people were really led out of Egypt. Indeed, it is likely that the Israelites were hill dwellers of Canaan all the time.
The purpose of stories about Abraham, Moses, Joshua, and so on served the purpose of showing the community that God had given them the land they were occupying.
This intended lesson influenced the writer when he gave the reason Moses was not permitted to enter the land promised to Abraham. Before entering the Promised Land, the people had to wander in a deserted land until all doubters had died.
We can only surmise at the lessons intended for that ancient community. Perhaps they were meant to learn that only the unblemished and those who had genuine faith were permitted to cross into the Promised Land. For us, we can see a modern lesson, in which entrance to our future Promised Land is based on the same premise that one must be unblemished before God.
For the Christian, this state is available as a gift that is available only through faith in the unblemished life and death of Jesus Christ.
Doug
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The bias of the NWT in regards to its use of "Jehovah" in its Greek Scriptures is shown in a piece I wrote at:
http://www.jwstudies.com/Translating_with_prejudice.pdf
Doug
to my understanding christians are called christian based on the scripture in acts 11 v 26.. reading this scripture i get the impression the title "christian" was a name given to them by people who were preashed to by them.
my question is by whose or what authority does a follower of christ need be called a christian.. acolytes.. .
"Christ" is actually a title, not a name; it means "Anointed". However, over time, Paul used the title Christ as the proper name for Yeshua ben Yosef of Nazareth. Whether he originated this usage or reflected a common use, I don't know.
It should be realised that at the time, the Christians were a Jewish sect and part of Judaism. In the latter part of Acts, Paul was still going through a Jewish purification ceremony.
Did the sacking of Jerusalem in AD 70 play a part in creating a marked separation? Did the Christians' use of the (Hebrew) Scriptures play a part (mostly use of the various versions of the LXX)?
How much influence did the primacy of Antioch play in the demarcation between the Jews and the Christian sect? Antioch (Paul's base) was plagued by followers from Jerusalem who were requiring obediance to Jewish ways.
Doug
i can't.
i can't even bring myself to pick up the book anymore but i'm still a christian.. not sure why, just this feeling of guilt when i read it, and guilt if i don't.. anyone else have an aversion to the good book?.
.
I think these point out that it's not WHAT you read but HOW you read.
I suggest that solid middle-of-the-road background material would help break the NWT influence. By that, I do not mean commentaries but information on the people and their lives at the time a Bible piece was written. It is critical to understand that these writers were not writing to us, they were writing to their own people, dealing with an immediate and local need, using their own local idioms and ideas.
Books that are suitable for providing such background material depend on your own level of comprehension. I find the series of Dictionaries published by IVP most enlightening and balanced in their view ("Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch", and "Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books", are two of the titles. They also have "Dictionary of the New Testament" titles available.)
Other similar books often go under the title of "Old Testament Survey" and similar.
Discovering how the Bible came into existence is another direction of study.
In other words, climb outside the limited view that the WTS shackled you with and see the Bible as a very human book, written by people for people. Which means that you do not read it through the eyes of our culture.
Doug
the following verses make me wonder just how prevalent prostituion at the "temple" was in ancient times.. the verse in deut.
23: 17 about becoming temple prostitutes didn't they israelites have a tabernacle until solomon built the temple during his reign?.
deuteronomy 23:17 none of the daughters of israel may become temple prostitutes neither may anyone of the sons of israel become a temple prostitute.
The Chronicler is not a historian in the strict western sense. To him Israel’s history was pregnant with spiritual and moral lessons, which he brought to birth through a kind of historical midwifery. He is not concerned so much with the bare facts of Israel’s history as with their meaning. ( Old Testament Survey: The Message, Form, and Background of the Old Testament , Second Edition, , p. 543, Lasor, Hubbard and Bush, Eerdmans 1996) It was more important to the biblical writers to be relevant than to be true. ... For all of them, their greatest concern was not getting the past “correct.” Rather, it was to collect, revise, and compose traditions in order to produce texts about the past that would be meaningful to their communities. ( How to Read the Jewish Bible , chapter “ Revisionist History: Reading Chronicles ”, p. 136, Marc Zvi Brettler, Oxford University Press, 2005, 2007) The recollection of historical traditions in this period was different than it is now. There was little or no interest in history for its own sake; that is, for what it taught about the real past. History mattered because of what it taught about the present, including the legitimacy of the main priestly clan. Moreover, ancient historians may not have realized that they were manipulating “facts.” ... Just as the Chronicler adds material when it suits his purposes, he also leaves material out. Sometimes material is left out simply because it is no longer relevant. ...Comparison of Chronicles and its sources reveals hundreds of cases where the Chronicler changed his sources in various ways —not only minor updating of language and spelling, but also significant ideological changes. ( Brettler, pp.131-133) As complicated as translating a foreign language can be, translating a foreign culture is infinitely more difficult. ... It is far too easy to let our own ideas creep in and subtly (or at times not so subtly) bend or twist the material to fit our own context. ... The very act of trying to translate the culture requires taking it out of its context and fitting it into ours. ... Rather than translating the culture, then, we need to try to enter the culture. ( The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate , pp. 10-11, John H. Walton; publishers, IVP Academic) It must be acknowledged that Biblical narrators were more than historians. They interpretively recounted the past with the unswerving purpose of bringing it to bear on the present and the future. In the portrayal of past events, they used their materials to achieve this purpose effectively. ( The NIV Study Bible , book of Jonah, “Introduction: Interpretation”) The biblical writers may not have understood their task simply as relating what happened in the past. ... A ncient history writing was not journalism; it was closer to storytelling than to the objective reporting of past events. ... T he primary objective of ancient history writing was to “render an account” of the past that explained the present.
Ancient historians had axes to grind —theological or political points to make. Second, a civilization rendering an account of its past also entailed an expression of the corporate identity of the nation—what it was and what principles it stood for. Hence, the historian’s primary concern was not detailing exactly what happened in the past as much as it was interpreting the meaning of the past for the present, showing how the “causes” of the past brought about the “effects” of the present. ... The Bible’s historical literature is aetiological in the sense that it seeks to “render an account” of the past —to provide an explanation (aitia) for circumstances or conditions in the historian’s day. Whether the events that the Bible relates as past causes or explanations actually took place as described was not the ancient historian’s primary concern. ... To attempt to read the account of Israel’s history in the Bible from a modern perspective as strictly a record of actual events is to misconstrue its genre and force it to do something that it was not intended to do. ...
In the Bible, history was written for an ideological purpose. History writing was theology. (Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books, Arnold and Williamson, pp 418 – 421, IVP)
[ Comparison of the Chronicler’s presentation of Cyrus’ Decree with the text as preserved on the famous Cyrus cylinder provides a clear example of the Chronicler’s preparedness to manage history and to manufacture a religious intent.]
the following verses make me wonder just how prevalent prostituion at the "temple" was in ancient times.. the verse in deut.
23: 17 about becoming temple prostitutes didn't they israelites have a tabernacle until solomon built the temple during his reign?.
deuteronomy 23:17 none of the daughters of israel may become temple prostitutes neither may anyone of the sons of israel become a temple prostitute.
ssn587,
You could start by Googling for the words
biblical historiography.
When I did that I came across a book that looks interesting, at
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0MDO/is_4_34/ai_n19492676/
You should be able to find more sites of interest with that search.
I will gather a few quotes and references for you and post them for you.
Doug
the following verses make me wonder just how prevalent prostituion at the "temple" was in ancient times.. the verse in deut.
23: 17 about becoming temple prostitutes didn't they israelites have a tabernacle until solomon built the temple during his reign?.
deuteronomy 23:17 none of the daughters of israel may become temple prostitutes neither may anyone of the sons of israel become a temple prostitute.
ssn587,
I understood your question to be related to the use of the term "temple" when the writer logically should have been using the term "sanctuary" during the earlier periods. That is the matter I was endeavouring to address in my previous response.
If my understanding of your Post is correct, then I suggest you research the manner in which the ancients regarded and recorded history. They were not so concerned with being literally correct as they were with drawing lessons from history in their effort to influence their own contemporary community. As such, the "historians" were somewhat loose with the facts, since that was secondary to the points they were making.
If you need suggested sources to start off your study, let me know.
Doug
the wts commences the seventy years of the babylonian exile when people from the city of mizpah left for egypt, following the murder of governor gedaliah.
the wts claims that the seventy years could not commence until judah was without a living soul or domestic animal, and that this departure for egypt marked that moment.
their position, however, is not supported by scripture or archaeology.. .
Hi Lars,
The reference you gave simply went to a well-known book. Is that what you meant by a discussion?
Other sources include:
“Leading Captivity Captive”, ed. Grabbe, which includes the well-known article by Carroll and a response to Barstad (can be read online). Other sources can be located by searching on Carroll’s name.
There is a listing (that I have not pursued) at: http://www.cjconroy.net/bib/hist-neobab.htm
Schniedewind’s books, such as “Society and the Promise to David” (such as p. 99) are instructive, although Biblically-based rather than pure archaeology.
“Ezekiel and Ethics of Exile” by Mann appears to be in a similar vein (pp. 55-59 for example).
As you indicate, you are aware of the 600 page book by Lipschits and Blenkinsopp, which can still be purchased second-hand.
------------------
The Judaean people exiled by Babylon were the upper echelon of society, the people who had adopted written communication. The urban Judahites at Jerusalem were intent on centralising religion at Jerusalem, whereas the agrarian populace, including the power group known as the People of the Land, were vehemently opposed to the urban monotheists.
The records we have are the propaganda documents produced by the religious and powerful urban elite; and one can see the hand of Jehoiachin in some of Jeremiah’s material.
This animosity between these religious exiles and the People of the Land is clearly shown in Ezra’s words and behaviour.
http://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Exile.html
speaks of “two poles of Jews during the Exile”, one group being the People of the Land (am hares).
In the process of time, subsequent editors, with their agendas of religious power, amended the texts, which had to be copied because of the nature of the material they were written on. These deliberate (and accidental) changes further cloud the situation.
In addition, the sense afforded to “history” held by the Ancient Judaean communities was not the same as ours. They did not mind when certain adjustments were made to stories of the past, since their objective was not to produce a pristine record of the past but to use stories that influenced their own immediate community. This attitude was not unique to them.
For reasons such as these, I believe it is futile to base the foundation of one’s faith on the words produced by those ancient communities, unless one had been able to read their words through the concepts of their culture.
Doug
the wts commences the seventy years of the babylonian exile when people from the city of mizpah left for egypt, following the murder of governor gedaliah.
the wts claims that the seventy years could not commence until judah was without a living soul or domestic animal, and that this departure for egypt marked that moment.
their position, however, is not supported by scripture or archaeology.. .
