Posts by Doug Mason

16

The 1914 war in heaven was first announced in 1925

by Doug Mason in

in its issue of march 1, 1925, the watch tower published the leading article entitled the birth of the nation which was the first announcement that there had been war in heaven after the gentile times ended in 1914 and that the devil and his angels had been cast down to our earth.

but this was further called attention to later in the article the king in action in the issue of september 15, 1925. this ousting of the devil and his angels from heaven had its effect upon the wild beast and its kingdom here on earth.

all this was forcefully presented in the book entitled deliverance, which was released on friday, may 28, 1926, at the international convention in london, england, after the conventioners adopted a resolution entitled a testimony to the rulers of the world.

Doug Mason

In its issue of March 1, 1925, The Watch Tower published the leading article entitled “The Birth of The Nation” which was the first announcement that there had been war in heaven after the Gentile Times ended in 1914 and that the Devil and his angels had been cast down to our earth. But this was further called attention to later in the article “The King in Action” in the issue of September 15, 1925. This ousting of the Devil and his angels from heaven had its effect upon the “wild beast” and its kingdom here on earth. All this was forcefully presented in the book entitled “Deliverance,” which was released on Friday, May 28, 1926, at the international convention in London, England, after the conventioners adopted a resolution entitled “A Testimony to the Rulers of the World.” The sixth proposition of this resolution stated that “by reason of the blinding influence of Satan the minds of the rulers and the ruled are turned away from the true God.” – “ ‘Babylon The Great Has Fallen’ – God’s Kingdom Rules!” (1963), page 554

12

Eph 1:1 - An example of eisegesis

by leaving_quietly in

eisegesis (formed from the greek preposition ?

"into" and the ending from the english word exegesis, which in turn is derived from ??

"to lead out") is the process of interpreting a text or portion of text in such a way that it introduces one's own presuppositions, agendas, or biases into and onto the text.

Doug Mason

Bobcat,

I suggest one reason that the reference in Ephesians to "two groups ... is without precedent in Paul's letters" happened because Paul did not write that letter.

To address this expression, one would need to consider the context at the time when it was written - what was the contemporary situation within the Pauline and other Christian communities? How far had it moved in its anti-Semiticism? Did this influence the writer(s)?

Doug

37

Am I missing something here ?

by smiddy in

in ancient times , o.t.speak, god dealt with humans in a variety of ways , dreams ,visions ,prophets,and prophetesses , then apparently 2000 years ago he must have said, i`m not doing this anymore.they , my followers will just have to beleive and put faith in what has been written down up untill the 20th century of the common era.

approximately 4000 years of human history where god has communicated with humans .

if you beleive that .. their has been no communication between god , with any human , whether by dreams , visions , or prophets , for the past 2000 years.. and may i add, their has been no communication from jesus during these past 2000 years either, giving us enlightend /updates about his sayings /prophecys that he gave while on earth 2000 years ago.. please explain.. smiddy.

Doug Mason

Accept everything that Jesus wrote down.

Doug

22

plesase help me: examples of true prophets being wrong

by nonjwspouse in

my husband insists all the men chosen to be prophets were inperfect men.

i agreed.

i do not agree that what they prophacied about; said was from the word of god; could ever be wrong.

Doug Mason

Is this of any help?

http://www.jwstudies.com/Changed_MD_and_SS_words.pdf

Doug

15

"You need to witness to her about Christmas"

by DS211 in

well thats what my wife said when my grandma stopped by for a visit and invited us to hang out with them christmas eve.

after she left, my wife said i needed to witness to her and remind her that we do nkt celebrate it and that it is the worst holiday to celebrate (actually halloween is lol).

i felt this wasnt the time to argue so i decided to tell her i would look into that.

Doug Mason

How about celebrating Xmas on December 6 with Krampus and Black Peter? That was the experience of my Jewish mother (born Vienna, Austria 1911) as the kids of all persuasions joined in. (Austria is a Catholic country.) I wonder if December 6 is still be the day in Holland? (Holland is a protestant country).

Research when Xmas was shifted from Dec 6 to Dec 25; who did it; why? Or why Santa now has red clothes instead of the traditional green? Does that sound religious?

In Australia, the traditional Xmas foods - often at a barbecue - are ham and seafoods such as prawns and oysters. Now, would you celebrate a birthday for a Jewish boy with such food? Surely that shows it's not religious.

Maybe go with the Orthodox Calendar.

Doug

22

plesase help me: examples of true prophets being wrong

by nonjwspouse in

my husband insists all the men chosen to be prophets were inperfect men.

i agreed.

i do not agree that what they prophacied about; said was from the word of god; could ever be wrong.

Doug Mason

Matthew's Gospel said that certain prophecies came to pass but the stories were created to make them look like they had. The original intent of an OT passage was distorted and misrepresented (reinterpreted) to make it look like a prophecy and that it was fulfilled in the way they explained it. Take, for example, the "virgin birth" of Isa or the myth that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, simply to make Micah out to be a prophet. (Jesus was likely born in Nazareth).

Doug

10

Something Is Screwy With WT's New Bible!

by JW GoneBad in

not sure if this has already been brought up.. it appears that the verses in matthew 21:29 and matthew 21:30 have been transposed from one translation to the other.. the 'old' nwt in vs 29 & 30 states:.

'in answer this one said, "i will sir, but did not go out"'.

verse 30 reads: 'approaching the second, he said the same.

Doug Mason

The following comes from "The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible", Vol 4, pages 594-595, edited by G.A. Buttrick. This is a respected publication and is relied on 32 times in the WTS's 2 volumes: "Insight on the Scriptures". The following excerpt from "The Interpreter's Dictionary" is speaking of the earliest times of Christianity:

-------------------------------

The NT is now known, in whole or in part, in nearly five thousand Greek MSS alone. Every one of these handwritten copies differs from every other one. In addition to these Greek MSS, the NT has been preserved in more than ten thousand MSS of the early versions and in thousands of quotations of the Church Fathers. These MSS of the versions and quotations of the Church Fathers differ from one another just as widely as do the Greek MSS. Only a fraction of this great mass of material has been fully collated and carefully studied. Until this task is completed, the uncertainty regarding the text of the NT will remain.

It has been estimated that these MSS and quotations differ among themselves between 150,000 and 250,000 times. The actual figure is, perhaps, much higher. A study of 150 Greek MSS of the Gospel of Luke has revealed more than 30,000 different readings. It is true, of course, that the addition of the readings from another 150 MSS of Luke would not add another 30,000 readings to the list. But each MS studied does add substantially to the list of variants. It is safe to say that there is not one sentence in the NT in which the MS tradition is wholly uniform.

Many thousands of these different readings are variants in orthography or grammar or style and have no effect upon the meaning of the text. But there are many thousands which have a definite effect upon the meaning of the text. It is true that not one of these variant readings affects the substance of Christian dogma. It is equally true that many of them do have theological significance and were introduced into the text intentionally. …

It has been said that the great majority of the variant readings in the text of the NT arose before the books of the NT were canonized and that after those books were canonized, they were very carefully copied because they were scripture. This, however, is far from being the case.

It is true, of course, that many variants arose in the very earliest period. There is no reason to suppose, e.g., that the first person who ever made a copy of the autograph of the Gospel of Luke did not change his copy to conform to the particular tradition with which he was familiar. But he was under no compulsion to do so. Once the Gospel of Luke had become scripture, however, the picture was changed completely. Then the copyist was under compulsion to change his copy, to correct it. Because it was scripture, it had to be right.

Many thousands of the variants which are found in the MSS of the NT were put there deliberately.

They are not merely the result of error or of careless handling of the text. Many were created for theological or dogmatic reasons (even though they may not affect the substance of Christian dogma). It is because the books of the NT are religious books, sacred books, canonical books, that they were changed to conform to what the copyist believed to be the true reading. His interest was not in the "original reading" but in the "true reading." This is precisely the attitude toward the NT which prevailed from the earliest times to the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the invention of printing.

29

Conversation-stopper STOPPERS needed!

by DS211 in

i have to get active.

my wife told me we have hospitality this weekend and i know the jw slingshot mechanism will engage after attendance.

so i have to get ready.

Doug Mason

Put on a CD of Christmas carols.

11

Jude 22-25 JW apologists and anybody else.

by wearewatchingyouman in

22 also, continue showing mercy+ to some who have doubts;+23 save them+ by snatching them out of the fire.

but continue showing mercy to others, doing so with fear, while you hate even the garment that has been stained by the flesh.+24 now to the one who is able to guard you from stumbling and to make you stand unblemished+ in the sight of his glory* with great joy,25 to the only god our savior through jesus christ our lord, be glory, majesty, might, and authority for all past eternity and now and into all eternity.

so, then - why does the gb separate those who become doubtful out of fear they will stumble some?

Doug Mason

Blondie,

My pure guess is that when an Elder "judges" another, that they are driven by self-preservation. In other words, if that Elder does not act cautiously, that Elder could fall under suspicion.

Just a guess.

Doug

11

Jude 22-25 JW apologists and anybody else.

by wearewatchingyouman in

22 also, continue showing mercy+ to some who have doubts;+23 save them+ by snatching them out of the fire.

but continue showing mercy to others, doing so with fear, while you hate even the garment that has been stained by the flesh.+24 now to the one who is able to guard you from stumbling and to make you stand unblemished+ in the sight of his glory* with great joy,25 to the only god our savior through jesus christ our lord, be glory, majesty, might, and authority for all past eternity and now and into all eternity.

so, then - why does the gb separate those who become doubtful out of fear they will stumble some?

Doug Mason

My reading of the early history of Jude, 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Revelation and Hebrews shows that they had a very rough ride for the first 400 years (and more) of the Christian Church. (Where was the "FDS" during those heated debates? Were people such as Origen, Irenaeus, Cyril, and Athanasius, etc., etc., members of the FDS??)

There are too many details to go into here, so I recommend the article by Professor F.W. Beale in Volume 1 of "The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible", article: "Canon of the NT", especially pages 523-532. If you email me, I can provide a copy of these pages in Word format, which then permits words to be searched.

(The doubt of Paul's authorship of Hebrews is indicated by its location in the NT: whereas Paul's writings are placed in order of their length, Hebrews is not positioned where it otherwise would have been - not that Paul wrote any of the "Pastorals").

Doug