Posts by Doug Mason

49

The List, by "Prominent Bethelite"

by morloc in

i occasionally pop through here to catch up on the latest, but this time i'm going to pop my own post on here.. some of you internet oldsters may even remember this.

my first experience on the internet regarding discussions about jehovah's witnesses and the watchtower took place on a now-obscure usenet group, before i eventually stumbled across hourglass2.. during those days, there was a poster who went by the name "prominent bethelite," an otherwise anonymous individual whom i remember most for an extensive, exhaustive compilation of date-oriented remarks, predictions, and expectations by the watchtower organization down through the decades of its history.. it became known as "the list" and it's definitely lengthy... but a fascination look at the abundance of errant statements made through the watchtower's history.. if you're curious, it's been available for a long time on hourglass2's site, and can be seen using the link provided below.. the list, compiled by prominent bethelite (1999).

that's about it for this stop through here.

Doug Mason

WOW!

I just had to make a Word and PDF file of that for myself!

Doug

1

Correspondence during the 1917 takeover of the WTS by Rutherford

by Doug Mason in

some of the correspondence during the 1917 takeover of the wts by rutherford is available at:.

http://www.jwstudies.com/1917_correspondence.pdf .

since the size of the lettering is small, the correspondence is also provided in landscape format at:.

Doug Mason

Some of the correspondence during the 1917 takeover of the WTS by Rutherford is available at:

http://www.jwstudies.com/1917_Correspondence.pdf

Since the size of the lettering is small, the correspondence is also provided in landscape format at:

http://www.jwstudies.com/1917_Correspondence__landscape_.pdf

No doubt this is available elsewhere on the www, so I would be interested to know where I can locate the related material from that time.

Thanks,

Doug

8

"Watchtower's Achilles' Heel" is available in Spanish

by Doug Mason in

the watchtowers achilles heel is available in spanish.. if reasoning with a jw on the governing bodys interpretations such as of the kingdom of god, parousia, the cross, blood, and so on is unlikely to break the governing bodys mental stranglehold, what then is its achilles heel?.

my study: the watchtowers achilles heel answers that question.

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

Doug Mason

Thank you all for your kind comments.

I see that an interesting DVD has just been released. I have seen trailers and discussions on it but I have not yet seen it. It is called "A Polite Bribe". apolitebribe.com

I am presently reading Bart Ehrman's latest book, "How Jesus Became God". It is well written, easy to read, and brings together many interesting issues.

Doug

8

"Watchtower's Achilles' Heel" is available in Spanish

by Doug Mason in

the watchtowers achilles heel is available in spanish.. if reasoning with a jw on the governing bodys interpretations such as of the kingdom of god, parousia, the cross, blood, and so on is unlikely to break the governing bodys mental stranglehold, what then is its achilles heel?.

my study: the watchtowers achilles heel answers that question.

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

Doug Mason

“The Watchtower’s Achilles’ Heel” is available in Spanish.

If reasoning with a JW on the Governing Body’s interpretations such as of the Kingdom of God, Parousia, the Cross, Blood, and so on is unlikely to break the Governing Body’s mental stranglehold, what then is its Achilles’ Heel?

My Study: “The Watchtower’s Achilles Heel” answers that question. It is available at

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

It is also available in Spanish:

Si el tratar de razonar con un Testigo de Jehová acerca de las interpretaciones del Cuerpo Gobernante referente al Reino de Dios, Parousia, La Cruz, Sangre, y muchas más, resulta en una estrategia fútil para liberarlos del control mental completo ejercido por sus líderes, ¿cuál es entonces el talón de Aquiles del Cuerpo Gobernante?

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

Doug Mason

13

Jacob becomes Isreal, Why? Bible Study Gen. 32-35

by What is Truth? in

i have had a facination with this passage for some time since starting reading james kugel's book "how to read the bible" and i am curious to get your imput.

it is genesis 32: 24-32 where jacob gets his name changed.. i am most interested in how this story relates to the early dealings with isrealite's god.

specifically, who is the person that jacob wrestles with?.

Doug Mason

Smiddy,

Do not presume that Moses wrote the first books of the Bible.

Doug

13

Jacob becomes Isreal, Why? Bible Study Gen. 32-35

by What is Truth? in

i have had a facination with this passage for some time since starting reading james kugel's book "how to read the bible" and i am curious to get your imput.

it is genesis 32: 24-32 where jacob gets his name changed.. i am most interested in how this story relates to the early dealings with isrealite's god.

specifically, who is the person that jacob wrestles with?.

Doug Mason

What is Truth?

For the Hebrews, a name was far more than a handle or a means of identification. It was the very being of that person; hence the need at times for a person's name to be changed.

The Hebrews used several names for God, depending on the situation. For example, the people who wrote Genesis chapter 1 did not use the name YHWH until it was revealed to Moses at the "burning bush", whereas the writers of the Creation myth of Genesis 2 used the tetragram for God's name.

The writers of Genesis 1 (written after Genesis 2, by the way) used God's name of "EL". Information is available on the sources of these names, and where the Israelites took their YHWH god from, but that's another issue.

In many instances, the EL is incorporated into the names of people and of places (Bethel, meaning "house of God", incorporates the EL name, for example).

Thus when Jacob encountered God his name was changed to include God's name - Israel. Knowing its origin will ensure that you will always spell it correctly.

BTW. EL was the "super God" who had a pantheon of minor gods; YHWH was one of these minor gods - he was an angry warlike god. When the Israelites adopted YHWH as their god, they took EL's wife Asherah and gave her to YHWH. You will see references to Asherah in the Bible; the general populace worshiped her alongside YHWH, as archaeology confirms. It's just that the priests were against that arrangement - and it is their wriitngs that you read.

Doug

30

Jehovahs witnesses dont have the name of GOD right so how can they be his witnesses

by smiddy in

the tetragrammaton ,does not appear anywhere in the christian greek scriptures see the new world kingdom interlinear translation.

the tetragrammaton translated in english is yhwh ( not jhvh) their is no j in hebrew.. the first edition of the book " aid to bible understanding" admits that the proper pronunciation of gods name is not known.. that they have used the name jehovah because it is the more popular name used in christendoms religions.

and they say christendoms religions are apostates / anti christs /babylon the great , can they have it both ways ?.

Doug Mason

The overall context of Isa 43:10 says that Jacob and Israel had witnessed God. These chapters do not say that Jacob and Israel were going door-to-door giving out witness statements. These chapters say that even though they had witnessed YHWH, they had not called on Him (Isa 43:20-24). For that reason, God had brought them to the low state they were experiencing (Isa 43:26-28, Israel's destruction and Judah's captivity in Babylon).

It is interesting that Isa 43:10 says that his "witnesses" were his "servant" ("slave class"???).

Rutherford shackled the organisation with his "Jehovah's witness" legacy. Not only did he use a verse that is completely irrelevant and damaging, but he has prevented the JWs being able to break free from this word "Jehovah", which was invented by the Catholic Church in the 13th century.

Doug

2

A simple Study on a brochure

by Doug Mason in

the wtss brochure how can you have a happy life?

is aimed squarely at enticing jews.

people featured in it are ether jewish in appearance or they have jewish names.

Doug Mason

The WTS’s brochure “How Can You Have a Happy Life?” is aimed squarely at enticing Jews. People featured in it are ether Jewish in appearance or they have Jewish names. Virtually all Scripture references come from the Hebrew scriptures, and information is provided in the brochure when a verse number in the Hebrew Tanakh differs from the verse number in the New World Translation.

I have cobbled together a simple Study on the brochure. Nothing deep or controversial. It's available at:

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

Corrections and criticisms are most welcome.

Doug

41

Bill Nye/Ken Ham Creation-Evolution Debate Here: V

by mind blown in

.

in case some are interested and can't find it...... http://debatelive.org.

~mb.

Doug Mason

problemaddict,

Perhaps it would be technically more correct to say that people first need to understand the ancient Jewish mind and not read the Bible through modern western eyes. Study Kabbalistic thinking and expression, Jewish mysticism, the nature of their various writings, and then see the Bible for what it is - a collection of ancient Middle Eastern writings that reflect their contemporary understandings and idioms, the cultures of each generation that wrote and rewrote the text. Prove that what you read today is exactly what was originally written. And it helps to compare and contrast the MT with the various versions of the LXX. The list goes on.

Doug

3

Rutherford's Death of Joshua still as 1450bc in 2013 Bible revision

by Elijehovah in

vomiting out what jehovah gives us to eat.

(this is not a suggestion, but rather refers to retractions made by the wt of truths that god jehovah has fed us, but they apparently feel it needs to be discarded.

) at the end of the concordance of the new 2013 revision of the nwt are the dates the bible books were written and time covered.

Doug Mason

EJ,

Are you referring to chronologies in the Masoretic Text or in the Septuagint?

Doug