Doug Mason
JoinedPosts by Doug Mason
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6
How The Bible Was Invented 6. Israel Fights Back and becomes a Kingdom (925-870BCE)
by HowTheBibleWasCreated inwas buried in tirzah; and elah his son reigned.
judah, elah the son of baasha began to reign.
they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of israel?.
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68
The problems Bible believers have with Atheists is the burden of proof is on the Believer and we just do not have enough proof.
by booker-t ini recently posted a post telling this board my athesit coworker stumped me with questions about the validity of the ark story and i just cannot stop talking to her.
i love hearing her side and point of view which in the past i would have dismissed as "satanic" thinking.
she has some very good questions and i am having a hard time answering them.
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Doug Mason
Have you ever thought about the countless creatures (etc) that are in a constant life-and-death struggle on the outside of your body and inside it?
Doug
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6
How The Bible Was Invented 6. Israel Fights Back and becomes a Kingdom (925-870BCE)
by HowTheBibleWasCreated inwas buried in tirzah; and elah his son reigned.
judah, elah the son of baasha began to reign.
they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of israel?.
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Doug Mason
Thanks,
Next question: do you accept that the correct writings were canonised, and do you discuss the process involved? Do you address the differences between the Jewish and Christian canons, also the languages employed, the translations, etc.?
If you are addressing JWs, I presume you would take into consideration that the WTS says that the original writings were inerrant (and that none is known to exist), but that the copies and translations are not without error. Although they claim these errors are minor, how do they know when there are no original writings to compare them against?
Doug
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23
Jw's dont really care about doctrine do they?
by marriedtoajw init seems to me that jw's really don't care about doctrine.
ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 "and he gave some as apostles others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry for the building up of the body of christ until we attain the unity of faith and knowledge of the son of god to mature manhood to the extent of the full stature of christ so that we may no longer be in infants tost by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery from their cunning in the interest of deceitful scheming".
is it just me or does this verse totally annihilate the doctrine or belief in new light.
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Doug Mason
Long long ago I came to the decision that JWs obey the WTS because of WHOM the WTS claims to be (God's sole channel of communication on earth) regardless of WHAT they say.
The WTS always says: obedience is paramount. Read their propaganda, it's all about the rulership; it is authoritarian.
Any suspicion of dissent with a currently-held position is treated harshly, even though the WTS could later amend its position to that "heresy". The test is obedience, and this is what Jesus and Jehovah were looking for when they selected Rutherford in 1919. The WTS knows this is true because they say it is true.
Doug
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7
July 2014--135 Years of the Watchtower
by Londo111 inhttp://www.mostholyfaith.com/bible/reprints/z1879jul.asp.
the first issue of the watchtower was july 1879, about 135 years ago.
it is interesting to skim the first issue, as well as the letter that russell sent out to the readers of the previous magazine he was involved with, the herald of the morning.. as to the split between russell and barbour, while the issue over the ransom seems a contributing factor, the first concern in russells letter is a monetary dispute.. the early issues of the watchtower were open to many viewpoints.
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Doug Mason
yadda,
Talking about Darwin's book, it is interesting to note that Lamarck produced his theory of evolution in the very year that Darwin was born.
Doug
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6
How The Bible Was Invented 6. Israel Fights Back and becomes a Kingdom (925-870BCE)
by HowTheBibleWasCreated inwas buried in tirzah; and elah his son reigned.
judah, elah the son of baasha began to reign.
they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of israel?.
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Doug Mason
Do you really believe that the Bible provides an unbiased literally true historical record?!
For example, do you believe that there was a person named Moses and that there was an Exodus from Egypt, or that there were kings named Solomon and David as described in the Bible? Were the Israelites powerful or were they simply poor Canaanite hill-dwellers who made up stories?
Doug
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7
July 2014--135 Years of the Watchtower
by Londo111 inhttp://www.mostholyfaith.com/bible/reprints/z1879jul.asp.
the first issue of the watchtower was july 1879, about 135 years ago.
it is interesting to skim the first issue, as well as the letter that russell sent out to the readers of the previous magazine he was involved with, the herald of the morning.. as to the split between russell and barbour, while the issue over the ransom seems a contributing factor, the first concern in russells letter is a monetary dispute.. the early issues of the watchtower were open to many viewpoints.
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Doug Mason
The title of the magazine was in 2 parts:
Zion's Watch Tower [not Watchtower], because Russell was convinced that the coming of unprecedented peace in 1914 would be under the Zionists;
and
Herald of Christ's Presence, because he was heralding that the Parousia had taken place in 1874.
Doug
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30
When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed references
by GoUnion inthis topic has been covered extensively but i just wanted relate what hapopenes with this subject and my elder father.
he called me up one day to check in on me he always asks if i'm going to msettings and i always tell him no im not.
well this time he wanted to know why i didn't trust the g.b.
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Doug Mason
To make it very simple: the Bible cannot and does not provide BCE dates or CE dates. This means that the WTS completely relies on secular sources for dates. The WTS accepts from secular sources the date of 539 BCE for the Fall of Babylon. These secular sources derive this date from a chronology that the WTS does not accept.
These sources say that the 37th year of Nebuchadnezzar is an Absolute Date that is fixed at 568 BCE. Then using the neo-Babylonian chronology these secular sources arrive at other dates, including 539 BCE.
BTW. Your father can feel comfortable communicating with me since I have never been associated with Jehoavh's Witnesses or with the Watchtower Society.
Doug
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30
When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed references
by GoUnion inthis topic has been covered extensively but i just wanted relate what hapopenes with this subject and my elder father.
he called me up one day to check in on me he always asks if i'm going to msettings and i always tell him no im not.
well this time he wanted to know why i didn't trust the g.b.
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Doug Mason
A date that the WTS - and everyone else - is incapable of proving is the timing when the first returnees gathered at the site of the ruined temple. The WTS arbitarily says this took place in 537 BCE while others, just as arbitarily, select other dates.
Without any Biblical justification, the WTS ends its "70 years" with that event. From there, it jumps back 70 years to the exodus into Egypt by the murderers of Gedaliah.
Interestingly, although the WTS requires the land to be utterly depopulated for the entire 70 years, the returnees were settled in their homes before they trekked to Jerusalem. Only then does the WTS end its "70 years".
Doug
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30
When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed references
by GoUnion inthis topic has been covered extensively but i just wanted relate what hapopenes with this subject and my elder father.
he called me up one day to check in on me he always asks if i'm going to msettings and i always tell him no im not.
well this time he wanted to know why i didn't trust the g.b.
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Doug Mason
I have material on the neo-Babylonian chronology at: http://www.jwstudies.com/babylonian_captivity.html
My interest began when I read the "chronology" article in the WTS's book "Aid to bible Understanding". When I checked their sources, I found that the sources were being misquoted and misrepresented. This included their gross misrepresentation of the Adad-Guppi Stele as discussed by Pritchard in Ancient Near Eastern Texts (ANET); there were several other examples.
The WTS continues its misquotation of sources, a recent example is discussed at: http://www.jwstudies.com/The_June_2012_Awake_Citation_of_Ephraim_Stern.pdf
Another recent example is presented at: http://www.jwstudies.com/Response_from_John_Steele.pdf
Also: http://www.jwstudies.com/Soncino_commentary_on_Ezekiel.pdf
Something a lot more technical: http://www.jwstudies.com/539_BCE_and_an_astronomical_tablet.pdf
You might find some information helpful: http://www.jwstudies.com/Insight_s_reliance_on_secular_sources.pdf
The WTS tried to make out that in his book "Crime of Claudius Ptolemy", R R Newton supported its cause. Newton wrote that one person was in contact with him, but enquiries revealed that this person was an active JW. But even then Newton's book does not support the WTS: http://www.jwstudies.com/Newton_Crime_Ptolemy.pdf
Information from the WTS supports the accepted ("secular") chronology: http://www.jwstudies.com/WTS_support_for_the_Babylonian_king-list.pdf (6 pages)
Also see: http://www.jwstudies.com/Why_historians_know_Babylon_fell_in_539_BCE.pdf
The WTS does NOT start its "70 years" from the date of Jerusalem's destruction. It starts its count from the moment that exiles went into Egypt. It says that this took place just two months after Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. They do this because they say that the land needed to be absolutely and totally depopulated before the count could begin. HOWEVER, with all of the events that took place between the destruction and the exile into Egypt could not have taken place within such a short period, as I show at: http://www.jwstudies.com/Did_Jews_exit_after_two_months.pdf
You and your father will find my email address on these items. You can both be confident that I never divulge confidences, so much so that I would not even tell either of you what the other has communicated with me.
Finally, there is a most serious manner in which the WTS deliberately misquotes its sources, and this is in the area of the medical use of blood: http://www.jwstudies.com/Handling_Medical_Evidence.pdf
Doug