Posts by Doug Mason

9

Parables, Illustrations, FDS

by berrygerry in

there was a recent post stating to the effect that fds was simply a parable.. i always remember the debates held with christian students, about whether something was a parable or an illustration.. another thread has that issue.. regardless of whether the word parable or illustration can be applied to the fds, i have a question.. both the aid and insight books have a lengthy article on illustrations.. the article lists 30 of jesus' prominent illustrations.. however, the fds is not one of the 30 (same in aid book).. why not?.

Doug Mason

The GB knows that the parable is about them because the parable is about them.

Doug

25

Removal of Tetragrammaton from Early Greek Manuscripts

by jhine in

a while ago i posted on another thread that i had been told by some witnesses that the tetragrammaton had been in the original christian greek scriptures but had been removed when apostacy came into the church .

i did not know where this came from at the time .however while looking something else up i came across this .as i could not find the original thread i have started a new one .here is a quote from nwt reference edition 1984 :-.

" matthew made more than a hundred quotations from the inspired hebrew scriptures.

Doug Mason

BluesBrother,

Note that the article correctly differentiates between the "Hebrew Scriptures" and the "Greek translations of the Hebrew Scriptures". The latter is known generically as the Septuagint (LXX).

We do not know what the "Hebrew Scriptures" contained in Jesus' time because the earliest Hebrew text comes from the early Middle Ages, about 1000 years after Jesus' time. This happened because the Masoretic Jews decided there would be only one version. The Jews has long rejected the "Greek translations", mostly because the arguments that the Christians had drawn from those versions.

There were various versions of the Greek (Septuagint) translations and the NT writers drew from all of them, including some we no longer have access to.

The evidence from the Dead Sea Community shows that only their Isaiah scroll agrees with our current versions. Other scrolls (Habbakuk, etc., etc.) disagree with our texts. And the fragments that contain the Divine Name employ ancient Hebrew characters that were no longer in use; so these Hebrew characters appeared within Greek writing - hardly evidence that they had any contemporary meaning.

To make sweeping statements based on a few fragments is to indulge in the false reasoning of "from the individual to the whole". The typical example of this is: "I saw a dog with three legs, therefore all dogs have three legs".

Besides, the WTS does not use the Divine Name, whether in ancient Hebrew characters or modern. To say that such characters would be meaningless to a modern reader highlights how meaningless the apperance of the characters were to Greek readers. Perhaps the WTS could overcome this with HWHY. Yes, the Hebrew characters read from right to left whereas the Greek writing runs from left to right.

The WTS would be considered to be genuine if it only used the HWHY whenever a NT writer was directly quoting a Hebrew text that contained the Name. However, the WTS does nothing of the sort, sprinking "Jehovah" at places where it suits their predetermined outcomes.

Doug

25

Removal of Tetragrammaton from Early Greek Manuscripts

by jhine in

a while ago i posted on another thread that i had been told by some witnesses that the tetragrammaton had been in the original christian greek scriptures but had been removed when apostacy came into the church .

i did not know where this came from at the time .however while looking something else up i came across this .as i could not find the original thread i have started a new one .here is a quote from nwt reference edition 1984 :-.

" matthew made more than a hundred quotations from the inspired hebrew scriptures.

Doug Mason

I have made Professor George Howard's recent handwritten available letter at:

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

I apologise for the quality but that is beyond my control.

Doug

25

Removal of Tetragrammaton from Early Greek Manuscripts

by jhine in

a while ago i posted on another thread that i had been told by some witnesses that the tetragrammaton had been in the original christian greek scriptures but had been removed when apostacy came into the church .

i did not know where this came from at the time .however while looking something else up i came across this .as i could not find the original thread i have started a new one .here is a quote from nwt reference edition 1984 :-.

" matthew made more than a hundred quotations from the inspired hebrew scriptures.

Doug Mason

There were several versions of the Greek Septuagint. The texts located at the Dead Sea shows great variations. apart from the Isaiah scroll.

In its NT, the WTS does not limits its use of "Jehovah" (not the Tetragram) to places where the OT might have used the Tetragram. In places where the Greek text does include it, we see ancient Hebrew characters in a Greek text. These characters were so ancient at the time of the DSS community, that they were no longer in use.

I have a copy of a recent letter from Professor Howard in which he once again complains of the WTS's misuse of his work. He, of course, limited his work on Matthew's gospel, based on a middle age Hebrew text which used "H" to represent "Hashem" - The Name.

Doug

5

The "Great Multitude" and the "Jehovah's Witnesses"

by Doug Mason in

i wonder if someone is able to tell me the date and publication when those of the "great multitude" were first included with the "jehovah's witnesses".. i do not mean the "jonadab class", since to me they appear to be different to the "great multitude".

(i am open to correction on that but i will need precise references.).

doug.

Doug Mason

Many thanks for pointing me to the time when they made this move. This was only one of several shifts.

Doug

13

144,000

by freein2004 in

okay so the number is literal but them coming out of israel is not?

huh?

what am i missing?

Doug Mason

The 144,00 are sealed so that they are protected during calamities upon the earth. This shows where they are located.

Doug

5

The "Great Multitude" and the "Jehovah's Witnesses"

by Doug Mason in

i wonder if someone is able to tell me the date and publication when those of the "great multitude" were first included with the "jehovah's witnesses".. i do not mean the "jonadab class", since to me they appear to be different to the "great multitude".

(i am open to correction on that but i will need precise references.).

doug.

Doug Mason

Hi,

I wonder if someone is able to tell me the date and publication when those of the "Great Multitude" were first included with the "Jehovah's Witnesses".

I do not mean the "Jonadab class", since to me they appear to be different to the "Great Multitude". (I am open to correction on that but I will need precise references.)

Many thanks,

Doug

5

The Bible: gods word or mans

by freemindfade in

so i was laying on my bed and i saw on a box a little orange hard cover book.

the bible gods word or man's.

it has my name in it and the release date when i got it at a convention when i was 10 (1989).

Doug Mason

Some time ago, I prepared a study on one chapter of that book. It includes an analysis of that book's structure.

http://www.jwstudies.com/Critique_of_GM_on_Daniel_9.pdf

Doug

7

The Hebrew Aleph at the behinning of creation and the bet meaning

by artcritic in

lets look at their meanings.

the hebrew aleph is the same as our a but our a dose not have a symbol attached to it.

interestingly the aleph is silent.

Doug Mason

I simply pointed out that the essence of your post reflected the well-known practice of Gematria in which mystical Jews located hidden meanings through assigning a numerical value to each of the 22 letters of their alphabet. The values are listed at various places on the web, such as at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gematria.

Personally, I see this process to lie within the area of mysticism, such as practiced by Kabbalists. If you find mysticism interests you, that is your right. I thought it only proper to point out the nature of your position.

From a quick look at the www for Kabbalah, I found this to provide an objective account: http://pamela2051.tripod.com/kabbalism.htm

Doug

7

The Hebrew Aleph at the behinning of creation and the bet meaning

by artcritic in

lets look at their meanings.

the hebrew aleph is the same as our a but our a dose not have a symbol attached to it.

interestingly the aleph is silent.

Doug Mason

I therefore assume you are familiar with Jewish mysticism, including Kabbalah.

Another related aspect is Gematria. The Jews assigned a number to each of the 22 Hebrew letters, which means that every word has a numerical value. A number is thus a series of letters, regardless of their sequence. The Revelator makes reference to this when he speaks of the number of the name being 666 (or 616 according to some sources). The word G_d has a number but this sacred number is never mentioned.

Their is nothing new in the speculative mysticism you speak of, but it does hint at mysticism in Hebrew writings that is missed by the 21st century Western mind. I thus feel that your cartoon shows lack of respect.

Doug