Posts by Doug Mason

25

History of Salvations: Israelites and Judahites

by Doug Mason in

my material on the history of judaeo-christian salvations became unwieldy, so i divided it into 3 parts.. i have completely rewritten part 1, dealing with the israelites and judahites.

http://www.jwstudies.com/revolutions_part_1__israelite_judahite_salvations.pdf .

the url links to parts 2 and 3 are provided on its page 3.. i provide the complete bibliography at the end of part 3.. doug.

Doug Mason

Thank you Jaydee,

I have no distractions and at the age of 77 I need to keep my mind active and be able to use it for as long as possible. So in that, I am purely selfish.

I enjoy and thrill at the discovery of new ideas. Every page contains information I had not known and my mind is refreshed. Selfishness again.

I appreciate the discipline that writing imposes, forcing ideas to forge strong links and to expose loose thinking that should be discarded. And I think that the subject of Salvation is of universal interest.

Having drafted this material, my mind is now turning to a chapter (probably only one chapter?) on the evolution of Satan. I have other chapters sitting on the back burners of my mind, such as on Judaism (they became Jews after returning from the Babylonian captivity) and other chapters on the Rennaisance, the Enlightenment, and on soteriologies in these modern times. I want to write about these because I want to know.

Do I have enough days left?

Doug

25

History of Salvations: Israelites and Judahites

by Doug Mason in

my material on the history of judaeo-christian salvations became unwieldy, so i divided it into 3 parts.. i have completely rewritten part 1, dealing with the israelites and judahites.

http://www.jwstudies.com/revolutions_part_1__israelite_judahite_salvations.pdf .

the url links to parts 2 and 3 are provided on its page 3.. i provide the complete bibliography at the end of part 3.. doug.

Doug Mason

Perry,

I do not cover the death of Jesus (Yeshua/Joshua) in Part 1 as it covers the Israelites and Judahites, However, I do consider the views of the Jews, namely the writings of the first 150 years of the Christian calendar in my Part 2.

I see the questions you raise quite differently: Where did Paul get his ideas? As a member of the Diaspora, what gentile influences caused him to manufacture his models? (Paul is the earliest NT writer we have, apart from maybe Thomas.)

Why should anyone accept Paul's creative imaginings? (Ignoring, of course those writings that have incorrectly been attributed to him.)

No NT writer either saw or heard Jesus. We do not know who wrote the Gospels, so what were their motives?

The Johannine community, for example, wrote some 60 years later. They had been ostracised because of their High Christology.

I suggest that these are the areas of interest -- the creative imaginings.

They were not writing theology. They were writing religious stories. They were not writing literal histories. So ask why they thought like this. Remembering that they were fully convinced that it was all about to end soon with the direct divine intervention of God and the Coming of Jesus in glory. They were writing for their own times.

On top of all that, we need to understand and empathise with the culture of the times, particularly the times they were writing -- apart from Paul, that would be from 70 CE (Mark) to 150 CE (2 Peter).

Doug

25

History of Salvations: Israelites and Judahites

by Doug Mason in

my material on the history of judaeo-christian salvations became unwieldy, so i divided it into 3 parts.. i have completely rewritten part 1, dealing with the israelites and judahites.

http://www.jwstudies.com/revolutions_part_1__israelite_judahite_salvations.pdf .

the url links to parts 2 and 3 are provided on its page 3.. i provide the complete bibliography at the end of part 3.. doug.

Doug Mason

Hi,

My material on the history of Judaeo-Christian salvations became unwieldy, so I divided it into 3 parts.

I have completely rewritten Part 1, dealing with the Israelites and Judahites. It is available at:

http://www.jwstudies.com/Revolutions_Part_1__Israelite_Judahite_Salvations.pdf

The URL links to Parts 2 and 3 are provided on its page 3.

I provide the complete Bibliography at the end of Part 3.

Doug

7

Changing verses in the new RNWT to suit an agenda

by freddo in

it's increasingly obvious to me that part of the reason for the "new" rnwt of 2013 is to increase the authority of the organisation and the gb.

yes, the old one was becoming dated but they have taken opportunities (liberties?

) with translation to increase their control.. an obvious one is micah 6 v 8 where "to cherish loyalty" has replaced "and to love kindness".

Doug Mason

Why should the Watchtower Society not be permitted to change the text to suit its prejudices?

This has been going on ever since the ink started to dry on each original scroll. Most of the OT, for example, results from the biased opinions of the minority monotheists of the 6th century BCE who created religious histories and myths to promote their views against the monolatrist majority.

There is nothing fixed in the material. There is not even one agreed Bible.

The question for the WTS is: "Why do they accept the Protestant Churches' Bible?" There is any number that are different, including the canon of 4th century codices.

Doug

1

The Nomina Sacra

by Doug Mason in

the subject of the nomina sacra is important for new testament research.. in his book, "manuscript, society and belief in early christian egypt", colin h. roberts devotes a complete chapter to the subject:.

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

doug .

Doug Mason

The subject of the Nomina Sacra is important for New Testament research.

In his book, "Manuscript, Society and Belief in Early Christian Egypt", Colin H. Roberts devotes a complete chapter to the subject:

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

Doug

110

References to YHWH in ancient documents

by Doug Mason in

page 15 of awake!

2017 provides an image that shows hebrew writing with the statement: “the personal name of god written in ancient hebrew characters appears abundantly in early manuscripts of the bible”.. alongside that image, the awake!

provides a listing to show “the rendering of ‘god’s name’ in various languages”.. the facts do not support either assertion that the watchtower society makes:.

Doug Mason

Hi Slim,

I have now scanned the chapter on the Nomina Sacra from Robert's book. As I wrote, it would be almost 40 years since I read it, so I could quite easily have a false memory of what he says regarding any relationship with the tetragram.

Because it is such an important subject, I will start another thread where I will make my scan available. I will do this so that it does not get buried in the bowels of this one.

I too have difficulty keeping track of all my books. I find the facility provided by the "Book Collector" database management program from Collectorz.com of great value. It enables me to keep my books in Dewey sequence on the shelves and I can quickly locate them with the catalog printout. It is a subscripotion service - and they do have databases for other collections (music, etc.)

Doug

18

Why are the GB and JWs scared of "apostates" and "research"? Romans 8: 35-39

by stuckinarut2 in

i was just pondering this passage of scripture:.

romans 8:35-39 (new world translation).

35 who will separate us from the love of the christ?+ will tribulation or distress or persecution or hunger or nakedness or danger or sword?+ 36 just as it is written: “for your sake we are being put to death all day long; we have been accounted as sheep for slaughtering.”+ 37 on the contrary, in all these things we are coming off completely victorious+ through the one who loved us.

Doug Mason

There is nothing new. It is ever the same with every autocratic body. Set up a fence (“Trinity”, “Blood”, “Jehovah”, etc.), threatening death if you stray outside. The monotheists of the 6th century BCE were no different:

“By introducing a series of statues, the founding fathers of Judaism try to safeguard the new community’s loyalty. They leave no doubt about their intolerance. Prophecy calling for following other gods is punishable by death (Deut 13.2-6). If such an invitation is pronounced by one’s brother, son, daughter, wife or friend, then “you shall have no pity on him, you shall not spare him nor shield him” (Deut 13.9).

“In this way, a system of control is established which even interferes with, and works within, the family. The religious community is considered to be more important than kinship solidarity - a revolution in a kinship-based society, but characteristic of new religious movements such as early Christianity, Islam and some well-known contemporary cults. (Monotheism and the prophetic minority, pages 43-44, Bernhard Lang)

110

References to YHWH in ancient documents

by Doug Mason in

page 15 of awake!

2017 provides an image that shows hebrew writing with the statement: “the personal name of god written in ancient hebrew characters appears abundantly in early manuscripts of the bible”.. alongside that image, the awake!

provides a listing to show “the rendering of ‘god’s name’ in various languages”.. the facts do not support either assertion that the watchtower society makes:.

Doug Mason

crazyguy,

I believe that fundamentally, those people produced their documents to support their ideology.

Much of the OT as we have it is the product of the elites and their descendants who were exiled by Nebuchadnezzar.

They took their opportunity to represent their minority monotheist ideology by rewriting stories accordingly.

Doug

110

References to YHWH in ancient documents

by Doug Mason in

page 15 of awake!

2017 provides an image that shows hebrew writing with the statement: “the personal name of god written in ancient hebrew characters appears abundantly in early manuscripts of the bible”.. alongside that image, the awake!

provides a listing to show “the rendering of ‘god’s name’ in various languages”.. the facts do not support either assertion that the watchtower society makes:.

Doug Mason

slim,

I have correspondence from George Howard complaining about the way the WTS has misrepresented his views. And he only wrote about Shem Tob's Matthew.

My comment regarding the Nomina Sacra comes from my understanding of Colin Robert's book, "Manuscript, Society and Belief in Early Christian Egypt". If you could please show me where I am misreading his chapter on the Nomina Sacra (pages 26-48), I am quite prepared to change my views. On a quick glance through that chapter (after about 40 years), I failed to pick up his saying there is a link between Hebrew practice and the Nomina Sacra.

Does anyone need me to temporarily provide a scan of that chapter? Maybe I can be shown to have misunderstood him.

Doug

110

References to YHWH in ancient documents

by Doug Mason in

page 15 of awake!

2017 provides an image that shows hebrew writing with the statement: “the personal name of god written in ancient hebrew characters appears abundantly in early manuscripts of the bible”.. alongside that image, the awake!

provides a listing to show “the rendering of ‘god’s name’ in various languages”.. the facts do not support either assertion that the watchtower society makes:.

Doug Mason

crazyguy,

I see several reasons for the OT writings.

Firstly, the general populace were not only illiterate, but they would have had no contact with the Temple or with the scribes. So I see one set of Scribes writing their accounts as propaganda against the others, notably the Elohist against the Yahwist (and vice versa), that is the Aaronides against the non-Aaronides, that is the Northerners against the Southerners (read and enjoy "Who Wrote the Bible?", by Richard Elliott Friedman).

These writings are religious histories, not literal histories as we would know them. Their ideologies determined the narrative. That applies also to the NT Gospels. They were written in order to influence and to manage their own immediate communities. The Deuteronomic History is a prime example. Another example are the symbolisms employed in the Creation Myths, especially the story that begins at Gen 2:4B.

Each of these writings was addressed to its own immediate community, not to any future generation. They most certainly were not contemplating that they were writing to people living thousands of years later.

I also see these writings as a means to give these two very minor nations (Judah being the minor party) a sense of self-importance, of endeavouring to provide themselves with an identity while existing in the shadow of really powerful nations.

Doug