Posts by Doug Mason

15

What does the WTS say about Satan?

by Doug Mason in

over the past several months, i have been assembling a study dealing with the life and times of satan, the devil.

it is my intention to release the first draft in a few weeks.. i have provided the draft of the last chapter at:.

http://www.jwstudies.com/pages_174-200.pdf .

Doug Mason

Finkelstein,

I agree. Satan sees his genesis at the time monotheism became dominant and entrenched. This took place in association with the Babylonian Captivity and Exile (6th century BCE).

Now that they had only one God, the Jews had to wrestle with the problem that "Badness" existed. The technical term is: Theodicy - Since there is a perfect God, how is it possible for Badness to exist? Previously, the Israelites and Judahites recognised the existence of several gods.

That issue was addressed through the creation of a being who is today known as Satan, Devil, and so on. Initially, Satan was the individual employed by God to do his "not so nice things". At his beginning, Satan was not the evil individual that he became much later.

Doug

15

What does the WTS say about Satan?

by Doug Mason in

over the past several months, i have been assembling a study dealing with the life and times of satan, the devil.

it is my intention to release the first draft in a few weeks.. i have provided the draft of the last chapter at:.

http://www.jwstudies.com/pages_174-200.pdf .

Doug Mason

Hi Ireneus,

Yes, Snake is in Eden, but Satan is not there.

Snake is the wisest of all the animals that God created (Gen 3:1). The caduceus symbol is used in the contexts of eloquence and wisdom.

Moses used a miracle with snakes to demonstrate to Pharaoh the power of God. Moses also elevated Snake for the people to see, which is employed by the Gospel writer as symbolic of Jesus being elevated.

Snake was used by the ancients as the symbol of rebirth and regeneration, given the way it sheds its skin.

Doug

15

What does the WTS say about Satan?

by Doug Mason in

over the past several months, i have been assembling a study dealing with the life and times of satan, the devil.

it is my intention to release the first draft in a few weeks.. i have provided the draft of the last chapter at:.

http://www.jwstudies.com/pages_174-200.pdf .

Doug Mason

Ireneus,

I too have found the subject of Satan fascinating and absorbing.

I am interested in seeing any verifiable reliable sources and locations, along with the specific texts. I cannot rely on hearsay or anecdotes as evidence.

The remit I give myself is to focus on the Hebraic, Jewish, and Christian beliefs. The topic is vast enough without drawing in distant faith-based belief systems, whether Greek, Indian, Mayan, and the like. I am not keen on venturing too much into the early Canaanites, Assyrians, Philistines, or other immediate neighbours, despite their obvious influences

Even with my self-imposed limitations, I have gathered about 200 pages of material (100,000 words plus several images).

Thank you for your interest.

Doug

15

What does the WTS say about Satan?

by Doug Mason in

over the past several months, i have been assembling a study dealing with the life and times of satan, the devil.

it is my intention to release the first draft in a few weeks.. i have provided the draft of the last chapter at:.

http://www.jwstudies.com/pages_174-200.pdf .

Doug Mason

Over the past several months, I have been assembling a Study dealing with the life and times of Satan, the Devil. It is my intention to release the First Draft in a few weeks.

I have provided the Draft of the last Chapter at:

http://www.jwstudies.com/Pages_174-200.pdf

This Chapter deals with Satan in the 20th and 21st centuries. As such, it is the tail at the end of the dog. You do not know what the body looks like, so there will be loose ends.

Nevertheless, I am seeking your suggestions as well as your corrections.

This Chapter includes a Section with quotations on Satan/Devil/demons by the Watchtower Society [WTS]. Please tell me:

1. Am I presenting the WTS correctly or have I made mistakes?

2. Are there better quotations that I should consider as replacements?

3. Are there additional quotations that I should consider?

If you have replacement or additional quotations, you need to provide me with accurate and comprehensive details of the passage and its source.

Thank you,

Doug

19

Summary of WT Foundation Quotes

by Vanderhoven7 in

the watchtower, november 1, 1922, pp.332-337.

do you believe that the king of glory is present, and has been since 1874?… this is the day of all days.

behold, the king reigns!

Doug Mason

If you are looking for more quotations, here is a listing that was compiled by "Glasshouse".

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

Doug

19

Summary of WT Foundation Quotes

by Vanderhoven7 in

the watchtower, november 1, 1922, pp.332-337.

do you believe that the king of glory is present, and has been since 1874?… this is the day of all days.

behold, the king reigns!

Doug Mason

Confusedandangry,

If they keep having "new light", when will they have the True Light? How will anyone know what is Truth, if it is subject to change? Does Truth then matter?

Or is it really a matter of WHO is giving the message, rather than WHAT they are saying?

There are, of course, factors at the very personal and family level which come into play, which you would be familiar with, that override any rationality.

Doug

19

Summary of WT Foundation Quotes

by Vanderhoven7 in

the watchtower, november 1, 1922, pp.332-337.

do you believe that the king of glory is present, and has been since 1874?… this is the day of all days.

behold, the king reigns!

Doug Mason

From 1876, Russell taught that the Parousia had taken place in 1874. He then designated the following 40 years to be the "Time of Trouble". This would terminate in 1914 with unprecedented peace under the auspices of the Jews.

Because of this, he named his periodical "Zion's Watch Tower" -- because of his Zionist beliefs, and he subtitled that same magazine as "Herald of Christ's Presence", because he was "heralding" that it had taken place in 1874.

For a while, Rutherford maintained his support for the return of the Jews. Likewise, until about 1930, he maintained the Parousia had taken place in 1874.

I collected and sorted many of these passages in:

http://www.jwstudies.com/The_Watch_Tower_Society_Reveals_Itself.pdf (searchable)

When Russell's predictions regarding 1914 turned out to absolutely hopelessly wrong, Rutherford amended the offending words -- and kept selling the books. For example, "before 1914" was changed to "after 1914".

I provide the evidences at:

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

Doug

23

Jesus Christ—The Greatest Scientist (and Psychologist) who ever lived on earth!

by Ireneus in

if we eliminate all the controversial and confusing verses attributed to jesus we will get the crystal clear truth from him because his source was (1) god which can be seen from his habit of early morning talking to god in prayer (mark 1:35; john 8:1, 2) which would not have been for material blessings (mathew 6:8; 16:24), and (2) also observance of people.. 1) jesus who said judgment is based on whether we acted humanely or not (mathew 25:31-46) would not have spoken about god’s people and pagans (which means bulk of the things found in gospel had not been spoken/done by jesus).. 2) another important truth he said was about the real key to our happiness which he said is with each one of us.

(luke 17:21).

from his observance of history, he knew there are people from adversities who made great contribution to the world; and there are people from all abundance who lived a life of wastage accomplishing nothing; and there are people who are mixed in varying degree.

Doug Mason

Ireneus,

When we read Mark, Matthew and Luke, we are discovering what each of those communities thought of their own local situation. None of those writers was an eyewitness. None of them heard or saw Jesus. Mark was written 40 years after Jesus lived; Matthew a further 15 years later, while Luke is later still.

Each writing group was making points against others of their own time. Matthew, for example was deeply antagonistic towards Pharisees, so they write a tirade against them (Chapter 23).

None of them was writing literal history. All Bible writers were creating religious stories to influence their own group and against their opposition. This is the feature and purpose of all religious publications, including in our own time. Propaganda.

So seek the reason for any statement they make in terms of their own group, rather than seeing statements being ascribed to Jesus as actually having been said by him.

Doug.

10

The Anal Retentive Biblical Jehovah

by Brokeback Watchtower in

freud came up with the idea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/anal_retentiveness.

i would like to sight some examples of a anal retentiveness of the biblical deity.. the garden of eden and the death penalty for eating a fruit, which by the way was passed on to all future offspring requiring an anal retentive jehovah to provide a suitable sacrifice of his only begotten son to correct the situation and thus make it possible for forgiveness from the big guy and remove the death curse.. working on a saturday= death penalty.

mandatory blue thread and fringes on all israelite garments.. death penalty for touching the ark of the covenant to prevent it from tipping over.. exclusive devotion only to be given to him, bowing to other gods/idols forbidden.. grows hot with anger and becomes violently enraged killing off all kinds of human and animal life with a flood when humans not living the way he feels is right.. threatening to tread on mankind like a mighty man crushing grapes under his feet when pissed off.. loss of self control when pissed off over insignificant trifles.

Doug Mason

Brokeback,

The specific texts you cite (Job, Exodus, Numbers, Judges) come to us from the time of the Babylonian Captivity and Exile.

Previously, the vast majority of Jews and Israelites had recognized the existence of several Gods, and the writers -- the minority group who promoted "Yahweh-alone" -- now blamed the people's monolatry / henotheism / polytheism for the nations' predicament. Hence the words they wrote (propaganda), the words they attributed to Yahweh.

The writers had to reconcile the recently emerging dominance of monotheism with the fact that the nations of Israel and of Judah had both been destroyed by foreign powers (Assyria, Babylon).

How could Yahweh be good yet evil prevails? The writers had to explain the situation by blaming the people for God's anger because they did not have a being called Satan to be able to blame for evil.

In our recent past, theologians have employed the term Theodicy: how can evil exist in a world controlled by an all-powerful God who is Good?

Doug

10

Inconsistency involving Lot and Abraham

by Ireneus in

when god informed of his intention of destroying the wicked inhabitants of sodom and gomorrah abraham made extensive questioning, cross-questioning and bargaining with god till he gets satisfied.

(genesis 18:16-33) however, when god informed of his intention of murdering abraham’s own only-begotten, innocent son, he simply obeys without any questionings [which he should naturally have done more intensely than he did in the case of unrelated wicked people].. god too acted strangely!

no introduction of the subject with sufficient reasons.

Doug Mason

The Hebraic sacrificial system had nothing to do with pointing to the future.

It was limited in its scope, relating to only minor infringements, mostly unintended or accidental. Some sacrifices did not involve the shedding of blood.

The Day of Atonement, in which the priest lay two hands on the scapegoat - not a confessing sinner's hands - was designed to ensure Yahweh continued to live in the Sanctuary. And that goat which carried the sins from the Sanctuary was not sacrificed but driven off to live with the demons.

As for Paul's opinion and creative imagination, his idea of "salvation" included resurrection and did not stop at Jesus's death. He only states what he believed happened but he never explains how his salvation model operated. For that reason, there has been any number of models.

Augustine's model survived almost 1000 years until Anselm introduced his medieval explanation, soon to be contradicted by Abelard and he by Thomas Aquinas. And so on the explanations keep changing with the times. Luther and Calvin were at murderous loggerheads while the Orthodox Church has its "deification" model.

And running along in the background is Theodicy, which conceivably is a problem created by Monotheism.

What a tangled mess supernatural superstition finds itself in.

Doug