Posts by Doug Mason

154

Need Help: My Correspondence with the Headquarters

by Lobsto in

a month ago i sent a letter to the us branch about 607. my purpose for sending it was because i wanted to show to my parents through the letters the truth behind the date system.

two days ago, i received a response from them.

i think this is gonna be the first of many.

Doug Mason

Hi Scholar,

It's been a while since we chatted.

No chronologist says that 539 BCE is an Absolute Date. If it were an Absolute Date, why did Russell and Rutherford use 538 BCE? When and why did the WTS change?

There is NO universal agreement on the date when the first of the Exiles returned. Dates range from 538 to 535 BCE.

The Bible writers do not say that the Exile's Return marked the end of a 70-year period. 2 Chronicles 36, written 200 years later, mentions the 70 years in terms of Cyrus defeating Babylon (see verses 20 and 22). Jeremiah spoke only of several nations serving Babylon for 70 years, not just Judah, and the nations served Babylon while remaining in their own land. Jeremiah told the people they had to continue living in Babylon because their 70 years had yet to continue running its course.

Even though Jeremiah decreed 70 years of servitude to Babylon, he pleaded with the king to accept the situation, so that Jerusalem did not need to be destroyed.

We must not impose 21st century mathematical attitudes upon their ancient cultural attitudes. The number 70 had a cultural meaning.

You are one of the few people who knows that the WTS does not start their "70 years" with Jerusalem's destruction.

As I wrote, I am genuinely pleased to "see" you again.

Doug

154

Need Help: My Correspondence with the Headquarters

by Lobsto in

a month ago i sent a letter to the us branch about 607. my purpose for sending it was because i wanted to show to my parents through the letters the truth behind the date system.

two days ago, i received a response from them.

i think this is gonna be the first of many.

Doug Mason

Their start date of 539 is a calculated date. It is calculated from secular tablets. It is not arrived at from Scripture.

The Absolute Date for the period is 568 BCE for Neb's 37th year, then the secular chronology is used to arrive at 539 BCE.

How can they reject the source date for Nebuchadnezzar and reject the accepted chronology yet accept the date that is calculated from those factors?

Doug

154

Need Help: My Correspondence with the Headquarters

by Lobsto in

a month ago i sent a letter to the us branch about 607. my purpose for sending it was because i wanted to show to my parents through the letters the truth behind the date system.

two days ago, i received a response from them.

i think this is gonna be the first of many.

Doug Mason

Oh, G'day Scholar!

Really great to catch up!

Doug

154

Need Help: My Correspondence with the Headquarters

by Lobsto in

a month ago i sent a letter to the us branch about 607. my purpose for sending it was because i wanted to show to my parents through the letters the truth behind the date system.

two days ago, i received a response from them.

i think this is gonna be the first of many.

Doug Mason

What an interesting response. Thank you for sharing.

There are so many issues so I suggest you focus on one and hang onto it like a dog with a bone.

If it were me, I would focus on their "year 537 B.C.E., the Jewish remnant had returned to populate once again Jerusalem and the land of Judah".

Previously, they had pointed to the 7th month when Returnees gathered at the temple site, some time after returning from Babylon. (7th month is about October, hence they pointed to October 1914). Note that Jerusalem was destroyed in the 5th month (about August).

Ask them how they can guarantee the returnees arrived in 537 BCE. There is no universal agreement on the year, ranging from 538 BCE to as late as 535 BCE. Keep it simple and do not let them slip around like a wriggling snake.

Doug

5

A look at the sins of the Governing Body members of the Jehovah's Witnesses

by Finkelstein in

the leaders of the jws and the ibsa had their own unique inherent sins ingrained in their teachings and established doctrines.. c t russell taught and preached pyramidology to establish the date of jesus's return and subsequent armageddon.

this fixated date setting carried over even when he passed on and the following leaders of the wts propagated new dates such as 1925, 1975 etc.

it would appear the leaders of the wts created more relevance and importance toward themselves than even jesus and his spoken words of direction and how to be one his chosen select.. it would appear also that the leaders of the wts/jws were more involved in creating their own power and money through the organization that they created in their endeavor as proliferating literature charlatans.. the doctrinal mistakes that have come out of these men are many, from setting dates of christ's return, to mistakes on blood transfusions, memorial mistakes, encouraging and influencing children to get baptized, over use of disfellowshiping , sometimes done so to protect their wrongly devised doctrines.

Doug Mason

The people who wrote the "Matthew" Gospel warned their people against listening to those who claimed to be "the Christ" (24:5).

This Greek word "Christ" means "the Anointed".

So, watch out for those who claim to be "the Anointed" even "self-anointed".

3

Sons of God vs Sons of Israel

by I_love_Jeff in

a brief overview of how the term "angels of god" mentioned at deuteronomy 32:8 was replaced by "sons of israel.

" textual evidence is explored in the targum and the septuagint versions of the bible.

who were the masoretes and what was their agenda?

Doug Mason

Firstly, the text was in a constant state of flux for a long period, with scribes thinking it was their responsibility to amend the text to suit their current understanding. (The WTS "text adjusters" are rank amateurs.) There is no way known that anyone knows what was originally written, whether it be in Aramaic, ancient Hebrew, Greek or whatever. Today there are arguments over the various Hebrew Scripture texts (Symmachus, various LXX, Theodotian, etc.) When the Masoretes decided on their Hebrew text they simply set a corrupted text in concrete (Emanuel Tov). Likewise with the Greek Scriptures, disagreements run over Erasmus' Textus Receptus, Westcott-Hort, Nestle/Aland, etc., or a mixture (eclectic).

Secondly, many/most of the concepts taken up by the very early Christians came from the material produced during the Second Temple Period,not from the Hebrew Scriptures. Typical of these include "Azazel/Beliar/Mastema/Devil =>Satan", also the idea of a "war inside heaven", and so on. We are speaking of Enoch, Jubilees, etc. The Book of Daniel was a late product of this heightened eschatology/demonology, even including The Watchers.

Deuteronomy was the product of the Josianic period and was greatly influenced during the neo-Babylonian period.

Doug

9

Looking for a quote by Francis Crick

by Doug Mason in

page 21 of the watchtower’s 2010 brochure, “the origin of life” says of the biologist.

“francis crick … decided that dna is far too organized to have come about through undirected events”.. i cannot find this quotation being made in writing by crick himself.. the wts’s brochure refers to the book, “the search for extraterrestrial intelligence – a philosophical inquiry”, by david lamb but it is not clear to me that the brochure is saying this view by crick is being cited in lamb's book.. where will i be able to read this statement being made by francis crick?.

and while we are looking at that wts brochure, page 16 makes some interesting claims about teaspoons.

Doug Mason

Anders,

If you email me, I am prepared to show you what I have done thus far, so that you could provide me with your considered criticisms and recommendations. I reckon I am about half way through and it will take me another 2 or 3 weeks before I come up for air.

https://jwstudies.com/contact_me.html

I never break confidences.

Doug

9

Looking for a quote by Francis Crick

by Doug Mason in

page 21 of the watchtower’s 2010 brochure, “the origin of life” says of the biologist.

“francis crick … decided that dna is far too organized to have come about through undirected events”.. i cannot find this quotation being made in writing by crick himself.. the wts’s brochure refers to the book, “the search for extraterrestrial intelligence – a philosophical inquiry”, by david lamb but it is not clear to me that the brochure is saying this view by crick is being cited in lamb's book.. where will i be able to read this statement being made by francis crick?.

and while we are looking at that wts brochure, page 16 makes some interesting claims about teaspoons.

Doug Mason

Anders,

Brilliant. Thank you.

Thank you!

Doug

9

Looking for a quote by Francis Crick

by Doug Mason in

page 21 of the watchtower’s 2010 brochure, “the origin of life” says of the biologist.

“francis crick … decided that dna is far too organized to have come about through undirected events”.. i cannot find this quotation being made in writing by crick himself.. the wts’s brochure refers to the book, “the search for extraterrestrial intelligence – a philosophical inquiry”, by david lamb but it is not clear to me that the brochure is saying this view by crick is being cited in lamb's book.. where will i be able to read this statement being made by francis crick?.

and while we are looking at that wts brochure, page 16 makes some interesting claims about teaspoons.

Doug Mason

There are two sentences in the brochure that relate to Francis Crick.

“Francis Crick, a scientist who helped to discover DNA’s double-helix structure, decided that this molecule is far too organized to have come about through undirected events. He proposed that intelligent extraterrestrials may have sent DNA to the earth to help get life started here.[26]” TOL, page 21

I can now see that the second sentence relates to Endnote 26, but I cannot see anything in Lamb’s book which relates to the first sentence. Thank you for making it possible for me to search Lamb’s book. That is invaluable. There is no appearance of “undirected” in the book and the appearances of the words “organized” and “events” are not relevant.

I can see Creationist sites making this same attribution to Crick, and perhaps he did write this, but theses sites do not give me the location where Crick wrote that statement. He was obviously a prolific writer.

====================

BTW. Does anyone know if this is the complete article (written in 1993 but ignored by Lamb):

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Anticipating-an-RNA-world.-Some-past-speculations-Orgel-Crick/a8a4c8521983efe740990963a01eed498e534b16

9

Looking for a quote by Francis Crick

by Doug Mason in

page 21 of the watchtower’s 2010 brochure, “the origin of life” says of the biologist.

“francis crick … decided that dna is far too organized to have come about through undirected events”.. i cannot find this quotation being made in writing by crick himself.. the wts’s brochure refers to the book, “the search for extraterrestrial intelligence – a philosophical inquiry”, by david lamb but it is not clear to me that the brochure is saying this view by crick is being cited in lamb's book.. where will i be able to read this statement being made by francis crick?.

and while we are looking at that wts brochure, page 16 makes some interesting claims about teaspoons.

Doug Mason

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

I am so fortunate to have such good and knowledgeable friends.

Doug