Posts by Doug Mason

3

Process and Content

by Doug Mason in

in a previous life, when we were teaching quality management business practices, we emphasised the need to differentiate "process" from "content".

this required looking at how things were being done rather than any analysis of the internal data being processed.. it is possible to look at the processes involved with the creation, editing, and delivery of any sacred scriptures without having any need to accept or agree with the content of what the people were writing.. the judaeo/christian scriptures open to us the minds of peoples living long ago in cultures that are very different to ours.

i actually hesitated when i wrote "judaeo/christian" because in reality we have the hebrew literature followed by jewish literature.. treating their writings as "literature" opens the field of enquiry, freshening the mind from having any need to become personally involved in its contents.. i am currently investigating second temple judaism, since that period created the foundations for judaism and for christianity.

Doug Mason

Thank you for your thoughts and support.

It is my intention to develop a very simple description of the times. I hope there is power in simplicity. I do not know how long it will be but I will be delighted if I can cap it at say 50 to 60 pages.

My idea is to provide the major talking points and to list resources.

I have modified my Model which forms the backbone of the Study I am working on. Please please tell me where it needs correcting and improving. Note that this is a PowerPoint Show file where each screen is timed to step on after 6 seconds.

https://jwstudies.com/Impacts_of_the_Second_Temple_Period.ppsx

I think that the early dates would be defined by literature such as the earliest version of 1 Enoch, Jubilees, and such. The situation that developed needs to be seen in the context of the community leading up to that period.

The events at 70 CE saw the demise of the Sadducees and gave rise to the emerging influence of Rabbinic Judaism and of the growing Jesus-followers. Rather than ending at 70 CE, the influence of the Second Temple Period has continued. Consider, as just one example, the present-day ideas of a personal Satan, which was a creation of that time.

Doug

3

Process and Content

by Doug Mason in

in a previous life, when we were teaching quality management business practices, we emphasised the need to differentiate "process" from "content".

this required looking at how things were being done rather than any analysis of the internal data being processed.. it is possible to look at the processes involved with the creation, editing, and delivery of any sacred scriptures without having any need to accept or agree with the content of what the people were writing.. the judaeo/christian scriptures open to us the minds of peoples living long ago in cultures that are very different to ours.

i actually hesitated when i wrote "judaeo/christian" because in reality we have the hebrew literature followed by jewish literature.. treating their writings as "literature" opens the field of enquiry, freshening the mind from having any need to become personally involved in its contents.. i am currently investigating second temple judaism, since that period created the foundations for judaism and for christianity.

Doug Mason

In a previous life, when we were teaching quality management business practices, we emphasised the need to differentiate "process" from "content". This required looking at HOW things were being done rather than any analysis of the internal data being processed.

It is possible to look at the processes involved with the creation, editing, and delivery of any sacred scriptures without having any need to accept or agree with the content of what the people were writing.

The Judaeo/Christian Scriptures open to us the minds of peoples living long ago in cultures that are very different to ours. I actually hesitated when I wrote "Judaeo/Christian" because in reality we have the Hebrew literature followed by Jewish literature.

Treating their writings as "literature" opens the field of enquiry, freshening the mind from having any need to become personally involved in its contents.

I am currently investigating Second Temple Judaism, since that period created the foundations for Judaism and for Christianity. Recently, I have been scouring books that discuss the way that the scribes altered their "sacred" texts. (The WTS are rank amateurs in comparison.)

von Weissenberg, Hanne; Pakkala, Juha; Martilla, Marko. Changes in Scripture: Rewriting and Interpreting Authoritative Traditions in the Second Temple Period (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft Book 419). De Gruyter; 1 edition (29 March 2011)

Zahn, Molly. Genres of Rewriting in Second Temple Judaism. Cambridge University Press (August 2020)

Edelman, Diana V.; Davies, Philip; and Nihan, Christopher. Opening the Books of Moses. Acumen Publishing (2012)

Müller, Reinhard; Pakkala, Juha; Romeny, Bas ter Haar. Evidence of Editing: Growth and Change of Texts in the Hebrew Bible (2014). Society of Biblical Literature.

The Bibliographies of each of these books, in turn, point to many more sources.

Doug

14

How Do JWs View The Bible?

by Vanderhoven7 in

here are some questions to ask visiting jws to help them realize their faith is not in the bible, but in men.. questions about how you view the bible.. 1. do you view the bible as the inspired word of god?

(ii tim.3:16).

2. do you believe the bible is written for everyone?

Doug Mason

The WTS rejects Christendom yet it accepts Christendom's Bible.

13

Hierarchy of Organization

by lostsheep82 in

hi, i'm looking for the article published in the 90s i think (i was a teenager) and it showed a diagram of the organizational hierarchy, at the top was jesus, then governing body all the way down to publishers it was in a pyramid style org chart.... can someone point me in the right direction?

additionally, does anyone remember the article or any articles that stated how bad it was that other religions had hierarchy like that?

i remember this being discussed at like a watchtower study or maybe it was a bookstudy.... i am on the hunt for another topic to discuss with my jw parents.

Doug Mason

The December 15, 1971 Watchtower is available at:

https://faithleaks.org/wiki/documents/5/5e/W_E_19711215.pdf (refer to page 749)

8

False prophets with other religions

by lostsheep82 in

i remember when i was young an article we studied that stated something to the effect that, religions or other people have at times set dates or tried to set dates using chronology but that those were deemed false prophets.... can anyone point me to any or multiple articles or quotes that can help me in my fight with my parents?

i'm battling the 1914 generation change at the moment.

.

Doug Mason

"1914" and "this generation" represent two of the problems facing the WTS.

They are dishonest when they present their method for arriving at October 1914. They reject secular chronology yet they completely depend on secular chronology for their year 539 BCE; they do not know when Jews assembled at the site of the destroyed temple; they do not start their 70 years at the moment Jerusalem's temple was destroyed; they cannot prove when Jews went into Egypt nor can they prove that this event marked the start of the 70 Years, as on on and on. The WTS ends their 70 Years in October, the Jews' seventh month, yet Jerusalem was destroyed in the 5th month, corresponding with August.

Regarding "this generation", contemporary Advent groups apply these words to these times. They start with the conclusion and then look for evidence (this is called "begging the question"). At every time in every age there have been people saying the Divine Intervention would take place in their generation. Russell, for example, dated the Second Coming to take place in the 1870s.

When you read "this generation" in the "synoptic" gospels, you are reading words being addressed to each of their respective communities. Writing about 50 to 70 years after the Jesus-event, they were telling their own community that the Divine Intervention would take place during their time, and that some would still be alive when it takes place.

They were no different than today's "second-comers" or any of the people who lived between their time and ours.

Even Apostle Paul writing to the Thessalonians, comforted them by saying it was about to happen during their lifetime.

Doug

13

Hierarchy of Organization

by lostsheep82 in

hi, i'm looking for the article published in the 90s i think (i was a teenager) and it showed a diagram of the organizational hierarchy, at the top was jesus, then governing body all the way down to publishers it was in a pyramid style org chart.... can someone point me in the right direction?

additionally, does anyone remember the article or any articles that stated how bad it was that other religions had hierarchy like that?

i remember this being discussed at like a watchtower study or maybe it was a bookstudy.... i am on the hunt for another topic to discuss with my jw parents.

Doug Mason

Lostsheep82,

You will find my email address on any of my material I referred you to.

I keep confidences.

I have never been associated with the Watchtower Society in any way, so you can rest assured you could trust our communications,

Doug

8

False prophets with other religions

by lostsheep82 in

i remember when i was young an article we studied that stated something to the effect that, religions or other people have at times set dates or tried to set dates using chronology but that those were deemed false prophets.... can anyone point me to any or multiple articles or quotes that can help me in my fight with my parents?

i'm battling the 1914 generation change at the moment.

.

Doug Mason

Remember that the organisation was set up on the basis that the Parousia had taken place in 1874 and that this date was still being taught as late as 1930.

https://jwstudies.com/The_Watch_Tower_Society_Reveals_Itself.pdf

Also

https://jwstudies.com/Changed_MD_and_SS_words.pdf

Doug

13

Hierarchy of Organization

by lostsheep82 in

hi, i'm looking for the article published in the 90s i think (i was a teenager) and it showed a diagram of the organizational hierarchy, at the top was jesus, then governing body all the way down to publishers it was in a pyramid style org chart.... can someone point me in the right direction?

additionally, does anyone remember the article or any articles that stated how bad it was that other religions had hierarchy like that?

i remember this being discussed at like a watchtower study or maybe it was a bookstudy.... i am on the hunt for another topic to discuss with my jw parents.

Doug Mason

Hi,

Something I wrote some time before later changes were introduced:

https://jwstudies.com/FDS_and_its_GB.pdf

Doug

36

Watchtower August 2020 Are they introducing new light?

by Listener in

the latest watchtower is now out and they make this statement -.

7 during the thousand year rule of christ, all of jehovah’s earthly children will have to make changes to please him.

so all of them will have true fellow feeling as they help the resurrected ones to combat sinful tendencies and to live by jehovah’s standards.

Doug Mason

Did someone expect rationality to come from supernatural superstition?

16

Rear cover of: “Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Secular World: from the 1870s to the Present”

by Doug Mason in

“jehovah’s witnesses and the secular world: from the 1870s to the present” (histories of the sacred and secular), zoe knox.

palgrave macmillan.

isbn 978-1-137-39604-4. .

Doug Mason

In her book, Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Secular World, Zoe Knox incorrectly writes that Russell and Rutherford believed the Coming of Christ took place in 1914. They actually placed the Coming (Parousia) in 1874.

This is my Critique of that passage in Knox’s book.

https://jwstudies.com/CRITIQUE_OF__JEHOVAH_S_WITNESSES_AND_THE_SECULAR_WORLD___PAGES_32-33__BY_ZOE_KNOX.pdf