Posts by Doug Mason

72

The "Seventy Years" explained

by Doug Mason in

here is a picture-based explanation of the "seventy years" prophesied by jeremiah.. http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/70_years_of_servitude.pdf.

please note that there are several pages and that you should set your pdf reader to full page.. as i said before, i have a red-green color vision deficiency, but this time i have taken the plunge and used color.

please tell me where i need to make corrections with the colors.. as always, i appreciate your suggestions for improvements, corrections and additions.. doug.

Doug Mason

Here is a picture-based explanation of the "Seventy Years" prophesied by Jeremiah.

http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/70_years_of_servitude.pdf

Please note that there are several pages and that you should set your PDF Reader to full page.

As I said before, I have a red-green color vision deficiency, but this time I have taken the plunge and used color. Please tell me where I need to make corrections with the colors.

As always, I appreciate your suggestions for improvements, corrections and additions.

Doug

18

Updates to my WT Organization Chart

by Doug Mason in

following recent communications, i have updated my wt organization chart.. http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/org_chart.pdf.

apart from making minor changes to the layout, i have amended the section dealing with the local congregation.. i will appreciate any help and advice, but when you make them please remember that i do have space limitations.. doug.

Doug Mason

Blondie,

After reading the Section on "Pioneers" in the Branch Manual, I am of the view that the Special Pioneers are managed by the Service Department of the Branch.

It is they who receive and record the Reports, which are numbered with the letter "S". It does make sense, given the responsibility assigned to a Special Pioneer.

My thoughts are reflected in the changes I made to the role of the Branch in my Org Chart.

Can someone tell me about "Missionaries". Are they a global version of Special Pioneers, which means they are "sent out" by the central organization?

Doug

18

Updates to my WT Organization Chart

by Doug Mason in

following recent communications, i have updated my wt organization chart.. http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/org_chart.pdf.

apart from making minor changes to the layout, i have amended the section dealing with the local congregation.. i will appreciate any help and advice, but when you make them please remember that i do have space limitations.. doug.

Doug Mason

Blondie,

I have no idea about "Special" Pioneers. Is there anyone "out there" who can help me?

The information on the organization chart does not come from any first-hand knowledge but from reading and from people telling me. I have never been a JW.

Just as when I write, I create drawings to see if they help me understand. The discipline of writing forces analytical thinking and helps remove the fat. Similarly with drawing, but they also ensure that I and my reader have the same final image, which can never be guaranteed with pure writing.

Having been a trainer (since 1966) in the electronics and telecommunications industries has helped me visualize an audience and empathize with them. However, my current recognition of the force of drawings did not come until I worked for 11 years as a soldering trainer in a Japanese-owned electronics manufacturing environment. The Japanese were using pictures to explain even esoteric matters such as Vision and Direction. I do not know if their visual writing causes them to behave like this.

Again, if anyone can help me with the "Special Pioneers", I will be most grateful.

Doug

116

The simplest explanation of 607 BCE

by Doug Mason in

if you are looking for the simplest picture that shows how the wts calculates that jerusalem was destroyed in 607 bce, and if you want to understand basic problems with their method, this might be what you want.. http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/wts_false_reasoning_for_607_bce.pdf.

(make sure that your pdf reader displays the whole page.).

doug.

Doug Mason

Wolkje,

I am sorry, but I have not researched that date. My focus is in the neo-Babylonian era since it provides the foundation for the WTS's existence.

Too many years ago, I researched the date of Christ's birth, maybe I can locate my papers from those times. From memory, Luke provides chronological information and I have a vague memory of an Absolute Date about that time.

I know that the SDA's rely on 457 BC being Artaxerxes' 20th year, so you could read their material to see the information they rely on. They had a book called something like "The Chronology of Ezra 7" by Horn and Wood. I think you should be able to download a free copy off the www. I am not saying whether they are right or wrong, just that they might provide you with research clues.
<br><br>What does Parker and Dubberstien say? (Has anyone a copy they could scan the Tables from P&D for me?)

I am sorry that I have let you down, but I am never going to say that I know something when I do not. My reserach has never taken me to that part of history.

My very best advice is to read what COJ says:

http://user.tninet.se/~oof408u/fkf/english/artaxerxes.htm

Doug

18

Updates to my WT Organization Chart

by Doug Mason in

following recent communications, i have updated my wt organization chart.. http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/org_chart.pdf.

apart from making minor changes to the layout, i have amended the section dealing with the local congregation.. i will appreciate any help and advice, but when you make them please remember that i do have space limitations.. doug.

Doug Mason

Supreme Blondie,

Your information made me take stock of where I was going, and I saw that I was making it too specific and prescriptive. I want to produce a chart that helps us understand the organization. I do not want to produce a chart that helps its operation.

I would appreciate your comments and advice on my amended chart.

Doug

5

WTS statements support Babylonian chronology

by Doug Mason in

using the statements from the wts publications, it is possible to recreate the accepted list of babylonian kings along with the lengths of their reigns.. http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/wts_support_for_the_babylonian_king-list.pdf.

doug.

Doug Mason

Cultswatter,

Thanks for your feedback. I have amended the picture to include the comment from Josephus.

Doug

5

WTS statements support Babylonian chronology

by Doug Mason in

using the statements from the wts publications, it is possible to recreate the accepted list of babylonian kings along with the lengths of their reigns.. http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/wts_support_for_the_babylonian_king-list.pdf.

doug.

Doug Mason

Cultswatter,

Actually it's the following verse where, after finishing this quotation from Berossus, Josephus wrote:

"These accounts agree with true history in our books; for in them it is written that Nabuchadnezzar, in the nineteenth year of his reign, laid our temple desolate, and so it lay in that state of obscurity for fifty years." (Against Apion Book 1, 21)

Doug

5

WTS statements support Babylonian chronology

by Doug Mason in

using the statements from the wts publications, it is possible to recreate the accepted list of babylonian kings along with the lengths of their reigns.. http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/wts_support_for_the_babylonian_king-list.pdf.

doug.

Doug Mason

Using the statements from the WTS publications, it is possible to recreate the accepted list of Babylonian kings along with the lengths of their reigns.

http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/WTS_support_for_the_Babylonian_king-list.pdf

Doug

18

Updates to my WT Organization Chart

by Doug Mason in

following recent communications, i have updated my wt organization chart.. http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/org_chart.pdf.

apart from making minor changes to the layout, i have amended the section dealing with the local congregation.. i will appreciate any help and advice, but when you make them please remember that i do have space limitations.. doug.

Doug Mason

I think I first saw mention of the Worldwide Order in a Branch Manual.

I subsequently asked about it at

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/133163/1.ashx

and you will find some information there. Try "Googling".

Doug

116

The simplest explanation of 607 BCE

by Doug Mason in

if you are looking for the simplest picture that shows how the wts calculates that jerusalem was destroyed in 607 bce, and if you want to understand basic problems with their method, this might be what you want.. http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/wts_false_reasoning_for_607_bce.pdf.

(make sure that your pdf reader displays the whole page.).

doug.

Doug Mason

JW Scholar (if that expression is not an oxymoron),

So you have an MA in “Studies of Religion”. Well done.

It would appear that the course in religion did not provide a comprehensive study of archaeology and anthropology. I would be interested in an outline of the course and information about the institution where you studied, so could I please have the www address where I can get that information. Is it a reputable and recognized institution?

Does your qualification permit you to work as a Minister of Religion in any church?

I would also like to see a scan of your certificate. I know your name and you know my email address. By now, you know that I never reveal personal information.
---------------------------
There is no conflict between the relics left by the ancients and the records that they wrote. All are products of one and the same people. Archaeologists and anthropologists help us understand the records the people produced. These records reflect the immediate hopes and aspirations as well as the social, political and religious environments of the day. They were not written to us but to their immediate audience. To understand what their records meant to them, we need to climb into their life and times, and archaeologists provide the means for doing this. You cripple your thinking with your method of resolving apparent dissonance between their secular and religious records. Just as your understanding should mature from its initial fundamentalism, so your thinking should grow from that of a child to that of a man – Hebrews 5:11-14.

A study of religion does not provide a complete guide to the study of archaeology or secular records, and these are what we have been discussing. Archaeologists do not use Scripture to guide their digging or to interpret their finds. Rather, the archaeologist and the anthropologist use methods applied elsewhere in the world to reconstruct the history of the people, with the Bible rightly viewed an artifact produced by those people.
---------------------------
Why does the WTS hierarchy permit you to undertake such studies with impunity and immunity? The average Witness’s knees shake at the thought of the outcome should they be found talking with an apostate loved one, be it their own child or parent. Why do these families have to be ripped apart while you can swan around and study whatever you like in a non-WTS institution without fear of the consequences?

If any JW is permitted to do the same as you did, I am sure they would like to know how to go about it.

How much did you learn during your studies? How were you able to pass the examinations without compromising your JW beliefs?
---------------------------
Your key hang-ups appear include your term “Biblical chronology” and that the Biblical record has a different source from the other items the ancients left behind.

As a Spin-Doctor for the WTS, you sound like a painter who hides the cracks and holes with wallpaper or a skin of paint. We need FACTS, not “spin”.

Doug