Doug Mason

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Posts by Doug Mason

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  10

  The Watch Tower Society reveals itself

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  over time, the watch tower society has completely changed many of its beliefs.

  for example, until recently, the wts said that the emblems of the memorial represented the church, the 144,000, that the emblems did not symbolize jesus.. at times, the wts changes the name of a belief while it continues the teaching, for example, the wts used to say that jesus and the 144,000 together were the "the christ".

  today, the wts denies this teaching but the name "anointed" means "christ".. do you want to see what the watch tower reveals about these things and more?

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  Doug Mason

  Thank you for your kind comments.

  The fact is that it started out as something very different: I wanted to study Isaiah 43. It is a poem written around the time of the Babylonian Captivity. The Study then took itself into two parts: firstly, looking at the chapter in the Bible, the second part was looking at how the Watchtower introduced it into their methodology. Gradually, it became clear that with the second I was discovering more than I had anticipated. I wrote to someone that I was writing but I did not know what it is. The Study grabbed my hands and took me on a journey where I discovered things I had never known. Still I was concerned at where this thing was taking me. The last mental struggle was to understand how a democratic society could become autocratic without having conducted a democratic election. It became clear that they were gradually pummeled into submission, with a process that took more than 20 years.
  

  I suspect that every reader will, as it proper, see things that I had not even imagined; I do not have their experiences.

  Perhaps the Writing Department at HQ will find it useful?

  I hope you like the cartoon at the end.

  Doug
  
• 
  10

  The Watch Tower Society reveals itself

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  over time, the watch tower society has completely changed many of its beliefs.

  for example, until recently, the wts said that the emblems of the memorial represented the church, the 144,000, that the emblems did not symbolize jesus.. at times, the wts changes the name of a belief while it continues the teaching, for example, the wts used to say that jesus and the 144,000 together were the "the christ".

  today, the wts denies this teaching but the name "anointed" means "christ".. do you want to see what the watch tower reveals about these things and more?

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  Doug Mason

  Thanks Smiddy,

  I do not see it as something to be read from page 1 but as a reference source.
  

  I tried to get internal hyperlinks to work but Word failed me in a most frustrating fashion. Sorry about that.

  Doug
  
• 
  10

  The Watch Tower Society reveals itself

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  over time, the watch tower society has completely changed many of its beliefs.

  for example, until recently, the wts said that the emblems of the memorial represented the church, the 144,000, that the emblems did not symbolize jesus.. at times, the wts changes the name of a belief while it continues the teaching, for example, the wts used to say that jesus and the 144,000 together were the "the christ".

  today, the wts denies this teaching but the name "anointed" means "christ".. do you want to see what the watch tower reveals about these things and more?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Doug Mason

  Over time, the Watch Tower Society has completely changed many of its beliefs. For example, until recently, the WTS said that the emblems of the Memorial represented the Church, the 144,000, that the emblems did not symbolize Jesus.

  At times, the WTS changes the name of a belief while it continues the teaching, For example, the WTS used to say that Jesus and the 144,000 together were the "The Christ". Today, the WTS denies this teaching but the name "Anointed" means "Christ".

  Do you want to see what the Watch Tower reveals about these things and more? Then read:

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

  Doug
  
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  14

  The Kingdom of God -- Simplified Suggestion

  by FusionTheism in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  depending on the context, the phrase "kingdom of god" can have a few different simplified meanings:.

  1: the authority of god manifesting itself through miracles, love, or judgment.. 2: the authority of god in people's lives.. 3: the lord jesus, the 12 apostles, and others who will sit on thrones and wear crowns in the new heavens and the new earth.. 4: the 1,000 year reign of christ on earth (if that is literal instead of symbolic).. 5: (in the old testament:) the nation of israel under godly kings such as david or josiah.. there are a few passages of scripture i can think of which could support the idea that the kingdom is made up of those who rule in heaven, as opposed to those who live on earth.

  these are matthew 11:11-13, john 3:13, 31, acts 2:34. delving into those scriptures will be the subject of a future post.. as always, the immediate context of a passage, and the context of that particular book as a whole, helps determine the meaning of the phrase..

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  Doug Mason

  The word "kingdom" does not mean territory or people. For example, when the Babylonian kingdom ended, the territory was still there, the people still existed.

  A better idea of the Biblical concept of "kingdom" is to recognise its meaning in older English. You would need to look at a comprehensive multi-volume OED, where you would see that "kingdom" includes the concept of "kingship", of the exercise of power of the king. In other words, the "kingdom of God" is God's rulership, which belongs to him. The church is not the kingdom of God but it is produced by God's kingship. Thus the true church is not bounded by human regulation, human structures, or position. The true church transcends denomination, religion, beliefs, but is "written in heaven" because the kingdom/kingship is God's and not man's.

  I suggest that "googling" for: kingdom kingship
  

  Doug
  
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  88

  Damned if they do, Damned if they don't

  by FusionTheism in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i see an attitude among some people here which is not very helpful.

  i can understand it, but still, it's not constructive or helpful.. if you condemn the society for not changing, but then you also condemn them when they do change in a positive way, what incentive or motive does that provide for the people at the society to ever want to change for the better?.

  also, what does that attitude look like to current witnesses who are having doubts?.

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  Doug Mason

  Finkelstein,

  The WTS has not always been a top-down theocracy. It was a democracy for a long time.
  

  Doug
  
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  24

  Christianity: The most deceptive religion

  by opusdei1972 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  jesus was a jew who apparently thought he was the messiah, however, after dying, his disciples began to propagate the lie that he would return from heaven during his generation.

  but, his generation passed away, and it was clear that it was a false prophecy, then a dishonest christian wrote the second letter of peter so as to condemn those who realised that the prophecy was a fiasco.

  interestingly, and sadly, this religion survived,....why????

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  Doug Mason

  The very very early church was dominated by the African churches, such as at Alexandria and Carthage. Other strongholds were to the east, such as at Antioch. When they came together at a synod, the church at Rome was grudgingly invited as an observer. The 4th and 5th centuries witnessed atrocious murders and wars among the Christians, mostly over the nature of Jesus Christ. This weakened the African Churches, enabling the Muslims to take over north Africa. This resulted in Christians - and hence Christianity - moving northwards, causing it to becoming a European religion.

  It achieved its dominant position because the Roman Emperors decided. Read about Constantine and Theodosius, for starters.

  The church of Rome then behaved as atrociously as had the Emperors of the Roman Empire. The church of Rome said it could behave that way because it was a theocracy.
  

  Doug
  
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  22

  New light on more parables

  by Deltawave in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  well after a full watchtower study last week about how we should not read to much into bible account as types and antitypes, we had a whole study article on what the 10 wise virgins now means.

  interesting though is the fact that only in 2007/8 they taught that the discreet virgins were the annointed ones who waited for christ's return in 1914 and the foolish ones were the ones who fell away in 1914 because the end didn't come.

  now though, we have new light!

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  Doug Mason

  I am presently assembling a Study that provides a chronological survey of WTS quotes on a series of subjects, starting with Russell. Give me 2 or 3 weeks. I will publicise it at the "Bible Research" part of this site.

  Following that, I could look at the variants in their key parables during that period - Ten Virgins and Sheep/Goats. I touch a little on changes to the "Faithful and wise servant" in the Study I am pulling together. Are these "parables" or are they "eschatological narratives with a moral message"? Certainly not "predictive prophecies".
  

  I could be wrong - which happens - but I suspect that Rutherford's experience in 1918/1919 either haunted him or he made use of it ("martyr"). Russell certainly said nothing about a significance to that period, The current WTS seems more hooked on 1919 than they are on 1914. Indeed, their explanation ("Jehovah and Jesus came and inspected, finding only one faithful group on earth") is absolutely vital to their existence, and I find it surprising that little effort has been put into that. We find, for example, that Russell said 1260 days were actually years, running from 539 AD to 1799 AD, which marked the "last days". Then we read that the 1260 days ran from 1914 to 1918, except that the 1260 days ran from 1919 to 1922.

  As a final guess, I think - complete guess - that the number of heads in the Governing Body means that there is a wide range of ideas, not the single controllers of Russell, Rutherford or Franz. And the mess of conflicting ideas with the current multi-headed leadership is exacerbated because members are constantly being replaced. All they can do is throw up "obey us and you are obeying Jehovah", bandying that name around like a club, showing no sensitivity or respect. Certainly not "discreet".

  Doug
  

  Doug
  
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  20

  In depth research reveals....

  by Deltawave in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  something i have noticed over the years is how much harder it is to research the history of the watchtower society from its own literature.

  people have thrown away old publications in place of the watchtower library.

  i beleive soon the watchtower library disk will be discontinued in place of the online library.

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  Doug Mason

  Watchtower-free,

  The early SDA Church leaders were similarly obsessed - part of their "health" message. Kellogg invented Corn Flakes (without any sugar) as a cure for masturbation. Google will confirm.
  

  Enjoy your breakfast.

  Doug
  
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  20

  In depth research reveals....

  by Deltawave in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  something i have noticed over the years is how much harder it is to research the history of the watchtower society from its own literature.

  people have thrown away old publications in place of the watchtower library.

  i beleive soon the watchtower library disk will be discontinued in place of the online library.

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  Doug Mason

  nicolau,

  All Watch Tower magazines from 1879 to the present are available plus most books, magazines, newspapers and tracts.

  Doug
  
• 
  20

  In depth research reveals....

  by Deltawave in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  something i have noticed over the years is how much harder it is to research the history of the watchtower society from its own literature.

  people have thrown away old publications in place of the watchtower library.

  i beleive soon the watchtower library disk will be discontinued in place of the online library.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  Doug Mason

  LisaRose,

  I have scans of the 1943 version and the 1968 (revised 1981) version of "The Truth Shall Make you Free". Being somewhat colour-challenged, I am not certain if the covers are blue or mauve, purple, etc., but I suppose these are the scans you are looking for.
  

  These are large files so that I could only send them to you via DropBox. This means you would need to email me your email address. You will find my email address at: http://www.jwstudies.com/contact_me.html

  Doug