Posts by Doug Mason

22

F&DS does not exist?

by leaving_quietly in

jw
friends

http://jwnewsnetwork.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/criminal-prosecution-of-the-christian-congregation-of-jehovahs-witnesses/.

it was mentioned in here that the attorney claimed that the f&ds does not exist and is only a theological arrangement.

i apologize if this has been thoroughly discussed before, but i couldn't find anything concrete.

Doug Mason

Leaving,

Did you run a word search for legal in my Study:

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

Doug

22

F&DS does not exist?

by leaving_quietly in

jw
friends

http://jwnewsnetwork.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/criminal-prosecution-of-the-christian-congregation-of-jehovahs-witnesses/.

it was mentioned in here that the attorney claimed that the f&ds does not exist and is only a theological arrangement.

i apologize if this has been thoroughly discussed before, but i couldn't find anything concrete.

Doug Mason

Something I wrote that might help:

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

which is included in

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

I have not revisited the subject since then, so further examination could be needed.

The Governing Body is not the FDS. The GB represents the FDS.

The entity which has been presented in defence of the WTS is the religious Worldwide Order in which its members agree to a life of obedience and poverty. I read a court transcript in which the WTS defence counsel argued that this Order was the same any other religious order. Maybe a search of the www would help.

And do not forget the "principle" of Theocratic War Strategy, and that they define "lying" as not telling the truth to someone who deserves to know the truth. In other words, honesty is defined in terms of the worth of the hearer.

Doug

2

Is July 2012 "Awake!" accurate about Messiah's anointing?

by Doug Mason in

awake!

for july 2012 claims that the "seventy weeks" prophecy at daniel 9 predicted the year when jesus would be baptised and anointed by god.. my study of that article and its claim is available at:.

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

Doug Mason

Awake! for July 2012 claims that the "seventy weeks" prophecy at Daniel 9 predicted the year when Jesus would be baptised and anointed by God.

My Study of that article and its claim is available at:

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

Criticisms and corrections are greatly appreciated.

Doug

267

The true, unsung hero of the Bible....

by Unlearn in

my undisputed hero of the bible is known by several names, depending on who you talk to...devil, satan, lucifer, etc.. read it, and you'll find that he was the only one who really stood up for you.. he asserted that you could make decisions for yourself...and told you the very real truth that, just because the piece of meat in your chest stops thumping, you positively do not 'die'.. he was your hero.

he stood up to a daddy-maniac and said, 'just because you made us doesnt mean you have the right to tell us what to do.

i thought we were free?'.

Doug Mason

Unlearn,

I urge you to read: "Satan: A Biography", Henry Ansgar Kelly, where you will find support for some of your thoughts, and probably provide you with more.

Rev 22:16; Rev 2:28 (Lucifer / Venus / Morning Star)

Doug

8

Jesus' Baptism - 26 or 29 AD?

by Bobcat in

in my own research i've found that scholars are divided as to when jesus was baptised.

26 and 29 ad seem to be the most reccomended dates.

i was wondering if anyone could offer info on the points of difference between the two or links to further discussion on the reasons for holding to either date.. thanks in advance..

Doug Mason

Bobcat,

You answered my question when I asked why the date matters. As Leo correctly points out, Jesus' chronology is not related to Daniel 9. Get that firmly fixed in. A piece I wrote on the subject:

http://www.jwstudies.com/Critique_of_GM_on_Daniel_9.pdf

The assumed longer period of Jesus' ministry comes from interpretations of John's Gospel. Other Gospels imply a ministry of only a few months. I suggest that the structures of the various Gospels suited the religious liturgy of the community that wrote each account. They are not literal historical records; they are religious accounts. They were written decades after the described events, likely outside Palestine, likely by educated Greek-speakers, not by the lowly illiterate Aramaic-speaking Jews whose names are ascribed to each account.

Why did Jesus decide to become a follower of his cousin John, being baptised of him?

Where did John get the idea of baptising? (The location would give a clue, I suppose.)

Doug

7

Genesis 9:4

by allyouneedislove in

what does genesis 9:4 truly mean, in your opinion?.

some say it means do not eat blood.. .

some say it means do not eat an animal that is alive.. .

Doug Mason

The fundamental issue is that throughout the Scriptures, the word "blood" always signifies Death. In a medical procedure, the presence of blood (whole blood is not used) does not indicate that the previous owner had died, unlike in other forms of body part transfer.

It is called "transFUSION" where the digestion process plays no part in the procedure.

Interestingly, vaccination, which is more akin to transfusion, is permitted by the WTS, even when the product is based on blood.

For the Scriptural view on blood:

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

(Include a search for: gn. 4)

Doug

2

Rainer Albertz on the Return of the Jews

by Doug Mason in

i will appreciate comments on the following ocr scan.. thanks,.

doug.

however, we must ask how a single event, hardly imaginable more than a few years before, could spawn such an extensive tradition of babylon oracles.

Doug Mason

I will appreciate comments on the following OCR scan.

Thanks,

Doug

-------------

However, we must ask how a single event, hardly imaginable more than a few years before, could spawn such an extensive tradition of Babylon oracles. The conclusion is inescapable: probably most of the oracles against Babylon came into being after 539 and were employed for years in secular or sacred convocations. Two considerations make this assumption plausible. First, Babylon was most certainly not destroyed in 539; the just vengeance that the Judeans had every right to expect from Yahweh was still to come. Second, the return of the exiles did not take place, as expected, immediately after 539. The first substantial group of returnees probably did not arrive in Jerusalem until 520 BCE . Many members of the Babylonian golah clearly could not recognize the uneventful transfer of power from the Babylonians to the Persians as a sign from God that a new age had dawned. In this situation, the reuse and repeated recitation of oracles against Babylon after 539 were meant to provoke Yahweh's long-awaited retribution on Babylon, which would show to all the world that Yahweh was at work in world history as a just judge. As the many calls to flee from Babylon (Jer 50:8-10; 51:6, 45, 50) show, these oracles were also intended to persuade the Babylonian golah finally to return, since Yahweh's judgment on Babylon was imminent. When 50:33 says that those who had deported the people of Israel and Judah would refuse to let them go, and when 51:33 says that in "just a little while" the time of harvest would come for Babylon, we can hear a direct reference to the problems that arose after 539: the failure of the golah to return and the delay of God's judgment.

Gosse and Berges propose dating the Babylon oracles in Isa 13-14 and Isa 47 in the years 522-520. Whether this dating is correct for Isa 47 is uncertain. However, substantial evidence supports dating much of the Babylon composite Jer 50-51 in this period. These years are particularly likely because from 522 to 520, after the murder of Gaumata, an epidemic of revolts against Darius convulsed the entire central and eastern region of the Persian Empire.

(Israel in Exile: The History and Literature of the Sixth Century BCE, pages 194-195, Rainer Albertz. Society of Biblical Literature)

16

Seeking information re Jer 33:11

by Doug Mason in

i am seeking information regarding the rendering of jer 33:11.. the nwt renders the opening of that verse: "in this place that you people will be saying is waste ... ".

whereas the niv renders: "you say about this place, 'it is a desolate place ... '".. which rendering is correct?.

do the mt, lxx and other sources agree?.

Doug Mason

Bobcat,

All strength to you. Make your own decisions, but if I may be so bold to make a suggestion: treat and analyse the Bible as you would any piece of literature.

It did not fall out of the sky like a magic pudding. Each piece, subsequent editing, amendments, and the canonisation process did not exist in a vacuum. These processes took place within their respective cultures.

So many divergent cultures exist today, and how different were their cultures from each of ours. We must never fall into the trap of impressing our culture on to theirs. They were not writing to us.

Doug

16

Seeking information re Jer 33:11

by Doug Mason in

i am seeking information regarding the rendering of jer 33:11.. the nwt renders the opening of that verse: "in this place that you people will be saying is waste ... ".

whereas the niv renders: "you say about this place, 'it is a desolate place ... '".. which rendering is correct?.

do the mt, lxx and other sources agree?.

Doug Mason

Leo, Yes that is the amazing book I am referring to.

I will look for his book on Daniel; I am not aware of it.

BOF, Don't go to the Uni library for it -- buy it! I got mine through Amazon.

Leo, I want to raise an issue that arises from Albertz' book, and I shall do so in a new Thread.

Doug

8

Jesus' Baptism - 26 or 29 AD?

by Bobcat in

in my own research i've found that scholars are divided as to when jesus was baptised.

26 and 29 ad seem to be the most reccomended dates.

i was wondering if anyone could offer info on the points of difference between the two or links to further discussion on the reasons for holding to either date.. thanks in advance..

Doug Mason

Does it matter?

Doug