i've just published a new article on my website.. it's called: "daniel and the future of the 'saints of the most holy' - a commentary on daniel chapter 7".
i'd like to draw your attention in particular to the identity of the fourth beast since i depart clearly from the more or less consensual explanation that is about rome and the antichrist.
i won't waste time with that it isn't, though, and focus on what it is.
No agenda here.
I apologize for presuming you had one.
Your observation is fair ...somehow when one finds out that the "Organization" is wrong, then it's as if we really really really want to make sure it's wrong before we leave - like determining if there is no redeeming quality left. I presume this has to do with the deeply engraved fear that there is no salvation outside the WTS Organization. One wants to make sure no such mistake is ever made again.
Eden
i've just published a new article on my website.. it's called: "daniel and the future of the 'saints of the most holy' - a commentary on daniel chapter 7".
i'd like to draw your attention in particular to the identity of the fourth beast since i depart clearly from the more or less consensual explanation that is about rome and the antichrist.
i won't waste time with that it isn't, though, and focus on what it is.
Separation of Powers
Are you fluent in ancient Hebrew or Aramaic?
If not, are you fluent in ancient greek or greek used before the 1st century i.e. used in the translation of the Septuagint?
I'm not a scholar, nor a specialist in linguistics. So, the answer is no / no. I rely on authors like Vine, Thayer or Strong to give me the sense of the meanings conveyed by the original words.
I'm sure your question has a purpose, so go ahead...
Eden
i've just published a new article on my website.. it's called: "daniel and the future of the 'saints of the most holy' - a commentary on daniel chapter 7".
i'd like to draw your attention in particular to the identity of the fourth beast since i depart clearly from the more or less consensual explanation that is about rome and the antichrist.
i won't waste time with that it isn't, though, and focus on what it is.
Daniel 7:23
"He gave me this explanation: 'The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it.
Remember that the four animals are seen from the perspective of the "holy people", Israel. Although there are more empires on earth, the prophecy only concerns itself with those who interact significantly with the "saints of the Most Holy", the specially cleansed people of Yahweh, the Israelites.
The expression "on earth" and "whole earth" should not be cause for misleading. The aramaic term used "ara" is the equivalent to the hebrew "erets"; Among many uses (including soil, ground, the abode under the sky, the underworld), Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old Testament Words notes:
"[erets] , may be used geographically, i.e., to identify a territory: “And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity” (Gen. 11:28). , sometimes bears a political connotation and represents both a given political territory and the people who live there: “And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine” (Gen. 47:13). Not only the “land” languished, but (and especially) the people suffered.Next, in several passages this noun has both geographical and political overtones and identifies the possession or inheritance of a tribe. This emphasis is in Num. 32:1: “Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle....”
Therefore, since the special subjects of the wrath of the fourth beast are the Israelites, then the "earth" and "whole earth" are the land of Israel, or Palestine. The Seleucid empire, like a terrifying beast with iron teeth, would "devour the whole earth", or ravish the territory of Israel. The "iron teeth" are symbolic of a predatorial brute force, barbaric cruelty and unbreakable merciless.
Josephus, in Wars of the Jews, book 1, recounts that the armies of Antiochus IV Epiphanes made use of Elephants with towers on top. Daniel J. Harrington, author of the commentary on First and Secon Maccabees, wrote: "Antiochus gave Lysias half of his army and the elephants and ordered him to destroy the people of Judea and Jerusalem and to resettle the land with foreigners". What the Jews faced with the Seleucid empire was a devastation of higher magnitude than that caused by the Babylonians [who ravished Jerusalem and exiled the people] or the Persians [who, by Haman, plotted to exterminate the Jews in Persia but the plot was averted with the help of the King himself]; This time the threat was more terryfing, for the threat of genocide and erasure from the face of the earth was very real and was on the field of battle. Some authors claim that Antiochus IV Epiphanes slained and sold to slavery more Jews than Nabuchadnezzar II had done.
No wonder this "fourth beast" was portrayed as the most terrifying of all the beasts!
Eden
i've just published a new article on my website.. it's called: "daniel and the future of the 'saints of the most holy' - a commentary on daniel chapter 7".
i'd like to draw your attention in particular to the identity of the fourth beast since i depart clearly from the more or less consensual explanation that is about rome and the antichrist.
i won't waste time with that it isn't, though, and focus on what it is.
I'm closing in on an explanation to the statue. First I will write a commentary on Daniel 8. Expect a commentary on Daniel 2 to follow.
Eden
undoubtely the biggest crime in watchtower world is apostacy.
the upcoming dc apparently has quite some parts on this issue.. recently i read a book from the philosopher hubert schleichert, the title is something like "how to discuss with fundumantelist without loosing your mind".. he goes into fanatics of all kind, and shows, why apostates are so dangerous for any ideology, may it be religious or even political.. the reason: any strong ideology is convinced of possesing the truth.
this creates a problem, since apparantly not everybody accepts this belief or ideology.
The greatest error, the fundamental error of the Jehovah's Witnesses, that haunts our entire system of beliefs is the heritage of Millerism. The rest is just men that are too proud to acknowledge their errors and an organization that became "too big to fail".
Eden
i've just published a new article on my website.. it's called: "daniel and the future of the 'saints of the most holy' - a commentary on daniel chapter 7".
i'd like to draw your attention in particular to the identity of the fourth beast since i depart clearly from the more or less consensual explanation that is about rome and the antichrist.
i won't waste time with that it isn't, though, and focus on what it is.
Also, the MISSION STATEMENT section has been edited.
Eden
i've just published a new article on my website.. it's called: "daniel and the future of the 'saints of the most holy' - a commentary on daniel chapter 7".
i'd like to draw your attention in particular to the identity of the fourth beast since i depart clearly from the more or less consensual explanation that is about rome and the antichrist.
i won't waste time with that it isn't, though, and focus on what it is.
I've added a little survey questionaire of the front page of the website of the Christian Fraternity of God's People.
If you visit, please take 30 seconds to fill it out (only once).
Thanks :)
Eden
ROFL !
Eden
i've just published a new article on my website.. it's called: "daniel and the future of the 'saints of the most holy' - a commentary on daniel chapter 7".
i'd like to draw your attention in particular to the identity of the fourth beast since i depart clearly from the more or less consensual explanation that is about rome and the antichrist.
i won't waste time with that it isn't, though, and focus on what it is.
Thank you Aware Being
I'll have a look into that site also.
Eden
i've just published a new article on my website.. it's called: "daniel and the future of the 'saints of the most holy' - a commentary on daniel chapter 7".
i'd like to draw your attention in particular to the identity of the fourth beast since i depart clearly from the more or less consensual explanation that is about rome and the antichrist.
i won't waste time with that it isn't, though, and focus on what it is.
*bump*
hmmm no comments?
Also, just wanted to say that I've redesigned the welcome page of the www.cfjp.weebly.com. Also embedded a searchable, scrollable version of the Holman Christian Standard Bible Translation into the website for quick reference.
Eden
