According to the Gospels, the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate tries Jesus and sentences him to death. The Roman soldiers mock and scourage Jesus. The Romans force Jesus to bear the cross to Golgotha. The Romans strip his clothes and cast losts to divvy them up. The Romans drive nails into his hands and feet and lift him up on the cross. And yet the Jews are blamed for his death? Why? Because of that mob that demands Pilate to crucify Jesus apparently. But why should a mob make Jews in general blameworthy when at that point, all of Jesus' apostles and disciples were Jews as well? Indeed, only the Gospel of John labels the mob as "Jews," the synoptics simply refers to it as "a crowd" or "the leading men and the people". The mob story, and especially the Johannine version of it, is regarded by most scholars as an attempt by later Christians to distinguish themselves from Jews and establish their own unique identity in contrast to them. The gospel narratives date after the Jewish War and Roman destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, and the Romans saw the Christians as a Jewish sect. Having already been traumatized by the Neronian persecution of A.D. 64, and aware that the Romans knew that the Roman authorities executed the founder of their sect, the attempt to shift blame to "Jews" had the intention of improving relations with the Romans. The Acts of Pilate, written in the second century, went even further in exonerating the Roman authorities. Earlier writings, such as that of Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:8 (written before the Jewish War), blame not the Jews but "the rulers of this age." Note also that the gospels were published by the Gentile church after the destruction of Jerusalem permanently cut it off from the original Jewish-Christian Church, led formerly by James the Just, brother of Jesus. The Gentiles, having no Jewish identity but as Roman citizens, were easily more inclined to find fault with the Jews and not with the Romans. This is exactly the situation with the Gospel of John (published in Asia Minor), which referred to Jesus' opponents simply as "Jews" as if Jesus weren't one himself. The Epistle of Barnabas is another good example of this thinking. Finally, there are certain aspects of the mob story which cause historians to doubt its historicity. For example, the name of the would-be substitute of Jesus, Barabbas, is Aramaic for "Son of the Father," which of course recalls the theological claim of Jesus as the Son of God, who calls to his Father as "Abba".
Leolaia
JoinedPosts by Leolaia
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This is just getting stupid
by spiritwalker inthis a quote from cnn.com.
in which they are talking about a new movie that is about the last ours of jesus christ ... .
the movie, whose dialogue is in latin and aramaic, covers the final 12 hours in the life of jesus christ and has come under fire from some jewish groups who claim its story could foment anti-semitism by tying christ's death to jewish authorities.. .
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The ascension of King David to heaven
by Leolaia inthere is a rather obscure statement in acts 2:34 that specifies that "david himself never ascended to heaven".
the obvious question that arises from this remark is -- who ever believed that david ascended to heaven?
to answer this, we need to look where else but to the pseudepigrapha.
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Leolaia
There is a rather obscure statement in Acts 2:34 that specifies that "David himself never ascended to heaven". The obvious question that arises from this remark is -- who ever believed that David ascended to heaven? To answer this, we need to look where else but to the pseudepigrapha. But the text in Acts 2 does provide some interesting clues. The text is part of an extended midrash on Psalm 16:8-11, a psalm attributed to King David. In this miktam on Yahweh as one's heritage, David states:
Psalm 16:8-11
"I keep Yahweh before me always, for with him at my right hand nothing can shake me. So my heart exults, my very soul rejoices, my body, too, will rest securely, for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor allow the one you love to see the Pit; you will reveal the path of life to me, give me unbounded joy in your presence, and at your right hand everlasting pleasures."
Most Bible scholars understand that this verse originally did not refer to a resurrection but to salvation from death; it is expressing a sort of "everlasting love" hope, that his relationship with God is so total and complete that not even death could break his devotion to Yahweh. It is on this basis that some later believed that indeed David never did die. Peter counters this by saying that the actual referrent of the psalm was not King David himself but his descendant, his successor to the throne, who died but was indeed resurrected so that his body "did not see corruption" (the LXX equivalent of the Hebrew "Pit"). The proof of this, Peter says, is that "no one can deny that the patriarch David himself is dead and buried; his tomb is still with us" (Acts 2:29).
Indeed, there were those who believed that David and other patriarchs (e.g. "ancient worthies") were preserved in Paradise. But Peter's proof against this view, that tombs of these people existed, is actually based on a misunderstanding. Enoch and Elijah were both mentioned in the OT as bodily taken by God; in the case of Elijah, physically to heaven (Genesis 5:24; 2 Kings 2:1). The removal of the patriarchs and David to Paradise presented more of a problem because their death and burial was an accepted fact and their tombs were known as shrines. This problem was circumvented in the pseudepigraphal testaments by noting that the soul of each patriarch was removed to be with God though the body itself was buried. The Testament of Abraham, for instance describes the death of Abraham as follows:
"Isaac his son came and fell upon his breast weeping. Then also his wife Sarah came and embraced his feet, wailing bitterly. Also all his male and female servants came and encircled the couch, wailing greatly. And Abraham entered the depression of death. And Death said to Abraham, 'Come, kiss my right hand, and may cheerfulness and life and strength come to you.' For Death deceived Abraham. And he kissed his hand and immediately his soul cleaved to the hand of Death. And immediately Michael the archangel stood beside him with multitudes of angels, and they bore his precious soul in their hands in divinely woven linen. And they tended the body of the righteous Abraham with divine ointments and perfumes until the third day after his death. And they buried him in the promised land at the oak of Mamre, while the angels escorted his precious soul and ascended into heaven singing the thrice-holy hymn to God, the master of all, and they set it down for the worship of the God and Father. And after great praise in song and glorification had been offered to the Lord, and when Abraham had worshipped, the undefiled voice of the God and Father came speaking thus: 'Take, then, my friend Abraham into Paradise, where there are the tents of my righteous ones and where the mansions of my holy ones, Isaac and Jacob, are in his bosom, where there is no toil, no grief, no moaning, but peace and exultation and endless life.' " (Testament of Abraham 20:6-14)
This story explains a number of otherwise obscure things in the Gospels. First, there is the reference to the "Bosom of Abraham" in Luke 16:22-23 as a place of bliss for the righteous dead. This is the same place referred to in the Testament of Abraham. The parable in Luke 16 in fact presents Abraham as still living and having a conversation with the dead rich man (Luke 16:27-31), drawing on the popular conception as Abraham being rescued into Paradise. Luke 20:37-38 similarly refers to God as "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God, not of the dead, but of the living." While this is applied by Luke to the resurrection, it also draws again on popular conceptions of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as still alive in Paradise.
The Testament of Isaac 7:1-2 thus mentions the assumption of Isaac into Paradise: "When Isaac had said this, the Lord took his soul from his body and it was white as snow; he took possession of it and carried it with him upon his holy chariot and ascended with it to the heavens, while the cherubim were singing praises before it, likewise his holy angels. The Lord bestowed upon him the kingdom of heaven, and everything which our father desired out of the abundance of blessings from God he had." The description of the assumption is probably dependent on the description of Elijah's chariot-bound ascension in 2 Kings. The Testament of Jacob tells a similar story regarding Jacob:
"Jacob is again taken up, this time to heaven, where all is light and joy. He sees Abraham and Isaac and is shown all the joys of the redeemed. Jacob returns to earth, gives instructions for his burial in the land of his fathers, and passes away at the age of 147 years. The Lord comes down with the angels Michael and Gabriel to bear Jacob's soul to heaven. Joseph orders his father's body to be embalmed in the Egyptian manner." (Testament of Jacob 5:10-14)
Again, the burial of a physical body does not rule out the ascension of the patriarch's soul to Paradise. The question of what happens to the body is significant, however, in view of the hope of a later resurrection of the patriarch on the Day of Judgement. This issue comes up specifically in the case of Moses, the subject of the Assumption of Moses. Like the other assumption tales of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Elijah, this story tells of Moses' soul ascending to Paradise but it also mentions a dispute with Satan over the fate of Moses' body. Although the original ending to the story has been lost, Jude 9 summarizes the story:
"Not even did the archangel Michael, when he was engaged in argument with the Devil about the corpse of Moses, dared to denounce him in the language of abuse; all he said was, 'Let the Lord correct you.' " (Jude 9)
Ancient authorities such as the Council of Nicea and others recognizes that Jude was alluding the Assumption of Moses, and there are literary allusions elsewhere in Jude as well (e.g. Assumption of Moses 10:5-6 = Jude 12-13; Assumption of Moses 7:3-4 = Jude 18-19; Assumption of Moses 7:9 = Jude 16). The role of Michael the archangel in Jude 9 is parallel to his role in the Testament of Abraham and the Testament of Jacob. Although the reason for the dispute over Moses' corpse is not preserved, it probably has something to do with the later resurrection and judgment. The episode in the Assumption of Moses, which incidentally also concerns Joshua and the last testament Moses gives to him, may also have something to do with Zechariah's vision of Joshua in Zechariah 3:1-2 which involves a dispute between Joshua and Satan and the "angel of Yahweh" saying to him, "May Yahweh rebuke you, Satan, may Yahweh rebuke you."
The Ascension of Isaiah also relates the story of Isaiah's ascension to heaven and presents a legend on Isaiah's death alluded in Hebrews 11:37. The Apocalypse of Moses, otherwise known as the Life of Adam and Eve, also relates the story of Adam's deliverance to Paradise after death.
But what of David? Some Jewish writers did regard him as having ascended to heaven as well. This view is most clearly stated in the first century B.C. Apocalypse of Zephaniah:
"Then a great angel came forth having a golden trumpet in his hand, and he blew it three times over my head, saying, 'Be courageous! O one who has triumphed. Prevail! O one who has prevailed. For you have triumphed over the accuser, and you have escaped from the abyss and Hades. You will now cross over the crossing place. For your name is written in the Book of the Living.' I wanted to embrace him, but I was unable to embrace the great angel because his glory is great. Then he ran to all the righteous ones, namely, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Enoch and Elijah and David. He spoke with them as friend to friend speaking with one another. (Apocalypse of Zephaniah 9:1-5)
A later Christian Apocalypse of Paul, inspired by the experience in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4, elaborates this notion further:
"And I saw in the midst of the city an altar exceeding high. And there was one standing by the altar whose face shined like the sun, and he held in his hands a psaltery and an harp and sang praises, saying: 'Alleluia.' And his voice filled all the city. And when all that were upon the towers and the gates heard him, they answered: 'Alleluia,' so that the foundations of the city were shaken. And I asked the angel and said: 'Who is this, Lord, that is of so great might?' And the angel said to me: 'This is David. This is the city of Jerusalem; and when Christ the king of eternity shall come in the fullness of his kingdom, he shall again go before him to sing praises, and all the righteous together shall sing praises, answering: "Alleluia" '. And I said: 'Lord, how is it that David only above the rest of the saints is at the beginning of singing praises?' And the angel answered and said to me: 'Because Christ the Son of God sits at the right hand of his Father, this David shall sing praises before him in the seventh heaven.' " (Apocalypse of Paul 29)
The view of Peter (or perhaps more properly, Luke's conception of Peter) in Acts 2 disputes this notion but fails to adequately refute it by attacking a "straw man," pointing to the physical corpse in the tomb when believers in David's ascension apparently believed in the ascension of David's soul to heaven as what happened and fulfilling his words in Psalm 16 (which in the original Hebrew, makes no mention of the "corruption" of David's body, only the abandonment of his soul in Hades and the "Pit"). Peter is misled by the LXX translation, which renders Hebrew shachath "Pit" as "corruption" (Gk. diaphthoran), which in proximity to the mention of "my flesh" (Gk. sarx mon) in vs. 9 seems to allude to the decay of human flesh at death:
9 dia touto hufranqh h kardia mou kai hgalliasato h glwssa mou eti de kai h sarx mou kataskhnwsei ep elpidi 10 oti ouk egkataleiyeis thn yuchn mou eis adhn oude dwseis ton osion sou idein diafqoran
But the believers of David's ascension who were not dependent on the Greek Septuagint (e.g. such as native Aramaic speakers or those who read Hebrew) would not have necessarily understood Psalm 16 the same way as Luke-Peter and would not have necessarily understood the resurrection of Jesus before his body decayed as a fulfillment of Psalm 16:9-10.
Finally, John goes much further than Luke by saying in John 3:13 that "no one has ascended up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven." Although Luke allows for the presence of Abraham in Paradise (which is ambiguously located as an abode of the righteous in Hades, though a common view at the time was that the gate to Paradise was located in Hades but Paradise itself was in heaven), John wants to limit heavenly ascension only to Jesus. The reason for this is quite clear when we consider the otherwise anti-Gnostic rhetoric of the gospel (which, incidentally, draws on a Gnostic source of Jesus sayings). The Gnostics believed that Deity resides in all people, humans originate in heaven but through the Demiurge are born in corruption on earth, and through correct self-knowledge may return to heaven and live with immortality and incorruption. By limiting past ascensions only to Jesus, John refutes the Gnostic notion and argues that only with faith in Jesus, and not through anyone's own natural right, may people have "eternal life" (as the Son is the source of life, John 5:25-26) and join him in heaven when he returns (John 6:40; 14:1-3).
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Early Christian apocalypses
by Leolaia inearly christian apocalyses
i thought it would be a good idea to put together into a single thread all the early 1st.
cent.
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Leolaia
Blueblades....I think what we find at the end of the day that there never was a single, uniform "Truth". All along Christians had different beliefs and different understandings about different things. The thing that held them all together was the sense of community and brotherhood that the religion brought to its followers. If anything, doctrine was a source of division -- as the apostles, the elders, and the "heretics" sought to define more specifically what the true faith was supposed to be.
I think it is a mistake to think of apocalyptic literature solely as a mechanism for conformity, as you say, "Believe this or you'll be damned". There is an important social function to apocalypses -- they provide hope, comfort, and a sense of final justice in times of social crisis. Most of the great apocalypses were written during such times. Ezekiel wrote after the first destruction of Jerusalem on the justice God will deal out to his enemies. Daniel was written during the horrific persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, again communicating the hope of deliverance and punishment of the oppressors. The Book of Similitudes of 1 Enoch was written during Roman occupation of Judea and hoped for the coming of the Messianic Son of Man and the judgment of the wicked. 2 Baruch, 4 Ezra, and the Markan Apocaplyse were written in response to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and offered solace either in the coming of the Son of Man or in the coming of a paradisic New Jerusalem and judgment of those who destroyed the Temple. The Revelation of John follows the Neronian and Domitian persecutions but more importantly wishes for the end of the Roman emperor cult and its idolatry which threatened to corrupt Christians in Asia Minor. In each case deliverance was thought to be close at hand, and we could perhaps call these false prophecies as we do of modern WTS prophecies (which, for the rank and file, promises deliverance from contemporary hardships and stresses) and view them critically, but we would not understand why they were so enthusiastically received by ordinary Christians if we just view them as tools for conformity (which, of course, WTS prophecies are as well).
It is interesting how much of it is "the same old story again", like Matthew 16:28 promising that the second coming will come before those who saw Jesus personally would die off -- doesn't that sound a lot like the "this generation" WTS claim? Indeed, the scripture that the Society used for the "this generation" claim was in the same vein. What did the phrase "this generation" refer to but those alive in Matthew's day who saw Jesus! And yet they did die off. And so later Christians, like the WTS many centuries later, detached the reference to "this generation" from the obvious 1st century context and applied it to a later future time (such as, their own day) in order to retain the prophecy as genuine and waiting to be fulfilled.
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Early Christian apocalypses
by Leolaia inearly christian apocalyses
i thought it would be a good idea to put together into a single thread all the early 1st.
cent.
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Leolaia
Narkissos....thanks for positive comment and correction....I added the reference to 2 John. I thought this was a worthwhile endeavor because many think of Revelation as the only Christian apocalypse, while in reality it stands midway in a stream to Christian apocalyptic tradition and one can see it develop themes encountered earlier while introducing themes (such as the "two witnesses" and the millenium) that would be picked up by later writers. It is really fascinating seeing the full panoply of apocalyptic ideas within early Christianity that helps place otherwise obscure things in Revelation in context.
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Where did the Pleides idea come from?
by IronGland indid rutherford just make it up while drunk one day, or is there an older tradition of naming the pleides god's home?
the constellation of the seven stars forming the pleiades appears to be the crowning center around which the known systems of the planets revolve.... it has been suggested, and with much weight, that one of the stars of that group is the dwelling place of jehovah and the place of the highest heavens;..... the constellation of the pleiades is a small one compared with others which scientific instruments disclose to the wondering eyes of man.
but the greatness in size of other stars or planets is small when compared to the pleiades in importance, because the pleiades is the place of the eternal throne of god.. j. f. rutherford, reconciliation, 1928, p. 14. .
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Leolaia
Robert Grant Haliburton published an article titled "The Pleiades Connection" in the December 1881 issue of Nature. This is the origin of the Watch Tower idea that God's throne is in the Pleiades. Haliburton reports on the discoveries of Johann von Maedler (1794-1874), an astronomer who made measurements supposedly of stars revolving around Alcyone, one of the stars of the Pleiades, and extravagently conjectured that the center of the universe may lay there. Haliburton applied this "discovery" to the divine by saying:--
The ancients believed that Alcyone of the Pleiades was the center of the universe -- that Paradise, the primal home of humankind and the abode of the Deity and the spirits of the dead, was in the Pleiades.
C. T. Russell lapped up this "scientific discovery," and the wacky Watch Tower claim was born.
Leolaia
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Early Christian apocalypses
by Leolaia inearly christian apocalyses
i thought it would be a good idea to put together into a single thread all the early 1st.
cent.
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Leolaia
Early Christian apocalyses
I thought it would be a good idea to put together into a single thread all the early 1st. cent.-early 2nd. cent. Christian apocalypses other than Revelation, to show how the speculation in Revelation or the other sources fit together in reproducing or innovating different traditions about Judgment Day and the tribulation leading up to it. These Christian traditions derive partly from earlier Jewish apocalyptic speculations (which I can present in another post) and partly represent adaptations of the Christian community to the events of their day (e.g. the destruction of Jerusalem, the Neronian persecution, etc.). First I present below the coding I use for the key motifs and then I present the texts below with the motifs highlighted.
Motifs:
In the beginning wars, earthquakes, and famine occur
The world next undergoes the worst tribulation of its history
False prophets and false Christs appear and deceive the elect, performing miracles and wonders
The false Christ is none other than Beliar who appears on the earth
Alternatively, the false Christ is the Antichrist (or the Rebel) who is used by Beliar to deceive the world
The Temple is defiled, either by its destruction or by the Antichrist's enthronement in it
Celetial signs: Heaven opens, sun becomes darkened, stars and fire fall from heaven
The Son of Man (Christ Jesus) comes on the clouds of heaven with his angels
Jesus sends forth his angels
Angels blow the Last Trumpet, heralding the resurrection
The dead are resurrected
The living are changed, and the righteous and wicked dead are gathered together by the angels into heaven
The dead are judged, separated, and the wicked sent to punishment and the righteous to glory
The Antichrist and Beliar are dragged to the Abyss/Gehenna/Lake of Fire
Here are the relevant texts:
Apostle Paul (c. A.D. 54-60)
[1] "Any of us left alive until the Lord's coming will not have any advantage over those who have died. At the trumpet of God, the voice of the archangel will call out the command and the Lord himself will come down from heaven; those who have died in Christ will be the first to rise, and then those of us who are still alive will be taken up to the clouds, together with them, to meet the Lord in the air...You know very well that the Day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night. It is when people are saying, 'How quiet and peaceful it is' that the worst suddenly happens, as suddenly as labour pains come on a pregnant woman, and there will be no way for anybody to evade it." (1 Thessalonians 4:15-5:3)
[2] "We are not all going to die, but we shall all be changed. This will be instantaneous, in the twinkling of an eye, when the last trumpet sounds. It will sound, and the dead will be raised, imperishable, and we shall be changed as well." (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)
Comments: The focus here is on what immediately precedes the Judgment: the epiphany of Jesus in heaven, the angel sounding the Last Trumpet, and the resurrection of the dead occurring first, followed by the living righteous becoming instantaneously changed in glory. The tribulation that precedes the parousia is alluded to, but not described in detail. Paul does not give a coherent narrative of the final days but only alludes to certain aspects of it that are relevant to his discussion of resurrection or warning against false teaching.
The Markan Apocalypse (c. A.D. 70-75)
[3] "Take care that no one deceives you. Many will come using my name and saying, 'I am he,' and they will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed, this is something that must happen, but the end will not be yet. For nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes here and there; there will be famines. This is the beginning of the birthpangs. Be on your guard: they will hand you over to sanhedrins; you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them, since the Good News must first be proclaimed to all the nations. And when they lead you away to hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what to do....You will be hated by all men on account of my name; but the name who stands firm to the end will be saved. When you see the disastrous abomination set up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must escape to the mountains; if a man is on his housetop, he must not come down to go into the house to collect any of his belongings....For in those days there will be such distress as, until now, has not been equalled since the beginning when God created the world, nor ever will be again. And if the Lord had not shortened that time, no one would have survived; but he did shorten the time, for the sake of the elect whom he chose. And if anyone says to you then, 'Look, here is the Christ' or, 'Look, he is there,' do not believe it; for false Christs and false prophets will arise and produce signs and portents to deceive the elect, if that there possible. I have forwarned you of everything. But in those days, after that time of distress, the sun will be darkened, the moon will lose its brightness, the stars will come falling from heaven and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory, then too he will send the angels to gather his chosen from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven." (Mark 13:5-27)
Comments: This is the earliest connected narrative apocalypse in Christianity. There is no mention of the Last Trumpet and the resurrection is also not explicitly stated. The reference to "wars and reports of wars" as the beginning of the troubles and the interpretation of Daniel 11:31 as necessitating an escape of those in Judea to the mountains are obvious allusions to the Roman seige and destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. This event is viewed by Mark as fulfilling Jesus' prophecy and thus the onset of the celestial signs and the visible return of Jesus on Judgment Day is viewed as very close -- Mark in fact promises that the time has been cut short. This suggests that Mark understood the great tribulation expected by Paul and other earlier Christians as undergoing fulfillment in his day, first in the Neronian persecution, then the war in Judea destroying the Temple, and ongoing in the rejection of Christians from synagogues. The time of deliverance was shortly at hand.
Matthean Expansion of the Markan Apocalypse (c. A.D. 80-90)
[4] "Take care that no one deceives you; because many will come using my name and saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumours of wars; do not be alarmed, for this is something that must happen, but the end is not yet. For nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes here and there. All this is only the beginning of the birthpangs. Then they will hand you over to be tortured and put to death; and you will be hated by all the nations on account of my name. And then many will fall away; men will betray one another and hate one another....This Good News of the kingdom will be proclaimed to the whole world as a witness to all the nations. And then the end will come. So when you see the disastrous abomination of which the prophet Daniel spoke, set up in the Holy Place (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must escape to the mountains, if a man is on the housetop, he must not come down to collect his belongings....For then there will be great distress such as until now since the world began, there never has been, nor ever will be again. And if that time had not been shortened, no one would have survived; but shortened that time shall be, for the sake of those who are chosen. If anyone says to you then, 'Look, here is the Christ,' or 'He is there,' do not believe it; for false Christs and false prophets will arise and produce great signs and portents, enough to deceive the chosen, if that were possible....Immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will lose its brightness, and stars will fall from the sky and the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven; then too all the peoples of the earth will beat their breasts; and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet to gather his chosen from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other....When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate men one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right hand, 'Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world.' .... Next he will say to those on his left hand, 'Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.' .... And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life." (Matthew 24:4-31, 25:31-46)
[5] "When then, just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all the things that provoke offenses and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of the Father." (Matthew 13:40-43)
[6] "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and, when he does, he will reward each one according to his behaviour. I tell you solemnly, there are some of these standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming with his kingdom." (Matthew 16:27-28)
Comments: Matthew has incorporated the Markan apocalypse in his gospel [4], but revised it in certain important ways and also extends eschatological expectations elsewhere in his gospel [5, 6]. First, he makes the allusion to Daniel 11:31 even more explicit -- citing Daniel as the source of the expectation. He also intensifies the immediacy of the coming of Jesus by adding the words "immediately after the distress of those days" right before the celestial signs. Some time has passed since Mark wrote his apocalypse and still Jesus had not yet come. Next, Matthew expands what is supposed to happen at Jesus' parousia by explicitly mentioning the Last Trumpet (bringing Mark's apocalypse closer in line with Paul's expectations) and mentioning Jesus as sitting down on the Seat of Judgment (cf. 1 Enoch) and separating the wicked from the righteous -- giving each reward or punishment on the basis of their actions. Eternal fire in a blazing furance is mentioned explictly as what the wicked face. Finally, Matthew again intensifies the immediacy of the coming Judgment by saying that "there are some of these standing here [before Jesus' crucifixion] who will not taste death" -- a prediction eeriely reminiscent of Judge Rutherford's "Millions" promise in the 1920s.
The Didache Apocalypse (c. A.D. 80-90)
[7] "Watch over your life, do not let your lamps go out, and do not be unprepared, but be ready, for you do not know the hour when the Lord is coming. Gather together frequently, seeking the things that benefit your souls, for all the time you have believed will be of no use to you if you are not found perfect in the last time. For in the last days the false prophets and corrupters will abound, and the sheep will be turned into wolves, and love will be turned to hate. For as lawlessness increases, they will hate and persecute and betray one another. Then the deceiver of the world will appear as a son of God and will perform signs and wonders, and the earth will be delivered into his hands. and he will commit abominations the likes of which have never happened before. Then all humankind will come to the fiery test, and many will fall away and perish, but those who endure in their faith will be saved by the accursed one himself. And then there will appear the signs of the truth: first the sign of an opening in heaven, then the sign of a sound of a trumpet, and third, the resurrection of the dead -- but not of all, rather as it has been said, the Lord will come, and all his saints with him. Then the world will see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven." (Didache 16:1-8)
Comments: Although the Didache did not achieve its final form until the second century, most regard its constituent elements as originally written in the late first century. The apocalypse (ch. 16) also fits better with the earlier apocalypses than those that followed the publication of John's Revelation. The relation between this apocalypse and Matthew is very close, but the relation is not one of direct dependence but a use of the same traditions. Where the Didachist departs the most from Matthew is the reference to "the deceiver of the world", that is Satan or Beliar, appearing as "a son of God" or as a false Christ. The motif of Beliar deceiving the world through performing signs and wonders is pre-Christian and attested in Jewish apocalypses, but Mark and Matthew only refer to "false Christs and false prophets producing great signs and portents". It was in the late 1st century when speculation flourished about Beliar appearing in the guise of a man as a Great Deceiver. The Didachist also cuts his apocalypse short at the coming of Jesus and does not discuss the Judgment.
Sub-Pauline Thessalonian Apocalypse (c. A.D. 70-90)
[8] "God will very rightly repay with injury those who are injuring you, and reward you, who are suffering now, with the same peace as he will give us, when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven with the angels of his power. He will come in flaming fire to impose the penalty on all who do not acknowledge God and refuse to accept the Good News of our Lord Jesus. It will be their punishment to be lost eternally, excluded from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength on that day when he comes to be glorified among his saints and seen in his glory by all who believe in him....To turn now, brothers, to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we shall all be gathered round him. Please do not get excited too soon or alarmed by any prediction or rumour or any letter claiming to come from us, implying that the Day of the Lord has already arrived. Never let anyone deceive you in this way. It cannot happen until the Great Apostasy has taken place and the Rebel, the Lost One, has appeared. This is the Enemy, the one who claims to be so much greater than all that men call god, so much greater than anything that is worshipped, that he enthrones himself in God's sanctuary and claims that he is God....The Lord will kill him with the breath of his mouth and will annihilate him with his glorious appearance at his coming. But when the Rebel comes, Satan will set to work: there will be all kinds of miracles and a deceptive show of signs and portents, and everything evil that can deceive those who are bound for destruction because they would not grasp the love of the truth which could have saved them." (2 Thessalonians 1:6-2:10)
Comments: The authorship of 2 Thessalonians is controversial. The mention of Pauline pseudepigrapha (2:2) points to a period after Paul's death and the exaggerated attempts of the author to assert his Pauline authorship (cf. 3:17) are reminiscent of 2 Peter and other pseudonymous works. The mention of the Temple (2:4) as still existing is problematic for this thesis, however, unless one would regard the author as avoiding making Paul commit an anachronism. The content of the prophecy however fits well with contemporary speculation in the late first century. Leaving aside this controversial question, we see that Daniel 11:31 is interpreted differently by the writer -- here it refers to the Rebel (lit. "the son of lawlessness"), or Antichrist, who sets himself up inside the Temple and asks to be worshipped as a god, while in Matthew, Mark, and Luke (who specifically interprets the allusion as "Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies) the scripture refers to the Roman siege and destruction of Jerusalem. This Rebel is distinguished from Beliar, who will use the Rebel to perform "all kinds of miracles ... signs and portents" (cf. Mark and the Didache). This distinction, and the worship of the Rebel, anticipates the distinction between the Dragon and the Beast and the worship given to the Beast in Revelation. It is uncertain whether 2 Thessalonians draws on the Nero redivivus myth.
Ascension of Isaiah Interpolation (c. A.D. 90-110)
[9] Beliar the great ruler, the king of this world, will descend, who has ruled it since it came into being; indeed he will descend from his firmament in the likeness of a man, a lawless king, the slayer of his mother: who himself even this king. He will persecute the plant which the twelve apostles of the Beloved have planted. Of the twelve, one will be delivered into his hands. This ruler in the form of that king will come and there will come and there will come with him all the powers of this world, and they will hearken unto him in all that he desires. And at his word the sun will rise at night and he will make the moon to appear at the sixth hour. And all that he has desired he will do in the world: he will do and speak like the Beloved and he will say: 'I am God and before me there has been none.' And all the people in the world will believe in him. And they will sacrifice to him and they will serve him saying: 'This is God and beside him there is no other.' And they greater number of those who shall have been associated together in order to receive the Beloved, he will turn aside after him. And there will be the power of his miracles in every city and region. And he will set up his image before him in every city. And he shall bear sway three years and seven months and twenty-seven days. And many believers and saints having seen him for whom they were hoping, who was crucified, Jesus the Lord Christ, and those also who were believers in him -- of these few in those days will be left as his servants, while they flee from desert to desert, awaiting the coming of the Beloved. And after one thousand three hundred and thirty-two days the Lord will come with his angels and with the armies of the holy ones from the seventh heaven with the glory of the seventh heaven, and he will drag Beliar into Gehenna and also his armies. And he will give rest of the godly whom he shall find in the body in this world, and the sun will be ashamed....But the saints will come with the Lord with their garments which are now stored up on high in the seventh heaven: with the Lord they will come, whose spirits are clothed, they will descend and be present in the world, and he will strengthen those, who have been found in the body, together with the saints, in the garments of the saints, and the Lord will minister to those who have kept watch in this world. And afterwards they will turn themselves upward in their garments, and their body will be left in the world. Then the voice of the Beloved will in wrath rebuke the things of heaven and the things of earth and the things of earth and the mountains and the hills and the cities and the desert and the forests and the angel of the sun and that of the moon, and all things wherein Beliar manifested himself and acted openly in this world, and there will be a resurrection and a judgment in their midst in those days, and the Beloved will cause fire to go forth from Him, and it will consume all the godless, and they will be as though they had not been created. (Ascension of Isaiah 4:2-18)
Comments: This apocalypse is strongly reminiscent of 2 Thessalonians but it clearly draws on the Nero redivivus myth of the late 1st century by describing Beliar as "a lawless king, the slayer of his mother." Unlike Revelation, there is no Beliar-Beast distinction but like Revelation the writer tells of the fate of Beliar as being dragged into Gehenna (e.g. the Lake of Fire). This account thus is intermediate between that of the Didache and 2 Thessalonians and that of Revelation.
John the Presbyter: Revelation and 1 John (c. A.D. 95-110)
[10] First, in ch. 6:1-8, the breaking of the first four seals brings the ride of the Four Horsemen, unleashing war, famine, and plague. When the sixth seal breaks, "there was a violent earthquake and the sun went as black as coarse sackcloth, the moon turned red as blood all over, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth like figs dropping from a fig tree when the wind shakes it...The Great Day of his anger has come, and who can survive it?" (6:12-17) ... "Next I saw four angels, standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the world back" sealing the righteous "servants of our God" before the angels can wreck havoc on the earth (7:1-8), and "a huge number of people from every nation, race, tribe, and language" are revealed in heaven, "who have been through the great persecution" but are now rewarded with eternal life in heaven (7:9-17). The seventh seal gives seven trumpets to seven angels who blow them, bringing woes to the earth (8:1-9:21). The fifth trumpet opens the Abyss and a mighty army emerges (described as the Parthian army), led by "their emperor, the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon" (9:11). This "beast that comes out of the Abyss is going to make war on [the two witnesses prophesing in the Great City] and overcome them and kill them" (11:7), but the witnesses come back to life. After the seventh trumpet, John has a vision of the woman and the Dragon, where it is revealed that the Dragon is "Satan the Devil" (12:9), and the Dragon delegates his power and "his worldwide authority" to the Beast and "the whole world marvelled and followed the Beast. They prostrated themselves in front of the dragon because he had given the Beast his authority; and they prostrated themselves in front of the Beast, saying, 'Who can compare with the Beast? How could anybody defeat him?' ... It was allowed to make war against the saints and conquer them, and given power over every race, and all the people of the world will worship it....Then I saw a second Beast ... a servant to the first Beast, making the world and all its people worship the first Beast....And it worked great miracles, even to calling fire from heaven onto the earth while people watched. Through the miracles which it was allowed to do on behalf of the first Beast, it was able to win over the people of the world and persuade them to put up a statue in its honour....the number of the Beast, it is the number of a man, the number 666 [cf. Nero Caeser in Hebrew] (13:3-18)....In ch. 14:6-13, angels announce the Day of Judgment, urge everyone to praise God because he is about "to sit in judgment" and those who worshipped the Beast "in fire and brimestone they will be tortured ... and the smoke of their torture will go up forever and ever" (14:10). Then in 14:14-20, the angels are given a "sharp sickle" because "harvest time has come and the harvest of the earth is ripe" (14:14-15) and they proceed to harvest those for the "winepress of God's anger" (14:19). In ch. 16-18, God judges and punishes Babylon the Great (Rome), where the Beast ruled from. The Beast and the kings of the earth gather for a final battle, but "the Beast was taken prisoner, together with the false prophet who had worked miracles on the beast's behalf" and were then thrown into the Lake of Fire (19:19-21). Then the dragon was overpowered and thrown into the Abyss for a thousand years (20:1-3). Then the righteous dead "came to life, and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. This is the first resurrection; the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were over" and the Dragon is released from the Abyss for a second judgment. Then the wicked and Satan were thrown into the Lake of Fire, while the righteous were given eternal life in the heavenly Jerusalem (ch. 21). (Revelation 6-21)
Comments: Like the Ascension of Isaiah interpolation, Revelation clearly draws on the Nero redivivus myth, but clearly distinguishes between Beliar (the Dragon) and the Antichrist (the Beast). However, unlike 2 Thessalonians, it splits the Antichrist into two personalities: the first Beast and the second, otherwise called the False Prophet, and it was this second Beast that performs the miracles the Didache, 2 Thessalonians, and Ascension of Isaiah attribute to Satan/Beliar. The division between the two is perhaps inspired by the Markan apocalypse which mentions "false Christs and false prophets" -- the first Beast sets himself up as a false God (i.e. as a false Christ) and the second leads humankind in its worship and performs miracles (i.e. as a false prophet). It has also been pointed out that the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet together comprise an unholy triad parodying the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The parody is explicit in the Dragon giving the Beast his authority in a manner reminiscent of the Father giving authority to the Son (John 5:22), and the miracles of the False Prophet being the opposite of the miracles of the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of Truth (cf. John 16:13). Revelation does not give a chronologically linear apocalyptic narrative, but does depict Judgment Day and innovatively splits the judgment into two resurrections and two judgments. The final fate of Beliar/Satan is similar to that in the Ascension of Isaiah. The apocalypse also draws on the chiliast tradition which was popular in Phyrgia in the second century.
[11] "Children, these are the last days; you were told that an Antichrist must come, and now several antichrists have already appeared; we know from this that these are the last days....The man who denies that Jesus is the Christ, he is the liar, he is Antichrist." (1 John 2:18, 22)
Comments: The outlook that "an Antichrist must come" is strongly reminiscent of 2 Thessalonians which looks forward to the future to the coming of the Rebel during a Great Apostasy and to a lesser extent the Markan apocalypse which fortells the coming of "false Christs". The appearance of "rivals to Christ ... out of our own number" (2:19) recalls the Great Apostasy of 2 Thessalonians. But while 2 Thessalonians does not view the second coming as immediate and explicitly denies this view, 1 John views the current apostasy as a sign of the "last days" and the imminency of "the day of Judgment" (1 John 4:17). The contrast between the "Spirit of Truth" and the "Spirit of Falsehood" in 1 John 4:6 also recalls the presumed contrast between the Holy Spirit and the False Prophet in Revelation 13:11-18, particularly how the "Spirit of Falsehood" in v. 6 is the "Spirit of the Antichrist" in v. 3 and the "false prophet" in v. 4.
Apocalypse of Elijah (early second century A.D.)
[12] In the fourth year of that king, the Rebel [lit. "the son of lawlessness"] will appear, saying, 'I am the Christ,' although he is not. Don't believe him! When the Christ comes, he will come in the manner of a covey of doves with the crown of doves surrounding him. He will walk upon the heaven's vaults with the sign of the cross leading him. The whole world will behold him like the sun which shines from the eastern horizon to the western. This is how he will come, with all the angels surrounding him. But the Rebel will begin to stand again in the holy places. He will say to the sun, 'Fall' and it will fall. He will say, 'Shine,' and it will do it....He will cause the lame to walk, he will cause the deaf to hear, he will cause the dumb to speak, he will cause the blind to see. The lepers he will cleanse. The ill he will heal. The demons he will cast out. He will multiply his signs and his wonders in the presence of everyone. He will do the works which Christ did, except for raising the dead alone. In this you will know he is the Rebel, because he is unable to give life....Then when Elijah and Enoch hear that the shameless one has revealed himself in the holy place, they will come down and fight him...The shameless one will hear and he will be angry, and he will fight with them in the marketplace of the great city. And he will spend seven days fighting them. And they will spend three and a half days in the market place dead, but on the fourth day they will rise up and scold him....Sixty righteous ones will gird on the breastplate of God and run to Jerusalem to fight with the shameless one...and he will be angry and command to kindle altars. And the righteous ones will be lifted up and burned. And on that day the heart of many will harden and they will flee from him saying, 'This is not the Christ. The Christ does not kill the righteous.' ...And on that day the earth will be disturbed, and the sun will darken, and peace will be removed from the earth....It will come to pass on that day that the Lord will hear and command the heaven and the earth with great wrath. And they will send forth fire. And the fire will prevail over the earth seventy-two cubits. It will consume the sinners and the devils like stubble. A true judgment will occur....On that day, the Lord will judge the heaven and the earth. He will judge those who transgressed in heaven, and those who did so on earth....After these things, Elijah and Enoch will come down and lay down the flesh of the world and receive their spiritual flesh. They will pursue the Rebel and kill him since he is not able to speak. On that day, he will dissolve in their presence like ice which is dissolved by a fire. They will say to him, 'Your time has passed by for you. Now therefore you and those who believe you will perish.' They will be cast into the bottom of the Abyss and it will be closed for them. On that day, the Christ, the king, and his saints will come forth from heaven. He will burn the earth. He will spend a thousand years upon it. Because the sinners prevailed over it, he will create a new heaven and a new earth. He will rule with his saints and they are with the Christ for a thousand years. (Apocalypse of Elijah 3-5)
Comments: The language derives from 2 Thessalonians but the concept is strongly rooted in Revelation, with the "two witnesses" in Revelation 11 identified explicitly as Elijah and Enoch (the two prophets who never died) who just as in Revelation die for a short time on a city street and then are brought back to life. The "sign of the Son of Man" in Matthew is interpreted as the "cross" (in the Didache it is "an opening in heaven") and the Rebel is revealed as a false Christ by both his murdering and his lack of power over death. The chiliast prediction of a thousand year reign is married with the prophecy of a worldwide conflaguration -- earlier hinted at in the Ascension of Isaiah but not described in such detail. The use of Revelation and 1 John (cf. ApElijah 1:2 = 1 John 2:15) suggests familiarity with the Johannine circle in Asia Minor.
Apocalypse of Peter (c. A.D. 100-150)
[13] In the last days, there shall be false Christs and arouse expectations saying: 'I am the Christ, and I have now come into the world.' And when Israel perceives the wickedness of their deeds they shall turn away after them and deny him, even the first Christ whom they crucified and therein sinned a great sin. But this deceiver is not the Christ. And when they reject him he shall slay with the sword, and there shall be many martyrs. Then shall the twigs of the fig-tree, that is, the house of Israel, shoot forth: many shall become martyrs at his hand. Enoch and Elijah shall be sent to teach them that this is the Deceiver which must come into the world and do signs and wonders to deceive. And thus shall they that die by his hand as martyrs, and shall be reckoned among the good and righteous martyrs who have pleased God in their life. And he showed me in his right hand the souls of all men, and on the palm of his right hand the image of that which shall be accomplished at the last day: how the righteous and the sinners shall be separated, and how they do that are upright in heart, and how the evil-doers shall be rooted out to all eternity. We beheld how the sinners wept in great affliction and sorrow, until all that saw it with their eyes wept, whether righteous or angels, and he himself also. Behold now what shall come upon them in the last days, when the day of God and the day of the decision of the judgement of God comes. From the east to the west all the children of men will be gathered together before my Father that lives forever. And he shall command Hades to open its bars and give up all that is therein. And the wild beasts and the fowls shall he command to restore all the flesh that they have devoured, because he wishes that men reappear; for nothing perishes before God, and nothing is impossible with him, because all things are his. For all things come to pass on the day of decision, on the Day of Judgement, at the word of God....And in soul and spirit shall the great Uriel give them at the commandment of God; for God has set him over the resurrection of the dead on the Day of Judgement....Under the heaven shall be a sharp fire that cannot be quenched and flows to fulfill the judgement of wrath. And the stars shall fly in pieces by flames of fire, as if they had not been created...and so soon as the whole creation dissolves.... As for the elect that have done good, they shall come unto me and not see death by the devouring fire. But the unrighteous and the sinners, and the hypocrites shall stand in the depths of darkness that shall not pass away, and their chastisement is the fire, and angels bring forward their sins and prepare for them a place where they shall be punished forever. (Apocalypse of Peter 8-21)
Comments: The Apocalypse of Peter most closely resembles the Apocalypse of Elijah in its identification of the "two witnesses" of Revelation with Elijah and Enoch and its description of the conflaguration that would consume earth and heaven. A detailed description of the torture of the resurrected wicked in hell follows. It departs from ApElijah by referring not to the "Rebel" or the "son of lawlessness" but "the Deceiver coming into the world" -- language reminiscent of the Didache and 2 John 7 (where the "Antichrist" is the "Deceiver"). The description of Uriel as the angel supervising the resurrection is reminiscent of 1 Enoch 20:2 which in the Greek states that "Uriel ... is over the world and Tartarus".
The Second Epistle of Peter (c. A.D. 150)
[14] "The Lord can rescue the good from the ordeal, and hold the wicked for their punishment until the Day of Judgment...The present heaven and earth are destined for fire, and are only being reserved until Judgement Day so that all sinners may be destroyed....The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then with a roar heaven will vanish, the elements will catch fire and fall apart, and the earth and all that it contains will be burnt up. Since everything is coming to an end like this, you should be living holy and saintly lives, while you wait and long for the Day of God to come, when the sky will dissolve in flames and the elements melt in the heat."
Comments: The pseudonymous epistle of 2 Peter advances the Petrine notion of cosmic conflaguration otherwise developed in the Apocalypse of Peter. The strikingly similar language, particularly in the "dissolving" of "all creation" or "the elements" and "the sky", suggests some sort of literary dependence, though it is not clear in which direction.
Leolaia
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10
"The Golden Image" and another presto-chango
by onacruse ini cut my eye-teeth on the your will be done book, and oh how fascinated i was to have the "visual" of that dream-image, and the conviction that it was the wonderful fds who, for the first time, had revealed that light on god's word.
even when i had read some of russell's works, the same explanation was offered, and so (naturally, as the good little dubber that i was), i assumed that the wts had always taught the same about this passage from daniel.
but then, last week, i came across this interesting little tidbit (
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Leolaia
onacruse....wow, thanks for another great example of a doctrinal vacillation! :)))
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Why is this masonic type image linked to JW-Media website?
by Pleasuredome inof course most of us who have done any sort of reasearch on the matter will know that 'christianity' is just a cover for the sun religion.
not surprising therfore that the tetragramaton should be found in the sun on this pic.
but why is it linked to the wts's media site?
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Leolaia
the fact that the WTS has put this image on their website which ascociates JEHOVAH (tetragrammaton) with the SUN. in other words Jehovah is the Sun. Sun worship.
From the portion of the image you posted, I would not go so far as label it as a representation of the sun. As is well-known in Christian art, glory and holiness is often depicted the same way -- as a circular array of rays streaming from the figure or person of interest. Of course, this motif is itself derivative from solar iconography. But that in no way identifies Jehovah with the sun or represents sun worship.
In art, language, and other aspects of culture, representations are semiotically composed of two things: the signifier (the artifact, the word, the symbol) and the signified (what is being represented). The artistic motif of shooting rays is a signifier that at one time indexed the Sun as the signified but within the Jewish-Christian demythologizing context which directly opposes the iconic representation of concrete signifieds (as forbidden in the Ten Commandments; "any likeness of anything in heaven," Exodus 20:4), the signifier is used to represent abstract signifieds like glory and holiness which in Jewish-Christian literature is described in almost solar terms ---
"his splendor was like the sunrise, rays flashed from his hand," Habakkuk 3:4
"all around him was what looked like fire and a light all around...the glory of Yahweh," Ezekiel 1:27-28
"a stream of fire poured out, issuing from his presence," Daniel 7:10
"beneath his throne were issuing streams of flaming fire ... flaming fire was round about him," 1 Enoch 14:20-22
"his eyes are like the rays of the sun and his face glorious," 1 Enoch 106:5
"his face shown like the sun and his clothes became as white as light," Matthew 17:2
"his face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance," Revelation 1:16
There is no inherent or stable connection between the signifier and signified and thus the same signifier can link to different signifieds over time, and when the motif represents something more abstract than the Sun, it can be generalizable and applied to a wider range of referrants and we see this in the texts above with the earlier texts (i.e. Habakkuk and Ezekiel) applying the motif only to Yahweh while the later texts (1 Enoch, Matthew, Revelation) apply it to angels, Jesus during the tranfiguration, and potentially to all the righteous (Matthew 13:43).
Sun-worship did indeed contribute to use of solar imagery in Yahwism at least initially, and Mark Baker in his Early History of God devotes a chapter to this subject. He writes: "To summarize, solar language for Yahweh apparently developed in two stages. First, it originated as part of the Canaanite, and more generally Near Eastern, heritage of divine language as an expression of general theophanic luminosity. Like Ningirsu, Assur, and Marduk, Yahweh could be rendered in either solar or storm terms or both together. Second, perhaps under the influence of the monarchy, in the first millenium the sun became one component of the symbolic repetoire of the chief god in Israel just as it did in Assur, Babylon, and Ugarit. In Israel it appears to have been a special feature of the southern monarchy, since the abvailable evidence is restricted to Judah; it is not attested in the northern kingdom. Furthermore, it seems to have been a special expression of the Judean royal theology" (pp. 157-158). Associating Yahweh, the king, and the Messiah with the sun is biblical (cf. Psalm 84:12, 2 Samuel 23:3-4, and Malachi 3:20 respectively), and thus it is not surprising if in Judeo-Christian art the tetragrammaton is embedded in motif derived from solar iconography.... what is surprising of course is the WTS accepting an image at all derivable from pagan iconography, since they endeavor to reject the signifier entirely if it is ever used by "pagans" in their worship or culture.
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Bold lies in this weeks bookstudy material.........
by Pistoff inok, help me out: i think this is an outright fabrication, but i know that the wt will have some lame quote to back it up.. in the material for the bookstudy this week, they say this:.
"in 1923, jehovah's servants discerned that "the sheep" of jesus' parable found at matt 25:31-36 and the "other sheep" to which he referred as recorded at john 10:16 are people who would have the opportunity to live forever on earth.".
no way, not unless i have been lied to all my life.
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Leolaia
It wasn't until the numbers of the anointed approached 59,000 it was uncomfortable maintaining 144,000 as literal. Something had to give. Russell expected the end to come in 1914 maybe 1915 at the latest. This was not an issue then.
blondie....that was the most succinct description of what happened that I ever read! Thank you!
I wonder what beckons for the future. Memorial partakers do not show any sign of dying off as a "remnant". I wonder what will happen when enough generations of Memorial partakers have passed to no longer allow 144,000 as literal (of course, forgetting any 1st century Christians and those in the intervening years as belonging to this heavenly class).
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The Authorship of the Pastoral Epistles
by ThiChi inthe pastoral epistles is the name given to 1 and 2 timothy and titus.
each of these letters explicitly claims to be the work of the apostle paul, but the higher critical school has concluded that these letters were written by a disciple of paul's, sometime in the early second century, and that his name was affixed to them to lend them authority.
this is so ingrained in liberal scholarship that it is taken for granted the letters are not from paul.
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Leolaia
Hebrews is anonymous. The suggestion that Paul or Barnabas wrote it is based on pure guesswork, nothing else. The surest sign of its authorship is the Philo-esque style of typological argumentation. This might suggest an origin in Alexandria or with someone from Alexandria. The Epistle of Barnabas is closest to Hebrews in this regard, which probably explains the connection to Barnabas. But the Epistle of Barnabas, despite its traditional name, is also anonymous and thus is too shaky a ground to establish a claim of authorship for Hebrews. Tertullian believed that Barnabas was the author of Hebrews, so the tradition was quite early and the familiarity with the tabernacle and priesthood would fit a Levite like Barnabas. However, Barnabas himself was not from Alexandria and the explicit statement in Hebrews 2:3 that the author is not of the apostles who saw Jesus would seem to rule out Barnabas who was one of the earliest apostles outside of the Twelve (regarded by some as one of the Seventy). Apollos, "a native of Alexandria" who was an associate of Paul (Acts 18:24) and a prominent figure in the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 1:12, 3:4-5), though probably not a direct witness to Christ, is thus a better candidate. Martin Luther, Tyndale, and other prominent Protestants took this view. The association of Apollos to Paul would explain both the Pauline echoes (e.g. Hebrews 13:19=1 Corinthians 16:10-12) and the Alexandrine flavor of the homily, but this is still a guess. Against it is the silence of the entire patristic tradition, who attributed the book variously to Paul, Luke, Barnabas, and Clement of Rome.