JW "gods" and Isaiah/John

by glenster 3 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  glenster

  Does anyone have some information about the view of there being only one God and no "gods" to the Jewish people of the 2nd temple period? One part of the article I'm working on compares the mainstream historical and JW views of Jesus and the holy spirit. Part of it so far, in one section, has this for the JW view:

  For instance, the next link gives a JW view of the "ego eimi"/"I am" issue--
  God making a special pronouncement with it in Greek at Ex.3:14, Is.43:10 (which
  includes God saying there is no other "god" without specifying literal or figur-
  ative; the JW Jesus is a true figurative "god"); 43:25; 46:4, and Jesus in John
  4:26; 8:24,28,58, and 13:19. The last time I checked it, it said you're "not
  allow"ed to make the historical connection like millions of others, including
  the early Christian Greeks (you may not have known that):
  http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/newworldtranslation/stafford_ani.hu.
  isaiah.htm

  This one explains the JW position of there being one main God and angelic
  gods, the devil being an evil angelic god, that the Isaiah verses about there
  being no other god aren't a reference to, etc.:
  http://abrahamic-faith.com/shamoun/Jesus%20as%20God%20refuting%20JWs.html

  ****

  Any advice?
• 

  serendipity

  Welcome glenster!
  bttt
• 

  Narkissos

  Welcome glenster,

  Here's an interesting review of an interesting book for a start:

  http://depts.drew.edu/jhc/rpbarker.html
• 

  glenster

  Hi!

  The 1st thing this reminded me of was a liberal line of historical interpreta-
  tion, such as for J, E, P, and D sources for the OT, which holds that a variety
  of believer, before those strands were woven together, believed in multiple gods
  such as angels and humans approved by God. The outlooks of these believers was
  incorporated into the OT but in contexts used to disapprove of belief in those
  angels and humans as gods and affirm the monotheism view--belief in one true
  God. The mainstream conservative view basically agrees in seeing God disapprove
  of us thinking of any gods as real or approved of--we're only to believe in one
  true God. The JW view instead goes back to the monolatrism view to interpret
  scripture to have God approve of us considering those human judges and angels as
  gods.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monolatrism

  The JW view forces that the Masoretic text and Septuagint, one referring to
  gods and the other to angels in a couple of verses of the book of Psalms, must
  be a matter of the Septuagint defining the gods as angels, with the NT book of
  Hebrews thought to quote the Septuagint version of the Psalms to show this def-
  inition was the understanding in Jesus' time. (Psalm 97:7 and Heb.1:6; Psalm 8:
  5 and Heb.2:7)

  But this connection isn't established. The Septuagint is different than the
  Masoretic text, based on different Hebrew texts, and the Septuagint was the text
  commonly known in Jesus' time. See the Wikipedia article at the next link:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septuagint#Relationship_between_the_Septuagint_and_the_Masoretic_text

  As the article points out, the Dead Sea Scrolls agree with the Septuagint
  over a similar difference at Deut.32:39.