i was reading about genetics and genealogy and got to wondering about the claims of genealogy that the WT makes. doesnt it seem odd that when faced with the recorded genealogy of jesus in the gospels which obviously skips several generations, the WT says that the genealogy was so well-known to the jews that a writer could take some liberties with the lists because the reader would be familiar enough with it to fill in certain details? also, the author of the genealogy could not afford to make the slightest mistake because the readers were so familiar with the genealogy and because anybody could, on a whim, go check the all-important master records kept in the temple.
but, on the other hand, when the romans sacked jerusalem suddenly this information that was so well-known that it barely required telling in detail was suddenly lost for all time.
as with all of these ultra-simplistic explanations, i just went along and hadnt really thought too much about it but now looking back, i knew something funny must be going on. ive never heard anyone else mention this supposed destruction of the carefully built jewish genealogies in 70, have you?
i did a quick search and came up with this page right away, which is particularly interesting since its clearly addressing the JWs claims directly.
http://www.outreachjudaism.org/genealogy.html
excerpt:
Your friend’s assertion that all the genealogical records of the Jewish people were destroyed is untrue and unfounded. No such event ever occurred in Jewish history and there is no historian or ancient source that supports his claim. The genealogies of the twelve tribes of Israel were not stored in the Temple and they were never destroyed. Moreover, the majority of the Jewish people did not live in Israel during the first century and their genealogical records would have been unaffected by the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in 70 C.E.
im sure further research would uncover how un-simplistic the situation really is.
mox