There exists many interesting facts in direct conflict with the Watchtower society, or are just not brought forward for some reason or another by the Watchtower Society. This is a well known fact amongst many observers, and previous Witnesses, that the Watchtower Society either hides the evidence by not mentioning anything about the material, or indirectly by misquoting the source (as is the case of the Ante-Nicene Fathers). I have selection from Raymond Franz’s Crisis of Conscience. The author says that,
Yet the adoption of this amendment [that in 1944 an amendment was passed requiring that a “maximum number of 500 persons, selected by the corporation’s Board, would be the only ones with a right to vote.” [1] ] as to voting members was presented in articles in the Watchtower of December 1, 1971…as being an occasion of such significance and magnitude that it became a focal point in the explanation of the prophecy of Daniel 8:14, regarding the 2,300 prophetic days connected with the ‘bringing of the sanctuary into its proper condition.’ I doubt that one Witness in a thousand, if shown that verse today, would ever connect it up with 1944 and the corporation amendment made then [own italics for emphasis]. [2]
It would be a wonder as to how accurate the aforementioned statement is. If it is a
rarity then this only confirms the final conclusion that there exists certain doctrines, and verses related to certain doctrines that are either hidden, or not that well expounded (current evidence brought forward on the concealment of Daniel 8:14 is welcome) For example, in regards to the hidden evidence of ancient writers in regards to the Seventy Years of Desolation, that “…the Watchtower Society fails to mention that Berossus’ statement is clearly supported by the most direct reading of Daniel 1:1-6.”[3]
The book by the previous author, The Gentile Times Reconsidered, is no longer published, and is indeed a rarity. The author makes note (still under the same heading: Misrepresentation of Ancient Writers) that the Watchtower Society hides the “fact that Josephus, in his third and last reference to the period of Jerusalem’s desolation, states that the desolation lasted for fifty years, not seventy [in Against Apion I, 21]![4]
The Watchtower Society tries to raise doubt by the contrary evidence by quoting
Josephus, and Theophilus who was the bishop of Antioch. But little is known amongst most elders (who talk with a scholarly tone about Josephus’ works) that “The chronology of the Septuagint version disagrees completely with that of the Hebrew text…” [5] The evidence brought against the Watchtower Society’s 607 B.C.E. date (thus allowing them to arrive at their 1914 date), including biblical, is too many to count, especially considering the archeological support. An interesting example of the historical data comes from the thousands of business tablets, which Johnson says, “If twenty years have to be added to the Neo-Babylonian era in order to place the destruction of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E., where are the thousands of business and administrative texts dated in those missing years?” [6] An exhaustive study need not suffice here, but just to show an example from Jonsson’s book, a Neo-Babylonian chronology was presented, which was published by R.P. Dougherty, and based upon over two thousand business and administrative documents. [7]
Nabu-apal-usur 21 years (625-605 BC)
Nabu-kudurru-usur 43 years (604-562 BC)
Amel-Marduk 2 years (561-560 BC)
Nergal-sar-usur 4 years (559-556 BC)
Labasi-Murduk a few months ( 556 BC)
Nabu-naid 17 years (555-539 BC)
The importance of the business and administrative documents is that they confirm not only agree with the evidence given by Berossus’ King list, Ptolmy’s cannon, the astronomical diaries, and Nabonidus’ royal inscriptions, which the Watchtower Society mentions. [8] But the Watchtower Society does not say anything about the business and administrative documents agreements refuting “the notion that the information on VAT 4956 [the author makes the reading difficult by failing to mention here that VAT 4956 is a astronomical diary] could have been concocted during the Seleucid period.” [9]
I had missed the opportunity to study a course in ancient Israel this semester, since a mistake was made by dropping the wrong course. I have had the opportunity to study from a friend’s library who lives close by. Writing this down keeps me busy, until I have I go back to school again.
[1] Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience (Atlanta, Georgia: Commentary Press, 2002), 103.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Carl Olof Jonsson, The Gentile Times Reconsidered (Atlanta, Georgia: Commentary Press, 1986), 151.
[4] Ibid, 153.
[5] Ibid, 155.
[6] Ibid, 60.
[7] Ibid, 64.
[8] Ibid,145.
[9] Ibid.