how do jws explain other non ot jewish beliefs like kaballah, talmud?

by mP 8 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  mP

  why is it jws believe the old testament and yet ignore the other religious commentary and sprititual aspects available from the jewish culture.

  take jesus for example, no where is he mentioned by name in the ot or in the writings of jews who lived in the first century, and still believe.

  kaballah is another weird, astrotheological part of jewsish religion, magic numbers, inner soul, magic powers, astrology and so on. how do they explain the same jewish leaders who run the jrwish religion also came up with this stuff ?

  the talmud is especially interesting because they have funny stories that explainparadoxes like who did cain marry. theres also a story of adams first wife and im not talking about eve, im talking about lilith. you may have heard of her in the lullaby hush little baby, yes thats her.
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  Band on the Run

  Good question. You may be confusing the Torah with the Talmud. Torah is the first five books in the Hebrew Scriptures. Talmud is a collection of rabbinic commentaries on the Torah. People needed a more practical guide. Hasidim is very interesting. It is a mystical movement from Poland that started in the 1800s I believe. Many people think the garments the Hasidim wear, esp. the men, make them Pharisees. It is just what Polish Jews wore in the 1800s. The men dance in ecstatic trances.

  I assume that the WT does not consider the Jewish commentaries and movements authenitc. Jesus started a New Covenant. They pay lip service to the Bible. Also note that the Witnesses do not celebrate Passover on the same day as Jews do worldwide. Altho my parents thought well of Jews, I always thought there was much antisemitism from the WT, evidenced by Rutherford's dealings with Hitler.
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  Chariklo

  Very interesting question, bookmarking
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  Disillusioned Lost-Lamb

  Remember that modern Christianity bases itself on the contemporary Bible of which the Catholic Church chose the canon; so it’s not complete in inspired writings. This may explain why other theology and religious beliefs are similar but have more information; it also may explain why the Bible can't clarify aything.
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  Band on the Run

  Indeed, despite the sanctity of the Torah in Jewis belief, rabbis had to apply it in everyday life so the Talmud was born. My priest said he thought the biggest mistake in the canonization process was not the process or the books chosen. He said to state that God no longer inspires sacred writings is to have God retreat from human life. There are modern sacred writings all around us. It is a bit bizarre that a finite amount of books, of very limited age range for the NT, were chosen for eternity.
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  transhuman68

  The 1 st century Christians basically hijacked the Hebrew Scriptures and used them to create a ‘Messiah’ who had been ‘prophesied’, and were able to do this by claiming that the Jews had screwed up and were no longer God’s chosen people. This meant that any Jewish writings not included in the Septuagint were now considered irrelevant. But much of what we now call Judaism was created after the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. due to the necessity to use synagogues as places of worship, so it is irrelevant to Christianity and the JWs.
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  mP

  @band

  yes your point about dancing in trances is well taken, ancient religions love taking drugs or getting drunk and then becoming spiritual. we have the account of king david himself dancing like a fool almost or compeletely naked in front of his court while praising jehovah. there is a chapter a bit earlier where saul and samuel the prophet are naked all night.

  im suprised how few'of these weird things jws know about or understand. if they knew all of what was to be jewish, back then they would be shocked. the jews lived nothing like your typical'congregation of today.

  with all this'in mind and more, why is it the wts'avoids'highlighting this stuff? i know they cherry pick scriptures that are rosy and nice, but still dont people realise the grotesque cruelty present not only in the actions but the laws of moses?

  why doesnt the talmud ever get a mention ? surely people know about it, it could be argued it was compiled in a manner that is not that different from ot books. there is no license or qualification, nor isthere a way ofdetermining which books are geniune. one merely trusts or accepts, the work and thats it.

  another study that i know ambit about is gemantria, the atudy of numbers or numerology. the bible loves'numvers. there are'magic numbers everywhere. its always twelve tribes, apsotles,'stones. iam also amazed how many times forty appears, david ruled for forty years,'they wondered forty years, jesus was in the desert foety days. how csn people not see this is numerology, which is banned by moses ?
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  ProdigalSon

  If they ever seriously investigated Kabbalah they would learn that the entire Bible is based on it and they might actually get the sense of its esoteric meaning. But no, to them it's the work of the Devil. Too bad for them, they'll be permanently stuck in stupidity and ignorance, while fully in delusion that they are "spiritually minded". Quite the opposite, with eternal life in a carnal body as their motivating carrot, they are the epitome of non-spirituality. They have no desire to ascend, guaranteeing they never will. They'd rather be ruled by fellow humans who they think have a special spirit but they eat sleep and shit just the same as they do.

  This is a perfect example of how the Watchtower says that evil is good and good is evil.
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  mP

  @Prodigal

  You are quite right, most xians accept what are stories to be literal and what is literal to be symbolic. Most of the grand expressions where god or jesus is referred to as the light is actually literal. What most xians dont get is God and Jesus are not literal personalities up there, they are nature.

  There are many sources that back astrology and show scriptures to back the point. One can search the web and find many sites and books that go into more detail. The fact is if one reads all the gospels where the scripture appears to be about heaven and replaces LORD with SUN, then all we have is someone admiring nature. It is not magic, there are no angels, or some magical man in the sky, its just the Sun, Moon and planets.

  http://www.near-death.com/experiences/origen13.html

  The Bible states that God made the heavenly bodies to show us "signs" of his intentions. These signs can be read by anyone who knows how to interpret them. Astrology is about interpreting these signs in the motions of the sun, moon, planets, and stars.

  "And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as SIGNS to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the Earth." And it was so." (Gen. 1:14-15)
  
  "And there shall be SIGNS in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the Earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." (Luke 21:25-27)
  
  In the verse above, Christ uses astrology to reveal the "signs" in the sky of his coming.