Rolf J. Furuli war Dozent für semitische Sprachen, und hat während mehr als 10 Jahren Vorlesungen zu Akkadisch, Aramäisch, Äthiopisch, Hebräisch, Phönizisch, Syrisch und Ugaritisch gehalten. Er hat auch Arabisch, Griechisch, Latein, Mittelägyptisch und angewandte Linguistik studiert, und hat viele Dokumente der erwähnten semitischen Sprachen sowie Sumerisch ins Norwegische und Englische übersetzt. In 2005 verteidigte er seine Dissertation, in welcher er für ein vollständig neues Verständnis des Verbalsystems des klassischen Hebräisch argumentiert. Er hat 11 Bücher und mehrere Artikel zu Themen der Bibel, Bibelübersetzungen, antike Geschichte und Chronologie geschrieben.

Veröffentlichungen

• 1995 – Imperfect Consecutive and the Verbal System of Biblical Hebrew (thesis, Mag. Art., University of Oslo), 362 pages.
• 1997 –“The Problem of Induction and the Hebrew Verb.” Built on Solid Rock, E. Wardini, ed., pp. 82-90 ISBN 82-7099-283-6.
• 1999 – The Role of Theology and Bias in Bible Translation With a Special Look at the New World Translation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, 334 pages ISBN 0-9659814-4-4
• 2000 – “Modern models and the study of dead languages” Motskrift,  NTNU, Trondheim pp. 83–86
• 2001 – “The study of new religious movements with a stress on the mental health of Jehovah’s Witnesses (with Leon Groenewald and Johan Nerdrum) Tidsskrift for Norsk Psykologforening (Journal of the Norwegian Psychological Association), 2, pp. 123–128.
• 2002 – Vitenskap og Bibeloversettelse ”Kristianisering” og ”Mytologisering” av Bibelens hebraiske tekst (Science and Bible Translation – „Christianizing“ and „Mythologizing“ of the Hebrew Text of the Bible), 201 pages ISBN 82-994633-1-9 (In Norwegian and Danish)
• 2002 –“The NWT’s translation of the Hebrew verbal system with particular stress on waw consecutive.” In Your Word is Truth—The Fiftieth Anniversary of the New World Translation T. Byatt and H. Flemings, eds., 221-241 ISBN 0-9506212-6-9
• 2003 – Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Persian Chronology Compared with the Chronology of the Bible, Volume 1: Persian Chronology and the Length of the Babylonian Exile of the Jews, 251 pages ISBN 82-994633-3-5
• 2005 – The verbal System of Classical Hebrew An Attempt to Distinguish Between Semantic and Pragmatic Factors. In Current Issues in the Analysis of Semitic Grammar and Lexicon I. L. Ezard and J. Retsø eds., pp. 205–231. ISBN 3-447-05268-6
• 2006 – A New Understanding of the Verbal System of Classical Hebrew – An Attempt to Distinguish Between Semantic and Pragmatic Factors. Doctoral dissertation, 504 pages ISBN 82-994633-4-3
• 2007 –The Neo-Babylonian Chronology and the Cuneiform Tablet VAT 4956 in Forschung-Bibel-Artefakte, Berlin, pp. XIV-XVIII ISBN 978-3-9811529-2-0
• 2007 – Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Persian Chronology Compared with the Chronology of the Bible, Volume II: Assyrian, Babylonian and Egyptian Chronology, 370 pages. ISBN 978-82-994633-6-2
• 2008 – Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Persian Chronology Compared with the Chronology of the Bible, Volume 1: Persian Chronology and the Length of the Babylonian Exile of the Jews, revised edition. 376 pages. ISBN 82-994633-5-1
• 2009 –  “Hvordan tenker Jehovas vitner? Et vitne beskriver troen ”(How do Jehovah’s Witnesses think? A Witness describes the faith). In Jehovas vitner En Flerfaglig Studie (Jehovahs Witnesses An Interdisciplinary Study), 156-166 pages ISBN 978-82-15-01453-1
• 2011 – The Role of Theology and Bias in Bible Translation With a Special Look at the New World Translation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Second edition, 475 pages. ISBN 978-82-92978-02-3
• 2012 – Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Persian Chronology Compared with the Chronology of the Bible, Volume 1: Persian Chronology and the Length of the Babylonian Exile of the Jews, Second edition, 413 pages. ISBN 978-82-92978-03-0
• 2013 – Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Persian Chronology Compared with the Chronology of the Bible, Volume II: Assyrian, Babylonian and Egyptian Chronology, Second edition, 502 pages. ISBN 978-82-92978-04-7
• 2014 – Jehovah’s Witnesses: Adherent Essay. In Handbook of Religion A Christian Engagement with Traditions, Teachings, and Practices, T.C Muck, H.A. Netland, and G.R. McDermott, eds. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 485-488 pages. ISBN 978-08010-3776-4
• 2017 – When Was the Book of Daniel Written? A Philological, Lingusitc, and Historical Appraoch. 330 pages. ISBN 978-82-92978-06-1
• 2018 – The Tetragram —Its History, its Use in the New Testament, and Its Pronunciation, 250 pages. 978-82-92978-09-2
• 2019 – Can we Trust the Bible?  With Focus on the Creation Account, the Worldwide Flood, and the Prophecies, Epub edition, 1,550 pages, 1,100 photographs. ISBN 978-82-92978-07-8
• 2020 – The Fallacy of Prophetic Perfect – With Translation of Verses From the Prophets. 363 pages. ISBN978-82-92978-10-8
• My Beloved Religion — and the Governing Body. 345 pages. ISBN 978-82-92978-12-2

Übersetzungen

• 2001 – Gilgamesh og Atrahasis To babylonske helter (Gilgamesh and Atrahasis two Babylonian Heroes (with Jens Braarvig and Tor Åge Bringsværd) – translated from Akkadian
• 2003 – Enoks Bok (The book of Enoch) – translated from Ethiopic ISBN 82-525-5177-7
• 2004 – Dødehavsrullene (The Dead Sea Scrolls) – translated documents from Hebrew and Aramaic ISBN 82-525-5199-8
• 2006 – Sumeriske Skrifter (Sumerian Writings) – translated documents from Sumerian ISBN 82-525-6213-2
• 2008 – Kebra Nagast – translated from Ethiopic ISBN 978-82-525-6704-5
• 2008 – Baal Gudenes konge i Ugarit (Baal the King of the Gods in Ugarit) – translated some documents from Ugaritic, Phoenician, and Hebrew  ISBN 978-82-525-6590-4

The books of R.J. Furuli in English and Danish can be acquired at www.gramma.dk.

STATEMENT OF BELIEF

As the editor of this webpage, I will state my belief and inform the reader of the following:

I believe that Jehovah God has used the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society from the days of C.T. Russell to restore the only true religion and that all the doctrines of Jehovah’s Witnesses are based on the Bible.

In the second century CE, the Christian congregations had bodies of elders. In time, some of these elders wanted to have more power than the others, and the result was that they exalted themselves and became bishops. The next step was that clergy was created in the congregations.

Today, we have a similar situation among Jehovah’s Witnesses. The first Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses (GB) was instituted in 1971, and the arrangement of a body of elders in each congregation was instituted in 1972. The bodies of elders were, to a great degree, independent of the GB, and they made their own decisions to the best of the congregation members. After some time, some of the power of the bodies of elders were transferred to the GB, and this was completed in the 21st century. In this way, the organization got their “bishops” and their “clergy.”

Today, the GB functions as a government for JW. The members of the GB have all power over the doctrines, the assets, and the money. The GB demands absolute obedience, and those who are not obedient to their rules and decisions are disfellowshipped. Today, the organization is autocratic, and its structure resembles the structure of the Catholic Church.

From 1942 to 1971, when N.H. Knorr was the president of the Watchtower Society, and F.W. Franz was the vice president, decisions and rules were based on the Bible, and only a few human commandments existed. During the last part of the 20th century and particularly in the 21st century, the GB has made a great number of laws and rules that are not based on the Bible. For example, 30 of the 41 disfellowshipping offenses that are mentioned in the book for elders, “Shepherd the flock of God” have no Bible basis.

I have served as an elder for 56 years, and I have had special assignments, such as being a circuit overseer and a district overseer. Jehovah God has taught me through his organization to show courage and never shrink back when I see something that is wrong in the organization, also in situations that will harm me if I speak up. The position of the members of the GB and a great number of their decisions violate the Bible. Because of this, I wrote the book My Beloved Religion—And The Governing Body. I sent this book to the GB and wrote that if the GB would start to change the wrong things that the book pointed out, the book would not be published. This was rejected.

Everyone who is not obedient to the GB will be disfellowshipped, and in June of 2020, I was disfellowshipped. The members of the judicial committee had not seen or read my book, so their decision was made on hearsay, which even is contrary to the rules of the GB.

My position today is, in some respects, similar to the position of Martin Luther. He was a member of the Catholic Church, and he pointed out some errors in the procedures of the Church. Because of this, he was excommunicated, and in time, the Lutheran Church was established. I have also pointed out a number of errors in the JW organization, but in contrast with Luther, I do not want to make an opposition group.

I do not want to harm Jehovah’s Witnesses, which is my beloved religion. But the lives of tens of thousands of my brothers and sisters have been ruined by the unbiblical laws and rules created by the GB. I cannot just close my eyes to this injustice, and therefore I have written the mentioned book and have created this webpage.

During the coming 12 months, Jehovah willing, I plan to publish 100 or more articles on this webpage. The articles are based on a study of the Watchtower literature from 1930 to the present and the Bible. Each article will be short, but the articles will contain references to the Watchtower literature and detailed linguistic analyses of relevant Bible texts. The articles will in time be translated to Norwegian, Italian, and Portuguese, and I hope to add other languages later.

As mentioned, 30 of the 41 disfellowshipping offenses mentioned in the book for elders are made-up by the GB and have no Bible backing. The first articles to be published on this webpage are analyses of these 30 disfellowshipping offenses.