Bethel Christmas
by VM44 10 Replies latest watchtower scandals
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VM44
Found this quote at Freeminds.org. --VM44
Judge Rutherford, one of the Watchtower presidents, was very excited about his "numerous Christmas presents" (Watchtower--Jan. 15, 1919, p. 31).
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VM44
So doen't The Watchtower say they were freed from "Babylonish Captivity" in 1919? But here they are celebrating Christmas in 1926!
They also didn't know then that they had been chosen by Jesus, that bit of "new light" was still years ahead for them.
--VM44
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RachelHall
The cook didn't have the day off for Xmas?
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VM44
Apparently not, neither did the waiters. See them standing at the ends of the tables? --VM44
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Kenneson
Here's what the Proclaimers book (page 199) has to say on the topic."This holiday was celebrated yearly even by members of the Watch Tower Society's headquarters staff at the Bethel Home in Brooklyn, New York. For many years they had been aware that December 25 was not the correct date, but they reasoned that the date had long been popularly associated with the birth of the Savior and that doing good for others was proper on any day. However, after further investigation of the subject, the members of the Society's headquarters staff, as well as the staffs at the Society's branch offices in England and in Switzerland, decided to stop sharing in Christmas festivities, so no Christmas celebration was held there after 1926.
"R.H. Barber, a member of the headquarters staff who made a thorough investigation of the origin of Christmas customs and the fruitage that these were yielding, presented the results in a radio broadcast. That information was also published in The Golden Age of December 12, 1928. It was a thorough expose of the God-dishonoring roots of Christmas. Since then, the pagan roots of Christmas customs have become general public knowledge, but few people make changes in their way of life as a result. On the other hand, Jehovah's Witnesses were willing to make needed changes in order to be more acceptable as servants of Jehovah."
So, there you have it. Did they receive their information from the Holy Spirit or the Bible? No, from professed Christians and secular sources, whom they say are not guided by the Holy Spirit. And yet these people (who provided their sources) were years ahead of "God's" organization! Had they not learned this from members of Babylon the Great, they might still be celebrating Christmas today. Go figure!
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moomanchu
Did they put celebrating Christmas to a vote or didn't they do that back then?Which makes me wonder.
When there is a vote and say 3 or 4 GB's vote against the majority are they shunned why isn't
there repercusions for the minority when they disagree, they are going against Jehovah!!
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Leolaia
Despite the cessation of Christmas observance at Bethel after 1926 and the article against Christmas in 1928, the ISBA Yearbook still ran a Christmas-themed daily text on December 25, all the way through the 1930 Yearbook. It was not until the 1931 Yearbook when some other subject matter was used for that day's text. And what replaced the "peace and goodwill" Christmas message? What else but a text about the "great carnage" and "great slaughter of Armageddon" (see p. 344). LOL!!
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VM44
There is a problem with the identification of Milton Henschel in that 1926 Bethel Christmass picture.
Milton Henschel was born on August 9, 1920, so I would say he looks somewhat old in the picture for a six year old,
--VM44
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karnage
I haven't seen those pictures since I was about 9 or 10 years old! I was hoping that I was one day going to be able to see them again. There are so many things that the WTS does not want to remember and sweep under the rug. A picture is worth a thousand words. In this case... the picture is a very powerful one. Excellent post!!