Suprising statement by C.T.Russell in first Watchtower

by dmouse 19 Replies latest jw friends

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  Zico

  becca1, Russell taught that everyone who had ever lived who did not go to heaven would live on the Paradise Earth after Armageddon. The Bible Students still teach everything that Russell taught, so you might find the answers on their site: www.biblestudents.net
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  becca1

  Thank you Zico. Ilooked it over. I still can't tell who they think will go the heaven and who stay on earth. Do they take 144,000 literaly?
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  greendawn

  To Russell Armageddon was the end of human governments and not of 99.9% of mankind, that is obviously a far more decent approach than that of Rutherford which is full of insane infantile anger and destruction. As someone said it was meant to mind condition the dubs with fear and goad them into action. The Russell approach was too inert for his liking.
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  M.J.

  Yes, they do, and that's where JWs derive their belief in 144,000 as a literal number.

  Here's the rundown:

  Charles Russell taught early on that the "little flock" was the small group of true christians who were the bride of Christ. They'd be transferred to heaven at the end of the " gentile times " in 1914, when all the earth's rulers are overthrown ( p 101 ), clearing the way for God's kingdom . Mankind on earth would not be destroyed, but serve in a 1000 year "probation" period with a goal of becoming perfect humans like Adam in the garden. Together with Christ, the "little flock" would be the earth's divine new rulers, becoming "redeemer" and "spirtual mother" for all generations of mankind. They would have the ability to appear on earth as invisible spirits or by materializing into physical bodies.
  
  Russell got the details on this from a man named Nelson Barbour, who described this very plan in his books and magazines . Barbour had come from a big movement led by Baptist preacher William Miller , who calculated through passages in Daniel and Revelation that 1843 (later 1844) was the year of Christ's return. After his prediction failed , Miller admitted he was wrong about the whole date-setting thing and called it quits. Some of his followers , however, insisted that something invisible really did happen on that year. Many others including Barbour came up with countless* new end-time predictions along with new ideas and explanations on the ultimate fate of mankind.
  
  Barbour identified 1874 as the year of Christ's return by "correcting" Miller's calculations and proclaimed this big news in his magazine . After 1874 passed with nothing happening, rather than admit failure Barbour started to claim that he was right after all, that Christ actually had returned, except that it was an "invisible presence" and no one could see him. His magazine nearly went broke because hardly any of his subscribers bought this story. But one reader--a young and wealthy CT Russell--was so impressed with these ideas that he became Barbour's partner in the magazine operation. Russell adopted all of Barbour's chronology ( 1914 , 1874, 1799 , etc.) along with his specific views on the coming kingdom.
  
  After Russell and Barbour parted ways, Russell started molding these ideas in his new "Watch Tower" publications. He started linking the "little flock" with the 144,000 that was mentioned in Revelation. According to his new understanding, Russell's own followers were the last surviving portion of the 144,000, and the full number was chosen in 1881. He determined that 1878 was the year when all the dead members of this group (going back to the apostles) were invisibly resurrected into heaven. As for the kingdom, he wrote that the 144,000 in heaven wouldn't ever have to come down to earth after all, because in 1914 Old Testament "ancient worthies" like Abraham, Issac and Jacob were going to be resurrected to earth as perfect humans. They'd be put in charge of mankind (p. 619, 625) and have the ability to receive orders directly from the 144,000 in heaven, kinda like how perfect Adam communicated with Jehovah in the garden.
  
  Since Russell's death certain details on all this have been revised:

  · 1918, rather than 1878, is now the year that the dead members of the 144,000 were resurrected to heaven.

  · 1935, rather than 1881, is now the year that the full number of the 144,000 was chosen.

  · The Great Crowd will now be in charge of the new earth under direction of the 144,000 in heaven, rather than the "ancient worthies" (Abraham, Isaac, etc.). A big WT campaign had promoted the idea that these "ancient worthies" would be resurrected to perform such a duty in 1925, and a mansion was later built for them in San Diego , but this understanding was changed when the Great Crowd was identified.

  · Once the Great Crowd was identified, a harsher view of Armageddon was implemented. Not only will Church and Government institutions be destroyed, but no living person outside of the organization could really expect to be spared from destruction--not even their kids (Riches, Rutherford, 1936, p. 98)...Many past generations will still be resurrected, though. In contrast, Russell had taught that everyone would live to get a chance at redemption in the new system.

  · 1914, rather than 1874, is now the year that Christ returned invisibly. 1914 is also the start of the last days, rather than 1799. One calculation in support of 1874 (as the start of the millenium) was that 6,000 years of human history ended in 1873. This has been changed to 1975 .

  · The end of the " Gentile Times " in 1914 now marks the beginning of the end of the present system, rather than the actual end of the present system as originally understood.

  · The 144,000 became the "Faithful Discreet Slave class" who are officially represented by an organization. The "spiritual mother" became the organization itself. In contrast, Russell had taught that there would be no true organization set up to redeem mankind until God fully sets up his kingdom.

  *There was an apocalyptic prediction for just about every year from the mid 1800s through the early 1900s, individually promoted by these "expositors".
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  becca1

  TGhank you MJ. I'ts nice to have it all ina nut shell. I guess I'm used to the Society's "Readers Digest" form of insturction.
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  RR

  Becca asked: Can somebody tell me what Russell taught concerning the earth? Does it get destroyed? Who gets to live on earth ? Can you provide scrips to back his belief?

  Pastor Russell believed and taught that man was destined to live on earth forever, "The earth abideth forever" as the scripture say. God's original purpose is to be fulfilled in that regard.

  ALL of mankind will be resurrected and duering the Mediatorial reign of Christ, ALL will be taught of Jehovah. Those who do not conform (as Jesus is said to rule with a rod of iron) will be dealt with. Jesus rules with 144,000 joint-heirs, these are taken from among earth, his faithful followers to sacifrice all to follow Him. There is also the Great Company or CRowd, who will receive a heavenly reward, and will serve Jehovah NOT on thrones, but BEFORE the throne.

  RR
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  Forscher

  Refreshing, isn't it when one goes back and researches the Source and focusses on the teachings rather than all the stories about the man.
  
  Even the Watchtower in some of its histories of Russell admit that what bothered him most as a young man was the inconsistency between the plain biblical statement that "God is love" (1 John 4:8) and the commonly held belief that God is this split-personality who at the core is nothing but a mean old bastard who would just as soon see a fellow fail so he could have the pleasure of roasting him forever. when Russell finally decided to give himself over to belief in God, he never lost sight of all the scriptures which assure us that God's dominant quality is love, despite the examples in the OT which can be taken otherwise, and he set about constructing his theology, and later the movement he founded, around that belief. Sure, he made his mistakes along the way, any of us would, but when you delve into his teachings you can't help but admire the way he saw and portrayed God.
  
  Rutherford, on the other hand, after siezing control of the WTBTS molded its theology along lines which should be very familiar to the Evangelicals among us. Of course, since he was a Baptist before becoming a Bible Student, the smiliarities between WTBTS eschtalogical teachings and that of Evangelicals should be no surprise. That he did it for the bassest of all reasons, his lust for power and priviledge, is what he will go down in history for. That his legacy of lust for power still haunts the WTBTS is the real tradjedy. In the words of Mr. T, we should "pity the fool" who still buys into that.
  
  Forscher
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  darth frosty

  The WT$ keeps the R&F from researching these really old publications by telling them that these were written Just for the annointed and those of the great crowd have a hard time discerning these deeper things of god. At least that is what a CO said once.
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  Black Sheep

  Don't neglect to read Russell's article, 'What is Truth?' in the same mag.
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  greendawn

  "The WT$ keeps the R&F from researching these really old publications by telling them that these were written Just for the annointed and those of the great crowd have a hard time discerning these deeper things of god." Who are these anointed? As far as I could see they were just ordinary JWs who had absolutely no distinguishing mark, apart from the GB who controlled everything and even used the non anointed to help them rule but never any anointed that were not of their immediate circle.