Should Charles Russell be credited as the founder of Jehovah's Witnesses?

slipnslidemaster

This has been on my chest for a while and I would like to talk about it for a bit.

Should Charles Russell be credited as the founder of Jehovah's Witnesses?

I've been reading this essay: "The Successor Problem" and it's sparked this thought that has been reoccurring to me for years.

I personally think that he should not. Joseph Rutherford should be the "founder" of Jehovah's Witnesses due to his extremely questionable/illegal takeover of the Society upon Russells death and the subsequent name change in 1931.

Many members of the Internation Bible Students left after the power grab and many, many more left upon his denying that Russell was the faithful and wise servant from 1925-1928 when one of the dates was missed and Rutherford started damage control.

The Bible Students continue to exist to this day.

I think this is an argument to say that Russell was not the founder but Rutherford.

Thoughts?

skyking

Agree

blondie

"Jehovah's Witnesses" were a creation of Rutherford and he made sure that he forced all the Bible Students who would not go along with it.

Blondie

OnTheWayOut

I fully agree. Russell was a religious fanatic consistent with many others of his day. But as "out there" as his beliefs were,
he established a group of Bible Students because they wanted to continue to understand things better, and he allowed
for rejection of some or many of the beliefs that were established. He did start a corporation that continues down to this day.
If you wanted to say that he founded the publishing company, true enough.

Rutherford took things into their true modern direction that- The corporation must control the individual congregations thoughts,
actions, meeting discussions, preaching, lives, etc.
Rutherford gave JW's their name. He used the publishing company to establish the modern religion.
He really was evil. Russell was just wrong.

GermanXJW

JW grew in number because of the techniques of Rutherford and Knorr who gave the whole organization a spin that focussed on growth. With Russell the organization would have stayed on the size of approx. todays Bible Students movement. I am pretty sure Russell was the more sincere in his teachings.

GermanXJW

... and yes, I consider JW as a splinter group of Bible Students, the biggest one but a splinter group. Sometimes the me-too product is more successful than the original thing.

slipnslidemaster

I am wondering if there should be a concerted effort to "retrocon" this into ex-JW writings, etc.

I put forth that Russell founded the Zion's Watch Tower as a publishing company but founded the Bible Students as a religious group that exists to this day. I would also say that the Russellites would be a group tracing ancestry.

However, Jehovah's Witnesses should be stated as being founded by Joseph Rutherford, a splinter group of the Bible Students. It should also be stated that he seized control of the publishing company used by the Bible Students, unethically at best, illegally at worst.

The culmination being the corporation name changes circa 2000.

Finally-Free

Should Charles Russell be credited as the founder of Jehovah's Witnesses?

I'm surprised the JWs haven't already erased all references to Russell in their literature. His beard alone can be used against them, to say nothing of his teachings.

W

slipnslidemaster

It is surprising to me as well that they didn't distance themselves even more then they did in 1925-1928. I guess they think that they just couldn't get away with it or they would have tried harder.

I think it might be a fun project to research just exactly how much they distanced themselves from him in the publications over the years. There might be more there then it's generally thought.

I myself used Russell as an example of why I should be able to have a beard...him and Jesus...

greendawn

The JWs are in fact a creation of Rutherford in terms of ideology but above all of spirit, he molded their collective psychology and it reflects his own highly neurotic and tense personality. He is their spiritual father. The Judeo-mason Russell founded the corporation that the JWs grabbed back in 1916 and kept it ever since. There is very little they still keep from his ideology, as they put it most of it is old light and it would be a waste of time to read his books.

Should Charles Russell be credited as the founder of Jehovah's Witnesses?

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