by The wanderer 15 Replies latest jw friends
They were all duped and duping prognosticators. They sought the limelight and claimed a unique 'oneness' with their imaginary friend, God. Russell was the Crackpot but Rutherford was Cracked and Intoxicated and liked to win at business, law and drinking his mates under the table.
Fred Franz should have sought psychiatric assistance for his way out views and arrogance in having the brass bollocks to print his 'inspired ideas.'
Sad really.
From my point of view things started falling apart after 1975. The collapse was complete in 1995 when the generation of 1914 doctrine was changed. Unfortunately many JWs are so brainwashed that they fail to see the obvious. The young ones know nothing about 1975 (and it's denied now by elders who were there).
First of all, regardless of motivation, CT Russell failed in his predictions. There were shadows of leader-worship even in his day, aided and abetted by his wife. She was the one who first referred to him as the "Faithful and Discreet Slave." Russell did nothing to stop the hero worship. The FDS doctrine enslaves many people to this day, following without questioning. Also foreshadowing the future of the society were Russell's infidelities and the manner in which it was swept under the carpet. When his wife confronted him she asked, "We have a great work on our hands," and I said, "in this work you and I have to walk very circumspectly before the world, and if you are going to do things like this, what will happen? Suppose you are all right, don’t you suppose people will talk about things like this?" Image rather than substance has always been a hallmark of the WTBTS.
Rutherford definitely made things worse, institutionalizing abuse of the congregations.
FullofDoubtNow - I think CT Russell was just a misguided crackpot who inflicted his ideas on many other people, and Rutherford just added to the lies and made the watchtower into more of a business. The rest of the leaders have carried on in the same businesslike manner ever since.
A beautiful summary.
MamaBear - It seems his lack of humility and his desire to be confrontational in debating his own findings and assumptions with other leaders may have laid the ground work
I agree.
Overall, if you believe Russell had it right and Jesus really has returned back in 1874 or whenever, you would be better off becoming a full fledged Bible Student. Frankly, I think there religious organizations that have far more solid origins. For example, I am moved by the vision that set the Salvation Army in motion.
Rich:
My overall viewpoint of the matter is that whether or not they were started with "good" or "pure" intentions, the fact is that they have reinvented themselves over and over with no accountability to anybody. They try to cop-out on this by saying "new light" (which is a wrong viewpoint of that scripture if you read the whole thing, IMO). Their attitude that they can change whenever they feel like it is kind of like papal infallibility where one pope can change what his predecessors have done.
I was totally in the dark and did not know about their past and their changed doctrines.
I would never have joined the JWs if I did.
LHG
It`s been Bullsh*t from the get go..All you need to do is read the publications from the begining till now..It`s all crap..Do you know how long they`ve been wrong? Since the 1800`s..The first Watchtower was printed the same year "George Armstong Custer died at Little Big Horn"..Thats a long time to be consistantly wrong...OUTLAW
Did "Pastor" Russell have a good motivation in the
beginning regarding the Watchtower Society?
He wanted to be a successful preacher. His ideas were sound business practice.
Still, his pyramid stuff was kind of whacko. I think he believed what he taught.
That would mean he had good motives.
Do you think it was "Judge" Rutherford that corrupted
the organization?
Definitely. The guy was a power-hungry lawyer. While Russell was whacko, people
were Bible students, free to leave the group, free to ask questions (as far as my understanding).
With Rutherford, it was control-control-control. Don't question Jehovah's Words that he typed
thru Rutherford's fingers. Don't ever raise a question in Jehovah's meetings. Don't ever leave us,
or you'll be sorry- You won't get everlasting life, and this life will be miserable with guilt and shunning.
What is you overall viewpoint on the matter?
It would have died out if left the way Russell had started it- or it would have become a benign publisher
of religious material if a normal person took the reigns upon his death. F. Franz was like a combination
of Russell and Rutherford. He probably thought himself a true "oracle" and wanted to be a success at it.
At the same time, he wanted to run the organization much as Rutherford did, control-control-control.
Rutherford and Knorr were the biggest problems for the cult. One established it as a cult, then the other
expanded it so efficiently. Franz was the beginning of the long downfall. GB control now is constant
damage control- with a bleak future in sight.
