I am currently reading '20 Questions Jehovah's Witnesses Cannot Answer' by Charles Love, former JW and elder. This guy argues that The paradise for the Great Crowd on earth that JW's believe is actually Judge Rutherford's invention in 1935 to solve the delimmea that only 144,400 were supposed to go to Heaven and there were more JW's living. Can anybody confirm that his argument is true?
Was The paradise for the Great Crowd a doctrine initiated by Rutherford?
by ukescott 4 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Leolaia
Yes, the teaching was initiated by Rutherford, but I don't agree with the stated reason. The rationale was not because the number of the elect was approaching 144,000, in fact, the number had drastically decreased after 1925 on account of prophetic failure and Rutherford's unpopular changes (hence, Rutherford's "remnant" doctrine). Rather, the "great multitude on earth" teaching served several other purposes: 1) protected the "remnant" doctrine from prophetic failure, 2) gave the JWs a huge new work to do (i.e. making the relatively small "Jonadabs" into a "great multitude that no one could number), and 3) allowed for a more grisly view of Armageddon (since the view before 1925 was that the rest of humanity would survive Armageddon and live forever on the earth).
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ukescott
Thanks Leolaia for the clarification.
One more favor: Could you elaborate "protected remnant doctrine from prophetic failure"? Please pardon me for my ignorance of JW's historical background.
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Leolaia
It was Rutherford's rationalization for the huge decreases in the late 1920s. It's pretty embarrassing that people were leaving from droves from what Rutherford called his "new nation". So Rutherford said that the decreases were prophesied and were perfectly expected. Just like only a "remnant" was left of the Jews taken into captivity (the rest becoming "unfaithful"), so too only a small remnant of those claiming to be of the 144,000 will actually make it to Armageddon (as the rest were being "sifted" from the organization)...so the number would progressively decrease (cf. 15 July 1927 Watchtower, p. 216; 15 September 1927 Watchtower, p. 280; 1 December 1927 Watchtower, p. 355; 15 April 1931 Watchtower, p. 119; 15 November 1930 Watchtower, p. 342; 1931 Yearbook, p. 57). But in the early 1930s, lots of new people became interested in the organization on account of the Great Depression, and so Rutherford rolled out the "Jonadab" teaching in 1931 to accommodate the new people joining the movement. But those joining the movement could still later claim to be spirit-begotten and anointed and thus the number could still increase (the elect were supposed to decrease until a small remnant was left, not bound back in numbers), so Rutherford announced in 1935 that the gathering of the 144,000 has effectively ended.
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jwfacts
It is a common misconception that heaven was full, so the earthly Great Crowd was invented. Russell taught the there were 144000 kings, plus the Great Crowd in heaven.
Jehovah’s Witnesses - Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom pp.160, 161
“ They believed that if these who were said to be of the great multitude were faithful at that time, they would be resurrected to heavenly life—not to rule as kings but to take a position before the throne.… Many seemingly consecrated Christians were taking the easy road , failing to manifest true zeal for the Lord’s cause and shunning self-sacrifice.“
Rutherford did not introduce the new teaching of an earthly Great Crowd because the number of Jehovah’s Witnesses was approaching 144,000. With Russell’s understanding any number of Jehovah’s Witnesses was able to go to heaven as part of the heavenly Great Crowd. It appears that moving the Great Crowd to earth was to support Rutherford’s concept of narrow salvation. To make survival at Armageddon contingent on being one of Jehovah’s Witnesses was the most effective way to rapidly grow Watchtower followers. With the anointed Jehovah’s Witnesses going to heaven and a Great Crowd of Jehovah’s Witnesses surviving onto earth, the only option for the rest of the world was eternal destruction. This concept worked; between 1935 and 1975 the Watchtower Society was one of the fastest growing religions on earth.