by Terry 11 Replies latest jw experiences
Terry, I think you're right on both counts.
Russell was a good-hearted seeker; Rutherford was a plantation owner.
The other point: "When Jehovah's Witnesses centered their work on evangelizing they had to do away with such a notion."
Exactly.
EDIT: "Russell was [by comparison] a good-hearted seeker..."
Russell was a good-hearted seeker; Rutherford was a plantation owner.
The other point: "When Jehovah's Witnesses centered their work on evangelizing they had to do away with such a notion."
Exactly.
EDIT: "Russell was [by comparison] a good-hearted seeker..."
Russell was a little boy whose mother died when he was still emotionally vulnerable. His mother had lost babies before she had him and probably doted on him. The religious ideas she placed in his head were doubtless wonderfully troubling to his young mind.
He was obsessed with hellfire! He didn't want it to be true. I don't know if he had some secret guilt or fear which made it the focus of his consciousness or not. But, Russell set about trying to convince himself (and others) that God was a lot nicer than what his mother had taught him.
I think he was deeply troubled until his intellectual capacity was titillated by the seeming scientific discovery of Adventism with its charts and graphs and numbers and days for years adding up neatly in a row! Then, the cherry on his sundae was Pyramidology and the measurements and shafts "proving" the very same things that Adventism had taught!!
He married a woman of enormous intellect and skill in writing and thinking and she was to be partners in his work.
She invented the "Faithful and Discreet Slave" doctrine which made BOTH of them god's conduit of Truth in the last days.
When he began to create successful reactions in congregations (of Adventists) across the land and oversees, his personality started to change dramatically, in my opinion.
At a certain point in all this he suddenly became a "PASTOR". He had women worshippers surrounding him like a rock star of today.
Something changed between himself and Maria, his wife. He didn't "need" her help anymore and was annoyed by her intrusive suggestions.
As her husband he refused to ever have sex even though the bible clearly states this is unscriptural to refuse a married partner their "due".
Perhaps he discovered something about himself which was deeply twisted. Who knows? We can't speculate.
But, Maria took him to court and spilled the beans about his statements concerning "other" women and he ended up divorced and scathed.
Was he an honest man? Was he a charlatan? Depends on what year we are talking about.
He clearly started to "fudge" his numbers. He backpeddled and made excuses and reworded his claims. This demonstrates intellectual dishonesty. What does that really signal?
Your guess is as good as mine.
