Rutherford's Burial

by elder-schmelder 19 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  JWoods

  I always wondered if the story about the "home for the elders of old" was not just a cynical cover story (invented later) for there being fixed up a mansion to keep the crazy Judge kind of cooped up out in the west where he could do less harm...

  I mean after all - if you actually included them ALL, this would have been pretty tight quarters.

  Plenty big enough for the Judge and his secretaries, though -

  Sorry, but I think the leadership had pretty much privately dumped this "resurrected men of old" theory and never did they really expect them to be living there. People I knew who were there in the 30s have told me that they sort of looked down on the believers in this as being sort of hillbilly rubes - laughing about how some were looking around for anybody with a beard and wondering if they were Daniel or Jeremiah or such -

  In other words, I submit that anybody in the real know was perfectly clear this mansion was a luxury assisted living for the Judge.
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  Kahlua

  "... just a cynical cover story (invented later) ..."

  I don't think it was invented later because the 'elders of old' were on the deed to the property. There was a copy of that deed on JWD 2 or 3 years ago.
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  JWoods

  I don't think it was invented later because the 'elders of old' were on the deed to the property. There was a copy of that deed on JWD 2 or 3 years ago.

  Well, that may have been the legalistic jingoism to avoid calling it Rutherford's property (and I know the teaching had been around for a while - wasn't this thing bought in around 1927 or so?)

  But I somehow cannot see the cooler heads at the top of the Society in that day actually believing they were coming to live there. After all, this was in the exact era where they realized that the 144,000 number was getting mighty crowded and just up and invented the great crowd for political expediency.

  Not that we will ever know, of course.
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  yknot

  I thought Da Judge was cremated and buried next to the house (Beth Sarim)..........
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  blondie

  The May 27, 1942 Consolation (the precusor to Awake!) contained a lengthy 16 page article about the failed attempts of the Watchtower Society to bury Judge Rutherford at his beloved home in San Diego, Beth Sarim. It contains a fascinating look into the place Beth Sarim held for JWs during this period. For those interested, a new scan of this issue of Consolation (indexed and fully searchable) can be downloaded from this filesharing site:

  http://www.filesend.net/download.php?
  f=3ae2894ac707ceb8d2fdfaeba5e78c70

  This could be useful to use as documentation with JWs about Beth Sarim.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/bible/178560/1/1942-Consolation-on-Beth-Sarim-PDF
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  RR

  I use to have an actual newspaper article where an interview was conducted with two JW's who claimed to have buried the Judge at Beth Sarim, anyone remember that?
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  cabasilas

  If that newspaper article surfaces again, I'd love to read that!
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  RR

  I wouldn't know where to look, but if I find it, I'll scan and post it!
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  sacolton

  Wasn't there rumors that Judge Rutherford was buried under the concrete in the garage?
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  Black Sheep

  See Farkel's Beth Sarim Revisited 4 Newbies

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/12954/1/Beth-Sarim-Revisited-4-Newbies