what did the WTS have against trains? This book is insane....
i'm sick and tired of hearing things from uptight-short-sighted-narrow minded hypocritics. all i want is the truth just gimme some truth - John Lennon
The Divine Plan of the Ages and trains
by DIM 6 Replies latest jw friends
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JanH
I guess the trains got their revenge when CT Russell died on one.
- Jan
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Stephanus
Just goes to show how good Russell's predictive abilities were: he foresaw that in the latter days, many would turn from time devoted to the Kingdom and waste God's valuable time train-spotting! Don't say you weren't warned...
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Focus
DIM wrote:
This book is insane
Sure. But The Divine Plan of the Ages (the first of his Six+One part set of books) is the most sane of Russell's major works. He got nuttier and "cockier" as he went on.
what did the WTS have against trains?
You imply DPOA contains anti-train material. Are you trying to stumble your brothers? Where does it do this?On the contrary, on pages 165-6, it says (emphases mine throughout from now on):
"If, then, we have proven that the mental capacity of today is not greater than that of past ages, but probably less, how shall we account for the increase of general knowledge, modern inventions, etc.? We trust we shall be able to show this reasonably and in harmony with Scripture. The inventions and discoveries which are now proving so valuable, and which are considered proof that this is the 'Brain Age,' are really very modern - nearly all having come within the past century, and among the most important are those of the last threescore years; for instance, the application of steam and electricity - in telegraphy, railroading and steamboating, and to the machinery of the various mechanical industries. If, then, these be evidences of increased brain power, the 'Brain Age' must be only beginning, and the logical deduction is that another century will witness every form of miracle as an everyday occurrence; and at the same ratio of increase, where would it eventuate?"Approving, if anything. Granted that on pages 328-9 Russell opines:
"In the last few years there have been produced in vast quantities agricultural implements of every description which enable one man to accomplish as much as five could formerly. This has a two-fold effect: first, three times as many acres are worked, giving employment to three out of the five laborers, thus setting two adrift to compete for other labor; secondly, the three who remain can, by the use of the machinery, produce as great a crop as fifteen would have done without it. The same or greater changes are wrought in other departments by similar agencies; for instance, in iron and steel making. Its growth has been so enormous that the number of employees has greatly increased, notwithstanding the fact that machinery has enabled one man at present to accomplish about as much as twelve did formerly. One of the results will be that very shortly the capacity of these extensive works will more than meet the present enormous demands, and the demands, instead of continuing to increase, will probably decrease; for the world is fast being supplied with railroads beyond present needs, and the yearly repairs on these could probably be supplied by less than one-half the present number of establishments.
Thus we are brought in contact with the peculiar condition in which there is an over-production, causing idleness occasionally to both capital and labor, while at the same time some lack the employment which would enable them to procure necessities and luxuries and thus in a measure cure the over-production.".. but note that history may have proved him right, for in much of the world, large parts of the railroad networks lie idle or have been shut down entirely. And on the next pages:
"It is proposed that railroads shall either be the property of the people, operated by their servants, government officials, or that legislation shall restrict their liberties, charges, etc., and compel their operation in such a manner as to serve the public better. As it is, railroads built during a period of inflated values, instead of curtailing their capital to conform to the general shrinkage of values experienced in every other department of trade, have multiplied their originally large capital stocks two or three times (commonly called watering their stocks), without real value being added. Thus it comes that great railroad systems are endeavoring to pay interest and dividends upon stocks and bonded debts which on an average are four times as great as these railroads would actually cost today new. As a consequence the public suffers. Farmers are charged heavily for freights, and sometimes find it profitable to burn their grain for fuel; and thus the cost of food to the people is greater without being to the farmer's advantage. It is proposed to remedy this matter, so that railroads shall pay to their stockholders about four per cent on their present actual value, and not four to eight per cent, on three or four times their present value, as many of them now do, by preventing competition through pooling arrangements.
We well know, says the artisan, that in the eyes of those who hold watered railroad stocks, and other stocks, this reduction of profits on their invested capital will seem terrible, and will come like drawing teeth, and that they will feel that their rights (?) to use their franchises granted by the people, to squeeze from them immense profits, based upon fictitious valuations, are being grievously outraged, and that they will resist it all they know how. But we feel that they should be thankful that the public is so lenient, and that they are not required to make restitution of millions of dollars already thus obtained. We feel that the time has come for the masses of the people to share more evenly the blessings of this day of blessings, and to do this it is necessary so to legislate that all greedy corporations fat with money and power derived from the public, shall be restrained, and compelled by law to serve the public at reasonable rates. In no other way can these blessings of Providence be secured to the masses. Hence, while great corporations, representing capital, are to a large extent a blessing and a benefit, we are seeing daily that they have passed the point of benefit and are becoming masters of the people, and if unchecked will soon reduce wage-workers to penury and slavery. Corporations, composed of numbers of people all more or less wealthy, are rapidly coming to occupy the same relation to the general public of America that the Lords of Great Britain and all Europe occupy toward the masses there, only that the corporations are more powerful."I agree with Russell here, that natural monopolies like railways present regulatory and other problems, where stockholder interest and the greater public interest may collide...
Nothing here is anti-railways per se; it is the method of financing them and what collapse may result that Russell rails against!
Please, there is a great deal more nonsense in The Divine Plan of The Ages than this! If you want train-related nonsense from the Watchtower, I have mounds of it - another thread, perhaps.
A better question is what did ANY train-related information have to do with the divine plan of the ages at all..
The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind... exactly like the Emperor's New Clothes...
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Focus
("Job, after the Sabeans had made off with his oxen and asses, after a bolt of lightning had burned up his sheep, after the Chaldeans had stolen his camels and murdered his servants, after a whirlwind had blown down his house and killed all his children, after he was covered with boils from head to foot, after his wife had gone back on him, and after his three remaining friends tried to prove to him that he was a hypocrite, prayed that he might go to hell and stay there until God's wrath should be past, and that then God would remember him in resurrection. (Job 14:13-15.) Job records Elihu's prophetic statement that when the Messenger of the Covenant has returned, death will cease and men not need to go into the tomb. (Job 33:19-30.) Job also describes the steam engine - stationary, railway and marine. The following is a corrected translation of Job 40:15 to 41:34, with comments thereon from the pen of one of Pastor Russell's followers: 'Behold now one with great heat (the stationary steam engine), which I have made to be with thee; he will consume fodder (peat, wood, coal) as do cattle. Behold now his strength is in his loins (boiler plates), and his power is within the parts bent in a circle (boiler shell) of his belly. His tail (smoke stack-opposite the feeding end) will set upright like a cedar; the couplings of his leaping parts (connecting rods, pitmans) will be clamped together. His bones are tubes of copper; his solid bones (grate bars) are as hammered-out bars of iron. He is the greatest of the ways of power. He that made him (the Lord) can make His sword (Word) to approach unto (reveal) him. (Isa. 26:20, 21.) He shall rest under thin shelter.(steam jackets) within a covering of fibrous reeds (jute) and clay (mortar). The willows of the valley (the trees overhead) will enclose him around about. Behold (as a pumping engine) he will drink up an overflowing river without much exertion; he will cause the people to trust (that their cellars will keep dry), though a Jordan should rush forth over its border. He will gather it up in his fountains by means of traps and with a perforated nozzle. 'Thou wilt lengthen out leviathan (the locomotive) with a hook (automatic coupler) or with a snare (coupling-pin) which thou wilt cause his tongue (coupling-link) to drop down. Wilt thou not place a ring (piston) in his nostrils (cylinders) or pierce through his cheeks (piston-ends) with a staff (piston-rod)? Will be make repeated supplication unto thee (to get off the track)? Or will he utter soft tones unto thee (when he screeches with the whistle)? Will he make a covenant with thee, that thou mayest take him for a servant forever (without repairs)? Wilt thou play with him as with a bird (make him whistle at will)? Or wilt thou bind (enslave) him for thy maidens (so that you can take them to a picnic or convention)? Companies (of stockholders) will feast upon him (his earnings); they will share him among speculators. (Psa. 74:14.) Thou wilt fill his skin with pointed irons (bolts), and his head with a cabin of fishermen (a cab similar to the cabins on fishing vessels). Place thy hand upon him, be mindful of the conflict (raging within the boiler) and thou wilt add no further questions. Behold, his confidence (boiler) being deceived (not properly supplied with water), shall not at once his mighty form be spread asunder (by an explosion)? There is none so bold that he will stir him up (to run at his very highest possible speed), and none who will then place himself before him (to be run over). Who will compete with this one and endure (pass him on the track)? Under the whole heaven, none, unless (one like) himself. 'I will not pass in silence his members, nor the cause of his mighty forces, nor the beauty of his equipment. Who can strip off the facings of his jacket? Who can penetrate between the double lap of his shield (the overlapping sections of the boiler plates)? Who can force open the doors of his shield (the boiler ends)? The circuits of his teeth (rows or rivets) are formidable. His strength depends on courses of shields (sections of plates) closed up tightly with a seal (calked). They shall join one upon another so that a hiss of air (steam) shall not escape from between them. One to the other shall adhere. They will be welded together that they cannot be sundered. In his sneezing (when he puffs from the cylinders) light will shine, a flood of light prevading the mass of vapors: and his eyes (headlights) will be as the eyelashes of the morning (as rays of light from the rising sun). Out of his mouth (fire-door) will leap forth flaming torches, and (from the smoke stack) glowing sparks will slip themselves away. From his nostrils (cylinders) will issue forth vapor as from a boiling pot or caldron. His inhaling (forced draft) will vivify burning coals, and a flame will leap forth from his mouth. Within his neck abideth strength, and a desolation will dance with joy (become a prosperous community) at his presence. The separable parts of his body are connected together; all will be made fast upon him; nothing will be shaky. His heart will be indurated similar to a stone, and will be firm as a piece of the lower (rocks). When at his full speed the most courageous will fear (lest). from accidents. they lose themselves. When dryness exalteth him (or renders him furious), he will not have power to withhold; the curved vault (fire box) being caused to tear away, and also the armor. He will esteem iron as straw, and brass as rotted wood. The archer cannot make him flee; missiles (of war) will be turned unto him as chaff. The (strokes of a) hammer will be esteemed as chaff; he will rejoice at the poking of the fireman. Hewed (or notched) timbers of the craftsman (ties) are under him; he will spread an embankment (or trench) upon the mire. He will (as a marine engine) cause deep (places) to become as a boiling pot (about his propellers); he will make the sea to appear like boiling ointment. He will make a path to shine after him; one will think the deep to be growing gray. (Psa. 104:26; Isa. 27:1.) Upon the earth there is not his like- he that is (so) constructed that he can fear nothing. He can oversee (control by his work) all that which is great; he is indeed king over all conceptions of power.'" - The Finished Mystery pages 84-6 Class) -
DIM
wow, i'll have to steal some more of Russell's books from my mom and the KH library...I can't believe this shit is the foundation of this religion.
i'm sick and tired of hearing things from uptight-short-sighted-narrow minded hypocritics. all i want is the truth just gimme some truth - John Lennon
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Focus
DIM wrote:
wow
i'll have to steal some more of Russell's books
The one he wrote "posthumously" (through a spirit medium - or did they mean post-humorously?) is easily the best - The Finished Mystery, 1917, a publication copyrighted by the "PEOPLES PULPIT ASSOCIATION BROOKLYN, N.Y., U.S.A." - part of The Watchtower group of corporations - and published, promoted, sold and distributed by The Watchtower Bible & Tract Society.But you won't find it down your KH library... Prominent Bethelite, that great friend of the Watchtower, proofread a scanned version and had it placed on the web.
If you cannot find a copy, ask < [email protected]> and I am reasonably confident he will send you tfim.zip
Enjoy!
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Focus
(And Ye Shall Know The Shit They Publish! Class) -
terafera
i'd like to read it too!