Yes, Russell was a stand-up guy. He was exactly what you and the WTBTS's pseudo history books on Russell say he was.
Charles Taze Russel nephew of William Huntington Russell
by truth.ceeker 47 Replies latest watchtower scandals
-
-
TheJigsUp
damn...
im not going to discuss whether ol charlie boy was a standup guy or not..
whatever floats your boat man.
of course i could be wrong....
but im not. :P
but i dont care, do and think as you like.
as will we all i expect
peace
ben
-
Black Sheep
Here ya go Ben
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/199832/1/The-official-drunkin-gibberish-thread
Wind the sounds up
Cheers (raises glass of favorite brew)
Chris
-
PublishingCult
Sorry, ben, I was addressing the other guy, reslight, not you :)
-
TheJigsUp
im there man@ chris
but i stand by my drunken gibberish even in this thread..
i've been down a loooong road. learnt and experienced more than i ever wish to discuss.
but yes drunken gibberish is cool :)
-
reslight2
Russell himself never claimed to the "Laodicean Messenger".
Here is Russell's original tombstone (picture circa 1921):
Evidently, sometime after 1921, that gravestone was replaced with the one that now his gravestone:
As I stated, Russell never claimed to be the "Loadicean Messenger". He certainly never claimed that either he or his writings were inspired by God in any such sense that would mean that he was claiming that his writings were without error. In a broad sense, every child of God is "inspired" by means of God's holy spirit.
See what I have written:
The Faithful and Wise Servant and Other Servants
http://ctr.reslight.net/?p=127Russell stated:
Our own views are not prophecy, but interpretations of the holy prophets of old. -- Watch Tower, October 1890, page 8.
Neither must you lean upon the DAWN and the TOWER as infallible teachers. -- “The Watch Tower”, June, 1893 pg. 168.
More perhaps than any other servant, ZION’S WATCH TOWER has opposed the thought that the Church of Christ is composed of a clerical class commissioned to teach, and a lay class not commissioned to teach the divine Word: it specially has held up the inspired words, “all ye are brethren” and “one is your Master”; and has pointed out that all consecrated believers are of the “royal priesthood” each fully commissioned, not to “lord it” over others, but to sacrifice himself in the service of the truth, doing good unto all, especially to the household of faith. So with the servants of Matt. 24:49; service is their only commission, not lordship or self-appointment. All the members of the “body” are “anointed to preach” the gospel, and instructed to search the Scriptures, as we have heretofore clearly shown. This has been true ever since Pentecost, and is as true as ever to-day.
— Zion’s Watch Tower, June 15, 1896, pages 139,140.Whatever "helps" really point us to the Bible as the only authority, and assist us in rightly dividing it, are profitable to us as servants and guides: but that which attempts to be to us instead of God's Word is a dangerous foe. -- Watch Tower, August 15, 1897, page 240.
So far as the true Church is concerned, the only authority in it is the Lord, the Head of the Church, and his Word, and the words of those whom he specially chose to be his mouth-pieces, the apostles.-- Watch Tower, July 1, 1900, page 195.
We claim no infallibility for our presentations. -- Zion’s Watch Tower, April 15, 1901, page 136.
We have urged and still urge that the dear children of God read studiously what we have presented;–the Scriptures, the applications and interpretations–and then form their own judgments. We neither urge nor insist upon our views as infallible, nor do we smite or abuse those who disagree; but regard as “Brethren” all sanctified believers in the precious blood. — Zion’s Watch Tower, October 1, 1907, page 294.
We are not prophesying; we are merely giving our surmises, the Scriptural basis for which is already in the hands of our readers in the six volumes of SCRIPTURE STUDIES. -- Watch Tower, January 1, 1908, page 5.
We try to be careful about every word that goes into the Watch Tower, but we do not claim to be infallible; we are doing the best we can. (What Pastor Russell Said, Q56:1, 1910)
I am not a prophet.” -- What Pastor Russell Said, Q272:1, 1910.
If we have made some mistake in the time, it will not matter a bit; we are consecrated to Him unto death. Perhaps the Lord will test us along this line. But I should not mind; I tell you that I am enjoying the Lord, and enjoying the previous Word more and more every day, and if it gets still better by 1914, I don’t know how good it will be. So that, whether we have the exact moment is very immaterial to us; it is quite a secondary matter. But there is no doubt at all that the Kingdom will come–whether in that year, or another year–it is sure to come, “For the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it, and who shall disannul it”? — 1912, Convention Sermon Reports, page 439
-
PublishingCult
“’Our own views are not prophecy, but interpretations of the holy prophets of old. -- Watch Tower, October 1890, page 8.’”
Prophesy:
1. To reveal by divine inspiration.
2. To predict with certainty as if by divine inspiration. See Synonyms at foretell.
3. To prefigure; foreshow.
v.intr.
1. To reveal the will or message of God.
2. To predict the future as if by divine inspiration.
3. To speak as a prophet.As Editor of The Watchtower, CT Russell replies to a reader's question about when the Church is expected "to be glorified" in the WT April 15, 1916. pp. 126–127 . "We believe that the dates have proven to be quite right. We believe that Gentile Times have ended, and that God is now allowing the Gentile Governments to destroy themselves, in order to prepare the way for Messiah's Kingdom. The Lord did not say that the Church would all be glorified by 1914. We merely inferred it and, evidently, erred"
Backpeddling, face saving.
After the great disappointment of 1914, Russell added the following to “The Author’s Forward” in Studies In The Scriptures Vol. 2:
“We could not, of course, know in 1889, whether the date 1914, so clearly marked in the Bible as the end of the Gentile lease of power or permission to rule the world, would mean that they would be fully out of power at that time, or whether, their lease expiring, their eviction would begin. The latter we perceive to be the Lord’s program; and promptly in August, 1914, the Gentile kingdoms referred to in the prophecy began the present great struggle, which, according to the Bible, will culminate in the complete overthrow of all human government, opening the way for the full establishment of the Kingdom of God’s dear Son.”
It’s always the same thing, and a bunch of gymnastical symanticals is what you are defending and rationalizing. Most rational people would call it “intellectual dishonesty”. The snake oil salesmen denying inspiration, denying publicly he is any sort of prophet, yet makes assertions and predictions, leaving the window open for himself to crawl out of when called to account for getting his followers excited and onboard for the grand climax, the grand delusion. If Bruce Lee's style of martial arts, Jeet Kune Do, was, as he put it, "the art of fighting without fighting", then Russell's style of Bible teaching was "the art of prophesying without prophesying". The blind weak follower buys the backpeddling and rationalizations for it, but the rational minded see it for what it is.The Time is at Hand, 1915 ed., p. 99: "In view of this strong Bible evidence concerning the Times of the Gentiles, we consider it an established truth, that the final end of the kingdoms of this world, and the full establishment of the Kingdom of God, will be accomplished near the end of A.D. 1915. Then the prayer of the church, ever since her Lord took his departure - 'Thy kingdom come' - will be answered; and under that wise and just administration, the whole earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord" (Later editions have 1914 instead of 1915)
It’s no different than the 1975 fiasco in which the WTBTS told JW’s that they never said the end was definitely coming. You took it all wrong. Your fault, not ours.
More later . . .
Peace
-
Black Sheep
What I would like to see is a photo of Russell's followers lined up on the Sixth Street Bridge that night.
Russell reckons he wasn't there and had sneaked off to bed, but we only have what he told MacMillan to go by.
I doubt many of the loonies on the bridge had much to say about it afterwards. LOL
Faith on the March A. H. Macmillan page 27
-
reslight2
“’Our own views are not prophecy, but interpretations of the holy prophets of old. -- Watch Tower, October 1890, page 8.’”
Prophesy:
1. To reveal by divine inspiration.
2. To predict with certainty as if by divine inspiration. See Synonyms at foretell.
3. To prefigure; foreshow.
v.intr.
1. To reveal the will or message of God.
2. To predict the future as if by divine inspiration.
3. To speak as a prophet.While the word "prophesy" does not always have the same meaning in the Bible, it generally is meant of one as described in Deuteronomy 18:15-19; the prophets of the Old Testament were such prophets, and thus their statements are prophecy; Russell never claimed to be such a prophet, and nothing in his writings is such prophecy.
-
reslight2
Quite an evil-minded work of art that distorts the reality, to say the least. Russell was expecting "the end" of the Gentile Times in 1914. From 1904 to 1914, he was expecting the beginning of the "time of trouble" in 1914; he plainly stated that he was not expecting "the end of the world" in 1914. I believe that the end of the Gentile Times did come in 1914, and that we have been in the "time of trouble" ever since.
See:
