What Mr. Falcon and MiseryLovesElders said...
From the very beginning of the sect, Charles Taze Russell believed that he had special knowledge that was not imparted to the other churches of Christianity at large...
I think that he also believed that he had a "special" pipeline to - from - god, because there was something innately "special" about him, or his efforts to worship god in a 'pure' way, or that he had special knowledge about how the pyramids in Egypt contained some 'special' message from the Hebrew god...
That attitude was passed on to Rutherford, whose egomania was tailor-made to take full advantage of its implications. Rutherford expanded and enlarged upon that belief in their - in his - exclusive rights to call himself - the JWs - the ONLY righteous people on earth; the ONLY ones truly using god's "name"; the ONLY ones with "accurate" understanding of the bible; the ONLY ones who knew when god was going to bring on "Armageddon", and so on...
As I was growing up in the religion, I found it highly ironic that such a group of people who were generally functioning at or around poverty level, had a deliberate aversion to scientific knowledge, were frequently handicapped with some mental or emotional dysfunctionality, and repeatedly eschewed higher education, could be so ARROGANT as to believe that THEY qualified as "god's 'chosen' people"....
These were the dregs of society, I felt - even as a child. Frankly, I detested having to associate with them, and I am SO glad that I no longer have to do so. I found most of them to be intellectually inert - with a flattening, defeating effect on the few talented and intelligent ones trapped in the organization with them...
But nearly every one of THEM firmly believed in their innate "superiority" due to their obstinate refusal to learn or see reality clearly...
Bizarre...
Zid
