Thanks Black Sheep. I downloaded the article and have just read it. While it doesn't background the funeral service, it certainly elevates the deceased Rutherford to an embarrassingly high position. And they loudly condemned the Pope for his exploitation of the common man!
The whole article bellyaches about how worldly authorities have immorally prevented Rutherford's bones from being buried on non-cemeterial land. The hubris of the Watchtower is plainly evident from their verbalized outrage that Rutherford cannot be granted his rightful resting place on the huge property where the mansion Beth-sarim was located. Not for his bones is any ordinary burial ground. THis is now a closed matter in the Watchtower who barely mention Beth-sarim and when they do it's almost always done in an air-brushed defensive manner, sparing readers the telling facts about Rutherford's luxurious lifestyle whilst the rank and file members suffered hardship and deprivation by stark contrast.
The irony of course is that, according to the Consolation article Rutherford had already gone to his heavenly reward so why make such an hysterical fuss because he wasn't buried in the right place then? If this kind of indulgent drama had occurred in any other religious group, I could imagine the vicious-tongued Rutherford making huge fun of it. But because the matter was much closer to home, his crazed followers waxed indignant that the dead Rutherford's remains were left languishing in an official burial ground rather than the place he had ordained for his remains.
Religious infatuations often bring out the worst in the best of humans so its no surprise that these silly Biblical infatuations in which Rutherford saw himself as fulfilling the Divine purpose would bring out some of the very worst mental tantrums from a group of people who held themselves up as the sole channel of "truth". Nealry 70 years have passed since this episode over which the Watchtower now is strangely silent.
