by Terry 52 Replies latest watchtower medical
Another awesome controlled demolition of the Tower, Terry!
You are awesome man!
Now I wonder, what would good ole channelin' Rutherford have had to gain from a Satanic ritual murder of god's new mouthpiece aboard a train in a toga at midnight on Halloween..........?
Russell was editor and publisher of the Watch Tower. Russell's later silence spoke volumes. He let other people express his opinion for him.
Well, I don't know. How can anybody know?
The most important question in my mind has always been: "Was Charles T. Russell intellectually honest?" He seemed to have no problem changing his statements as he was proved wrong again and again and fudging the numbers. All the time he was representing "God's dates--not ours!"
So, according to Russell, Jehovah was wrong a lot! He was just telling us what Jehovah told him, I guess.
The man had really poor taste when it came to "PROOF", that is a certainty!
He was way too absolute.
His only talent that I can detect was persuading people that they were LEARNING the bible's secrets.
My verdict remains: thumbs down.
By the way....
I met some Bible Students several years ago and spent an afternoon at their home. Very nice people.
A wall sized chart PLAN OF THE AGES was hung on the living room wall!
The fellow was kind enough to take out his pointer stick and go through the entire chart for me!
I felt I was back in the late 1900's again.
Whew!
The advantage Bible Students have is that they are ALL ANOINTED! And independant. No Governing Body.
That is what keeps their numbers small.
No organization means they don't get ORGANIZED!!
Thank you Terry for the post. I was a Jehovah's Witness. In this
one post that you wrote you have done more brain work and reasoning
than I did in 18 years. I am ashamed. But I went to meetings, that is what I did.
I have no family members in, I do not worry about much. I am sorry for all you who do.
If I cared I would find a bunch of those old Watchtower Magazines. Do they not
speak untruth by themselves? I think that if my poor husband had shown me
that Chart of command, I would have gone somewhere else. But i will never know.
I think the reason there WAS the meek who look for righteousness amoung
Jehovah's Witnesses is because they believed that it would be worked out.
It is not being worked out. History can only wonder what is happening in the minds
of "the faithful" who keep trusting in men, even though their guide book says DON"T!
Guide book=Bible. Is that spamming? Call me clueless.
I like trolls. Little things that gang up on me. I love it!
What a brilliant thread Terry...I am marking to read more tomorrow......this is one that deserves a bump every now and again for lurkers and new members.
Jehovah's Witnesses' greatest mystery......
The greatest mystery attached to the WTS/JWS over its long and lengthy operation as a religious organization are its very own
announcements and proclamations in regards to why nothing ever appeared as they said was to appear.
Was the WTS. proclamations expressed on truth by divine guidance or were they proclamations based on drawing commercial appeal
with the expressed intension of proliferation of its own published works ?
I came to my own personal opinion back in 1980 that the Watchtower Corporation operates soly on its own driving agenda,
structured on men's personal desires and aspirations, separate from any divine intervention of any kind.
This where I think most people eventually leave this faith all together, the mystery becomes resolved
based on what they've seen and observed.
Well, I don't know. How can anybody know?
The most important question in my mind has always been: "Was Charles T. Russell intellectually honest?" He seemed to have no problem changing his statements as he was proved wrong again and again and fudging the numbers. All the time he was representing "God's dates--not ours!"
So, according to Russell, Jehovah was wrong a lot! He was just telling us what Jehovah told him, I guess.
The man had really poor taste when it came to "PROOF", that is a certainty!
He was way too absolute.
His only talent that I can detect was persuading people that they were LEARNING the bible's secrets.
My verdict remains: thumbs down.
_________
Thanks for the above, Terry. I have noticed some tendency here from time to time for posters to say that Russell was sort of "OK" while everybody always demonizes Rutherford.
I was starting to get a little worried you were headed in that direction.
What I see in Russell was a bat-shit-crazy old coot who (whether publicly or not) really thought that god was talking to him through some kind of divine ESP. What he was, in fact, was a master plaigerizer of other peoples writings, doctrines, and ideas - along with some wingnut thinking of his own to ice the cake.
What I see in those Earnest Bible Students followers of his is yet another (smaller) group of deluded people just like the JWs.
What I see in Russell was a bat-shit-crazy old coot who (whether publicly or not) really thought that god was talking to him through some kind of divine ESP. What he was, in fact, was a master plagiarizer of other peoples writings, doctrines, and ideas - along with some wingnut thinking of his own to ice the cake.
Well said james_woods
Its worthy to note though that if it wasn't for J. Rutherford's aggressive take over of the WTS. publishing house,
the JWS would have never been created at all ! We would have never been JWS, this religious organization wouldn't be in existence,
this forum wouldn't exist, something worth considering retrospectively. If anything there would most likely be more members of the IBSA.
Any rationally thinking person would assume that most of the solemnly made pronouncements by the WTS. and its head writing editors
have been put forth to attract the outward attention of the general public. C Russell and his wife are just seen as small insignificant
bit players whose endeavors laid the foundation of this now enormously created publishing empire.
The WTS. could be used as a model in just how far freedom of religious expression can flourish and propagate in a open society.
Human opinion.
Remove "god whispers in our ear" and that is what is left of the GB.
Human OPINION.
Make a list of things the Governing Body has demonstrably proved to be correct about (in advance) and
compare it to another list of things they were dead wrong about.
The net result, when all is considered is this:
Human opinion.
Nothing more than that.
Is that enough to dedicate your life to? To disown your own family over? To risk the death of your children for?
I mean, really??
Human opinion.
Nothing more than that.
And, not even all the GB always has the same human opinion - it takes a 2/3 majority, like Ray Franz relates, so even a majority of the GB can be outvoted by the minority in some important cases.
Life and death cases, even - like Malawi.
