The WT, the Millerites and Orson Wells

by Aussie Oz 23 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Aussie Oz

  It is well known of course that CT Russell was a fan of William Miller and the mans teachings. Indeed his colaboration with millerite Nelson barbour cemented Russells love of all that was Millerism.

  I recall some time ago a thread wherin it was mentioned that Fred franz had a library stuffed full of Millerite books and so on, and that he himself modeled his own style of address and writing after William Miller himself.

  With that sort of impact on the doctrines and teaching methods adopted by the society at that time, i am also wondering about Orson Wells book 1984.

  Could it be plausable that this book also has its place on the shelves of some locked away private library? Published in 1949, the WT leadership has had plenty of time to study the methods of the novel and try them out. I believe that they may have done just that. An ever so gradual implementation could explain a lot about the WT from the 80s to now. I can't see the similarities as coincedence...

  Oz
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  under the radar

  Hey Oz,

  Not to take away from your point, but the author of 1984 was George Orwell, not Orson Wells. Easy to get the two names confused, though. Pretty similar sounding...

  Plenty of weird stuff going on in the Borg. Not much would surprise me about the goings on there...

  Radar
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  poppers

  Orson Welles didn't write 1984, George Orwell did - just sayin'.

  Ooops, under the radar beat me to it.
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  Aussie Oz

  Bloody hell!

  apologies for the name stuff up... but you all know who i meant... thats the best thing!

  Recently watched war of the worlds and must have had welles in my subconcious...

  oz the shamed
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  Sic Semper Tyrannis

  The Millerite references I can buy, but I don't know about Orwell. It's simply amazing that virtually none of Jehovah's Witnesses know anything about William Miller, yet the man and his teachings have had such a huge effect on Russell, and by extension, all of the JW's end times predictions. I myself did not know a thing about it until the History channel ran a special on end of times religious movements, with which Miller was prominent. As much as the JWs insist they are not a sect of anything and that Russell was simply a man who wanted to study the Bible, they can never get rid of their Millerite origins. They try to reason that Russell never had any official involvement with any Millerite and Millenarian movements, which is true from a certain point of view. But Russell was directly influenced by Nelson H. Barbour, who was a disillusioned Millerite and reformed Millenarian. It's no surprise that neither William Miller or Nelson Barbour are mentioned in their publications. Such connections are dangerous to the faithful since Miller and Barbour were both proven frauds.
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  GromitSK

  It doesn't surprise me that witnesses don't know anything about Miller. I reckon Russell and Rutherfraud would go the same way if it was possible.
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  diamondiiz

  Why go back over 150 years with witnesses? Most witnesses today know as much about 1975 and fred franz as they know about Miller or Russell. That's old light and doesn't apply to today's dubs. I was recruited in the early 1990s and I didn't know facts about 1975 or Franz so what are the chances that today's witnesses know all about 1975's "great expectation"?

  Today's witnesses know that Russell was a humble man, gave his fortunes to start bible education work, preached 1914. That's about all most witness can tell about Russell. Nelson and Miller names might be recognized by very few witnesses but not to any extend that they can tell who these people were and how they were connected to wts.

  As for Freddy, I haven't heard of him taking after Miller but I think Ray did say that Freddy did use Lexicons and Theological Encyclopedia where he might have came up with his visions of grandeur. 1984 is still on the list of books to read, so I guess I can't really contribute anything of value to this thread.
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  Azazel

  Thanks for the thought Aussie Oz . I had wondered what influenced Russell early in his life. Miller? early science fiction in the guise of religion?

  I think C T Russell would have been an interesting person,a little odd but hey who am i to talk(-goat). He really would have been a Sci fi fan and made movies.... no sorry i was getting George Lucas in my mind.

  (How dumb am i , i didnt know this till recently )

  Jehovahs's Witnesses are a second adventist religion.

  add to that now Millerite foundations i dont know what you could call them???

  Az
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  ScenicViewer

  I did a check of the Index to early WatchTowers. Haven't had time to look these up, but there are several references to Miller and Second Adventism.

  (The numbers refer to pages and paragraphs from the WatchTower Reprints)

  Second Adventists
  - Fulfill part of parable of ten virgins, 3868: 3-5
  - In regard to meeting with, 1070: 16; 1070: 1-3
  - Correct view of teachings of, 719: 1-4, 10
  - Leading error of, 469: 6,7
  - Part of, in contributing to present truth, 3821: 7
  
  William Miller
  - Faith in Christ’s appearing, 480: 5-8
  - Movement began in 1844, 288: 9
  - Significance of, 87: 11-13; 5718: 2-4
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  wobble

  I don't know if they read "1984" but they sure as hell put in to practice every idea in it.

  I don't know for sure if you can make connections like that, just because they use all the methods of the book doesn't mean they have read it, after all, it was written about the sort of Police States that were existent in 1948.

  Cults may just have copied those states.

  Tim Minchin has a short routine about the difficulty of making connections like this, he asks "Is every Icecream Vanman a paedophile, or is every paedophile an Icecream Vanman ?"