by donuthole 10 Replies latest jw friends
One of the things I noticed in the two new brochures for the public is how the couch the modern day origins of Jehovah's Witnesses.
"In the 1870's a small group of Bible students began rediscovering long-lost Bible truths." - Good News From God
"In 1870 a small group of truth-seekers regonized that many church doctrines were not Scriptural." - Who Are Doing Jehovah's Will Today
There is no mention of Charles Russell. Has this been going on for a while?
Watchtower history is something they are not proud of. Im amazed they mentioned it at all. Still the short blurb seems to want to establish the fact that the religion has stood the test of time. Conveniently not hinting at the immense changes that have went on since the 1870s.
DJPoetech: Conveniently not hinting at the immense changes that have went on since the 1870s.
Immense changes is right! For all intents and purposes, there are no current teachings/beliefs of JWs that are the same as in Russell's day except:
But Russell had a completely different idea of what 1914 was all about than do JWs currently. He believed it would be The End culminating in Armageddon, not The Beginning of the End the meaning of which would be revised at least six times between then and now culminating in the current "Overlapping Generation" nonsense.
So essentially there is only one doctrine which Russell taught that is still currently believed by JWs and it isn't even an belief exclusive to them.
They have been running away from Russell and Rutherford since the internet became the dominant information gatherer . Those guys, as well as Freddie Franz, have become an embarrassment as well as a serious liability.
"History is written by the victors"
The victors being the ones that took over from Russell, Rutherford, Knorr, Franz, etc...
Whoever controls the people writing history control history itself. They can write anything they want and if anyone calls BS they can DF them for apostasy... Lol
But Russell had a completely different idea of what 1914 was all about than do JWs currently. He believed it would be The End culminating in Armageddon, not The Beginning of the End the meaning of which would be revised at least six times between then and now culminating in the current "Overlapping Generation" nonsense.
Russell's earlier view was that the time of trouble was end, not begin, in 1914. Russell adopted this view from N. H. Barbour in 1876. However, as best as I can determine, some of the Bible Students did not accept this view, and presented scriptural evidence that the end of the Gentile Times would NOT see the end of the time of trouble, but rather the beginning of the time of trouble. In 1904, ten years before 1914, Russell adopted this latter view, which, in effect, was a reversal of his earlier view that the time of trouble was to end in 1914. Thus from 1904 on up to 1914, Russell was expecting that time of trouble was to begin, not end, in 1914; he died in 1916 still with the belief that the time of trouble had begun in 1914.
Russell's view of Armageddon, however, did not include the eternal destruction of millions of unbelievers as the JWs teach; he viewed it as a period of chastisement, not eternal destruction, upon the peoples of the nations.
See:
Thats a wonderfull link and reasoning reslight2,
@ reslight2 who said,
In 1904, ten years before 1914, Russell adopted this latter view, which, in effect, was a reversal of his earlier view that the time of trouble was to end in 1914.
Did Russell publish his new view in the Watchtower, explaining that 1914 was the beginning of the time of trouble? Do you have the reference?
(I could follow that link, but I'm lazy right now. If you have the ref, it would be much easier! At any rate, the link is bookmarked for later reading.)
Thanks!
donuthole said
"There is no mention of Charles Russell."
The less that is mentioned, the less it can be put to the test. An internet user can easily google C.T. Russell and find a lot of negative information. Could this be the reason his name is left out?
Yes. They will distance themselves as much as possible from their early history, and the wacky foundation for the 1914 doctrine will never get a mention again, they will simply harp on about how "evident" it is we are in the last days.
