Of the Wt book "Revelation: Its Grand Climax at Hand!" on a Huffington Post blog, date April 1, 2013.
Here's the link:
Interesting review...
by mrsjones5 3 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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mrsjones5
Title and opening paragraph:
10 Observations About Jehovah's Witnesses and the Book of Revelation
The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society's "Revelation: Its Grand Climax at Hand!" is a fairly substantial commentary of John's Apocalypse (319 pages) that claims wide distribution, with apparently 16.6 million copies in its various incarnations printed in 51 languages by the time of the 1988 edition in my possession (2). Despite this wide circulation, however, few nonmembers ever see this book because of the organization's reclusive nature ( on which see a few earlier notes ). For those curious about distinctive approaches to Revelation, I highlight here a few salient features of this intriguing commentary (henceforth RGCH)...
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unstopableravens
every time i see that trashy book, my mind goes to the seven trumpet blast, that they say were sounded at 7 conventions in the 20s, ugh that is alot of memories ,how could i believe that?
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Larsinger58
Interesting. Thanks. I find it curious that an outsider would notice how God, Jesus and those in heaven are consistently white, as if others would expect those in heaven to be at least a little multicultural. This has come up before. The WTS, though, has a direct background of teaching at one point that the white male was the original perfect man and that women and non-whites were a result of the fall into sin. Growing back to perfection used to mean that eventually everyone would be white males.
Thanks for posting the article!
QUOTE FROM ARTICLE:
" Though there are clear exceptions in the book, some pictures appear to favor whites, males, heterosexuals (couples with children), westerners (indicated by clothing) and the middle class. When God's face is visible, it is white as are the faces of Jewish male authority figures in the text (Jesus, John, the patriarchs; see e.g., 7, 16, 70, 213, 301). Other figures, like angels and the 24 elders, are also white. The interpretation of Revelation 11 illustrates this tendency to construct the ideal figure as a white, western male. Ezekiel's story of the dry bones is invoked as part of the explanation for the two witnesses rising from the dead in Revelation 11. These two passages are identified as prophetic utterances that had "their striking modern-day fulfillment in 1919, when Jehovah restored his 'deceased' witnesses to vibrant life" (169; i.e., the early days of the organization's history [as Bible Students]). The picture on page 169 depicts the death of bearded and robed Jewish males and presents a background of dusty bones. An inset shows the "resurrection" of these bones as two white males, with short haircuts, suits and ties that represent the rebirth and the "modern-day preaching work" of the Bible Students/Jehovah's Witnesses."