Does The Governing Body Have The Same Courage As J F Rutherford And Admit: They Made An Ass Out Of Themselves By Thier Bible Interpetation?

by frankiespeakin 7 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  frankiespeakin

  (The Watchtower, October 1, 1984, p. 24)

  ...resurrected in 1925 to rule as princes over the earth. (Millions Now Living Will Never Die, 1920, pp. 89-90) They failed to show up, of course, and Rutherford quit predicting dates. In fact, referring to that prophetic failure he later admitted, "I made an ass of myself."

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Franklin_Rutherford

  Joseph Franklin Rutherford (November 8, 1869 – January 8, 1942), also known as "Judge" Rutherford, was the second president of the incorporated Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. He played a primary role in the organization and doctrinal development of Jehovah's Witnesses, [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] which emerged from the Bible Student movement established by Charles Taze Russell.

  Rutherford began a career in law, working as a court stenographer, trial lawyer and prosecutor. He developed an interest in the doctrines of Watch Tower Society president Charles Taze Russell, which led to his joining the Bible Student movement and was baptized in 1906. He was appointed the legal counsel for the Watch Tower Society in 1907, as well as a traveling representative prior to his election as president in 1917. His early presidency was marked by a dispute with the Society's board of directors, in which four of its seven members accused him of autocratic behavior and sought to reduce his powers. The resulting leadership crisis divided the Bible Student community and contributed to the loss of one-seventh of adherents by 1919 and thousands more by 1931. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] Rutherford and seven other Watch Tower executives were imprisoned in 1918 after charges were laid over the publication of The Finished Mystery, a book deemed seditious for its opposition to World War I. [ 7 ] [ 8 ]

  
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  blondie

  He didn't say it in front of a group and he did not put it in the publications as a direct statement from him. When was that statement put in the WT publications, after he died? Later on I understand he felt the US and the UK would be taken over by Germany and that the end would come in the 1940's.

  As Rutherford was approaching his final years he wrote ever more directly that the end was about to happen. Though not stating a particular year he was adamant that the end was about to occur, prompting the release of articles including topics on why marriage and child bearing should be put off until after Armageddon. In 1941 the book Children was released discussing such things. The Watchtower summed up the atmosphere after release of the book;

  "Receiving the gift, the marching children clasped it to them, not a toy or plaything for idle pleasure, but the Lord's provided instrument for most effective work in the remaining months before Armageddon."Watchtower 1941 Sep 15 p.288

  http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/1800s.php
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  Dismissing servant

  I think that Germany was supposed to be the "King of North" in those days. Probably the start of WWII was considered the start of the tribulation for Rutherford as the WWI war the start of tribulation for the Russel contemporaries.

  But Rutherford making an ass of himself was related to 1925 and the "Millions" campaigne.
• 

  frankiespeakin

  Blondie,

  True he never as far as I know admitted it in writting. It was a baby step in the right direction but only a baby step, as his writtings after his admission show he hadn't really learned any lesson to avoid future embarassment. He was a self righteous person in extreme denial that projected Satan the Devil on all his opposers.
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  Ding

  When Rutherford discovered how little he really knew he should have shut the whole thing down.

  Instead, he moved into Beth Sarim and continued writing "new light" nonsense that all JWs were required to believe and promote.
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  bats in the belfry

  In the article ‘Jehovah Has Dealt Rewardingly With Me’, as told by Karl F. Klein, he mentioned J.F. Rutherford's remarks.

  [Footnotes]

  Regarding his misguided statements as to what we could expect in 1925, he once confessed to us at Bethel, “I made an ass of myself.”

  w84 10/1 p. 24
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  bats in the belfry

  frankiespeakin >> Sorry, presently I am speed reading. It flew right by me.
• 

  villagegirl

  I knew people from that era and they told me that everyone

  was told not have have children, because the time was "so near".

  That was in the late 50's and 60's.

  We all know the "rule" about no children in Bethel, affected many

  who served past the age of childbearing, one of the regrets Franz's

  mentioned. The atmosphere the WT created and still creates

  is a "state of emergency" We are supposed to live on "high alert"

  not really participating in our own lives.

  The only way around this is to ignore them, and break the rules,

  which many successfully do, however it is the simple hearted

  and the "true believer" who end up losing out.

  Many elders, the two-faced ones who lurk here, and then go back

  to the beneifits of their "position" and "privileges" and social status

  they enjoy, know its all a corporate fraud, but they are part of it

  and benefit by the association and suffer no losses because

  they do not obey the rules, the rules they figure, are for suckers

  not for big shots.