When You Look Back At The History of Jehovah's Witnesses/Russelites---Has Anything Really Changed?

by minimus 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  minimus

  They have been, from their inception, a sect that was considered different from mainstream Christianity. They LOVED being different. They bragged about being "persecuted."

  Their health beliefs were quite often weird, to put it mildly.

  They seemed to really know their Bible but in fact, they play scriptural gymnastics to make a defense of their odd views.

  They once were "Bible Students" and now, most couldn't defend a belief if their life depended on it.

  Pretty much, nothing has changed. They still have been talking about us "living in the time of the end", and no doubt they will still be spouting their nonsense for "generations" to come---unless, of course, they change their view of that (again) too.
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  Island Man

  The biggest change is that they've moved from rejecting the idea of an organization in the days of C.T. Russel, to now practically idolizing the organization as being a vital pillar to their faith on par with the bible and Jesus . . . ok maybe not on par with Jesus - they definitely think more of the organization than Jesus. LOL.
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  gingerbread

  It has become a RELIGION with all the perks and trappings.

  Recall the rantings of J.F. Rutherford > "Religion is a snare and a racket!"

  Not anymore I guess.

  ginger
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  I think for a time they were trying to become more "mainstream" looking/sounding. They needed to get past the weirdness of Russell and the Pyramidology and Rutherford's antagonistic approach as well as his ideas for the early resurrection for the "saints" to Beth Sarim, etc.

  Knorr took it more cooly. Knocking on doors and actually speaking (vs. handing a testimony card or playing a recording). There was a greater effort to "fit in" for decades using better PR. They even knocked off the shunning for a period in the 1970s. When HIV/AIDS arrived on the world scene in the 1980s it made them look like wise prophets with their ban on transfusions.

  While they are really attempting to ramp up their public image with better (and often misleading) PR, they are also swinging back into some weirdness. But the R&F accept any kooky idea that comes down from Mother. Most of this is not publicized to the outside world, thus only close family members that are affected by things or the x-JW crowd that has taken issue with things are really in "the loop" about things going on, such as the ban on higher education, the sex abuse issue, the land grab for KHall ownership, and now the new money scheme. The new recruits know nothing about the failed dates including 1975, let alone all the previous ones and old-timers have blocked it all out with Cognitive Dissonance. Most of the strange doctrines (New Light) cannot even be explained by a R&F JWs. They don't need to be able to explain it or understand it. They just need to do what they are told. Most do.

  Doc
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  talesin

  My great-grandparents were Bible Students. My grandfather had a degree in Theology from King's College. My father still (well, I don't even know if he's alive now, but up until a couple of years ago) has his copies of the old books from the early 1900s, and the phonograph records they used to play in the ministry.

  Yes, those people actually believed in the prophecies and the urgency of the preaching work.

  Moving forward to my parents' time, you could be a JW and not subjected to the rigid rules and controls. When my father was growing up, he was allowed to have worldly friends. People went to school, built businesses.

  That all changed in the 60s, when Knorr's reign was ending, and the Franz era began ........ to me, that's when the JWs truly became a cult in the dangerous sense. That's when the fanaticism set in amongst the rank and file. And after 1975's failed prophecy, the 'flock' became even more hardened to learning TTATT, because that would mean, omg, they based their life on a lie!

  Yes, big changes since the days of the Bible Students.

  tal
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  minimus

  I used to think that the Russellites probably were the closest in beliefs to the JWs. The Russellites are a weird offshoot of the Millenialists and the Witnesses are doubly that.
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  galaxie

  The paradox is they have HAD to change and in doing so they somehow remain the same deluded bunch.

  The changes or ( new light ) the faithful are obliged to accept, because the power house GB KNOW that even the rank & file would have sussed something was not adding up regarding their predictions. And so each new corner they turn morphs into a never ending circle.

  No wonder many here have said ;..Enough!! Let me off this conning coil.
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  minimus

  In the 1800s, there were many spiritual schools of thought and it was an era of enlightenment .....and they were ALL wrong. But they were true believers.
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  BU2B

  The same in the respects you mentioned, but they got increasingly more cult-like over the years.. At first I do not think they could be considered a cult. Slowly they banned the holidays, birthdays, DF arrangement began, ban on transfusions, organ transplants, shunning of DA ones, more and more rules.. Now they are lightening up in some areas while clamping down on others. Reducing the meetings, WT size, Assembly days, etc but beating the OBEY OBEY OBEY drum more and more by the day. Obey even when it makes no sense.. They are moving safely into Jim Jones territory now. (they always have been since the blood ban IMO mass murderers by stealth)
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  minimus

  I agree. They went from sect to cult.