Authority in the Witnesses

Band on the Run

Now that Pastor Russell is persona non grata, I was wondering how this movement ever started. I always find it surprising that educated people refuse to read the Bible. They will just follow someone. How did Russell get followers? I don't know if his ideas were strange for his times. They are lunacy today. The first people to give Russell deference may be more impt to the Witnesses than Russell's bizarre ideas. Wikipedia states that Russell's teachings always were divergent from mainstream Christianity. Was he especially chariismatic? Did he market the religious ideas with the department store money.

He was drawing large audiences towards the end. The men at the very top get all the study. What about ordinary Bible Students/Witnesses? If a classmate started writing insights on the scriptures, that person would be the target of derision.

Does someone just stand up and say "follow me."

Faithful Witness

He had a large forehead, and that means you're really smart! ;)

OUTLAW

Does someone just stand up and say "follow me.".....Band on the Run..

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.......................................................................................................................................................... ...OUTLAW

JeffT

Russell did not operate in a vacuum. His thoughts grew out of two larger movements: Adventism and the "Great Revivial" that occured ealier in Amecian religious thought. In light of the times, his writings were not quite as bizarre as they now seem. Adventism worked off a simple assumption: all those days, times, seasons, prophetic monsters etc in the Bible must mean SOMETHING. Therefore one had only to find the key to unlock the mystery. "The Gentile Times Reconsidered" by Carl Olof Johnson has tables of some of the interpretations floating around using the "year for a day" method and who proposed them. He lists 36 each for the 1260 year and 2520 year prophecies. Most of these (particularly the second group) were advanced in the 19th Century.

In other words, the audience for his work already existed.

fulltimestudent

In other words, the audience for his work already existed.

And, I would venture, Russell had been and continued to be, part of the 'audience.'

L3G

JeffT, spot on! The 19th century was rife with such Protestantism. Witness the Mormons, Adventists, Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone (Disciples of Christ); on and on the list could go. A similar thing was going on the British Isles. Hislop's The Two Babylons is another example.

BOTR: I doubt that Charles Russell will ever be a persona non grata among Witnesses in the know. He will always be viewed fondly, however out-of-step his thinking may now appear.

defender of truth

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/bible/240456/1/A-closer-look-at-the-origins-and-times-of-Pastor-C-T-Russell

Perry

I was wondering how this movement ever started.

I can tell you what I know as a 4th Generation Witness.

My Great Grandmother was the first of several hundred desendants and relatives to join. She came to the US as an Italian imigrant from Sicily at age 9. She hooked up in the 20's with the Watchtower masquerading as an American style Christian organization. Probably seemed like the thing to do in her new country. My grandmother was a 1st generation American Sicilian who only had a 3rd grade education. Grandpa was a 3rd generation American who descended from the same village in Sicily, but also only had a 3rd or 4th grade education. They joined the cult as did my mother, who was a high school graduate. But she suffered in the WWII years with getting kicked out of school because of the flag issue. They made her feel proud to suffer for the Truth.

I finally read the bible and figured out that there is not ONE SINGLE SCRIPTURE that offers salvation outside of the New Covenant. Most of my several hundred Italian realitives on my grandmothers side are members. It is their "thing".

There is hell to pay for ignorance of sin and God's solution to the problem.

Band on the Run

I don't understand not questioning. My mom and uncle were expelled from school b/c of flag salute. I would think immigrants would want a more American religion. My great aunts did time in jail in NJ for going door to door. Another uncle went to federal prison b/c of the draft.

Perry

BOTR,

Suffering appeals to many hard working proud people. It makes them feel special as part of their overall works-based ideology. The WT feeds that notion.

Sinners on the other hand are not special, but commonplace.

Jesus' offer of salvation apeals to sinners, not special people.

Authority in the Witnesses

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