Jehovahs Witnesses and New Light

by smiddy 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Old Goat

  As far as I can tell Russell never read J. A. Brown's book. Barbour did. But J. A. Brown did not originate the 2520 year count of Gentile Times. An American clergyman was first. Having ideas similar to someone else is not plagiarism. Plagiarism is the use of another's words without attribution.

  The immedite source of the 1914 date is E. B. Elliott. Barbour read Elliott's Horae. He said so. Russell never mentions Elliott, and I think he never bothered to read his book. Some of Russell's associates did.

  You'll get a better view of the place of J. A. Brown's relationship to Barbour from Schulz and de Vienne: Nelson Barbour: The Millennium's forgotten prophet. It's on lulu.com. ebook is elsewhere too.

  Brown was a silver and gold smith by trade, and very involved in prophetic studies and mission work to the Jews. I tried to trace his education, but while I could trace that of his sons, I could not find where he was educated. His books are a bit prolix, but most religious books from that era are. He wrote a short article for an Anglican magazine about 1810 as I recall. It's much easier to read.

  Better, more accurate history than you will usually find on this board is found here
  http://truthhistory.blogspot.com/
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  Rufus T. Firefly

  Why is the Watchtower always the LAST to "receive" so-called "NEW light?" Consider just a few examples.

  Two GB members asked Edward Dunlap in a private conversation what he thought about the F&DS. He said it appeared to him the F&DS was the GB, and they disfellowshipped him. Today, the Watchtower embraces what Dunlap had observed more than 30 years ago.

  In 1947, the Watchtower said the practice of disfellowshipping was of pagan origin, adopted from the Druids by the Catholic Church. Five years later, the Watchtower embraced the practice.

  Thousands of JWs spent years in prisons during wartime because the Watchtower considered alternative service to be a violation of Christian neutrality while Quakers, Mennonites and other religious groups accepted alternative service. Suddenly in the mid-1990s, alternative service became a matter of individual conscience for JWs.

  I could go on, but you get the idea. The Watchtower is always the last to receive what they consider to be new light.