i remember reading a comment here that bro. russell emphasized the developement of christian qualities, where are bro rutherford changed the focus to christan works. the question i have is, is this change dirrectly commented on in print or is it seen in more anecdotal evidence?
A question about the change from qualities to works
by alfredjones100 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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whathappened
Interesting question, 73 views and no comments. Maybe we are wondering why you are asking.
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Crazyguy
old light to new light i guess, Paul wrote twice that works is for boasting so he directly contradicted james. James though was about helping people and thats what he wrote about not the kind of works the JW's do, Jesus even said not to exalt yourselves and not let your right hand know what your left is doing in righteousness. All in all the JW's miss the point but don't they always!!!!
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bafh
There was a comment on this in the Proclaimers book. There was some discussion about how they had to decide works or qualities. And they decided works. I remember because at the time I also remember thinking they made a mistake.
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alfredjones100
there was no sinister intent in my question, nor am i a russellite. however the change in dirrection would have been quite major at the time i suspect and i thought that there might have been interesting wt comments about it. i wonder if the bro's in rutherfords time thought "this is not the same religion i got baptised into" when concidering the change.
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hamsterbait
There is a comment, in the old30s or 20s litterature, where Rutherfraud (called "tricky and deceitful, prone to drinking" on his charge sheet - police are usually good character judgement)
any way Rutherfraud mocked people who felt that "developing the 'beautiful personality' " is vanity and worth less than selling his trashy delusional crap.
he was known for his anger and abusiveness - maybe this was his cop out clause.
HB
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donuthole
Here is a decent write up that includes a download of an old Watchtower:
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Listener
This is a really great question Alfredjones and thanks for the link donuthole.
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alfredjones100
thanks for the article donuthole. so much of the organisation evolved over time without dirrect wt comment. where a teaching or a view was implied as a way to soften up the bros. and in time it became an unquestioned doctrine. so its good to find something in print. thanks again. its funny though when i think about it, because i remember the convention when they introduced the term "gradualism" to discribe how the world changes people. little did i realize then, how the organisation had already mastered that technique on us. and now with the deliberate move to the digital medium (and with this crazy tablet fad) how eazy it will be to drop embarasing publications or "up date" them when the need appears.
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Terry
It wasn't ONLY Pastor Russell emphasizing personality development.
Christianity itself historically transformed over and over again.
At the death of Jesus, Messianic Jews were apocalyptic evanagelists.
After three or four hundred years of waiting around for the RETURN, they turned to activism in politics and society with THE CHURCH.
For 1500 years, the CHURCH simply granted confession/forgiveness and ruled the world with varying degrees of incompetency.
After Martin Luther and the Protest incursion by apostates (THE REFORMATION) Christianity fractured into denominational opinion-mongering.
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The New World (the Americas) was glutted with PURITANS who harbored a delusion about themselves.
What was the delusion?
The Puritans would build a shining city on a hill of such perfectionism ALL THE WORLD would convert to Christianity because it was the best alternative.
It took CIVIL WARS to convince mainstream Christians character development wasn't working (duh--you're killing each other.)
So, Russell was waaaaay late in his concentrating on perfecting the "saints" in view of the "any day now" Armageddon.
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WOW!
Just think. The JW's went through the same repetition of history as Christianity (Christendom).