Was Russell a freemason and an adventist?

by wholewheat 80 Replies latest jw friends

  • plmkrzy
    plmkrzy

    avengers


    Watchtower does not have it's roots in "Jehovah" , but in all sorts of strange religions.

    I have no argument .

    I want to add though. Just for the sake of arguing.

    The ZION was founded on one mans beliefs, and they were no doubt influenced by many others. That does not automaticlly mean that there was an adoption of beliefs "Influence" can go either way. Otherwise he would not have decided to begin research on his own. It was his doubts in the other religions that he was exposed to, and exposed himself to, that inspired him to find something else. Some people adopted the idea that it was God who inspired him to find something else. As far as that is concerned it is up to the indavidule to decide for him/her self.
    The rest is history

    plum.

  • JanH
    JanH

    I originally missed this statement:

    The "pyramid with seeing eye capstone" on the back of the dollar bill is "Freemasonry icoography" (as well as Egyptian).

    I have seen no evidence whatsoever it is a freemason symbol. If you follow the links chasson provided earlier, you will see good evidence it has nothing whatsoever to do with freemasonry; it is a very American symbol. So, being syncretists, I assume American Freemasons use it.

    - Jan

  • Englishman
    Englishman

    If Russel was a freemason at some time, then his name will be on a register somewhere. I don't know much about freemasonry itself, but I do know a little about how they operate.

    Masons belong to Lodges, which in turn are controlled by a regional / provincial Lodges which answer to a Grand Lodge of a particular counrtry.

    Masons advance through various degrees, initiates are first degree Masons and are able to indicate to other Masons their rank by use of a secret sign. As they advance they are given further signs and passwords, so that only members of a certain rank are able to take part in certain rituals and ceremonies.

    As a member advances, details of each initiation to a higher degree are kept and minuted. Details remain at the Lodge, but copies are also passed to the Provincial and Grand Lodge too.

    It's likely then that Russels lodge would have been quite near to his place of residence. Maybe there are some Lodge indentifying marks carved on his gravestone. The solution to this mystery could be solved by simply finding a sympathetic Freemason who was at least a Grand Master at some time, and asking him to have a root through some old members lists. He would not be giving away secrets if he was simply finding out whether or not a deceased Mr Russell was once a Free Mason, so it's unlikely that he would have his tongue cut out and left on the beach as a consequence.

    Englishman.

  • JanH
    JanH

    Englishman,

    Again, follow the links Chasson gave earlier, and you will see all this work has already been done. Yes, the Freemasons keep very detailed records. They are available for research, some of them online. And, no, neither C. T. Russell nor his father has been found in those records.

    This, to the nutcases, is of course real proof of a conspiracy. *sigh*

    - Jan

  • Englishman
    Englishman

    Hmm,

    Next time I shall read a thread completely before answering it.

    DOH!

    Englishman

  • AngryXJW
    AngryXJW

    Jan:_____

    At risk of employing the very (lack of) evidence and reason which I have condemned, let me explain why it is "my opinion" that the eye/pyramid is "connected somwhow/somewhere" with FreeMasonry.________

    Admittedly, "the connection" is constantly repeated by "conspiracy theorists". However, every proposition "conspiracy theorists" put forth is not false merely by association.______

    I assume the referred "Chasson link" is to ONE OF SEVERAL FREEMASONRY webpages which post the identical article which denies such "connection". The arguments are very persuasive. However, it admits that Benamin Franklin (who was probably the most influential person on the design committee) was a Freemason. The article also fails to consider that the committee's designs had to be approved by politicians who "possibly" were Freemasons. Additionally, there is no way of knowing what influence freemasons could have had behind the scenes.______

    I obviously do not believe there has ever been a "world domination" conspiracy, but I have had significant exposure in the business and political worlds to know that fraternities such as Freemasons, Knights of Pythias, Knights of Columbus, etc. all use their influence to help their fellow members succeed in life._____

    I believe that it was this past weekend that the HISTORY CHANNEL ran a program on Freemasonry. I only caught part of it while channel surfing, but it mentioned the eye/pyramid as having freemasonry connections. The program also mentioned the large influence that Freemasonry had in the US in colonial days. Again, General/Pres George Washington was an avid Freemason, and "it was the thing to do" for his army officers to also join. The program even mentioned an incident where a captured American was in the process of being executed until he "flashed a secret Freemasonry signal" and the British officers stopped the execution. Also, again, Washington performed a Freemasonry dedication at the laying of the cornerstone of the US CAPITOL building. Washington's Monument shows similar masonry/egyptian imagery. Many of the prominent politicians in colonial America were FM, with many others suspected of such._______

    Then there is the question why a "pyramid" would be used as a symbol standing for anything in colonial America? The cited article even denies that pyramids are freemasonry imagery. It says that such were picked up by the freemasons after the fact. Maybe it wasn't until such imagery became public that freemasons felt comfortable using such in public??? Maybe the article "protests too much"?______

    I do know that I have dead relatives (who were FM) who believed that the dollar bill symbols were masonic in origin. And, as related earlier, I have had enough exposure to Freemasons in the business and political worlds to know that they are sneeky and sly enough to have pulled this off if they had so desired, especially in a day and time when Freemasons were at their peak in American society._______

    Bear in mind, that there is some truth in the things said about this "secret society"- enough to generate the "over-board" world domination conspiracy theory.

    Edited by - AngryXJW on 5 July 2002 12:55:22

  • professor
  • plmkrzy
    plmkrzy

    The "world domination conspiracy theory" via politics, would have been a more suitable accusation to pin on Rutherford then on Russell.

  • RR
    RR

    It never ceases to amaze me the amount of attention this type of thread gets!

  • hillary_step
    hillary_step

    I am sure Eric Von Daniken wrote about this subject in his book 'Was Russell An Astronaut'. In his book he presents compelling evidence , complete with Mayan stone engravings and Peruvian crop circles, that Russell actually crash landed on this planet 12,000 years ago and impregnated a very hairy Neanderthal missy, whose Masonic offspring the went on to populate the Metropolitan Police Force in London.

    You may be skeptical about this, which is your prerogative, but have you ever noticed that yer average London Bobby is both clean shaven and remarkably unintelligent? Clear indication of dubious inbreeding with alien Pastors.

    HS

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