Having recently gotten my hands on some old Golden Age mags, here's a short list of amusing and/or damning quotes found within them. I've chosen not to comment on them, merely emphasising what I thought most relevent, and to leave it up to you
Vol. XIV - No. 362 August 2, 1933
How to locate Hypocrites
A man can give plenty of lip service to his church, lead the Sunday school class, be a pillar in his church, and yet he can be, and often is, like a devil incarnate! I know, because as a child I was farmed out to these superficial "Christians" and saw them take the mask off on week days. Appointees of the clergy are almost always unsuited by temperament, training or inclination to receive the grave responsibilities to which they are called.
The orphanage I attended is typical of all such institutions. An orphanage is a nightmare at any time, for the herding of little children into disciplinary camps fosters atrocities and grave injusticies. Orphanages may be necessary, but I sincerely doubt it; for the children cry out in their miseries, while nobody listens. "You can't believe a child", and the superintendents in charge are such "proven Christians"!
[...]
We had with us at the orphanage a superintendent whose name was H.K. Anderson. How we loved him! He was fair and just. Patience was his middle name. He had a sense of humour, and we trusted him. But sometimes he didn't go to church. And he was even seen taking a glass of beer once! He was one of the few Christians that I have met in my time; but he was not fanatical about it, and that was too much for the clergy, who demanded his expulsion.
(p.681)
Aluminium Vats for Beer
The United States Aluminium Company, at its plant at Maryville, Tennessee, has been working day and night getting out aluminium vats to replace oak barrels for beer. [...] A rapid increase in cancer cases, especially of those who like beer, may now be expected.
(p.697)
Vol. XIV - No. 363 August 16, 1933
It appears that the Catholic clergymen have no weapon of defence except a gag and a bludgeon. Every man who speaks the truth, which truth does not tingle the ears of the clergy, the Catholic clergy say should be gagged. Every one who publishes the truth contrary to their ideas of what is right the Catholic clergy say should be browbeaten, coerced and clubbed into submission. God and Christ Jesus never employed any such methods, and that of itself is most conclusive proof that men who resort to the gag and bludgeon method do not represent God and Christ. Such methods used to keep the people in ignorance and to blind them to the truth are the ones employed by Satan the Devil. (2 Corinthians 4:4) When a man, whether a clergyman or the editor of a newspaper, resorts to the gag and bludgeon method, whom then does he represent, God or the Devil? Judge ye!
(p.720)
Ok, I can't resist bolding the lot and making a quick comment Who will be the first to show this quote to their local elders or visiting JWs, just for the pleasure of hearing them say, "OOhh nooo, the light's gotten brighter now, we don't believe that any more!" Anyway, onwards..
Vol. XIV No. 365 September 13, 1933
Death in the Aluminium bucket
Twenty-two young people of New Orleans, placing implicit confidence in the widely published assertions of the Aluminium Trust, the American Medical Association, the Mellon Institute, and other like institutions, attended a picnic at Little Woods, where they all drank punch from an aluminium bucket.
According to the Scientific American, The Literary Digest, and other windbags that never learn anything about anything of real value to the people, they should have been able to drink this punch all right, and according to the Aluminium Trust the metal they swallowed should have been a help to them all. But the fact of the business is that they were all made deathly sick.
(p784)
Betting on Church Attendance
A country minister near Melbourne, Australia, noticed that in fair weather he managed to take in about $25 a week, but in case of rain many people remained at home and business was not so good. He now pays $1.25 per week to an insurance company to insure him against rain on Sunday morning. If it rains he gets $25 from the insurance company; if it doesn't rain he gets $25 from the congregation. If it rains after eleven o'clock, he gets $25 from both the insurance company and the congregation. Probably he makes a business of praying, not for the "early" rain, which gives him $25, but for the "latter" rain, which gives him $50.
(p789)
Again, I can't resist.. Sounds like the WT might want to seriously consider this course of action
Hello, up it pops again...World's Oldest Man Is Dead
Li Ching-Yun, at one time believed to have been born 256 years ago, but more recently calculated as 197 years of age, passed away in May, 1933. [...] Quite probably he was the world's oldest man. But a million years from now there will be millions that will then be a million years old or more; for most certainly millions now living will never see death.
(p.792)
Edited one final time to add: YAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY got the formatting sorted at last
Edited by - fatal error on 2 August 2002 11:56:5
Edited by - fatal error on 2 August 2002 12:0:46
Edited by - fatal error on 2 August 2002 12:3:20
Edited by - fatal error on 2 August 2002 12:5:3