1922 certainly was a good year for Watchtowers. Many of them were fascinating reading for an observant student of Watchtower history. Recurring subjects that year revolved around Russells Chronology and the dogmatic insistance that Russells dates were divinely inspired. Among the numerous articles on this subject of Chronology were many passages decrying the wicked methods of historical deception practised by slippery and misleading secular experts in history research. It was fascinating to see the Watchtower lambasting worldly Archeological Authorities and accusing them of practising deceptive methods, to mislead and deceive the hapless masses into believing their lies, that, in fact, the Watchtower practised itself. The Dogmatic, Authoritarian nature of the cult was on full view for all to see. Check some of the passages out.....
From the June 15, 1922 WT. An article called SEVENTY YEARS DESOLATIONPART 2. The article quotes from a speech by one Doctor Brown, an expert in Archaeology who is decrying the tendancy among archaeology experts to declare things to be facts without having proper proof to back the claims. The selective quotation of Doctor Brown is the work of the WT. Not myself.
"Scientific advance is through guesses, more or less rash.Assyriology has its guesses..great and infectious enthusiasm, but a sad lack of cool judgement and scholarly patienceOverhaste in its employmentthe Assyriologists themselves have been guilty of many sins of excessive hasteThe biblical scholar has not only, to his own undoing, taken the hasty conclusions of the specialists, and worked them into his expositions, but he has himself drawn hasty conclusions from them.There has been in some quarters an unseemly voracity, everything has been swallowed, the simplest rules of critical inquiry have been forgotten. There has been blind trusting to authority, without weighing it, and an assumption of fact upon the mere say so of some presumably honest scholar.There is a wide difference between expecting a discovery and making one"....
This goes on and on.
"A constant and enforced shifting of ground.conclusions must not be jumped atHe must not treat a hypothesis as established fact, and build a dogmatic exposition upon itthey ought to demand that fact is sharply distinguished from guess.it involves a fast and loose playing with well attested historical documents, hailing them eagerly when they say at once what you want them to say, but discrediting them with all your might when their utterances are troublesome to you"
It beggars credibility that this very WT article, in its final paragraphs, goes into a discussion of the 1845 year parallel dispensations and declares of them ...
"in accordance with the soundest laws known to science- we affirm that, scripturally, scientifically, and historically, present truth chronology is correct beyond a doubt".....
And
"In the passages of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh the agreement of one or two measurements with the present truth chronology might be accidental, but the correspondence of dozens of measurements proves that the same God designed both pyramid and plan".....
What are these statements if not evidence that " everything has been swallowed", the "simplest rules of critical inquiry have been forgotten"? And on the part of the Watchtower church members wasnt it so that t here has been "blind trusting to authority, without weighing it". ? Of course, some years later there was some Constant and enforced shifting of ground on the part of the WT on the matter of these Biblical Truths of the Great Pyramid and Russells present truth Chronology. Hows this passage? Its from the same Watchtower article under the heading RECORDS FALSIFIED BY KINGS.
"The pagan kings did not hesitate to falsify the monumental inscriptions. They left out whatever did not suit them, and altered the record of facts when that pleased their arrogant boastfulness. Two kings reigned together, but the inscriptions are written as though the reigns are successive.An inscription exists in which in boastfull language Sennacherib describes his disastrous campaign against Hezekiah. But he says not a word about the miraculous obliteration of his army by the destroying angel. 'Assyrian Kings', says Doctor Brown 'never record their failures'."I might add, religious totalitarians never have failed campaigns at all, everything they state will be comes to be without the shadow of a deviation, so no "deception" and cover up is necessary on their part. (Mockery intended)
"The entire reigns of Kings are omitted in the inscriptions at the option of succeeding monarchs"....The Watchtower claims these kings do this because they are "boastfull". Not a dissimilar practise, I think, to the reduction of CT Russell to a mere figurehead, a figurehead whose utterances have been removed from the records and the records of which have been falsified by the "succeeding monarchs". Hows this one, from the May 15 th 1922 Watchtower. Article: JOHOIAKIM TRIES TO DESTROY GODS WORD. Under the subheading METHODS OF BIBLE BURNING the WT explains that there are more ways to influence peoples opinions than the mere burning of books and torture. The very first method listed is..
"It is still possible to attempt to destroy Gods WordIt may be attempted variously, By perverting its statements and ridiculing them. By speaking of its truths irreverently and connecting them with funny stories, and thus vitiating its influence upon the readers and hearers."...Yes, mockery is a sure fire way to discredit the credibility of a message alright. And the WT certainly kept the method in mind. They practised the very method described, themselves, in the Seventy Years Desolation article in the June 15, 1922 issue of the following month! Under the heading "GUESSES OF "AUTHORITIES". ( mocking parenthesis theirs).....
"When almost any bit of history of the prehistoric pagan events of the 70 years is traced to its origin it is found to be a guess or conjecture. Based by Authorities (well paid guessers) upon some scraps of uncertain tradition..a conjecture is made by a modern scholar (guesser), which is the basis of the present utterances of Authorities (highest salaried guessers) etc."...The italics, parenthesis and mockery are theirs. This mocking gag about guessers / Experts goes on for 2/3 of a page. Of course, the totalitarianism under the reign of the "Judge" (mocking parenthesis mine) doesnt have to guess at anything. After all from the July 15, 1922 WT:
"present truth chronology displays indisputable evidence of divine foreknowledge of the principle dates, this is proof of divine origin and that the system is not a human invention but a discovery of divine truth".....And
"In the chronology of present truth there are so many inter relationships among the dates that it is not a mere string of dates, not a chain, but a cable of strands firmly knit together a divinely unified system, with most of the dates having such remarkable relations with others as to stamp the system as not of human origin"....Parenthesis and italics mine! . Wow. I guess that is the kind of language the Watchtower of May 15, 1922 is talking about when, In the article titled "CHRONOLOGY", and referring to deceptive Archaeologists (guessers), it says...
"To impress the weight of their wisdom upon readers , these conclusions are often stated in positive language, and the student is inclined to accept them at their face statement without further investigation".....Yes indeed, fascinating reading . (edited a dozen times because of the way this stupid forum works) (edited later by RF's secretary but couldn't get rid of the bold either!) Edited by - refiners fire on 11 January 2003 1:8:7
Edited by - refiners fire on 11 January 2003 10:27:59