Also, it may seem like I'm picking on you, Vienne, but I really hope not, because I agree with a lot of what you say. But I'm not certain this is correct:
We need to stop the nonsense. What the Watchtower said 100 or so years ago persuades no one, though it may make some feel like it was good to leave.
It was a coffin nail for me. Not the only one, by any means, but it had a large impact. When I discovered some of the rubbish Rutherford was writing in his multiple books it made it even clearer there was no God backing this "strange" man, or his organisation.
Maybe it's not relevant to the younger generation because the way CA is covered should be enough to send anyone out of this cult.
But for anyone born in the 70's 80's, etc it's a crucial part. I am/was a 3rd gen born in. I grew up in the 70's and 80's come from the generation that knew nothing of the Shephard the Flock book. And when whispers went around and I asked, I was told it didn't even exist. There was no such secret handbook for elders. I was told 75' was a sifting work, just like 25' was. 1914 was when Russel announced the "gentile times have ended, the kings have had their day" and how "right" he was. It had to be the truth. Russell got it right, the preaching is expanding, Crisis of Conscience was written by the disgruntled nephew of Franz when he realised he wasn't going to become the next president. (This was the actual excuse I was given when Ray released his book. He was angry because he wouldn't be made president and he thought he should be next because Franz was his uncle.) I believed it for years, because I didn't know any better, and had no reason to doubt what I was told.
It's only of recent years that they've admitted Russel thought they'd be raptured to heaven in 1914. Of course, they still don't tell it like it really was, but at least they admit he thought they'd go to heaven. When I was growing up in the 70's, 80's, we knew nothing of what really happened. We were taught that Russell predicted the coming of Jesus in 1914 and that he saw the World War as being the proof of Satn being expelled from the the heavens. Nothing was ever said about them thinking they'd go to heaven. He'd predicted it was the beginning of the end and he was right. And we had no way of checking even if we did doubt. Information is controlled, and when you live in a sleepy town in the heart of England there was no need to doubt. The internet was still a long way off. I didn't touch a computer until I was in secondary school and learnt BBC Basic. lol.
People born before 2000 need to see these things. Not so much the millenials and onwards. It's an information era and access to things we just didn't even know existed is a finger tip away.
I'd heard of Russel's pyramid idea from someone I met on the ministry. When I asked about it, it was shrugged off as being twisted lies from apostates and that wasn't what Russell had been doing. I was told to forget it. I did. When you're born and raised in a bubble, you believe what you're told. Not because we're guliable, but because we trust the source. It was all I knew and I had no reason to doubt what everyone around me knew to be true. All I grew up understanding, was that I wasn't good enough for the true religion, and that God had rejected me years ago. The problem had to be me, because this was the one true religion that never got anything wrong and was blessed by God.
When the internet exploded with information I went on a search through the library of my parents older books. Boxed up in the back of the wardrobes. They had books right back to the thirties I'd never seen before and they'd forgotten all about. I even found the picture of the levels of Hell in Budism that used to torment me as a child. I was terrified of that picture, but like a moth to a flame it was all I could look at when we studied that book. It gave me nightmares for months. lol
And I found a fold out diagram of the three pyramids of Gezza and his strange calculations. I can't tell you the relief that gave me. lol
So, my point, after much rambling, is that these videos etc that expose what was taught 100 years ago are invaluable for the older generations.
I think it's Larchwood on Twitter who finds some real gems in the older books and puts them up. Some of them are just great to get people thinking without even realising what you're doing.
I did it the other week with a staunch witness friend. I laughingly told her how we used to teach that by the end of the thousand years, all the women would become men. When she read it for herself I could see the confusion even whilst we laughed it off.
So, yeah, rambling again. Sorry.
Just wanted to add my two pence worth to say that I think these videos have a lot of value to offer to older witnesses and some younger ones who are convinced in the GB being right all the time.
Cause at the end of the day, if "we're teaching the truth now, what was it we were teaching back then?" Certainly not the truth. So did God give us false information? Or is it the WT is just a load of old phoneys out for the money?
