reslight2
Russell.... did not spiritualize 1914 due to any failure of such an event
That observation was made not about Russell, but about Rutherford and his overhaul of Russell's chronology during the 1920's and early 30's
JW Refutations of Criticism of Russell and Rutherford
by Duvduv 43 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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TD
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Duvduv
Are there any more insights on these issues on this forum??
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TD
The bottom line is that Jehovah's Witnesses strongly discourage their members from reading anything other than their own idealized presentation of church history
Critics are referred to only obliquely as, "opposers" when they are even mentioned at all.
This approach pretty much sidesteps the need to refute anything.
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dozy
Broadly the WTBTS / JW model is very similar to LDS ( which is not unexpected as the two religions had similar origins and evolved along similar lines ). Reading ex-Mormon sites ( such as exmormon.org ) gives a flavour for those who are JWs / ex-JWs and can relate to the scenario but struggle to objectify their concerns.
As a long term ( 40 year ) JW , latterly an elder etc - I find the easiest way I can come to terms with the Society is that essentially they are just a religious publishing business with millions of volunteer sales people which has been forced to evolve its business model in more recent times to real estate development - primarily flipping and consolidation of existing property assets.
As far as Russell & Rutherford were concerned - it is hard sometimes to establish definite facts. Certainly some of Russell's ideas certainly were crazy ( just read some of his "Studies in the Scriptures". ) When Rutherford died , about 3 people attended his funeral ( not even his wife or son ) so he wasn't exactly a popular figure - Moyles testimony , under oath and never challenged - is of interest. Neither would qualify for even lowly privileges in the Organisation today. Raymond Franz in his books , especially "Crisis of Conscience" ) gives interesting information from an informed source without dwelling on some of the more sensationalist stories.
Most JWs today really have very little knowledge about the two former leaders other than the occasional positive snippets in the Watchtower. Frankly - as other posts have said - most don't care about any failings. It's old light blah blah.
As far as whether it is easy to brainwash and restrict the knowledge of millions of people today in the internet era , again refer to the LDS / Scientology/ similar groups or ( hundreds of millions ) Islam.