Intl. Bible Students, a question..

by fairchild 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  fairchild

  Recently, I've been reading through the international bible student's website. I really like it and I'm reading as much as I can in order to get familiar with them.

  However, I don't understand where exactly they came from. They mention the name "Charles Russell" often and they also have some pictures of him on their site. My guess is that they were founded by Charles Russell, and that the JWs were at one point the intl. bible students, but they formed their own group eventually. I'm not sure about that, and would like to know more. I don't know if this theorie of mine holds, because they also have a link where they list groups that were originally Intl. Bible students, and the JWs are not on that list. I'm pretty confused. They also have a couple of links about the JWs, but neither one of the links works, unfortunately. I thought the links might explain how they are related to the JWs. Can anyone tell me more about them?
• 

  M.J.

  It can be fairly contended that the JWs are actually an offshoot of the Bible Students, started by Rutherford and that today's Bible Students are the original followers of Charles Russell. After Russell's death, Rutherford forcibly seized control of the organization, and according to the Bible Students, 1/3 of the people in the movement left. In time Rutherford instituted more and more control over the congregations, and more and more purging of "Russell worship", resulting in 2/3 of the pre-Rutherford Bible Students leaving the WTS and forming their own groups. These folks continue as the Bible Students to this day and have no centralized organization.
• 

  Sith

  Isn't it amazing how little modern-day witnesses know about the history of their own organization? And how intensely they are discouraged to learn about it? You'd think an organization founded on Truth; an organization which claims to be the One and Only True Religion, would be extremely proud of it's history and accomplishments. Makes you wonder......
• 

  minimus

  All I know is that the first Jehovah's Witness was Abel.
• 

  jt stumbler

  Minimus, I thought it was Jesus?
• 

  minimus

  I meant on earth-------not heaven.
• 

  VM44

  "Isn't it amazing how little modern-day witnesses know about the history of their own organization?"

  Yes it is! I lived for over 10 years in San Diego, and went to the meetings throughout all that time, and NOT ONCE did any witness say anything about Judge Rutherford's house, Beth Sarim, being right there in the city!!!

  In fact, Beth Sarim overlooks Mission Valley, and from the vantage point of the house you can almost see the stadium where the JWs hold their assemblies!

  Come to think about it, they didn't mention Rutheford either!

  It is as if Rutherford and Beth Sarim are topics they didn't want to talk about.

  --VM44
• 

  fairchild

  Isn't it amazing how little modern-day witnesses know about the history of their own organization? And how intensely they are discouraged to learn about it? You'd think an organization founded on Truth; an organization which claims to be the One and Only True Religion, would be extremely proud of it's history and accomplishments. Makes you wonder......

  That is a very interesting thought, sith, and so true. It makes me think of the time when I asked questions about "how it all began", because I really wanted to know, as it seemed important to me. But after asking a ton of questions, I finally realized that nobody really answered them, they always found a way around my questions and tried to direct my attention to something else (like how I lacked faith, lol). mj, thanks a lot for that explanation, that helps. So now I wonder if the international bible students are actually the true Jehovah's witnesses... they have no organization on earth, their members have the freedom to come and go, they don't get shunned when they leave. They recognize Charles Russell as the founder of their group, and they don't seem to come up with false predictions. I'm going to do some more reading on their website tonight, and try to find out what they say about "this generation".
• 

  fairchild

  Yes it is! I lived for over 10 years in San Diego, and went to the meetings throughout all that time, and NOT ONCE did any witness say anything about Judge Rutherford's house, Beth Sarim, being right there in the city!!!

  OOHHHHH you've seen beth sarim? What does it look like? Does it look like a mansion? And who bought it? Individuals or an organization?

  Of course they want to keep the beth sarim episode as quiet as possible, because the whole thing was such a blunder. The one thing I never understood was, since they built a house for the faithful men of old, so that they would have a place to live upon their return to earth, why did they build it in CA? Why not around Jerusalem or something? I bet that judge Rutherford got himself a nice place to live there. perhaps it being for the faithful men of old was just a cover... the good ole judge needed a fine place to live without sowing seeds for questions as to why the organization's money was used to build it.
• 

  M.J.

  I heard the real reason it was built was to get the bumbling, obnoxious drunk old man out of Brooklyn.

  The WTS made it a point to say that it was financed not by the society but by private contribution. But I also heard that the well meaning R&F in the congregations were pandered to to come up with the funds for this most exciting and "worthy" cause.

  FC, "this generation" was Rutherford's thing. The Bible Students believe that Christ returned in 1874 and has been present ever since. The generation that saw 1874 has been 6 feet under for quite some time now! But I'd like to know how they interpret that particular passage. Also, 1914 was supposed to be the establishment of the earthly part of the kingdom and the end of all church and state leadership, when the 144K were transferred to heaven. I don't know what they presently believe is the significance of 1914 since it didn't happen! Maybe they somehow explain that this transfer of power is just taking a long, long time? Let us know what you find! I'm still curious about some of their doctrines myself.