Russell got Pyramid measurements from a drawing??!!

by VM44 13 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  VM44

  I seem to recall reading something that CT Russell obtained his Pyramid measurements from a drawing of a pyramid using calipers and rulers!!!!!

  Now that really wouldn't give the accuracy in values required for prophetic calculations. By taking measurements from a diagram, one could come up with any numbers one wanted in order to "massage" a calculation to give predetermined end year for a prophecy.

  In one of Russell's books, the pyramid dimensional measurements were "stretched" (or "shrunked" perhaps) from one edition to another in order to make the calculations come out the desired way. Of course, no mention was made that the new edtion had "revised" numbers! (mention might have been made about the "new" numbers in an issue of the Watchtower, but I do not have the specific reference to any such mention)

  Does anyone recall where Russell wrote he used calipers to take measurements from one of Symthe's pyramid diagrams?

  --VM44
• 

  Leolaia

  ***ZWT, 1 November 1904, p. 326.***

  THE GREAT PYRAMID MEASUREMENTS.

  ARE we quite sure of the accuracy of the measurements of the Great Pyramid's passages as given in MILLENNIAL DAWN, Vol. III.? I have seen another measurement of the downward passage (3465 inches instead of 3416 inches), said to be from Prof. Piazzi Smyth's writings, says a reader.* * *

  We have no reason to question the accuracy of the figures given in DAWN III. They were all secured from Prof. Piazzi Smyth's work entitled, Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid. Moreover the manuscript of that chapter was submitted to Prof. Smyth by a friend before it was published and no flaw in its figures was noted. The illustrations are of Prof. Smyth's preparation, too.

  We remark, however, that Prof. Smyth's interest centered in the upper chambers of the Pyramid, and the passages leading upward to these. Much less care and precision are manifested in his dealings with all other parts of the Pyramid than with this. As an evidence of this note the difference in the two drawings in VOL. III. which show this downward passage and the "pit" at its terminus. In the frontispiece the lower or level portion of the downward passage is shown as running to the axis line of the Pyramid, nearly one-half the length of the "pit." The illustration showing "The Passage System" of the Pyramid (MILLENNIAL DAWN, Vol. III., page 333) shows this totally different--it shows the depressed and broken floor commencing before the vertical axis is reached. Examine the illustrations carefully and note what we refer to.

  The cut of page 333 is to a scale, and, being prepared by the one Astronomer Royal of Scotland, it should be accurate, yet the figures we have given (3416 inches) reach (into the "pit" of this diagram, --to the "pit" in the frontispiece) to the vertical axis of the Pyramid. We cannot therefore see how any longer measure for the passage could be possible. Measure for yourself, using the scale given on the diagram, page 333. If you have not the proper calipers use a piece of stiff paper as your measuring line and then apply it to the scale.
• 

  VM44

  Thank you Leolaia for finding that.

  3416 inches....from measuring a drawing??

  Was Russell being serious? The scary answer is...Yes he was!

  --VM44
• 

  Terry

  Let us not fail to distinguish a significant detail.

  There was a fictitious ad hoc increment called the "pyramid inch" which differs from our standard inch.

  You see, if you need computations to come out a certain way you just diddle the standard to get what you want and abandon

  the commonly held one.

  There is so much larceny in this Pyramid scheme that it is hardly short of racketeering.

  T.
• 

  Jeffro

  This really is crazy stuff. Anyone with half a brain realises that a diagram on a sheet of paper simply doesn't have the resolution to resolve the exact size of the original structure. If we were to generously assume that the approximately 87m measurement of the structure was scaled down to about 17cm on paper at a scale of approx 1:500, then each millimetre on paper is equivalent to about 50cm (about 20 inches) on the actual structure. To measure the original structure to the exact inch, you would need to measure a 17cm measurement on the diagram to the nearest twentieth of a millimetre, which would very likely be smaller than the dot pitch of the diagram.
• 

  peacefulpete

  What is worse is that the measurements were known to be inaccurate by Egyptologists. Open any book or encyclopedia on the great pyramid and the actual heigth was well known to differ from Smyth's concocted numbers. Heads in sand.
• 

  TD

  
  

  This was from 1912. I thought you guys might get a kick out of this:
• 

  Perry

  Another nice vacation at the expense of the brothers. Being the one and only FDS did have its perks.
• 

  El_Santo

  Can a JW explain how an organization that starts out like this can somehow be chosen by God? It's amazing how much of this man's life is swept under the rug.
• 

  VM44

  thank you TD for posting that page from a 1912 issue of The Watchtower, the bottom lines of which read:

  The late Dr. John Edgar, M.A., B.So., M.B., C.M., F.F.P.S.G., of Glasgov, Scotland, with his brother Morton, in 1909, visited Gizeh to critically test Pastor Russell's deductions. Their verdict, after a most elaborate investigation, was a thorough endorsement of Pastor Russell's interpretation of the Great Pyramid, the greatest of the world's wonders.

  That was the 1909 trip the Edgar brothers made where they measured the Descending passage and found that Russell's numbers were WRONG!

  Here is what the Morton Egdar wrote about the trip.

  From http://www.heraldmag.org/olb/contents/treatises/edgar%20gp%20discourse.htm

  Reason for Visiting Pyramid

  I think it right to draw your attention particularly to the measured length of the Descending Passage, from the junction of the First Ascending Passage down to the Subterranean Chamber.

  There had been some doubt as to the precise length of this rock-cut passage, and it was for this reason that my brother, Doctor Edgar, and I visited the Great Pyramid in 1909. We desired to ascertain once for all the true length of this passage.

  You may have noted that, in his early editions of Vol. III of ‘Studies in the Scriptures," in the Pyramid chapter, Brother Russell states that the length of the Descending Passage, from the junction of the Ascending Passage down to the Subterranean Chamber, is 3416 inches. But in all later editions of his third volume, since 1905, the length of this passage has been altered to the extent of 41 inches, the length now being said to be 3457 inches. Formerly the north wall of the Subterranean Chamber was said to mark the date 1874 A.D., but with the new measure of 3457 inches this date was shifted forward 41 years to 1915 A.D. No explanation is given for this change.

  (See, however, the short article, ‘The Great Pyramid Measurements," on page 326 of 1st Nov., 1904, ‘Watch Tower.") We measured this passage in 1909, having first removed from it all obstructing debris, we found that neither the earlier published length of 3416 inches, nor the later published length of 3457 inches, was correct. The true length was found to be more nearly 3385 ‘Pyramid" inches. (The exact length if 3384.904 ‘Pyramid" inches.) As will be seen, this is 31 inches less than the first of Brother Russell’s figures, and 72 inches less than his later one.

  We, of course, immediately communicated with Brother Russell the true length of the Descending Passage. At first sight it appeared as if we would require to abandon the time-measurements of this lower part of the Pyramid’s passage system, the true length being so different from what we had previously understood it to be. Yet, strange to say, instead of abandoning the time-measurements, we found that the true length of the passage established these time-measurements all the more thoroughly. Both dates, 1874 and 1914, are now seen to be indicated by the end of this Descending Passage. This indication is very exact and convincing, and goes far to establish our faith in the Great Pyramid as indeed a building of God.

  So even though both the values published by Russell, 3416 and later 3457, were found to be incorrect, Morton claims that the value he measured, 3385, establishes both the dates 1874 and 1914!!!!

  And The Watchtower doesn't mention that Russell's measurements were found to be inaccurate, only that the Edgar's fully endorsed Russell's interpretation of the Great Pyramid.

  So even when CT Russell was wrong, he is still right, according to The Watchotwer!

  Of course, to answer why this is the case, all one has to do is ask who was the editor of The Watchtower, and who held controlling interest in the Watchtower corporation stock at that time.

  --VM44