There may be a certain irony to the initial policy of Russell that no collections be taken because the Lord would provide - OR - if the money dried up, it would prove the Lord was NOT behind the work.
It has come to that by now.
Selling off Kingdom Halls and begging for change on J-Dub dot Org is Russell's redline event: the Lord is not behind the work.
Time to turn out the lights and go back to your local churches.
Posts by Terry
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8FOLLOW the MONEY : Pastor Russell makes it rain
by Terry inpastor russell: follow the money.
charles t. russell, age of 13, joined the congregational church (dumped presbyterian).. he went (like girl scouts are sent out with cookies to sell) door to door to raise money for the church.. russell hated fundraising.
he had to ask poor people to part with their money.
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Terry
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8
FOLLOW the MONEY : Pastor Russell makes it rain
by Terry inpastor russell: follow the money.
charles t. russell, age of 13, joined the congregational church (dumped presbyterian).. he went (like girl scouts are sent out with cookies to sell) door to door to raise money for the church.. russell hated fundraising.
he had to ask poor people to part with their money.
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Terry
PASTOR RUSSELL: follow the money
Charles T. Russell, age of 13, joined the Congregational church (dumped Presbyterian).
He went (like Girl Scouts are sent out with cookies to sell) door to door to RAISE MONEY for the Church.
Russell hated fundraising. He had to ask poor people to part with their money. He said he felt he was "fleecing the flock."
Russell sold 5 men's clothing stores for: $6,521,739.13 **
$300,000 of 1876 dollars would be worth:$6,521,739.13 in 2014
http://www.davemanuel.com/inflation-calculator.php?
**http://www.pastor-russell.com/misc/bio.html" Charles immediately, and in great haste, sold out his five clothing stores and all his other business interests to the tune of 300,000 dollars."
What were Russell's actual personal goals concerning money?
Russell also drew on his own experience when he wrote of the quest for riches. If one’s goal was money, he wrote, one should “try to be a millionaire.” He devoted “all his might” to business ventures, and soon other stores were opened. If an article he wrote in 1913 is biographical, his goal was to become rich. He prayed to God for wealth, “telling him that we knew what to do with the money, and how to use it in his work."
It has been said of Russel's business acumen:
His friends tend to overstate it; his enemies seek in his business activity signs of turpitude. Court testimony elicited an estimated net worth in 1879 of “about $60,000.” This was not as cash in hand but the estimated worth of his properties and cash. In court testimony, Russell also suggested that he was worth fifty thousand dollars at the time his wife left him in 1897. A rating agency listed his creditworthiness as one hundred fifty thousand dollars at the same time.
******In 1915 William H. Bradford, an elder in the Twin Cities (St. Paul – Minneapolis) Ecclesia, wrote:
C. T. Russell commenced business for himself while yet a boy and with very little capital. When he was eighteen he owned a store, when he was twenty-four he owned five stores and was worth three hundred thousand dollars, and this at an age when John D. Rockefeller had hardly made a start, and J. P. Morgan, with his inherited capital, had but little. If C. T. Russell had devoted his life to business it is easy to guess that John D. would not now be the richest man in the world nor J. P. Morgan has been the prince of financiers.
In Russell's own words:
"Under what seemed to be a providential leading, I decided to invest with others in some oil property – oil wells. I chose this business because it seemed to be profitable and because it would require little or no time and personal attention; for others, interested in looking out for their own interests, necessarily looked out for mine also. This judgment has, on the whole, proved correct – several coins having been taken from this fish’s mouth for our support and the Lord’s cause."____________________________________________________________
He poured his money into publishing End Times writings. He spent the family fortune like a drunken sailor on his favorite topics.
If somebody wrote something Russell agreed with he'd pay for the publishing.
If that somebody disagreed with Russell, he'd pull funding.
Russell ostensively fell in love with his own writings to the exclusion of everybody else (including his wife) and began writing 7 ambitious volumes.
He wanted to set everybody straight.
1886 the money dried up due to the immense amount of money spent in printing and distributing the first three publications.
He was spending about a million dollars a year!
GUESS WHAT YEAR Russell tried to sell his books in bookstores? 1886.
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By 1897, nearly one million Dawns had been distributed, largely by the colporteurs. DOOR-TO-DOOR BOOK SALESMEN. After 1931, the term “colporteur” was replaced by “pioneer.”
Pastor Russell's volumes were sold at about $2 a set or $2 of 1900 dollars would be worth: $55.00 in2014
Russell also turned to write sermons as a newspaper columnist and built up a readership of about fifteen million people.
Having built a customer base (faithful readers) Russell went on tour giving sermons IN PERSON becoming one of the most recognized and 'famous' ministers in the world, like Joel Osteen or Joyce Meyers today.
Russell had no problems accepting private donations!
Pastor Russell had made a name for himself by refusing to take collections during meetings.
The slogan "Seats Free - No Collections" angered many clergymen because it was a slam on the traditional collection plate process.
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The Watch Tower turned to advertise miraculous beans as a free giveaway and then switched to Miracle Wheat for a dollar.
In 1911, the market price for wheat was 59 cents to $1 a bushel. In Charles Taze Russell's Hicks Street Tabernacle, "miracle wheat" was being sold for $60 a bushel, or $1 a pound.
(The beans and wheat had been DONATED to Russell's ministry)
$1 of 1911 dollars would be worth: $24.39 in2014
Miracle Wheat brought in $1,800 of 1911 dollars would be worth:$43,902.44 in 2014
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1897: When his wife Maria petitioned the court for a LEGAL SEPARATION (not a divorce) it was granted with Alimony.
Russell transferred his funds into the WTS account and strung Maria's alimony out torturously to make her dependant and to teach her a lesson.
Russell was litigious if he thought he could win a lawsuit.
Russell’s businesses became an issue in 1911 when the Brooklyn Eagle made outrageous claims. The mere fact that he continued to make money (all or most of which was used for the benefit of the Watch Tower Society), was used to imply fraud. Russell sued the Eagle and lost.The Washington Post partially quoted Maria's testimony about his claim "he floated from woman to woman like a jellyfish."
Russell sued and was awarded one dollar in damages. But--he relentlessly pursued an appeal making himself a legal nuisance and the case was settled for $15,000. $15,000 of 1915 dollars would be worth:$348,837.21 in 2014
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http://www.watchtowerdocuments.com/documents/1915_A_Great_Battle_in_the_Ecclesiastical_Heavens.pdf
Russell's attorney was Judge Rutherford, who wrote a Great Battle in the Ecclesiastical Heavens defending Russell's reputation.
"This is a non-stock corporation; it pays no dividends, no salaries, and no one has ever, as its books clearly show, reaped any financial benefit therefrom. It is supported entirely by voluntary contributions made by those who are interested in the promulgation of Bible Truths. Its work is exclusively religious.
For each contribution of $10.00, the contributor is entitled to one voting share. While there are nearly two hundred thousand shares, and it would be an easy matter to elect some other man as president, there never has been cast a vote against Pastor Russell."
Ten dollars times two-hundred thousand shares=$2,000.000 $2,000,000 of 1915 dollars would be worth:$46,511,627.91 in 2014
Bingo! (Note: 1913 Federal Income Tax was passed into law.)
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NINE MILLION people saw the PHOTO DRAMA of CREATION (a slide show) presented to audiences around the world. Stop and consider:
No collection plate was passed--however--DONATIONS were accepted. (A donation box in plain sight.)
On September 23, 1912, the Eagle ran a cartoon called "Easy Money Puzzle."
Russell sued the Eagle for libel, demanding $100,000 in damages for "injury to his reputation, good name, fame, and standing."
The case was brought before Justice Charles H. Kelby and a jury in the Kings County Supreme Court.
One of the juicier allegations made against the Watch Tower Society was that it had coerced an insane man, Hope Hay, into contributing $10,000 to its funds. William E. Van Amburgh, secretary-treasurer of' the Watch Tower Society, acknowledged that Mr. Hay was in an "insane asylum" and that the Watch Tower Society was footing his bills, but denied that Mr. Hay had not given the money of his own free will.
The jury of twelve men was out for less than forty-five minutes before it returned a verdict of not guilty in the Eagle's favor.
This is just a historical snapshot of how money and the Watch Tower had their beginnings.
To say Russell never became a millionaire is to miss the point.
$60,000 of 1879 dollars would be worth: $1,395,348.84 in 2014
$50,000 of 1897 dollars would be worth: $1,388,888.89 in 2014
A rating agency listed his creditworthiness as one hundred fifty thousand dollars at the same time.
$150,000 of 1897 dollars would be worth: $4,166,666.67 in 2014
Rutherford claimed that “when Pastor Russell closed out his business, many years ago, he had upwards of a quarter of a million dollars.”
$250,000 of 1897 dollars would be worth: $6,944,444.44 in 2014
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However, that is the least remarkable thing about the career of Pastor Russell. With all this phenomenal talent for business, he gave it all up to go center stage in the most public ministry of his era.
WAS IT WORTH IT? (We must ask).Ask yourself what Russell produced for the good of mankind?
Let us compare apples to apples.
Both Russell and Andrew Carnegie started pretty much on the same turf.
Let us compare the legacy of these two men upon the world.
The Carnegie Corporation of New York
By 1911, Carnegie had given away over $43 million for libraries and close to $110 million for other causes. He formed the Carnegie Corporation of New York to give away the $150 million that remained. The Carnegie Corporation's mandate was to "promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding." Since then, it has given large grants to the other Carnegie trusts as well as universities, colleges, schools, and educational entities--including public television's "Sesame Street."
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Founded in 1910 with $10 million from Carnegie, the Endowment is the oldest public policy institution in the United States concentrating on issues of war and peace. Over the years, it has funded conferences and publications on major policy issues and funding the work of researchers such as Sigmund Freud and Gunnar Myrdal.The Carnegie Institution of Washington
Though encouraged to finance a national university, Carnegie feared that such an endeavor might weaken existing schools. Instead, he chose in 1901 to create a national research institute that would be a resource for all universities. With Theodore Roosevelt's support, Carnegie endowed the Institution with $10 million, adding $2 million in 1909 and another $10 million in 1911. Since then scientists on the Institution's payroll have, among other accomplishments:- Discovered the expansion of the universe
- Proved DNA is the genetic material
- Devised applications as varied as radar and hybrid corn
- Opened Mayan ruins in Central America
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
Founded by Carnegie in 1905 to provide pensions for teachers, the foundation established the first widespread educational standards for the nation's colleges and universities. In addition, the foundation developed standardized, machine-scored tests, a function that merged into the Educational Testing Service in 1947. Because the foundation only gave money to secular schools, it was also responsible for the decision of many colleges to drop their religious affiliations.
The Carnegie Hero Funds
These international organizations continue to give medals and money to those who are injured in an attempt to "preserve and rescue their fellows." Since 1904, over $20 million has been awarded to these "heroes of peace."
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So?
Conclusions are to be made by all who knew him, loved or hated him - or even heard of C.T. Russell and it distills into a puddle of controversy.
The road to Hell is paved with "good intentions."
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24
This Discussion Board
by minimus inwhen you look back the last 20 years , what a transformation!
back then witnesses were putting out poetry and most were singing the praises of the organization.
slowly and gradually, negative thoughts were allowed to be expressed about doctrines, elders and congregation life.
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Terry
Diogenesister :Terry, did you draw that? If so I really like it. I’m really into woodcut prints and it kind of reminds me of those.
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Not one of mine.
I am addicted to LINOCUTS which are prints made by taking a piece of linoleum and carving out an image (backward) and rolling ink over the surface and laying paper on top (then pressing it).
I've done woodcuts and they impute more of a feeling of accomplishment.
I usually set fire to the wood and then put out the flames, then scrub the char off for a rugged feeling. I hit it with a chain too to impart a stressed look.
But you know all that if you're into it. -
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Don't Spread Rumors (just spread pandemic)
by Terry inonce upon a time.... there was a laboratory
and in that laboratory, there were sloppy controls on contamination.. among those contaminants were experimental viruses.. .
and lo, these viruses were being engineered on purpose to become super-viral - even being 'taught' how to crossover from animals to human beings.
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Terry
When you wear glasses and think you see through the smudges accurately you
may be lazy. If you're looking through a dirty window with smudged glasses and think you are seeing accurately, you may be delusional.
But if close your eyes and pretend to see ... you may make a good living as a journalist. -
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Don't Spread Rumors (just spread pandemic)
by Terry inonce upon a time.... there was a laboratory
and in that laboratory, there were sloppy controls on contamination.. among those contaminants were experimental viruses.. .
and lo, these viruses were being engineered on purpose to become super-viral - even being 'taught' how to crossover from animals to human beings.
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Terry
ONCE UPON A TIME...There was a laboratoryAnd in that laboratory, there were sloppy controls on contamination.Among those contaminants were experimental viruses.And Lo, these viruses were being engineered ON PURPOSE to become super-viral - even being 'taught' how to crossover from animals to human beings.Scientists call this by an odd phrase: GAIN of FUNCTION.Big Pharma could earn billions of $$ if it got the jump on the "next big pandemic", you see.Perish the thought such "gain of function" experiments would become a form of chemical warfare!So?So although it seems absolutely unthinkable humans would engage in strenuous efforts to create a SUPER VIRUS - you see, for the Big Pharma ... not so awful at all.Funding for "gain of function" came from America in the same way money is laundered by drug lords.All seemingly legitimate.For years, Dr. Ralph Baric, a virologist in the U.S., has been collaborating with Dr. Shi Zhengli of the Wuhan Virology Institute, sharing his discoveries about how to create super viruses. This gain-of-function research has been funded by the NIH (Nation Institutes of Health).The world-famous Dr. Fauci has grinned, dodged, and weaved direct questions about his own support.Never mind all that, for a moment.Focus on this one news item, if you will.Wuhan Institute of Virology is known to conduct experiments on the kind of virus that has killed nearly 3 million people worldwide so far since late 2019. Yes - Covid 19. China dragged its feet on an international investigation.Apologists for China (the source of America's manufacturing business) quickly made life a living hell for anybody having the balls to speak out publicly saying:"I'm not saying that I am certain that COVID-19 stems from an accidental lab leak, but it would be absolutely irresponsible and could only be politically motivated to say that it's not even worth having a full investigation".The "scientists" who did the apologizing were on the take not wishing to risk funding loss.And Politically? Whoo whee wow!Fuggedaboutit!Note just this one fact.Right after the Covid spread of infection was first discovered in Wuhan and BEFORE it reached any other part of the world - an ASTONISHING thing occurred,and it was the following...Wuhan’s politically ambitious mayor, Zhou Xianwang, was eager to protect the local party congress he had scheduled for January and the pot-luck dinner for 40,000 Wuhanese he hoped would get him into the Guinness Book of Records.Yeah.On January 1, his police silenced the nervous doctors.Don't spread "rumors" (just spread pandemic).This Wuhan Mayor gathered a world record breaker gathering among INFECTED persons who - right afterward - went on a holiday ALL OVER THE WORLD to visit relatives every place you can think of.However --- politically speaking -- there is very little BIG BUSINESS support for punishing China as THE guilty party and further straining relations.After all - CHINA IS OUR MANUFACTURER of just about everything U.S. businesses depend on for supplies, accessories, parts, technology etc.(Even masks and toilet paper...shudder... gasp!)So?Don't be too hard on these politicians, Big Pharma, Big Businesses,Banks, etc. who want to let China, Dr. Fauci, and gain-of-function researchers off with a pat on the wrist.What's more important than $$$$$$$$?During those first days in Wuhan, a major misconception circulated — that the virus did NOT spread easily between people.Remember?The World.Health.Organization. repeated it.Dr. Fauci repeated it.Our most "reputable news" outlets repeated it. ***Gosh.Don't blame them for not investigating.Is that really what journalists are supposed to do? VERIFY?Fact check?Heck no. Their job is to do as they are told.***Who Owns the Media in the U.S.?About 15 billionaires and six corporations own most of the U.S. media outlets.The biggest media conglomerates in America.These billionaires demand their employees print stories a certain way and in none of those instructions shall anything cost those billionaires a nickel in losses.
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This Discussion Board
by minimus inwhen you look back the last 20 years , what a transformation!
back then witnesses were putting out poetry and most were singing the praises of the organization.
slowly and gradually, negative thoughts were allowed to be expressed about doctrines, elders and congregation life.
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Terry
PRE-internet it was virtually impossible for a 'woke' JW to comprehend how many others of their mindset were merely treading water in local congregations.
PRE-internet DF'd persons were in that 'sunken place' alone and troubled by isolation and vulnerable to depression and self-doubt.
Then the internet was born and the light grew brighter and brighter ...:)
Of all the forums and discussion groups that sprung up like mushrooms in a dark forest after the rain - only THIS ONE had the spark of fellowship and articulate individual spokesperson who clarified and comforted the aching misery of EX-JWdom.
Suddenly the dank and fetid rot of this Organization was laid bare like roadkill.
Some extraordinary folks have passed through here over the years. I showed up around 2006 and I've posted well over a thousand Topics.
I've seen them come and go: all unique - but - all suffering the same cognitive dissonance and anger issues to a greater or lesser degree.
I had soooo much anger I was unaware was inside me!
My posts were machete swings.
I outgrew that- and it was a huge unburdening spurt of personal growth ever afterward.
We start out with an ax to grind or a Big Question to ask and debate to engage in before we gain steady footing in reality.
THIS FELLOWSHIP is made possible by people who really truly care what happens to others.
jehovahs-witness dot com is an OASIS and a refuge in a wasteland of cult morbidity.
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26
The Anointed Apostate: the Remarkable Sister Pettifog
by TerryWalstrom in(on the anniversary of my jw best friend's death, i've reached into my archive to replay this incident in his honor)
the remarkable sister *pettifog*.
this morning i arrived on my bicycle at the local starbucks early and took up a seat at the outdoor table in the fresh air.. that’s when it happened--a group of 3 older ladies at one of the other tables outside rose to leave and one of them walked over to my table and spoke directly to me.
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Terry
It's been 40 years since I was inside a Kingdom Hall.
An old ex-JW friend of mine (just before he died) accompanied me five years ago to our old Kingdom Hall. At least, we tried.
It was gone!
The plot of land was still there, of course. A different building now stood in its place.
We simply stood blinking at what wasn't there (if that's possible.)
A peculiar nostalgia of sadness swept over both of us.
We exchanged memories that made us laugh until we succumbed to tears.
Those people were dearest 'friends' as well as spiritual Brothers and Sisters.
Except ...it isn't REALLY true. They were NOT actual friends.
Friends don't cut you dead in an instant.
It was all inside our skull bone like a flash of weather formed out of nature itself.
The sound of the ocean in a seashell.
BELIEF is living your dream and the 'fellowship' is a shared delusion.
If you've ever been in love/infatuation - it's like that: so vivid, visceral, and robust inside your chest but nothing more than a downpour - here and gone.
We stood there and looked at reality: there was NOTHING there and I'm not lying if I say this: there never was.
Not at all.
Even that friend is gone now. Quentin Roberts.
The big difference is that he was a TRUE friend every waking moment of every day and when he passed on - the silence of the phone that doesn't ring haunts me without letup.
I'm very grateful we undertook that little trip. I cherish it. -
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The Anointed Apostate: the Remarkable Sister Pettifog
by TerryWalstrom in(on the anniversary of my jw best friend's death, i've reached into my archive to replay this incident in his honor)
the remarkable sister *pettifog*.
this morning i arrived on my bicycle at the local starbucks early and took up a seat at the outdoor table in the fresh air.. that’s when it happened--a group of 3 older ladies at one of the other tables outside rose to leave and one of them walked over to my table and spoke directly to me.
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Terry
"I want to personally thank you and all the other posters on here for posting your experiences and helping many to wake up to this evil religion." -hoser-
I want to thank you for taking the time to read it and comment. Much obliged! -
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The Anointed Apostate: the Remarkable Sister Pettifog
by TerryWalstrom in(on the anniversary of my jw best friend's death, i've reached into my archive to replay this incident in his honor)
the remarkable sister *pettifog*.
this morning i arrived on my bicycle at the local starbucks early and took up a seat at the outdoor table in the fresh air.. that’s when it happened--a group of 3 older ladies at one of the other tables outside rose to leave and one of them walked over to my table and spoke directly to me.
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Terry
The other day I got an email from my High School here in Ft. Worth informing me of the REUNION. I had to laugh. I graduated in 1965!
I typed a quick reply.
"Dear So-n-so,
Who in their right mind would imagine after 56 years anybody would wish to attend a High School reunion? They're probably all dead anyway. Thanks anyway."
This set me remembering, of course... (cue the harp glissando)
Inevitably I thought back to who I was at age 18. I was one of Jehovah's Witnesses and not much more than that.
How did I let that happen? - I wondered redundantly.
Eventually, I traveled that well-worn path back in time and bumped into this memory of the anointed sister at the Kingdom Hall.
I thought I'd look this one up and I found it.
Anointed? No - you're probably mentally ill.
The Governing body covering their ass again - that's what that's all about.
We all watched the Memorial figures for the countdown back then.
The numbers of partakers should diminish like sand running out of an old hourglass.
Nope.
Started back up and up ...
Huh?
Gotta explain that somehow, right?
Makes me wonder how all those anointed newbies felt when they weren't celebs any longer.
It's curious psychology.
Mildred Pettifogg (aka Boots Richardson) would really be pissed! -
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"New light": how and when did this idea start?
by psyco inhow and when did the "understanding" of the progressive ("new light") understanding start?.
anybody knows?.
thanks!.
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Terry
Question:
"New light": how and when did this idea start?
Answer:
"7th Day Adventists' Ellen White", that's the answer to your query.
Ellen White taught that the believers should not consult non-Adventists regarding new light for the time of the end, for God would reveal new light directly to His remnant church. She said: "If God has any new light to communicate, He will let His chosen and beloved understand it, without their going to have their minds enlightened by hearing those who are in darkness and error."
"Ellen White indicates that “new light”—which means better understanding of truth, not different doctrines—will be discovered if we will only spend the time and effort to study line upon line, precept upon precept."
"Throughout their history, Seventh-day Adventists have looked forward to discovering additional truth. Ellen G. White, one of the church's principal founders, kept this hope alive, stating, "Truth is an advancing truth."
She encouraged believers to search for additional light, for "there are mines of truth yet to be discovered by the earnest seeker."
In speaking of "truth" she always meant truth as given by God through His divine Word."
"Crucial Questions.
In practical terms, if the "new light" was "not present in earlier times" and if God did not reveal our "present truths" to the "prophets and disciples of old," by what criteria can today's believers determine whether this "new light" is really light or darkness?
Is the ordination of women as elders or pastors (which some are now calling a "moral imperative") new light or no light? To name some other current examples the church faces, how can a Christian today know whether approval of homosexual practice is new light or no light? Is the assertion that our earth is millions of years old new light or no light? Is speaking in unintelligible ecstatic utterances new light or no light? Are suggestions that we eat unclean meats, drink alcohol, and wear adornment new light or no light?Thus the reinterpretations raise fundamental questions about how we may know what is new light and about the very character of truth itself.
When any group or individual claims to have "new light," we must evaluate it. It is essential to study what divine inspiration has revealed about the nature of new light. What new light can we expect just before the second advent? Will it change the way we look at Scripture and how we interpret it? In what areas can we expect to see a development of new light? These questions will help us focus on some key aspects of this important topic."
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Charles Taze Russell came in contact with some of the writings of Ellen G. White, who had developed the system known as Seventh-Day Adventists. Many of the ideas of Ellen White fascinated him, especially the idea of soul-sleeping and the annihilation of the wicked. He began to formulate a doctrine of his own, beginning with the idea that “hell” meant only the grave. This was the beginning of Russell’s doctrine.
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shorturl.at/owGNP
