Rutherford seemed to make 2 things his life goals -
- Trash C.T. Russell
- Make the Watchtower stand out amongst all other Christian sects.
Think of all the illogical conclusion drawing used by the Watchtower to cast shade on all sorts of things to make JWs stand out as "no part of this world."
Yes, the doctrine of the trinity was not adopted by Christianity officially until the 4th century CE. Just as Jesus divinity was not adopted until that same time. So, historically speaking, neither the trinity nor the divinity of Jesus were original Christian doctrine.
Western culture has an obsession with authority and order. I have found certain Christians or whole Christian sects have this obsession with "What did the first century Christian's believe?" as if by only replicating the original congregation's practices one can find salvation.
It is better for human society when people do good and avoid doing bad, whether they believe in God or not, than if they have the correct metaphysical (or theological) ideas about God but do bad instead of doing good.
DillusionedJW: You are spot on. The Law of Cause and Effect proves this. However, you have to keep in mind that in Christianity there is only one true, unforgivable sin - disbelief. Anything else a person does that causes harm to the self, others, or both gets an automatic pass if you just believe. It sounds a lot like declassifying government documents by just thinking about it. This is also why people tend to concentrate on the consequences of actions and not their actions themselves.