Here, (from an old post by 00DAD), is a more detailed look at what I summarized in my previous post:
It is informative to consider that current JW beliefs are essentially COMPLETELY different than what they were when [they were] supposedly "chosen" in 1918/1919.
This brings up a logical dilemma:
- If Current Beliefs are correct, then what JWs believed in 1918/1919 was wrong. If what they believed then was wrong, then Jesus would have categorically rejected them as representing either him or True Worship; or,
- If JW beliefs in 1918/1919 were correct, then JW beliefs now are incorrect and should be rejected as apostate, false teachings.
You don't even have to examine any specific doctrinal points to see the power of this line of reasoning: either way JWs are NOT the true religion, not then, not now, not ever.
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For clarification, there are essentially only two beliefs that have remained from Russell's time until now:
1. Soul Sleep, taken from the Second Adventists, which has two sub-beliefs:
- No Hell
- No Immortality of the Soul
2. Gentile Times ended in 1914 which came from:
- an idea advanced by John Aquila Brown in 1823
- expanded upon in the 1830's by a farmer named William Miller
- later tweaked by Apollos Hale and Sylvester Bliss, whoever they were
- exposed as false in 1840 by John Dowling, whoever he was
- reworked by Second Adventists, such as Barbour after 1844
- then finally take over by Charles Taze Russell as an end time prophecy, with the Gentile times expected to herald the conclusion of Armageddon, not the beginning of the Last Days.
So practically EVERYTHING taught in Russell's time has been since discarded except two basic beliefs, one of which he got from another religion and the other conceived of and then twisted and mangled by a bunch of crackpots all vying for one-upsmanship to prove their personal understanding of the incontrovertible Word of God!
Also, some would argue that 1914 shouldn't really be included on this list. What Russell and the early Bible Students believed about 1914 is completely different from what Witnesses believe today. They clearly and unequivocally taught that 1914 was when Armageddon was coming and that it would be THE END of things, not the "Beginning of the End." In fact, the only thing about 1914 that stayed the same was calling it "The End of the Gentile Times," but what that meant to Russell wouldn't even be recognized [today] by a modern JW.
Of the two beliefs, the evidence is clear that the second is false and the first is—from our perspective as living human beings—completely unverifiable either way. Also the idea of soul sleep is not unique to JWs, so it alone would not have gotten them "chosen" in 1918/1919. The closer you look the uglier it gets.
Nice.Let's review: It's a cult!