by JWB 33 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
@ JWB,
Here are some scans from the 1919 Convention Report that pertain to the Pyramid.
The article that NeverKnew so carefully wrote out is included.
Edit: JWB, sorry about the cross post. As I was preparing these pages you posted the link to the 1919 Convention Report.
The "At The Grave" article is enlarged for easier reading.
ScenicViewer, thanks for posting those images. Thanks also to NeverKnew for taking all that time in typing out the relevant text from the Convention Report.
PS: ScenicViewer, having the images available to view here is very helpful!
Pyramidlogy and the WTS is an interesting subject for it makes up much what the leaders of the WTS. were
attempting to do with their religious publishing house.
Personally I think Rutherford realized Pyramidology couldn't hold up under practical scrutiny, since it was known that the Pyramids
had much to do with ancient Egyptian religious practices but it did create something he could use and that was 1914.
WW1 started that year and it conveniently correlated to Christ supposedly taking his position in heaven and the time of great tribulation.
So he went to work on calculating another way to create the significance of 1914.
As a head of religious publishing house , one could say it was a cunning strategy.
Would the cemetary not have "title" information regarding the present and past owners of these plots?
NJY
Marking.
The Souvenir Report presented was not prepared by Russell, and thus only presents the what Rutherford and his associates claimed. It may be that Russell actually had approved the building of that monument, but Russell himself never wrote any about building such a monument in the Rosemont Cemetery.
I have reworded one of the paragraphs quoted as follows:
This pyramid monument is not Russell's gravestone, tombstone, or grave marker. Rutherford had this monument constructed in the middle of the plot owned by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, not just to honor Russell, but to honor all who died while working at the Watch Tower headquarters. There are numbered spaces for many names that were to be inscribed on that monument, not just Russell's. Rutherford, however, abandoned the witness of the Great Pyramid before the names could inscribed, so that the pyramid shows a lot of numbered blank spaces. Nevertheless, there is no one buried in or under that monument.
I will also present the following paragraphs:
It was claimed that Bohnet, before Russell had died, received authorization from Charles Taze Russell for the building of such a monument. Russell's written instructions, however, never mentions the building of such a monument, so it may be that Russell never actually authorized such a monument. Such an extravagant use of funds would seem to be out of harmony with the character of Russell; on the other hand, Rutherford came to be known for his flamboyant methods.
Whether Russell was buried in or under a pyramid, however, is not as important as realizing why many wish to have Russell buried under such a monument, that is, to further the false claims that Russell was an occultist, or that Russell was into some kind of spiritistism, Satanism, demonism, etc. In reality, the Biblical study of the Great Pryamid has nothing to do with such.
Other than the extravagance, however, we find nothing concerning Rutherford's monument to be objectionable, although many, by use of imaginative fanaticism, seem to see "occultism", "Masonic symbolisms", "astrology", "spiritism", and many other evil things regarding Rutherford's monument, as well as in or on the books and publications of Charles Taze Russell. It is not that the graphical symbols, such as the "cross and crown", are actually "Masonic", or "occultic", etc., but this is what many are being led to believe through imaginative assumptions that they are; and what is being imagined is then presented to be fact and proof, for instance, that Russell was a member of the Masons, and/or that Russell was, as they usually put it, "into" some kind of occult/spiritistic/demonic/evil/devious/deceptive "practice" and/or "plot".
Reslight2, where are those paragraphs originated from ?
The video presents a letter from the WTS lawyer in which he denies that Rutherford's pyramid monument is on the Society's property. As the orator in the video points out, this is not quite correct, since, as the Souvenir Report states, the monument was constructed in the exact center of the lot in the Rosemont Cemetery that is owned by the WTS. The lawyer may have had in mind the WTS properies on which they have their facilities, but, in effect, since the lot in Rosemont Cemetery is owned by the WTS, that would make it WTS property.
The WTS lawyer stated that the it was a former belief that the Great Pyramid might have had some connection with Bible prophecy. The WTS lawyer is evidently not very familiar with all the overwhelming evidence available that shows that the Great Pyramid does indeed confirm the Bible as well as God's creation.
No, there is nothing about that pyramid monument, however, that sounds pro-Masonic to me. That has to be imagined with the spirit of human imagination and assumed. The Biblical study of the Great Pyramid as God's Stone Witness in Egypt, of itself, has nothing at all to do with the Freemasons' organization.
No, there is nothing about that pyramid monument, however, that sounds pro-Masonic to me.
Really ?
So the fact that Russell used two notable symbolisms of which the Free Masons used themselves such as the Cross and Crown
and the Knights Templar in addition to the fact that Russell gave talks in many Free Masons halls, bares no similar association whatsoever
Really ?
and noting that the remaining IBSA used Free Mason halls after breaking away from Rutherford and his newly created organization the JWS ?
Really ?
According to the 1919 Convention Report (CR):
"In the exact center of the Bethel lot will be erected diagonally the Pyramid Shape Monument as designed by Brother Bohnet, and accepted by Brother Russell as the most fitting emblem for an enduring monument on the Society's burial space."
Was the CR, and by extension Bohnet, lying that Russell had okayed the monument?
As we know, oral testimony is just as acceptable in law when establishing facts as written testimony. So, either the CR is stating a falsehood or it is not. I understand that modern Bible Students who have a profound respect for CTR will not wish to entertain the idea that he may have approved anything of an "extravagent" nature, yet he may have justified the expense of such a monument considering it "a most fitting emblem". I don't get the impression that CTR would reject using WTS money on something he considered to be promoting praise to the Lord, including a small monument depicting God's Great Stone Witness. I suppose it is just a matter of personal perspective.
