Revelation 6:6

by rassillon 10 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • Gamaliel
    Gamaliel

    Good catch. I believe there was a wave of confusion on some of these obscure doctrines in the wake of Freddy's death. It has taken several years for Freddy's legacy to erode. Ambitious as Rutherford was, it took 10-15 years or so for Rutherford to start overwriting Russell's interpretations with his own. (Or quite possibly, many were Freddy's even as far back as the late 1920's). Freddy held fast to a lot of Rutherford's ideas and phrases that seemed unnecessary and obsolete. Dunlap's efforts notwithstanding, the Gilead Lectures even in 1980 were still full of Rutherfordian interpretations of the Jephthah class, the Rahab class, the Haman class, the Abishag class (just kidding on that last one). But Freddy had made most of the GB complacent on new light. Only one or two after Freddy had a real interest in overwriting Freddy/Rutherford but it was a bit too little, too late, and they were also getting too old, and weren't getting the same respect Freddy got. Also, this was also during a time when "new light" was not flashy any more, but was intentionally subtle so as not to make waves. I believe the great apostate hunts of 1980 were actually a backlash from Freddy, who was feeling that his own interpretations were being disrespected. Some Watchtower writers were trying to fill a spiritual a vacuum after Freddy's failure on 1975. And most of the expanded GB were trying to fill a political vacuum. But when Freddy got a second wind, he maneuvered behind the scenes to clean house. There was a conservative renewal of Rutherford/Freddy especially in the early 1980's but it was unsustainable. I think that resulted in some doctrinal confusion at the end of the 1980's and early 1990's. Of course, I could be wrong.

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