Russell's influence today is nil. I went to the county fair and there was a booth for The International Bible Students Association. They had a portrait of Russell there and a chart of his "Divine Plan of the Ages." I remarked to my sister that it was interesting to see the Bible Students here; after all we both claim the same founder. She really didn't have any response to that...so naming Russell as the founder might not click in the minds of dubs. Rutherford hijacked it and made into the [dys]fun[ctional] organization that we all love!!
Should Charles Russell be credited as the founder of Jehovah's Witnesses?
by slipnslidemaster 38 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
-
LeslieV
I have to agree with the time frame that has been brought up. Russell began in the late 1800's not 1920's. For many religions what gives them some validity is the age of the founder. When you begin a religion in the 1900's it is a new religion. As was brought out it would be a problem with the 1914 reign of Christ.
Leslie
-
lesterd
Charlies daddy was the first president, not much more is known about his influence on founding or doctrine
-
M.J.
You're right. The only time Russell is brought up is when they talk about how 1914 was "predicted" ahead of time. Then they shove him back under the carpet.
-
DanTheMan
Rutherford was to Russell what Lenin was to Marx.
-
M.J.
good article:
-
slipnslidemaster
Rutherford was to Russell what Lenin was to Marx.
Shouldn't it be more like Rutherford was to Russell what Stalin was to Lenin?
Charlies daddy was the first president, not much more is known about his influence on founding or doctrine
Actually if you want to be technical, William H. Conley was the first president but not legally owning any corporation until 1884 when Russell became the legal President of the publishing house. Joseph Russell was a Presbyterian...
-
slipnslidemaster
Good to see ya. Where the debil have ya been, me ole drinking buddy!!!
Here and there. I've been taking a pretty extended break from the Internet in general. Tired of it I guess.
-
Justin
There has to be a better way of describing the origin of Jehovah's Witnesses than to simply identify them with either Russell or Rutherford. What is needed is a carefully nuanced statement. Certainly, Rutherford did a major overhaul on the tradition he received from Russell, but there is also a continuity between the JWs and Russell. We have a sort of parallel situation in Armstrongism, where Herbert Armstrong founded the Worldwide Church of God, yet the splinter groups which broke away after the original Church became another evangelical denomination are the ones that have really upheld the teachings of Armstrong.
So while it is overly simplistic to say that Russell founded the JWs, it is also simplistic to say that Rutherford founded them in the year 1931 just be giving them the name. In the 1920's the Bible Students who remained with the Society were in the process of becoming Jehovah's Witnesses. This did not happen overnight. If it had not been for the major changes that occurred in that decade, the adoption of a new name in itself would not constitute the founding of a new religion. Russell was the founder of the International Bible Students, who were forerunners of Jehovah's Witnesses; and, there are independent Bible Students to this day.
It is very difficult to explain matters to those who have no previous background, but I believe it is wrong to say that the Bible Students during Russell's lifetime were Jehovah's Witnesses. Were they Jehovah's Witnesses during the 1920's before the name was adopted? That's another matter. Some take offense when the WTS, in publishing an autobiographical article by an older person who remained loyal to the Society throughout the years, has them refer to "Bible Students, as Jehovah's Witnesses were then known," but how else can this be expressed? Certainly the author does not think they changed their religion by remaining with the same organization throughout the years. There is a problem, though, when the Society leaves its readers with the thought that "Bible Students" is merely the pre-1931 name for Jehovah's Witnesses, and that no other Bible Students currently exist.
-
free2beme
He started the fire, and even if it burned off in a different direction then the one he started, it was still started by him and yes I think he should be credited with founding the religion. Now, as for organizing it to the modern version we know today, that with be Rutherford and Knorr.