The Way to Paradise by W.E. Van Amburgh in PDF

by cabasilas 13 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  cabasilas

  One of the least known Watchtower publications is the book The Way to Paradise, which was written by W. E. Van Amburgh and published for only two years: 1924 and 1925. Van Amburgh was the Secretary Treasurer of the Watchtower Society and was also on the Editorial Committee of the Watchtower magazine. The book contains an introduction written by J. F. Rutherford, president of the Watchtower Society.

  The book was announced in the January 1, 1924 Watch Tower. The book is written for children and covers 7,000 years of man's history as interpreted by the leadership of the Bible Student/Watchtower movement. It also contains some outlandish statements, particularly as to what the Bible Students (the name for JWs at that time) were expecting for 1925 and 1925. See particularly chapter 11 ("Princes in All the Earth"). For convenience, some of these quotes can be quickly seen on this page in Dutch (some page scans in English are linked at the bottom):

  http://www1.tip.nl/~t661020/wtp/wtp_nl.htm

  Scanning the book was difficult as the quality of the paper was very poor and much of the print had faded. I turned up the black/white contrast to make some of the pictures appear better. I'm working on producing a searchable version, but for now all I have available is a bookmarked PDF version, just over 7 MB. This is small enough for most email systems to be sent as an attachment. I added two pages in the back of the PDF which contain a scan of the 1924 WT announcement for the book and the page in JWs Proclaimers of God's Kingdom which shows a picture of the book.

  To download a complete copy of The Way to Paradise, go to this download link:

  http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=8e2069e7922a3c27902d2d92a29fe963

  Once there, look towards the bottom for the yellow download button (you may have to wait for a countdown), click on the button and follow the instructions.
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  yknot

  Thanks!!
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  bereanbiblestudent

  Yes great work. It is also a different version then the one research application sells.

  Funny how the pictiures of the photo-drama come to use again in black and white.
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  Atlantis

  Cabasilas:

  Thank you cabasilas! Great job!

  N.
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  cabasilas

  Thanks, Atlantis, bereanbiblestudent and yknot. It's an interesting volume. As far as writing style goes, I think Van Amburgh is easier to read than Rutherford, a bit more polished, I guess. I wonder how the Watchtower movement would have progressed if people like Van Amburgh and Morton Edgar had been in charge instead of Rutherford?

  I've never actually compared the 1924 version of The Way to Paradise with the 1925 version. Are there textual differences? I've been told the 1925 edition was printed on better paper and so the pictures are less faded than the 1924 version.

  I don't want to detract from the version produced by Research Applications at all. Theirs is made from the 1925 edition and their pictures are crystal clear. My reason for making this PDF is to make available a non-copyrighted PDF that can be freely distributed. So, if any webmasters can use the file, feel free to make it available online. The more this book is distributed, the better, I believe.
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  chasson

  thanks Cabasilas
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  garybuss

  Got it! Thanks! Nice:-)
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  cabasilas

  Garybuss and cchason, you're most welcome!
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  moshe

  I have a copy of this book and it has been most helpful in embarrassing JW's. It has a couple pages missing, so I can now discover why they might have been ripped out! I guess they hadn't invented self sticking "new-light" pages to cover up their mistakes in prophecy back then!

  download successful-Thanks!
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  cabasilas

  You're welcome, Moshe.

  Many JWs seem to think that The Way to Paradise was not an official WT book. But, as the pages at the end of the PDF from the 1924 WT and the Proclaimers book show, it was. Apparently, the predictions for 1925 and 1926 were too numerous for a new edition to be made after that failed.