Concerning "court of elders" (a.k.a. Judicial Committee), C.T. Russell had an interesting comment.
QUESTION: Is it proper for the elders to sit at a court of inquiry and cite any supposed to be walking in a disorderly manner to appear before them and explain their conduct? Or should the Lord's advice at Matt 18:15-18 be followed?
C.T. RUSSELL: The Lord's word does not authorize any court of the Elders, or anyone else, to become busybodies. This would be going back to the practices of the Dark Ages during the inquisition; and we would be showing the same spirit as did the inquisitors... Let us be careful not to become like Babylon and hold inquisition and mix ourselves up. The Word of God is our sufficiency and we should follow it closely and thereby avoid confusion.
(What Pastor Russell Said, page 479)
"learn not to go beyond that which is written, that none of you may be puffed up and inflated with pride and boast in favor of one [minister and teacher] against another." (1 Corinthians 4:6, The Amplified Bible)
Judicial committee: practices of the Dark Ages
by tfjw 5 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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tfjw
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Thechickennest
I see the elder JC arrangement has strayed from Russel's idea. JW Judicial Committees are indeed inquisitions.
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Meeting Junkie No More
Very interesting quote. May I ask page 479 of which book? This reference would be good to keep handy! Thanks in advance.
SORRY, never mind - I see what book it is from. Possible to get a scan? Where could I get a copy of that book?
MJNM
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WTWizard
Any time you have interrogations where some form of death is at stake, you have the potential for abuse. And that is what happens when they coerce you to confess something you did not do or recant a belief that has a sound foundation.
It matters not whether the death is by being cut off from family, burned at the stake, or stoned to death. The effect is that knowledge is suppressed. And that is half of what a Dark Ages amounts to (the other half is having the lords owning you and everything you own--how often do they preach that Jehovah owns everything?).
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tfjw
Possible to get a scan? Where could I get a copy of that book?
Ehhh, I have a cdrom of the book and I might have a hard copy of the book back at my home in Georgia, but it's probably a reprinted edition of the old one.
Sometimes it's called the "Question Book". This site has a CD with it on the CD along with several other publications.
Here's another site with a cdrom.
If you wanted an original, and if it could be found, you would probably have to pay dearly for it from a collector.
Some of the Bible Students on the site, such as RR or others might be able to point you in the right direction as to where you can get a copy (but it will probably be a reprint). It's good for research. I would also suggest "Expanded Biblical Comments" and "Pastor Russell's Sermons" as well as the old Watch Tower Reprints and six volumes of Studies in the Scriptures.
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Witness 007
Yeah Rutherford was the one asking the Question!