"American Atheist" (Conrad Goeringer)

by sf 3 Replies latest jw friends

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  sf

  < http://www.americanatheist.org/conv27/leftbehind.html

  Interesting page.

  sKally
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  Mindchild

  Hey I know this guy (Conrad Goeringer)he used to own a used bookstore in Tucson, Arizona and I used to sell him books all the time when I had a book business back then. Some of his most popular books were old JW books and his buyers were Witnesses who were trying to get them out of circulation so they wouldn't stumble people. He kept raising the prices on them because of this and they still bought them or else tried to deface them. He said he would often find people would come in and hide them somewhere where people wouldn't look for them, like a bunch of romance novels. LOL! Anyway, this guy is pretty cool as a person and is now an editor for their zine.

  Skipper
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  sf

  < http://google.yahoo.com/bin/query?p=conrad+goeringer+jehovah%27s+witnesses&hc=0&hs=0

  sKally, happy trails
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  Mindchild

  Skally,

  thanks for posting that link. Goeringer wrote a really interesting article about how Charles Taze Russel got his weird ideas. I quote part of it below...

  The post-Civil War era saw the rise of other prophetic groups, including Charles Taze Russell’s International Bible Students Association and the Watchtower Society. Russell (1852-1916) had been a Congregationalist minister whose preaching became increasingly apocalyptic: he taught that the second coming had actually occurred invisibly in 1874, and that the end of the millennial age would take place in 1914. He was also enamored of Pyramidism, a belief that the physical dimensions of the Great Pyramid recounted biblical history, and foretold future events including Armageddon and the end of the world. When Russell’s 1914 prediction did not occur, Joseph Rutherford (1869-1942) – who had succeeded Russell as head of the movement – began setting new dates for Armageddon. The Watchtower movement became the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a religious sect that can boast perhaps the worst record of prophetic accuracy the world has known. Dates for the Parousia or Second Coming have included 1920, 1925, various dates in the 1940’s (having to do with World War II), and even 1975.

  Still another influence on Russell and the later Witness movement was George Storrs, publisher of The Bible Examiner. He came from a long line of Congregational preachers, and in 1843 he began championing the Millerite doctrine, even though The Great Disappointment had already occurred.

  If anyone wants to read the entire article:Prophecy Failed
  From the Great Disappointment to Apocalypse Ranch here is the link:

  . http://www.americanatheist.org/win96-7/T2/prophesyfail.html

  Skipper