This link contains a play by play of Russell's Last days including why and how he was found dead in a toga made from sheets. Thought some may find it interesting.
http://www.gtft.org/BibleStudents/PastorRussellsLastDays.html
Charles Russell's Last Days
by lovelylil 68 Replies latest jw friends
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saltyoldlady
I read this myself a couple years ago when attending a Bible Student's group. It had a nauseating effect on me - the man was a dramatist down to the last moment of his life. They didn't see it in the same light as myself at all so kept my mouth pretty much shut about the matter.
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lovelylil
I attended some bible student meetings too and they were also not for me. I agree, they don't "see" Russell like othersdo. Probably the same as we were in the organization and we didn't see the WT's faults either.
I just posted this because I was looking for information about Russell and why he wanted to be in a toga at death and this came up. Was interesting to read though.
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Band on the Run
Ifound the account odioius and fascinating. Is the author female? The account seems super erotic. The author doesn't write like a friend but a lover. Maybe I'm wrong and it is a man. Then Russell was gay. Historians say it is important to read scads of documents from a period because mores and styles of writing change. Lincoln is one example. Eleanor Roosevelt wrote in a similar style but she was a lesbian.
Running the risk of further annoying some people, my mom and dad were active in Rutherford and Knorr's tenure. I don't recall any thing resembling this account for treating someone as a divinity.
Russell would have had to be famous as a president for every casual train employee to immediately recognize him. All this in a day with much less mass communication than our. If anything this account, reminded me a bit of the gospels. Some things are too dramatic.
I must confess I don't understand the Bible Students myself. Russell is no paragon of virtue or a mighty theologian. He appears to have had business acumen and organizational prowess but so do many. Maybe I am ignorant but he sounds like another crazy version of the Watchtower. My mom said the Society was very different in his day. Dissent was allowed. Has anyone read a book or article on Russell by an academic scholar. I know nothing of the time frame or what was happening in other religious movements.
Doesn't anyone else see the eroticism?
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snowbird
The account was written by Menta Sturgeon, who I believe was Russell's personal secretary.
Yes, I picked up on the eroticism.
The compilers of the 1975 Yearbook of JW's did also, because some of the account was judiciously edited.
Syl
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lovelylil
Band & snowbird,
Thats why this detailed account is so interesting.
I knew a Witness lady (I used to care for her), who was of the anointed and lived to be 104. Her parents were original bible students under Russell and she told me some interesting stories about him. Many bible students today will tell you that Russell's writings were published in newspapers all over the country because he was such a wonderful preacher.
However, this lady told me Russell would publish his sermons as ads in the newspapers. In other words, he PAID for their publishing! That is way different then saying he was so great a preacher he was in all the papers, isn't it?
Also from all I read about him including all of his studies in the scriptures I can say he was deffinately an eccentric fellow. The toga thing is a little odd by itself. He also used lots of Mason terms in his books, although I don't think he actually was one. And then the Sun God Ra disks on his books was odd too. This lady I took care of had the original ones. Wish I had taken them, her family tossed them when she died. She was the only JW left. The rest were all Catholics.
Anyway, Russell borrowed from lots of places and invented his own religion. He borrowed from Masons, the Adventists, the millerites, the egyptians, the romans (toga), and many others. His theology was a mixed bag of nuts.
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pirata
Menta Sturgeon was Russell's Male secretary.
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lovelylil
Band said;
Russell would have had to be famous as a president for every casual train employee to immediately recognize him.
They may have recognized him as the nutty preacher who put his sermons in the paper as ads?
Pirata said;
Menta Sturgeon was Russell's Male secretary.
And the Plot thickens.........
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snowbird
Yes, he was definitely eccentric.
He also paid the colporteurs.
Syl
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lovelylil
syl,
Was that when the colporteurs could charge what they want for the mags and keep the change?