by diana netherton 15 Replies latest social entertainment
I've been looking at the old publications with the link that was provided...awesome.
Thanks...anyway, has anyone read over the Children book? It's almost 400 pages
of creepy drivel and couldn't hold my attention -- even at my age, let alone a child.
John and Eunice met under the tree to study the Bible. Yea, right!
John and Eunice decided to devote themselves to the organization instead of having a family because the end was so close.
They would be childless and in their 80 or 90s now, still waiting.
They would be childless and in their 80 or 90s now, still waiting.
In my old congregation, 20+ years ago, there was a 90+ old guy who never married, and several 80+ married couples who never had children. They were all Rutherford-era JWs.
Didn't Freddy Franz ghost-write the last 5 or 6 years of books attributed to Rutherford? If so, "Children" was one of his.
I've only glanced through a copy of it, but I tend to agree - what kid wouldn't be bored stiff by it?
The Society barely tolerates kids, and wishes they were just "little adults". Book like "Children" are a pretty good indicator of where that viewpoint comes from.
The Children book was the first WTS book I found in an "antique" store. The first time I read WT words in context without the WTS quoted a selected part. I was stunned to see in black and white that they discouraged having children, "discouraged" which explained some of the comments my family made about that time. One family had 5 children after than book was written and were viewed as "weak" spiritually.
Yep, they never liked children. Children can't provide free work. Children take you away from the more important things.
But wait, there were only a few remaining months to Armageddon!
And at the convention when it was released, the children were strongly urged to spend six hours per day selling this book during their summer break.
really, ann???
Edmund Gruss
When the September 15, 1941 Watchtower reported on the distribution on “Children’s Day” of 15,000 copies of the book, it stated:
Receiving the gift, the marching children clasped it to them, not a toy or
plaything for idle pleasure, but the Lord’s provided instrument for most
effective work in the remaining months before Armageddon (p. 288).
President Rutherford told the children in the Watchtower: “It is your priviledge between now and before the day school opens to spend six hours a day in taking the book Children to others.” The Watchtower article then urges: “The parents should encourage their children to do this very thing, if they would have them live” (ibid.). I remember telling my friends and others how short the time was before Armageddon.
http://www.faithandreasonforum.com/index.asp?PageID=37&ArticleID=102
wow,,,,, but i'm not surprised.
