by greenhornet 109 Replies latest watchtower scandals
When one reads one of Rutherford's books he wrote on the subject in 1925, he was certainly taking the position as a pro Zionist.
Have a look for yourself on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Comfort-Jews-J-F-Rutherford/dp/B00087193M
It would be easy to assume that this book was also printed in German at the approximate time of its English US release.
Then respectively, it would be helpful to fully understand Zionism correct?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionism
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Finkelstein, you can obtain copy of "Comfort for the Jews" by Joseph Franklin Rutherford on Archive.org. They have digitized version of the 1925 book. Some of the ideas in that book are truly ridiculous as Rutherford lacked any understanding of Jewish faith and history. For example he said that Jews must accept NT and Messiah insisting that Satan had blind them etc.
Generally, Rutherford perceived Jews as money loving people in control of Anglo-American empire and taking last nickle from passerby on the street. He also used terms like nose-hooked and Jesus murderer. There are tons of the material on the internet, and some Jewish groups had dedicated their effort to summarize various text and preaching from his era as a proof of antisemitism in WT.
Finkelstein:
Sounds bit like a white Aryan racist, maybe propping up his own personal identity as a white pure Christian ?
If anyone else has some writings from Rutherford particularly focused on his perceptions of the Jews please forward it. Would be interesting.
This is a statement that Rutherford made during one of his talks at the same Children of The King convention in 1941:
The attack we have got to make is just what Jesus did. You know that when Jesus was on earth the religionists wore long robes. They didn't have much of lace curtains at that time; they wore phylacteries, greased their head with goat grease, and smelled a good deal like billies. And, no doubt, that is where Jesus got the thought that it was a 'goat' class. He meant the Jews of that class of billy-goats with long whiskers, and long faces that smelled to the top of the mountain.
Finkelstein: When one reads one of Rutherford's books he wrote on the subject in 1925, he was certainly taking the position as a pro Zionist.
Kaik: Some of the ideas in that book are truly ridiculous as Rutherford lacked any understanding of Jewish faith and history. For example he said that Jews must accept NT and Messiah insisting that Satan had blind them etc.
I think it may be more helpful to use the term dual covenant theology instead of Zionism when discussing the difference between Russell's Zionist stance and Rutherford's movement towards a California based Jerusalem.
Russell's doctrine put forth the view that Jews had a separate, special covenant with 'God', and that the Christians had their own, separate covenant. Hence, Russell's doctrine was a dual covenant understanding that did not require the conversion of Jews to Christianity, or their acceptance of the Messiah.
And that is where Rutherford's doctrine differed sharply - his was a replacement doctrine that required the Jews to accept the NT and the Messiah. It would take a few more years before Rutherford dropped the "return to Palestine" and replaced that holy place with his mansion, but he had already veered sharply away from Russell's dual covenant doctrine by his statements requiring the Jews to "accept the Messiah". in 1925.
Rutherford replaced the Jews in the covenant doctrine with the Jws. Replacement doctrine.
Generally, Rutherford perceived Jews as money loving people in control of Anglo-American empire and taking last nickle from passerby on the street. He also used terms like nose-hooked and Jesus murderer. There are tons of the material on the internet, and some Jewish groups had dedicated their effort to summarize various text and preaching from his era as a proof of antisemitism in WT.
Some info from Wiki ..
Christian Zionism is a belief among some Christians that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land, and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, is in accordance with Biblical prophecy. The term began to be used in the mid-20th century, superseding Christian Restorationism.[1][2]
Hippolytus[3] and Irenaeus[4] foresaw a Jewish return from exile, despite their unbelief in Jesus. Traditional Catholic thought did not consider Zionism in any form[5] and Christian advocacy of the restoration of the Jews arose following the Protestant Reformation. A contemporary Israeli historian suggests that evangelical Christian Zionists of the 1840s "passed this notion on to Jewish circles".[6]
Some Christian Zionists believe that the gathering of the Jews in Israel is a prerequisite for the Second Coming of Jesus. This belief is primarily, although not exclusively, associated with Dispensationalism. The idea that Christians should actively support a Jewish return to the Land of Israel, along with the parallel idea that the Jews ought to be encouraged to become Christians, as a means of fulfilling a Biblical prophecy has been common in Protestant circles since the Reformation.[7][8][9] Many Christian Zionists believe that the people of Israel remain part of the chosen people of God, along with the "ingrafted" Gentile Christians. (See [Romans 11:17-24] and dual-covenant theology.)
I'm getting the impression that Rutherford cranked up a antisemitic stance during the war as a means to better position and appeal to Hitler's own antisemitic ideologies. Went with the wave as it were preconceived that in doing so in toward making the JWS look better or supportive to the political ideology of the time in Europe, propagated by Hitler's Nazism.
Finkelstein: I'm getting the impression that Rutherford cranked up a antisemitic stance during the war as a means to better position and appeal to Hitler's own antisemitic ideologies. Went with the wave as it were preconceived that in doing so in toward making the JWS look better or supportive to the political ideology of the time in Europe, propagated by Hitler's Nazism.
Of course. That is why I have made the assertion earlier that the WTS was far from "politically neutral". Their political positioning was reflected in their doctrinal positions.
What Rutherford's shift in doctrine reflected was actually a political shift - one that moved away from the Bible Students' left-wing political stance and placed the WT corporation solidly in the camp of right wing politics.
In the political climate of the time, left wing politics was associated with the Bolshevism that was in control of Russia - the country that was feared to become what it promised to do - rule the world and make the entire world communist. The Bolsheviks were mostly Jews. And to the right of that, on the other end of the political spectrum, right wing politics manifested itself in Fascism, the Nazis being its own particular brand of far right wing politics.
The religious doctrines were political statements.
