When You Look Back At The History of Jehovah's Witnesses/Russelites---Has Anything Really Changed?

by minimus 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  kaik

  I agree with Band on the Run, Russell was crazy. I got feel from reading Studies in the Scripture a picture of guy who does not understand the world's dynamic with his ethnocentric views. He dedicated in his work how much coal, steel, and ships are produced in 1870; what is the military expenses of powers long time gone. These facts, releveant to 19th century and irrelevant in 21st century, have no whatsoever spiritual meaning. WT and JW were born in crazy mind and continue carrying the legacy for another 130 years. The had not changed, they only adapted after failures in 1925, 1975,...

  Kitledge, I would use instead word gulag, politburo to describe the mother org.
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  blondie

  It is good to remember Russell in the context of his time. A time when several religions came out of this period: Mormons, Adventists, Second or Seventh Day Adventists, Christian Scientists...competing weirdness. There was a reason that time period had so many religions with very different philosophies develop.

  The United States was the setting for new developments in religion in the 19th century. Sects and movements of many types arose, inspired variously by new interpretations of the Bible, the teachings of new prophets and thinkers, the expectation of Christ's second coming, and the social, scientific, and philosophical questions of the time. Read more: U.S. Religious Sects Originating in the 19th Century | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0881831.html#ixzz2zgV8Nt00

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_movements_that_began_in_the_United_States#19th_century

  • Christian Universalism/Unitarianism
    • Universalist Church of America, 1793
    • American Unitarian Association, 1825
    • Unitarian Universalism, 1961
  • Latter Day Saint movement/Mormonism, 1830
  • New Thought Movement, 1830s onward
    • Divine Science, 1888
    • Unity Church, 1889
    • Religious Science, 1927
  • Adventist/Millerites, 1840s
    • Seventh-day Adventist Church, 1863
  • Spiritualism, 1840s
  • Jehovah's Witnesses, 1870 (1931)
  • The Theosophical Society (Eastern Theosophy), 1875
  • Ethical Culture, 1877 onward
  • Church of Christ, Scientist (Christian Science), 1879
  • Polish National Catholic Church, 1897
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  minimus

  Of course, Jehovah's witnesses did not appear until the twentieth century.
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  blondie

  Technical point, non-jws think of Bible Students and jws as the same. People in 1931 that stayed with the WTS were Bible Students that stayed and took on the new name which is why the 2 dates, 1870 and 1931.

  The point I'm making stays the same, Russell and Bible Students of his time were influenced by similar things as those organizations and carried those over to the WTS with the newly named jws.
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  minimus

  But they are not the same, and I do agree with your point. (Wikipediaisnt always 100 percent accurate.)
• 

  minimus

  But they are not the same, and I do agree with your point. (Wikipediaisnt always 100 percent accurate.)
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  designs

  Charles would be jealous of the Real Estate Holdings