Neither the term "Watch Tower" nor the name "Jehovah's witnesses" come from Jehovah's Witnesses

by Kenneson 6 Replies latest jw friends

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  Kenneson

  The term "Watch Tower" originated with the Second Adventists and was a carry over by Charles Taze Russell to his own religious periodical and Society. Even the Proclaimers book admits as much. In the footnote we read: "The expression 'Watch Tower' is not unique to Russell's writings or to Jehovah's Witnesses. George Storrs published a book in the 1850's called The Watch Tower: Or, Man in Death; and the Hope for a Future Life. The name was also incorporated in the title of various religious periodicals. It stems from the idea of keeping on the watch for the outworking of God's purposes.--Isa. 21:8,11,12; Ezek. 3:17; Hb. 2:1."

  Nor was there anything divine or original about the name Judge Rutherford gave to the International Bible Students in 1931. H.A. Ironside in 1911 in "Lectures on Daniel the Prophet" when referring to the Jews (he didn't have the International Bible Students in mind) whom the promises of Isa.43 would be fulfilled, noted on page 152:

  "These shall be Jehovah's witnesses, testifying to the power and glory of the one true God, when apostate Christendom shall have been given up to the strong delusion to believe the lie of the Antichrist."
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  Kenneson

  That footnote in the Proclaimers book is found on page 48.
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  Wild_Thing

  "These shall be Jehovah's witnesses, testifying to the power and glory of the one true God, when apostate Christendom shall have been given up to the strong delusion to believe the lie of the Antichrist."

  Wow! This H.A. Ironside sounds like a JW! Or the JWs sound like him!
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  Kenneson

  Actually Ironside belonged to the Plymouth Brethren, which in many respects are similar to Jehovah's Witnesses. They were

  founded by J. Nelson Darby in 1829.
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  Bobcat

  Is that the same "Darby" that translated the Bible (Darby Translation)? His translation uses "Jehovah" throughout the OT and he has numerous footnotes in the NT where he thought "Lord" meant "Jehovah."

  This thread opens up some of the things that influenced Russell & Rutherford.
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  Kenneson

  That is correct. It's called "The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation from the Original Languages."
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  AndDontCallMeShirley

  I doubt many JWs, if they've even cracked open the Proclaimers book once , realize that CT Russell was nothing more than a re-warmed, re-labelled Adventist when he began publishing Watchtower. And, according to Proclaimers, CT Russell did what every other religion/sect/cult does to arrive at its own particular brand of theology: he looked around at that the various religions, adopted what doctrines appealed to him, and rejected what didn't. He took the "buffet approach" to his belief system- simply pick and choose what looked good and pass over the rest.

  And, while condemning other religions for having some things right (according to his view) but many things wrong, CTR ended up being in the very same boat; but of course, as the 'faithful slave', he was too close to his own trees to see the forest.

  There is little that's unique to WT other than what usually differentiates one wacky cult from another.