When did JWs begin.

by Lost in the fog 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Lost in the fog

  I was listening to a quiz on the radio when the question came up "In what century did the Jehovah's Witness religion begin?" The contestant was useless as he said the 1700s.

  The correct answer the quiz master gave was the 20th century. And then he added, "they only began in the 1930s believe it or not."

  Now, strictly speaking that is correct. Jehovah's Witnesses only came in to being when they changed their name. Before that they were just the Bible Students.

  But it got me to thinking that this is probably why the GB can now distance themselves from the looney ideas of Russell and even early Rutherford, by saying "it was not our religion then" even though it was really. Jesus's return in 1874/5. Not a Jehovah's Witness belief, we only came about in the 1930s....

  Just my musings on the topic.
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  steve2

  The Watchtower became an incorporated entity in 1879. The Bible Students, as Russell was fond of calling his followers since the late 1970s, were renamed Jehovah's Witnesses in 1931 by Rutherfod.

  So it was wrong of the quiz master to say JW's began in the 20th Century when "all" that happened in 1931 was a name change.

  BTW, it wasn't until the mid 1930s that JW organization "disappeared" the old beliefs that the last days began in 1799 and Jesus returned invisibly in 1874.
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  Still Totally ADD

  steve2 one question on 1799. I remember vividly around 2005 or so at a book study it was brought out that The last days did not begin in 1799. Why the clarification in the early 2000's if this teaching was done away with in the mid 1930's? To be honest being a born-in and over 50 years old at the time I never knew about this teaching until it was brought at the book study. Still Totally ADD
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  smiddy3

  Jehovah`s Witnesses will point to Heb.12 :1 rationalizing/ justifying they are Jehovah`s Witnesses however if you look at the context of Heb.Chap.12 doesn`t it clearly state that Christians are witnesses of Jesus Christ and not Jehovah.?

  The name or even word Jehovah or Tetragrammaton does not exist in the existent Christian Greek Scriptures.

  Just another example of JW`s cherry picking scriptures and taking them out of context .
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  Jacobi

  In some ways they ended around 2014 and then started this new religion called jw.org..
  
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  smiddy3

  Charles Taze Russell never identified himself as a Jehovah`s Witness and neither did any of his followers .

  Incidentally the Jews of Isa. 43:10-12 and after , never identified themselves as Jehovah`s Witnesses (the word Jehovah never even existed then ) and Jesus when on earth never chastised the Jews for not taking up the name Jehovah`s witnesses ( again the name / word Jehovah never existed then )

  Jesus himself never uttered the name Jehovah or any equivalent in either Greek,Hebrew or Aramaic

  The earliest time the Jehovah`s Witnesses could have arisen is in the thirteenth Century when a Catholic Monk first coined the word/name Jehovah

  However this never happened

  Not until J.F.Rutherford took over the control of the I.B.S.A. in the 1930`s and renamed it Jehovah`s Witnesses. simply to differentiate his religion from mainstream Christendom .

  And as they say the rest is history. or is it .?

  JW`s like to keep revising their history over and over again.

  Why are they so ashamed of their own early history ? Are they ashamed of what they were teaching in those early publications ?

  Are they embarrassed by what they were teaching in those early publications .?
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  pale.emperor

  But it got me to thinking that this is probably why the GB can now distance themselves from the looney ideas of Russell and even early Rutherford, by saying "it was not our religion then" even though it was really. Jesus's return in 1874/5. Not a Jehovah's Witness belief, we only came about in the 1930s....

  I used to say this all the time whenever "apostates" claimed Russell would be DF'd for his beliefs if he were around today.

  But you'll notice they'll still claim that they've be "dispensing spiritual truth" since the 1870s. Whenever things get hot they just say "ah, but they wern't Jehovah's Witnesses, they were Bible Students".
  
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  neat blue dog

  As long as they claim 1919 as their year of official appointment by Jesus, that's all that matters.
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  OrphanCrow

  neat: As long as they claim 1919 as their year of official appointment by Jesus, that's all that matters.

  1919 was the year that Rutherford bought the printing presses for the WT

  It had nothing at all to do with Jesus and everything to do with the business of selling books

  Unless Jesus was the one who was the WT's $$$ source that bailed out the almost bankrupt company
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  Athanasius

  The Bible Student groups still in existance claim that C. T. Russell was not the founder of the JW religion. In fact if one examines today's Bible Student doctrinal structure it is basically the religion that Russell taught. So the JWs are actually a break away from Russellism. Just like Russell's religion was a break away from Second Adventism.

  What makes it confusing is that Rutherford won control of Russell's printing corporation, the Watchtower. Then Rutherford dumped many of the Russellite doctrines and replaced them with his own, creating a new religion. This resulted in over 75% of the original Bible Students leaving the Watchtower to reorganize independently and restore Russell's religion in their congregations.