I like ur posts but quoting a book for an hour is a bit much. I think you need to keep convincing yourself that Rutherford was not a genuine spokesman for God.
Remembering Rutherford
by Sea Breeze 156 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Disillusioned JW
Hey, it doesn't take long to red my post. I made the long post for the benefit of others (JW lurkers).
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dropoffyourkeylee
Thanks DJW for your posts, if uninterested, one can simply scroll down. Some of the literature is hard to find, like 'Children'.
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Rocketman123
All this information about Rutherford about what he said, what he did and published clearly exposes the pretentious fraud of what made the JWS religion from its original beginning. .
The real heart of what they did was exploit people's ignorance and emotions of the possibility of Jesus Christ returning to save mankind and take that exploitation to spur on the distribution of the literature the WTS published, the countable numbers were great but so too were the lies and deceptions.
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minimus
When you read Rutherford’s comments, you see how wrong his commentary was. For years , getting married and having children was considered inappropriate. Emphasis was on knocking on doors. Spread those books and whatever the good old Judge spoke as God’s word.
It’s sad to see how Jehovah’s Witnesses were manipulated by the Judge.
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Disillusioned JW
In one of Rutherford's books I noticed that Rutherford lumped court judges as being a part of what he considered to be Satan's evil organization on Earth (or at least said court judges are bad in some way), yet Rutherford billed himself as a court Judge. It seems that he tried to have it both ways. Perhaps he was making a joke on intelligence of the JWs, by calling himself a Judge while in some literature saying judges are bad.
In at least one book Rutherford (while using the word Nazi) sharply criticized the German Nazi government and thus made a strong political statement against not only a specific government but also against a specific political party. He even specifically criticized Hitler by name. In other literature he praised Hitler and Hitler's German government, while sharply criticizing Jews of the USA (specifically New York, New York?) and USA commerce (and/or big business). All of these statements were published by the Watch Tower (or Watchtower), yet the Watchtower claims it has always been politically neutral. That claim of always having been politically neutral is a bold faced lie, unless perhaps they were only making the claim about the Watchtower magazine and not the Watchtower organization. [I don't know if the Watchtower magazine itself broke political neutrality.] But maybe even the Watchtower magazine made criticisms of the Nazi government. I know that the Gold Age magazine (or the Consolation magazine) had at least one cartoon image which poked fun (and criticized) the Nazis.
In some literature Rutherford praised the Jewish people in general, ones living in his time, but in other literature he did the opposite.
How reliable do some his claims seem to you and how sincere does he seem to you in light of the above information?
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Rocketman123
Rutherford expressed a lot self opinionated sensationalism in the literature he penned.
I guess he thought he had the right and position to since god selectively had choose him as a messenger for all mankind.
A self appointed anointed one, an overextending egotist, a power seeking opportunist wrapped up in posture righteous vilification.
Who drove around in the most expensive cars he could find, sometimes with his mistress by his side, yes he had to be the chosen one.
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minimus
If he went directly after governments he was making a huge name for himself and his new group, Jehovah’s Witnesses. Now they could fulfill Bible prophecy and show the world that this one religion was being unfairly picked on , proving they were Jehovah’s chosen people.
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Disillusioned JW
I agree that they brought the persecution upon themselves. Numerous WT books claim that governments attack the JW religion because of the JWs preaching Christ's kingdom. But the JW kingdom message includes the false message that the kingdom began in the year 1914 with Christ ruling invisibly in heaven and that Christ will soon destroy all human governments, and that all of the human governments are under the control of Satan and a part of his evil system.
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Disillusioned JW
I invite JWs reading this site to consider the following.
In contrast to the negative message about college (and seminary education) which Rutherford wrote in his Children book (copyright 1941), he wrote positive things about college (and public/common education in general) in his Harp of God book (copyright 1921, edition of 1928). The positive message about education (and an increase of knowledge) is on pages 237 - 238 (in Chapter IX called "Our Lord's Return"). There it says the following (as transcribed at http://www.strictlygenteel.co.uk/harp/harp9.html ).
'402 When, that time should arrive, what was to be expected? Jehovah answers: "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." (Daniel 12:4) From and shortly after 1799, the date of the beginning of "the time of the end", we should expect to find an increase of knowledge, particularly with reference to the Bible. Prior to that time the people had been kept in ignorance of the Bible. It was the practice of the Papacy to forbid any one aside from the clergy class to have access to the Bible; in fact, it was made a crime under the Roman law, subjecting the offender to heavy penalties for having in possession a copy of the Bible. In 1799 the beastly power of Rome, predominated by the Papal system, received a deadly wound. The people had been taught to believe in the divine right of kings to rule and the divine right of the clergy to dominate the conscience of the people. When Napoleon took the Pope a prisoner and carried him away to France, and when later he refused to permit the Pope to crown him as king, but put the crown on himself and treated the Papal claimed authority with contempt, this began to open the eyes of the peoples of earth, kings as well as people, to the fact that Papacy did not possess the divine right it claimed.
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403 A short time thereafter the first Bible societies that ever existed were organized. The British and Foreign Bible Society was established in 1803; the New York Bible Society, in 1804; the Berlin-Prussian Bible Society, in 1805; the Philadelphia Bible
Society, in 1808; and the American Bible Society, in 1817. The Bible was translated and published in many different languages and sold at such low prices that the poor could have access to it, and within a short time millions of Bibles were in the hands of the people. The Papal system denounced these Bible societies as "pestiferous Bible societies". The time had come, however, for an increase of knowledge and the Lord was fulfilling his promise by putting it within the reach of those who were hungry for truth. The people began to learn that God is no respecter of persons; that kings and popes, priests and the common people alike must all render their account to the Lord and not to man.
404 From that time forward there has been a great corresponding increase of knowledge in all the sciences; and in fact, in all lines of learning. The common school, always opposed by the Papacy, has afforded a means of general education and increase of knowledge for people in all walks of life. Colleges and universities have sprung up throughout the world. With the increase of knowledge on various lines have come the numerous inventions that man now has, time and labor-saving machines, etc.'I invite readers to ask themselves the following questions?
Did Rutherford believe in what he wrote (and copyrighted in 1921) about colleges and universities, in his Harp of God book? If so, did he later change his view to that which he stated in his Children book (and copyrighted in 1941)? Did he ever really completely believe that which he wrote in the Children book about college education and seminary education (see an earlier post of mine)?
In determining your answers to the above questions, consider the following words of Charles Taze Russell from Volume V of his Studies in the Scriptures series (as transcribed at http://www.strictlygenteel.co.uk/atonement/atonetitle.html from an edition published in 1915 of his book copyright in 1886).
'Christian people are becoming more and more awake to the fact that a great tidal wave of unbelief is sweeping over Christendom; — not the blasphemous atheism voiced by Thomas Paine and Robert Ingersoll, but the cultured kind represented in the scholarship of our day, which makes the danger all the more insidious.
Not only are the great Colleges and Seminaries undermining the faith of the better educated, but the Common School books, and especially those used in the High Schools, are similarly inculcating a distrust in the Bible, a contradiction of its teachings. For a college graduate of to-day to declare his faith in the inspiration of the Scriptures would bring upon him the scorn of his companions — a scorn which few would court, or could endure. At very best, a few will be found to claim that they believe that Jesus and his Apostles were sincere, though they blundered in quoting from the Old Testament as inspired.
Such a belief in Jesus and his Apostles is no belief at all; for if present-day "higher critics" are wise enough to know when and where our Lord and his Apostles! erred in their quotations from the Old Testament, then these wise men of our day are our proper guides, — more inspired than Jesus and his Apostles.
Our Society, realizing the need, is seeking to do all in its power to stem the tide and lift up the Lord's "standard for the people." It has prepared six sets of Bible Studies (of which this volume is one) for Christian people of all denominations to use in lending a helping hand to all perplexed inquirers with whom they may, by God's providence, come in contact. These are supplied at bare cost, and can be had direct from the Society's warerooms or of its colporteurs, who are gradually reaching forth these helping hands far and near. These valuable "studies" are supplied at little more than one penny each; — 15 of them well bound in a cloth case, embossed in gold, for 1s.'
I have read from Russell's volumes of his Studies in the Scriptures and for me personally they (volumes 1 through 6) are not very interesting. In contrast, to me some of the books written by Rutherford are much more interesting (but some other books by Rutherford are very offensive to me and have an exceptionally angry tone), though not necessarily more correct in what they say.