How will history treat Judge Rutherford? (page 2)

Magnum

St George of England, a few years ago a 35ish JW female approached me in a parking lot and attempted to give me a tract. I mentioned Fred Franz to her and found out that she had never even heard of him. That was astonishing to me. He was of the most influential figures in JW history (in the top three or four), and she had never even heard of him.

Diogenesister

He deserted with disabled wife. His son presumably had more scruples and remained with his mother. The comments he made around love, marriage & women in general lead me to believe he was a misogynist, at the Missouri convention citing women as "a rag and a bone and a Hank of hair"*

like the story that Rutherford became a Bible Student because he had been an encyclopaedia salesman himself and so felt he couldn’t turn them away the people at his door away when he was offered a set of Studies in the Scriptures.

It appears he was a sentimental misogynist. Figures. I've known a few men like that. Beat the living hell out of their wives in front of the kids, but weep like a baby if they hit a rabbit with their car.

*It's pretty well established he was having an affair with the dietician/masseuse he took everywhere on tour with (and brought to live in Bethel). The otherwise unqualified Berta Peale. The following is a quote from Leolaia regarding a pdf she created from a JWdotnet mega thread on the subject:

JWD poster named larc (Carl Thornton) is the nephew of a woman named Berta Peale who was a close associate of JF Rutherford from 1937 to his death in 1942. (Verified by public records that show that the Berta who was an associate of Rutherford was indeed larc's aunt)
Berta told larc's relatives regarding Rutherford: "He was like a husband to me in every way". (Unverified, but larc's wife also testifies to this)
Rutherford was married and had a son, but he was separated from his wife. (Verified by public records, which show that Rutherford and his wife lived separately from the mid-1920s onward)
larc reveals that Berta herself abandoned her husband of 15 years to go to Bethel in 1938. Her husband Alfred Peale, a resident of Ohio, filed for divorce on the grounds of abandonment, which was granted in 1940 (Berta's marriage to Alfred is verified with public records, larc had a copy of the paperwork from Alfred's filing)
Berta was a friend of Rutherford's personal secretary Bonnie Boyd who travelled with Bonnie and Rutherford to Europe the summer before 1938. (Verified with actual ship records) Unlike nearly everyone else who came to Bethel, Berta started at the top.
Berta lived thereafter with Rutherford as his personal dietician, despite not having any training in nutrition. Rutherford already had a qualified dietician at Bethel, yet Berta assumed this job quickly after arriving to Bethel in 1938 (Verified with data from the Moyle trial transcript and public records)

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/154191/rutherford-exposed-story-berta-bonnie-redux

Rivergang

How will history treat Judge ~~Boozerford~~ Rutherford?

As just one more of a very long line of religious conmen, I would imagine.

slimboyfat

People sometimes change. I have a theory that Rutherford started out as a nice person and turned into quite a nasty ruthless person later. I can’t remember where it was, but something I read indicated that he had a really good relationship with his wife early in their marriage and that he was a more pleasant person all round in his younger years. Something went wrong for Rutherford to turn him into a different person. What was it? It was his time in prison in 1917. It really turned him into a bit of a paranoid crank and a ruthless manipulator. His health suffered badly during his time in prison and he never recovered for the rest of his life. It made him bitter, angry, and cynical. Everything bad about his character: the drinking, scheming, misogyny, paranoia, arrogance, jealousy, crude and cruel behaviour, all come after his imprisonment 1917. I’m not the first to make this observation, but I think there may be something to it.

vienne

I do not find enough solid proof that Rutherford was an alcoholic. I'm still looking. However, I see him as a true believer who saw himself a semi-inspired writer of Watch Tower articles, especially the prophetic drama type. People like that do not take criticism.

Look how long it's taken the Watch Tower to abandon that nonsense. He cast a very long shadow, extended by Franz who held similar opinions of himself. It surprises me that Franz is a modern-day Watchtower saint when he was responsible for the 1975 fiasco. If an elder had done what Franz did, he's been disfellowshipped instantly.

LV101

I know little about the charlatan but recall having read moons ago (H20?) he wasn't an educated lawyer but a court runner or lackey who rode a bicycle delivering court documents. Lawfirms still hire runners who serve papers to other firms and file w/court but mostly done online today. Rutherford had access to the bar exam available via the courthouse and, voila, became a lawyer. It's unbelievable but who knows -- charlatans are quite creative. I always compare the story to the old country doctors who traveled around in wagons selling snake oil.

grahammt

Read the wikipedia articles on Russell and Rutherford, seem to me to be they very fa-liable people. Reading between the lines sounds like Russell was making a lot of money out of his books, As for questioning core Christian teachings based on Bible such as the trinity think Unitarian movement got there first and without all the snake oil.

Van, the anti-catholic part on Rutherford was an eye-opener: the whore of Babylon representing false religion (The Catholic church) is nothing to do with 'Jehovah's' revelation but dates back to 17th Century European religious wars, (another wikipedia link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Catholicism_in_the_United_States). All Rutherford did was extend it to any religion that was outside his ego.

My answer to your question how will history judge Rutherford: a control freak who blended Protestant pre-justices with Russell's brand of Adventism (the second coming of Christ). In my opinion his approach was meglamanic with the unfortunate consequence that he created an organisation (Jehovah's Witnesses) that could only look inwards. Although the doctrines may change they always have to refer back to Rutherford's framework

How will history treat Judge Rutherford?

Magnum

Diogenesister

Rivergang

slimboyfat

vienne

LV101

grahammt

vienne

dropoffyourkeylee

NotFormer

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