by minimus 29 Replies latest jw experiences
Back in the day we went over and over it at the meetings, much of it to show that events “fulfilled prophecy “ . Anyway it was considered important to be aware of our “Theocratic History “ so we all knew about the old presidents and key conventions. The most important event seemed to be The imprisonment in 1918..
Of course all this was as seen through the eyes of The Society. I have enjoyed finding out later that there are two sides to any story and a lot that we were not told.
It was their early history that set off my alarm bells and stopped me getting baptised as a teenager.
The green Publisher book in the 90's made me investigate early jw history.
Gorby
Didn’t Russell not deny he was the Faithful Servant?? But did he ever say he was?? I think he seemed to love the attention.
Reading about the WT spinoffs was probably the first step for me in investigating my beliefs and eventually rejecting the WT. I was at a bookstore and on a lark had picked up 'The Encyclopedia of American Religions' Volume II, J. Gordon Melton, Editor. It has about 10 pages or so on JW and related religions that I found fascinating. It was published in 1991, so it is a little dated, but I still pull it off the shelf once in a while.
Was Russell a charlatan or was he a sincere Pastor?
Charlatan first, sincere Pastor second, a mixture of both, he was captured by other people's theological ideas such as Pyramidology , Dispensational era prophecies.
Through these theological teachings he preached that Christ had returned in 1874.
Something quite attractive thing to sell to the established public bible believers back in the day, which there were many in that era of the US.
I think Russell was a believer and maybe started believing what his followers were thinking that he was truly a holy man like an apostle in their times.
And as history has shown because Russell dumped his personal money into the WTS. so his wife couldn't claim a portion of it during their divorce so he could retain that money toward himself.
The following scenario of Russell dying and leaving that wealth for other men to grab , introduced J Rutherford a lawyer he used for previous legal business dealings. The rest is history and the foundation of the JWS religion which its core operation throughout the years has been an active religoius publishing house.
The history of the WTS is one of corruption, ignorance and men's own opportunistic endeavors, the true accurate Gospel of Jesus Christ got muddied over and falsely commercialized.
@minimus: Predecessor was “Herald of the morning” (roughly translated from Victorian English: Awake!)”. Printed by Nelson H. Barbour.
As a boy I would see "The Bible Answers" tv program produced by the Dawn Bible Students. I remember my aunt running to change the channel because they were the "Evil Slave". That always intrigued me, even as a boy. Why were they so evil? They used the Bible and seemed harmless enough. That started my interest in the history of the cult.
We knew a number of "Anointed" in the 1960's. None of them would talk about the Dawners. So as I got older I began to read the early Watchtowers of the 1800's in the reprints in the congregation library. It wasn't till I was older and fully in that I truly dug deep, pre internet. I always had my doubts about Rutherford. He seemed such a scoundrel. I gagged when we went through the "Revelation Climax" book,. Every other sentence was how something that happened in the 1920's was the fulfillment of a prophetic scriptures. They didn't talk about Beth Sarim or any of his luxury cars. How did they fulfill prophecy? When I read about the "Princes" and such I knew it was a scam. Took a while But I saw through the BS and baled.
