by Elsewhere 13 Replies latest jw friends
I just noticed something that I have never noticed before.
Sometimes the Watch Tower Bible & Tract used two words "Watch" and "Tower" when referring to themselves and other times refers to themselves as "Watchtower".
Is it just me, or is that just a bit strange? Has anyone noticed a pattern for when they use one or the other?
Where's Blondie with her instanta-quote machine?
I think Watchtower is NY and Watch Tower is PA. Not sure though.
Oh elsewhere, after over 7,000 posting, have you not learned anything on this forum? lol
C.T. Russell incorporated Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society in 1884, later just before the turn of the century, he renamed it Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. When they moved to Brooklyn, they incorporated People's Pulpit Association in 1909, and then the International Bible Students Association in 1914 in the U.K.
After the death of Rutherford, the Society was reorganized. The People's Pulpit Association was renamed the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, and the PA branch was renamed Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania.
The Watchtower magazine even changed names.
1879 - Zion?s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ?s Presence
1 909 - The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ?s Presence
1931 - The Watchtower and Herald of Christ?s Presence
1939 - The Watchtower, Announcing Jehovah?s Kingdom
Did not Raymond Franz defined his use of the terms in the beginning of CoC? I have it not at hand now but maybe someone can check.
RR---I wish you would spend more time here. I appreciate your input!
I have noticed that the WT corporation registers their branches with slight differences of spelling, making them separate legal entities.
lol, Gods chosen organisation is divided in two parts - which part should the good dub follow ?
just watch the movements of the tower....
P.S. In the Netherlands it is just Wachttoren.
Hey I have a life min. Only reason why I'm posting so much these last fewmonths is because I took three months off from work to play "Mr. Mom" with my 8 month old son. Times up, one more month and its back to work.
One more thing to add about the changes. It's not sure what the Bible Students use to call themselves in the early days. "Christian" I believe was the simple use. However when they started printing those little tracts called "Bible Students' Tracts" the name "Bible Students" stuck. Because Christians were no part of the world, the congregations did not incorporate themselves as churches, they were simply house churches, meeting in homes, some as they grew too large met in rented halls, masonic temples, YMCA, etc.
Later when they would advertise their meeetings, they would do so under the name "International Bible Students of .... city, state". In 1914, Russell incorporated the "International Bible Students Associastion" and advised the various congregations not to use the name to advertise their meetings, because it was incorporated under the Society. He suggested they use the name "Associated Bible Students". So now the classes use the name "Associated Bible Students of ... city, State".
When Rutherford took over and there was the split, he went back to using the IBSA for his followers, while the independent groups used the ABS.
Many of the independent group still use the ABS name. Some simply use the name of their town, Chicago Bible Students, Fort Worth Bile Students, Portland Area Bible Students
RR
True, I believe their trying to incorporate a Watchtower Society in every state. There is a Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New Jersey and one in Florida and some in other states.
It's interesting how eeverything is divided, so that each corporation needs one another.
The New York Branch Prints, the PA branch copyrights. I'm sure they have a branch that owns the realestate, and another that owns the assests.
RR
I think RR's timeline is pretty comprehensive.
First Zion was dropped in 1909. Hmmmm....
Then Watch Tower became Watchtower in 1909
(but Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. (Incorporated 1909)
Notice how Christ and his presence disappeared from the title of the Watchtower or Watch Tower. I guess it isn't the Messianic Kingdom.
1931 - The Watchtower and Herald of Christ?s Presence
1939 - The Watchtower, Announcing Jehovah?s Kingdom
(BTW, the WTS quietly changed from Jehovah's witnesses (lower case w) to Jehovah's Witnesses in the early 70's without any explanation after years of being petty that the "w" should not be capitalized because JW is not the name of a religion.)
