History of Pyramidology

Justin

Come one, come all. The Great Pyramid awaits thee. Click on the following link and you'll learn the history of Pyramidology, including Russell's involvement. http://www.greatdreams.com/pyramid.htm

I read this and I believe it is quite ridiculous! Yet JW's founding father embraced pyramidology as the truth. I pity the Dawn and the other Bible Students that accept these things and waste all their time trying to find meaning in meaningless things.

Justin

I provide historical information to promote understanding, not to encourage contempt and ridicule. The article cited provides the historical background of pyramidology, showing that at least Russell did not invent the concept.

But what did Russell see when he looked at the Pyramid? A diagram is provided at http://www.hunkler.com/pyramids/great_pyramid.gif .

Russell's own treatment of the subject is covered in Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. III, Thy Kingdom Come, Study X, "The Testimony of God's Stone Witness and Prophet, the Great Pyramid of Egypt." This is found at http://www.agsconsulting.com/htdbnon/htdb0105.htm .

What did Russell see? The divine plan of the ages. The Pyramid has a descending passage which (to Russell) represents the downward course of mankind which ends in a subterranean chamber or pit representing destruction. The descending passage is intercepted by an ascending passage, the point of interception representing the exodus from Egypt and the passage itself the Jewish age. This expands into a Grand Gallery - the Gospel or Christian Age. The Pyramid has two chambers - the higher one being the King's Chamber representing the heavenly hope and the lower, the Queen's Chamber, representing the earthly hope. So the Pyramid is like an allegory.

Where Russell got into trouble was using calculations (taking each inch in the Pyramid to represent a year) and thereby calculating various dates (including 1914) so that his Pyramid chronology - parallel to his Bible chronology - ended up in prophetic failure.

El blanko

Thanks for the link. It is a well written essay.

Russell was at least a man with imagination and was obviously a man who dabbled in the area of occult science, where many of his esteemed peers minds lay within that same time period.

The late 19th century is fascinating and produced many flamboyant characters.

For all of his faults, I quite like the character of C.T. Russell.

peacefulpete

We may want to excuse the eccentricities of Russel, Smith (I think this was his name, link doesn't work for me) and Taylor as a product of the times, but in reality pyramidology was deemed as wacko then as it is now. Pyramids were just very in vogue at the time and so attracted fringe elements. Russel was not just being stupid he was also dishonest about the numbers. He changed his calculations when his predictions failed and then lied and claimed that the measuremnts in the pyramid were mistaken because a stone was chipped. It is much like present day New Agers trying to misuse quantum physics. When in Bethel I read in one of the books there that not only had Taylor never in fact been to the Pyramids but the supposed exacting measurments claimed by Smith were faked and based upon certain Adventist predictions. In fact the task would have been imposible as the pyramid was not open to the public nor did the very nature of the connecting air/sand shafts allow for such precise measuring. IOW we have a fraud using another fraud using a nut ball.

VM44

I recall reading that Russell obtained some pyramid data by using calipers, and measuring carefully the dimensions of a DIAGRAM of the Great Pyramid published in a book!!!!!

Russell then went on to use the precise values he obtained in this way to make prophetic calculations!

Russell didn't even try to concel this, he wrote about it openly! He did NOT mention that taking measurments from a paper diagram of a pyramid is a worthless way of obtaining valid precise data, but it did not appear to bother him that he did. Any deductions based upon such numbers would be worthless.

Was Charles T. Russell a naive uneducated simpleton?

--VM44

czarofmischief

flimflam artists abounded then as they do now. Doesn't mean he wasn't a nice guy, but he was still a charlatan.

CZAR

minimus

Goody that CTR didn't invent the concept. He still advocated ridiculous information.

Undaunted Danny

Thanks Justin a timeless thread.

The occult origins of the Watchtower with a dash of William Millers mutated date fixing(anacronistic alchemy) thrown into the mix.

Danny's Pyramid Pages :Read here regarding commentary by my JW grandfather.

Danny Haszard's Pyramid Pages:

(Just went up last week)

Why be concerned about Russell and the Great Pyramid?

C.T. Russell's Great Pyramid charts

Russell Quotes on the Great Pyramid

Rutherford's Quotes on the Pyramid

Russell's Gravesite with Pyramid

Russell on Masonry and Occultism

Pyramidology

Governing Body: Guide Dog for A Blind Person

» Theologically,Jehovah's Witnesses are a cult of Christianity.The oppressive organization does not represent historical, Biblical Christianity in any way. Sociologically, it is a destructive cult whose false teachings frequently result in spiritual and psychological abuse, as well as needless deaths.

VM44

Watchtower, Nov 1, 1904, page 326

THE GREAT PYRAMID MEASUREMENTS.

ARE we quite sure of the accuracy of the measurements of the Great Pyramid's passages as given in MILLENNIAL DAWN, Vol. III.? I have seen another measurement of the downward passage (3465 inches instead of 3416 inches), said to be from Prof. Piazzi Smyth's writings, says a reader.

* * *

We have no reason to question the accuracy of the figures given in DAWN III. They were all secured from Prof. Piazzi Smyth's work entitled, Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid. Moreover the manuscript of that chapter was submitted to Prof. Smyth by a friend before it was published and no flaw in its figures was noted. The illustrations are of Prof. Smyth's preparation, too.

We remark, however, that Prof. Smyth's interest centered in the upper chambers of the Pyramid, and the passages leading upward to these. Much less care and precision are manifested in his dealings with all other parts of the Pyramid than with this. As an evidence of this note the difference in the two drawings in VOL. III. which show this downward passage and the "pit" at its terminus. In the frontispiece the lower or level portion of the downward passage is shown as running to the axis line of the Pyramid, nearly one-half the length of the "pit." The illustration showing "The Passage System" of the Pyramid (MILLENNIAL DAWN, Vol. III., page 333) shows this totally different--it shows the depressed and broken floor commencing before the vertical axis is reached. Examine the illustrations carefully and note what we refer to.

The cut of page 333 is to a scale, and, being prepared by the one Astronomer Royal of Scotland, it should be accurate, yet the figures we have given (3416 inches) reach (into the "pit" of this diagram, --to the "pit" in the frontispiece) to the vertical axis of the Pyramid. We cannot therefore see how any longer measure for the passage could be possible. Measure for yourself, using the scale given on the diagram, page 333. If you have not the proper calipers use a piece of stiff paper as your measuring line and then apply it to the scale.

At the time of the Editor's visit to the Pyramid in 1892 the downward passage was filled full of debris and evidently had been long in that condition, as only one Arab was found who had any knowledge of it. He was quite an old man who many years before had assisted Prof. Smyth. The Editor, therefore, like other measurers of recent years, could ascertain nothing new respecting the "downward passage."

http://www.agsconsulting.com/htdbnon/r3451b.htm

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GREAT PYRAMID PASSAGES

John and Morton Edgar

You may have noted that, in his early editions of Vol. III of ?Studies in the Scriptures," in the Pyramid chapter, Brother Russell states that the length of the Descending Passage, from the junction of the Ascending Passage down to the Subterranean Chamber, is 3416 inches. But in all later editions of his third volume, since 1905, the length of this passage has been altered to the extent of 41 inches, the length now being said to be 3457 inches. Formerly the north wall of the Subterranean Chamber was said to mark the date 1874 A.D., but with the new measure of 3457 inches this date was shifted forward 41 years to 1915 A.D. No explanation is given for this change.

http://www.heraldmag.org/olb/contents/treatises/edgar%20gp%20discourse.htm

History of Pyramidology

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