Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Isaiah 43:10 - You Are My Witnesses

This study has been moved to:

https://bible-covenants.blogspot.com/2022/11/isa43-10.html

Thursday, January 5, 2017

Martin: Are JWs Followers of Russell's Interpretations?

By Ronald R. Day, Sr.

In the book, Kingdom of the Cults, (2003 edition), on pages 17 and 18, we find the following statement: "Jehovah's Witnesses, for the most part, are followers of the interpretations of Charles T. Russell and J. F. Rutherford." This could be misleading, since most people do not know that Rutherford created the "Jehovah's Witnesses" organization by rejecting the core teachings of the Russell and the Bible Students, especially as related to Christian liberty, organization, and the atonement. 

Along this line of reasoning, one site claims "as far as the core doctrines are concerned Jehovah’s Witnesses still believe and teach what Charles Taze Russell and the International Bible Students believed and taught." This, however, is false, as anyone truly familiar with the work of Russell and the Bible Students would know.

The Ransom For All

The Jehovah's Witnesses reject Russell's teaching that the ransom for all provides salvation for Adam as well as well as absolutely all who are dying in Adam. This is the core teaching of Russell's books: The Divine Plan of the Ages and The Atonement Between God and Man. Jehovah's Witnesses, in effect, deny the basis of the ransom as Brother Russell presented from the Bible, for they say that Adam is not covered by that Ransom. Rutherford claimed that the first man, Adam, died the second death (which would, in effect, mean that Adam did not die the "Adamic" death).  Of course, since all who are dying in Adam came under the same condemnation as Adam, then if Adam came under the condemnation of the second death, it would mean that all of Adam's descendants likewise come under the condemnation of the second death.

We have discussed this in our studies:




Chronology and Time Prophecies

The Jehovah's Witnesses reject practically everything Russell presented concerning Bible chronology and time prophecies. This means that they reject practically everything that Russell presented in his books The Time Is At Hand and Thy Kingdom Come. Brother Russell presented from the Bible Biblical evidence that the time of the end had begun in 1799, that Christ had returned in 1874 and that the times of the Gentiles were to end in 1914. And there are many other dates Russell believed to be designated in the Bible that the Jehovah's Witnesses reject. The Jehovah's Witnesses still accept the date 607/6 as the year of Jerusalem's destruction, but the chronology they present before that date is not in the same as that Brother Russell presented in his book The Time Is At Hand. The only prophecy that the Jehovah's Witnesses still use that Brother Russell presented in his books is that of the "seven times" of Daniel 4. Without all the supporting chronology and time prophecy applications as Russell presented, this lone application for the year 1914 would seem very paltry, as far as evidence for the date 1914. Of course, the JWs accept the date based on the authority they ascribe to their leadership.

Church Organization and Christian Liberty

And the Jehovah's Witnesses reject most of what Brother Russell presented concerning Church organization as he disclosed in his book The New Creation, as well as elsewhere. After Russell died, Rutherford created an organization dogma with a structure very similar to that of the Papacy.  See our resource page: Russell, Authority and Organization.

Armageddon

They also reject most of what Brother Russell presented concerning "Armageddon" in his book The Battle of Armageddon. Russell was never expecting an "Armageddon" that was to eternally destroy millions or billions of unregenerated men, women and children, as the Jehovah's Witnesses teach. Russell believed Armageddon was to chastise the people of the nations, not eternally destroy them.

Thus, it can be seen that the Jehovah's Witnesses reject most of the basic teachings that Russell presented in all of his six volumes of studies called the Studies in the Scriptures. Such rejection could hardly mean that that they "are followers of the interpretations of Charles T. Russell", or that the Jehovah's Witnesses still believe the core teachings of Charles Taze Russell.

We should point out that Brother Russell never fully edited his books to reflect the view he adopted in 1904, that is, the time of trouble was to begin, not end, in 1914. The only edition we know of that has been edited to reflect this change is Paul Johnson's edition, which may be found online:

Editions of Paul Johnson

Russell's Alleged Denunciation of "Organized Religion"

By Ronald R. Day, Sr.

Walter Martin and Norman Klann make the claim that, as a result of Charles Taze Russell's alleged rejection of the doctrine of eternal punishment, Russell "entered upon a long and varied career of denunciation aimed at 'organized religion.'" Russell, of course, never rejected the Biblical doctrine of "eternal punishment." We have discussed this elsewhere.

On one site, we find the following: "Watchtower founder, Charles Taze Russell despised organized religion, and preached that all one needed to serve God was the Bible and Jesus Christ."

Evidently, it is thought that "organized religion" is a good thing, and that to oppose "organized religion" would be a bad thing.  Actually, it depends on what is meant by such a denunciation. Russell did not believe in sectarianism nor did believe in setting men here on the earth with authority to govern God's people.

While it is true that Russell denounced sectarian religious organizations since such organizations divide God's people and often seek subjugate them to men here on the earth, Russell, himself, possibly never used the phrase "organized religion". Indeed, we did a digital search of Russell's works, and we find that phrase only once in his Watch Tower, and this is from the Watch Tower of September 1, 1906, under the article "Views From the Watch Tower". Here Brother Russell himself did not use the phrase "organized religion," but he quotes a periodical by the name of The Christian Work and Evangelist. Possibly what he quoted was written by its editor, Joseph Newton Hallock. 

Another instance where we find the phrase "organized religion" is in the periodical entitled, Old Theology Quarterly, Volume 4, Number 5, in the "Miscellaneous Column" under the subtopic, "Waning Church Life". Again, we find that the phrase is not used by Brother Russell himself. It is contained in a quote from Rev. Dr. Waddy Moss, of Didsbury College, Manchester, England, which appeared in the Manchester Dispatch.

Other than these instances, we found no more instances where the phrase "organized religion" is used in Russell's works.

Russell, being a non-sectarian, believed that the true church consists of all who actually belong to Christ, regardless of denominational or sectarian ties. Many protestant ministers have stated the same thing, although many -- if not most -- of them would exclude any who do not believe in the trinity.
We suspect, however, that Martin and Klann may have confused Rutherford's later campaign against organized religion with the ministry of Russel. Rutherford's denunciation of "organized religion" included the promotion of his new "organization" as "Jehovah's organization." Part of Russell's dogma was that all other religions and/or religious groups are part of "Satan's organization". Rutherford began to promote the idea that anyone not of his organization would be eternally destroyed in the battle of Armageddon. In other words, Rutherford was promoting the very kind of sectarianism that Russell had preached against; indeed, Rutherford created an "organized religion" himself.

At any rate, we give links below to the only three instances wherein we could find the expression, "organized religion" in Russell's works, all three of which are actually within quotes from other authors:

Of course, Russell did believe that sectarian Churchianity must be destroyed; God is not going to allow such divisions in His kingdom. Russell, however, was NOT teaching the eternal destruction of individuals within these sects. 

For links to what Russell taught on the true church, CLICK HERE.
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Did Charles Taze Russell Deny Hell?

By Ronald R. Day, Senior

The statement is often presented that Russell denied the existence of hell; J. J. Ross, for instance, among many other misrepresentations of Russell, falsely claimed that Russell taught that "there is no hell for the sinful." Another site states: "Russell studied the Bible on his own and later denied that hell exists." Another states: "His later study of the Bible led him to deny the existence of hell." As with most of these sites, they confuse Charles Taze Russell with the Jehovah's Witnesses, often claiming that Russell was the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses. One such site associates Russell with the Witnesses and claims "The Witnesses deny the existence of Hell." (Please note that the sites linked that contain these quotes may present a lot of misrepresentations concerning Brother Russell other than statements concerning "hell", much of which is addressed elsewhere on this or our other sites.)

In fact, Russell upheld the existence of the Bible hell, but he did deny the existence of the kind of hell that comes from man's imaginations as represented in the doctrines of men. He stated:
We believe in the "hell" of the Bible, sheol. This, the only word used for hell for four thousand years, is translated more than one-half the time grave in our Common Version, and should always be thus translated. "Hades," in the New Testament, is its equivalent. "Gehenna fire," of the New Testament, is a symbolical picture declared to signify the Second Death. -- The Watch Tower, January 1, 1912, page 29.
In response to the claim that Brother was preaching that there is no hell, Brother Russell replied:
"There is no minister in the world that preaches more hell than I do, but the hell that I preach is the hell of the Bible and not the hell of the fire, brimstone, pitchfork and sandpaper-slide variety. The hell of the Bible is a most reasonable interpretation of the original Greek and Hebrew terms -- Hades and Sheol -- which means the death state, the tomb." -- "Press Comment" Convention Report Sermons, page 396.
Nevertheless, the thought that Russell denied the Biblical hell is evidently based on the false idea that the Biblical hell is that which is often thought of as "hell" by tradition. In Brother Russell's day, hell was most often promoted as being a place where souls of those did not accept Jesus are to spend an eternity of conscious suffering in actual flames of fire, and it is was claimed to be the place where Satan tormented those souls for eternity. Many also presented the idea that Hell is made up of compartments, and that one of those compartments used to be paradise, and another compartment is tartarus, etc. Many today claim that the hell is where the souls of those who die without Christ are to spend an eternity of conscious "separation from God." Since none of these concepts are actually taught in the Bible, Russell did deny such ideas about hell, but he did uphold the Bible hell.

We present below some of Brother Russell's studies in which he defends the Bible hell as opposed to the false hell that slanders the name of God.

To Hell and Back - Who Are There? - Discusses mostly sheol as it corresponds with the Greek hades.

Immortal Worms and Unquenchable Fire - Discusses Gehenna and its fires.


What Saith the Scripture About Hell? Examines all scriptures that contain the Hebrew and Greek words hades, sheol, and Gehenna, as well as tartaroo.

For more related to this, see: Russell and Hell

Our own studies of hell, life after death, gehenna, etc., may be found on our site:


Originally published May 29, 2011; Updated and republished November 24, 2014. Updated: 8/25/2021











When Was the Jehovah's Witnesses' Organization Created?

Many often remark that the Jehovah's Witnesses organization began with Charles Taze Russell in the 1870s. On the CARM site, we find: "The Jehovah's Witnesses was begun by Charles Taze Russell in 1872." One claims: "The Jehovah's Witnesses are a sect founded in 1879 by Charles Taze Russell, a Pittsburgh draper."  Another claims: "Charles Taze Russell was the founder and first leader of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian denomination." On another site we find the statement: "Charles Taze Russell was the founder and first leader of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian denomination." Still another claims regarding the Jehovah's Witnesses:
Charles Taze Russell, a draper of Pittsburgh, afterwards known as "Pastor" Russell, was the founder of the movement in 1872. Nathan Homer Knorr, its present head, prefers to say, "We broke in on the history of Jehovah's Witnesses" in 1872.
The Jehovah's Witnesses leadership claims: "The modern-day organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses began at the end of the 19th century." This is would be odd, since there was no "organization of Jehovah's Witnesses" in the days of Russell. Russell would not allow the Watch Tower of his day to be used for such a purpose. For some of Russell's own statements regarding such an organization, 

We should note that there is a lot of false information about Charles Taze Russell often guised as "truth," "facts,"  "exposing [alleged] lies." To claim that the Jehovah's Witnesses began with Charles Taze Russell is highly misleading, to say the least. The truth is that there was no "Jehovah's Witnesses" faith until after Charles Taze Russell died. Russell certainly never believed in such a religious organization as "Jehovah's Witnesses." See:
It is claimed that the original founder of the organization was Charles Taze Russell. In reality, Charles Taze Russell did not believe in such an organization as the Jehovah's Witnesses; furthermore, Russell preached against the kind of authoritarianism that is found in the JW organization and certainly was not the founder of an organization that he did not believe in.  For actual quotes from Russell regarding authority see: "Who Did Russell Actually Believe to Be the 'only authority' of the Church?"

**** Below still needs to be edited and links updated.

Since Russell was never associated with, nor did he believe in, such an authoritarian organization such as "Jehovah's Witnesses," it is inaccurate to say that the "real start of the Jehovah's Witnesses" was in 1874. Russell believed in no "new religion." He accepted and believed in the "old religion" of Jesus and the apostles. Russell never referred to the Bible Students association as the "only true religion."
See the presentation:
A New Religion?

When Russell began publishing the magazine, "Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence," this was not at all related to the then non-existent "Jehovah's Witnesses" movement. Russell believed in no such movement, nor did he believe in the unique teachings of "Jehovah's Witnesses" regarding "God's visible organization" being authorized by God with a centralized authority here on earth that is supposed to govern God's people, nor did he believe in the kind of "Armageddon" that the Jehovah's Witnesses promote.

Did Russell claim to have started the only true church, or the only true religion?

Some make the assertion that Russell claimed to have been the fonder of the "only true religion." Did Russell ever claim to be the founder of "the only true religion"? Absolutely not! Russell never made any kind of assertion of starting any religion at all; believing that Christianity had been started by Christ in the first century, he saw no reason to start any new religion. He certainly did not start the religion known as "Jehovah's Witnesses", nor in its sectarian stance of being the "only true religion". Russell believed until his death that the only true church was that which is enrolled in heaven, not in the records of any "organization" or "religion" on earth.

When Russell died, Rutherford was not elected as "the new leader of the Jehovah's Witness movement", as some have claimed. The "Jehovah's Witnesses" did not exist at that time. Rutherford was elected as the president of the legal entity, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Nevertheless, in a few short months, Rutherford had basically destroyed the legal entity as Russell had created it, and Rutherford assumed authority that Russell refused to assume. Rutherford -- after Russell died -- ambitiously began to restructure the Watch Tower Society as related to the Bible Students so as to make WTS resemble the Papal hierarchy. This was actually how the Jehovah's Witnesses' religion started. This, however, was after the death of Russell.

Rutherford evidently found the central doctrine that the Bible Students had been preaching for decades, that is, the "ransom for all", would not be suitable to accomplish his goals, so he began to insidiously renounce that doctrine around 1923, when he came forth his new ideas about the "second death". Eventually, Rutherford renounced the basis of the ransom altogether, and replaced that doctrine with his new gospel that most of the people of the nations would be eternally destroyed if they did not join up with his new organization.

By 1928, the vast majority of the earlier Bible Students movement worldwide (more than 75%) had rejected Rutherford's new organization as well as Rutherford's new "organization" gospel. In response, in 1931, it could be said that Rutherford officially started the "Jehovah's Witnesses" religion, although the creation of that "organization" took place slowly between 1917 and 1931. Such an organization, as Brother Russell had stated, has carnal appeal to the fallen human flesh, and thus could grow rapidly now that the Biblical standards were being compromised in favor of his organization "good news" message.

Related:

Original posted 2012; Updated and republished 2014; Updated 8/2021














Russell Founder of WTS - Not the JWs

One has responded to our finding that Russell was not the founder of the JWs, and several assertions have been made that are misleading, to say the least.

The claim is evidently that since Russell was the principal founder of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, and since the JWs are now using that legal entity as their "legal instrument", that this is supposed to mean that Charles Taze Russell was actually the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization. Of course, in reality, the legal instrument as Russell envisioned it, was not designed to be the legal instrument of an organization such as the "Jehovah's Witnesses." As he designed the Society, it was a legal entity for coordinating communication among the Bible Students and as a service organization.

When Russell died, Rutherford -- by means of deceit and legal trickery -- gained control of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, and almost immediately began to use that legal entity as a means of slowly producing what would become known as the JW organization. As a result many of the Bible Students rejected Rutherford's new ideas, and thus indirectly stopped supporting the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society. At first, the vast majority of the earlier Bible Students did not fully realize what was happening, or simply believed that the matter would correct itself in time. Thus, as reported, on the jwfaq.blogspot.com site, about 20% of the Bible Students stopped supporting Rutherford in 1917. This does not mean, as the Watch Tower leaders later stated, that they left "Jehovah's organization". That which the JWs mistakenly call "Jehovah's organization" did not exist in 1917, although Rutherford had already begun to implement ideas as a basis for such an organization. Rutherford slowly created his organization by rejecting the core teachings of Russell and the Bible Students. What is not stated on the jwfaq site, however, is that in the years that followed, many more of the Bible Students either voluntarily stopped supporting Rutherford, or else they found themselves disfellowshipped by Rutherford's followers for not accepting Rutherford's new teachings. Thus, according to the Watchtower's own published statements, by 1928 more than seventy-five percent of the Bible Students had stopped supporting the Society. Nevertheless, there were thousands who were associated with the Watch Tower after 1914 who evidently were never fully appreciative of the scriptural testimony concerning the local church organization, nor even in the central teaching of the "ransom for all." These, along with some of the earlier Bible Students, became the followers of Rutherford, and could not actually be called "Russell's followers" as is done on one of the sites.

Russell, however, was a non-sectarian, and he was not the founder of any religion; he did not believe in such an organization as Rutherford later formed after Russell died. Rutherford, in fact, rejected the core teachings of Russell, and replaced them with his own teachings. Rutherford, not Russell, was the one who set up an authoritative organization. Rutherford evidently realized that the core teaching of the "ransom for all" would not be an effective doctrine to sustain an organization such as he envisioned, and thus he dropped that teaching to make it a ransom for some, but not all, and he adopted a teaching of eternal destruction for almost all who disagreed with him, something Russell never thought to do. Russell was certainly not the founder of that which he did not believe in.

The fact that Russell and his associates started the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society does not mean that Russell was responsible for what happened afterwards, anymore than Jesus, in instituting his church can be held responsible for others who came after to him who sought to lord it over the church, and sought to kill others who disagreed with them. That organization came into being after Russell died. At the protest of thousands of Bible Students all over the world, Rutherford, after Russell's death, proceeded to form his organization, and began to teach almost the opposite of what Russell taught concerning the atonement. Over the next 15 years, most of the Bible Students around the world no longer supported Rutherford's new organization, so that the Bible Students movement, as a whole, continued to exist separate from the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.

The statement is made that "Russell’s group, the International Bible Students, had their name formally changed by Rutherford in 1931 to Jehovah’s Witnesses." This is misleading since the name of the Bible Students movement itself was not changed in 1931 to "Jehovah's Witnesses." Rutherford did have the name "Jehovah's Witnesses" adopted by his followers in order to distinguish his organization from the Bible Students who continued their own work separate from the WTB&TS. This is admitted in the resolution that was printed in The Watchtower, September 15, 1931, page 279, in that the name of "Jehovah's Witnesses" was being adopted because "shortly following the death of Charles T. Russell a division arose between those associated with him in such work, resulting in a number of such withdrawing from the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, and who have since refused to cooperate with said Society and its work and who decline to concur in the truth as published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in The Watch Tower and the other recent publications of the said above-named corporations, end have opposed and do now oppose the work of said Society in declaring the present message of God’s kingdom and the day of the vengeance of our God against all parts of Satan’s organization; and said opposing ones have formed themselves into divers and numerous companies and have taken and now bear such names as, to wit, 'Bible Students, ' 'Associated Bible Students,' 'Russellites teaching the truth as expounded by Pastor Russell,' 'Stand-Fasters,' and like names, all of which tends to cause confusion and misunderstanding." Although I doubt that most 'Bible Students' today would agree that the statement is totally accurate, it does point out that the "Bible Students" were separate from the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, and that this is the reason for the "new name."

The name "International Bible Students Association" is the name of a legal entity in England; that name was never changed, and the legal entity still has that name to this day. The Bible Students movement itself continues to this day separate from the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society. Brother Russell did use the term "International Bible Students" as well as "International Bible Students Association" to describe the Bible Students movement. Thus, legally, it had two different applications, one as referring to the legal entity by that name, and the other regarding the Bible Students movement as a whole. However, Russell, in the Photo Drama of Creation presentation, also spoke of the conference in Jerusalem that is spoken of in Acts 2:16-18 as the first I.B.S.A. convention. In doing so, he was not referring to the legal entity in London.


From the Photo Drama of Creation

Today, however, Bible Students rarely use "International Bible Students Association" to describe themselves, evidently because many would confuse such an expression with the legal entity that still bears that name. The phrase "International Bible Students", however, is used in reference to an international convention, not as a "name" for the movement, but simply because the convention of Bible Students is international in scope. Some Bible Students have recently put a site called "International Bible Students Association", but this is obviously not the legal entity in London that is of the same name.
----- Ronald R. Day, Sr.

This above was originally published in Aprit of 2009; it has been edited several times since. Republished in September of 2014; Updated in August, 2021.
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Did Russell Claim Direct Revelation From God? (moved)

Moved  to:
https://ransomforall.blogspot.com/2023/07/revelation.html