# ***Sonny: Russell/Rutherford

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Posted by AF [AF] on October 29, 1999 at 08:25:22 {CAtoZJLIp2DjRmAxB/kMdaOt1gg/Zk}:

In Reply to: **Sonny: Russell/Rutherford posted by J.H. on October 29, 1999 at 02:48:04:

We've touched on some of this stuff before. Just going from memory here, we know that in the 1973(?) book God's Kingdom of a Thousand Years has Approached, the writer states that the 1874 date for Christ's invisible return was finally abandoned in 1943. However we also know that this (new to us) GA reference, and the booklet you mentioned, seem to indicate that 1874 was jettisoned as early as 1930. However, I've accumulated a few 1930s WT references that are unclear about just what 1914 was supposed to be, and some of them still mention 1874. I didn't finish this because my move back to the States interrupted it. Finally, no one seems to know of any explicit WT statements that jettison 1874.

Now remember that GA was largely written by C. J. Woodworth, and it seems that Rutherford gave him a fairly free hand in the writing. I also know that Fred Franz had a large hand in compiling the above 1973(?) book, but others also contributed to the research. It appears to me that the Society wasn't clear about 1874 and 1914 until after Rutherford died and Franz did the chronology/doctrinal research that appeared in the 1943 and 1944 books The Truth Shall Make You Free and The Kingdom Is At Hand.

So I think we have yet another example of doctrinal bumbling on the part of the Society, and very likely an example of its not wanting to publish information that contradicts well-established "old light" until a long time has passed from the initial internal changes of thinking, much like the Society is doing with their old nonsense about 7,000 year creative days, and is probably now doing in terms of abandoning 1914 as "the end of the Gentile times". I have a hunch that Franz's statement in the 1973(?) book is more a reflection of his own recollections as "head WTS theologian" in 1943 than of any specific published doctrinal change.

AF

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