Posted by AF [AF] on November 05, 1999 at 21:09:54 {6xiCHW3gJ21EwaxRomAMdaOt1gg/Zk}:
In Reply to: *****Water, water everywhere posted by WW on November 05, 1999 at 16:48:59:
You're basically right, but the WTS doesn't see it that way. :)
They claim that Russell merely revived certain religious doctrines, and so his forming of the Bible Student organization was merely a continuation of what already existed, namely, the oldest religion in existence -- "Jehovah's witnesses".
Note that I've used the term in both its generic sense and as a proper noun, just as the JW organization did to confuse people up until about 1977. The 1959 book Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose is quite illustrative of this muddying of the waters. It was written as a dialog among two JWs and two interested persons. Note the deliberate confusing of the proper name with the generic term (pp. 7-8):
"... you and Maria certainly have a peculiar name! Jehovah's witnesses! ... Lois tells me that her preacher said that you Jehovah's witnesses are just a lot of upstarts, just a new religion ..." "... quite to the contrary of such charges, do you know that Jehovah's witnesses are the most ancient religious group of worshipers of the true God, the people whose history runs back farther than any religious denomination of Christendom, or even of Jewry?" ... "Jehovah's witnesses have a history almost 6,000 years long, beginning while the first man, Adam, was still alive."
Despite the nonsensical claims, this is what the Watchtower Society taught. They even teach that their current leadership is a continuation -- not a revival but a continuation -- of the so-called apostolic governing body. Note what the book God's Kingdom of a Thousand Years Has Approached (p. 374) said: As to just how the "faithful and discreet slave" class existed and served down through the centuries after the death of the apostles of the Master Jesus Christ, we do not have a distinct historical picture. Apparently one generation of the "slave" class fed the next succeeding generation thereof.
Who was the head of that "slave class" in the 19th century? Note what the December 15, 1971 Watchtower (p. 760) said:
How did this governing body make its appearance in recent times? Evidently under the direction of Jehovah God and his Son Jesus Christ. According to the facts available, the governing body became associated with the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. C. T. Russell was patently of that governing body back there in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Being fully dedicated to God through Christ, he set himself to apply his time, energy, abilities, wealth and influence to defending God's inspired Word and spreading its message.
So while in fact today's Watchtower organization is largely a product of Rutherford, it's also very much a product of Russell and they see themselves more as Russell's baby than Rutherford's.
AF