Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Subject: Jehovah's Witnesses (1st of 3)
From: j1w@icf.hrb.com (Doug ('Oscar') Works)
Date: 1 Sep 92 21:43:45 EST
Organization: HRB Systems, Inc.

Hi all!

   I read an interesting chapter from "A Guide to Cults & New Religions" a
while back, and here is the first of three parts.  I believe it to be factual
and spoken (well, typed! :) with love.  If flames come, please send them with
care; I am only trying to learn about the world around me.  I am only sum-
marizing what the book says.  I don't agree with the teachings of the Witnesses,
yet your comments and/or criticisms are more than welcome.  I hope that this
posting benefits at least a few out there in "Net land."

                                                        - Doug

o0o---------------------o0o----------------------o0o----------------------o0o
 |Used without permission|  			  |   	 published by	   |
 |from "A Guide to Cults |  Jehovah's Witnesses   |   InterVarsity Press   |
 |   & New Religions" 	 |  	(chapter 7)	  |	    1983          |
o0o_____________________o0o______________________o0o______________________o0o

    	by Ronald Enroth, Wesley Walters, Kurt Goedelman & Others
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTHER NAMES	Watchtower (Bible & Tract) Society, International Bible Students

SPLIT-OFFS	Dawn Bible Students, Layman's Home Missionary Movement

ESTABLISHED	1884

FOUNDER		Charles Taze Russell  (1852-1916)

    		o  He was influenced by William Miller's Adventist movement 
    		   which predicted Christ's return in 1843 based on Daniel 8:14.
    		   o  The "cleansing of the sanctuary after 2300 days" 
    		      (paraphrase) was interpreted to mean 2300 years until 
    		      Christ's return to cleanse the world.
    		   o  The beginning point was derived from Daniel 9:25 which
    		      speaks of the directive to restore and rebuild Jerusalem.
    		   o  Miller identified that event with Ezra's return in
    		      457 B.C.  Add 2300 years and you get 1843 A.D.  Later, he
    		      changed this date to 1844 A.D.  (Realize that there is no
    		      "zero" in going from 1 B.C. to 1 A.D.!)  [1]

    		o  He collaborated with N. H. Barbour on a book which set forth 
    		   Barbour's view that Christ had returned invisibly in 1874 and
    		   that the dawn of a golden age could be expected in 1914. [2]

    		o  He wrote 6 of the 7 volumes of _The Studies in the 
                   Scriptures_.
    		   o  He claimed that people would "go into darkness" by 
    		      studying the Bible alone, without the aid of his 
    		      _Studies_.  [3]
    		   o  He regarded the Great Pyramid of Egypt as a prophecy in 
    		      stone.  He correlated historical events with the length
    		      of the corridors, confirming 1874 as the beginning of the
    		      tribulation to precede the millenium (the corridor ended
    		      in a pit at that point).
    		   o  Years after his death, the Society abandoned the 1874 
    		      date for the year 1914.  To accommodate this change, a 
    		      new edition of _The Studies_ (1923) simply added 41" to 
    		      the corridor's length to find the starting point for the 
    		      final years of Earth's existence. [4]
    		      o  1904 edition:  3416"  (therefore, 1874 A.D.)
    		      o  1923 edition:  3457"  (therefore, end of 1914 or 
    			 			beginning of 1915 A.D.)
    			 
OTHER LEADERS	Joseph F. Rutherford (from 1916 until his death)
    		   o  He varied considerably from Russell in Biblical 
    		      interpretations, causing splinter groups to break off.
    		   o  He initiated door-to-door visitation.
    		   o  In 1931, he gave them the name "Jehovah's Witnesses."

    		Nathan H. Knorr (from 1942 until his death)
    		   o  His saleslike methods increased wealth and membership.
    		      o 1942:  115,000 members
    		      o 1977:  over 2,000,000 members

    				       2

Other Leaders	Frederick W. Franz (1977 to present?)
(cont'd)	   o  He shaped current Witness theology.
    		   o  He is upheld as the Society's most knowledgeable Hebrew 
    		      scholar, yet lied in court to keep this "image".
    		      o  In a 1954 Scotland Court trial, under oath, he claimed
    			 working knowledge of Hebrew.  Yet he could not cast a 
    			 simple verse (Gen 2:4) into the original language. [5]
    		   o  He failed in his 1975 prediction of the world's end.  
    		      o  Some members had sold their homes and property to 
    			 devote themselves to full-time door-to-door service.
    		      o  Their publication, _Kingdom Ministry_, commended their
    			 dedication in ". . . the short time remaining before
    			 the wicked world's end." [6]
PUBLICATIONS
    		o  _Watchtower_
    		   o  bi-monthly; 18 million copies in 106 languages EVERY MONTH
    		o  _Awake!_
    		   o  for non-members; 16 million per month in 40 languages
    		o  _The Truth that Leads to Eternal Life_
    		   o  Their introductory Bible study booklet, published in 115 
    		      languages, is the 3RD MOST PUBLISHED BOOK OF ALL TIME.	
    		o  On the average, they put out 2 new books every year, with 
    		   minimum printings of 1 million copies.

    		o  _The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures_ (1961)
    		   o  The Bible in general doesn't support their thinking.
    		   o  They've cited more than 70 different translations of the 
    		      Bible.  They needed to justify their theology, so they 
    		      wrote their own.
    		   o  Of the 5 men on the translation committee, NONE had 
    		      adequate schooling in biblical languages. [7]
    		   o  In it, they eliminate Christ's claims to deity.
    		      o  e.g., John 1:1 ". . . and the Word was [a] god. . ."
    			 o  They make Him a created being.
    			 o  They translate the Greek "theos" as "a god".  This 
    			    comes from their anti-Trinitarian theology, and NOT
    			    from Greek grammar rules, as they claim.
-- 
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....    |         "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep,             ....
....  --+--              to gain what he cannot lose."                      ....
....    |                                           - Jim Elliot            ....
....    |                                                                   ....
.......................  Internet: j1w@icf.hrb.com .............................
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    J. Douglas Works * HRB Systems, Inc. * State College, PA  16804  USA