Post by ResLight on Mar 26, 2023 15:25:10 GMT -5
This is in response to a video entitled: #5 – Jehovah’s Witnesses Racist Prophet
The video refers to Charles Taze Russell as the Watchtower's first prophet.
Charles Taze Russell was not a prophet. Russell never claimed to be a prophet. Russell consistently throughout the days of his public ministry disclaimed being a prophet, and he disclaimed that any of the expectations were prophecies. The only divinely-inspired prophets that Russell believed in were those of the Bible, and he believed those prophets were right, even if his conslusions may be wrong.
For links to some of my related research:
Russell and Alleged False Prophecies
In the video, when the speaker refers to "the Watchtower", he leaves the impression that the Watch Tower of Russell's day is the same as the Jehovah's Witnesses' Watchtower. Actually, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Russell's day basically ceased to exist shortly after Russell died.
The video speaks of Russell as being the editor of the Watchtower magazine for "this organization". This also leaves the impression that Russell spoke for the JW organization. Russell never spoke or wrote anything on behalf of any such organization. The JW organization did not exist while Russell was alive; Russell would not allow the Watch Tower Society of his day to be used for such purposes. After Russell died, Rutherford created the Jehovah's Witnesses organization by rejecting the core teachings of Russell and the Bible Students. By 1928, the vast majority of the Bible Students around the world had rejected Rutherford's "visible" organization dogma.
For links to more related to Russell as alleged to be the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses, see:
Russell Vs. the Jehovah's Witnesses
The video presents a quote evidently written by Rutherford in 1917, after Russell had died. This shows that Rutherford was claiming Russell to be what Russell consistently denied being, that ism a prophet. Rutherford was giving Russell authority that Russell himself had consistently disclaimed throughout the days of his ministry. Rutherford and his associates then claimed that Russell was still directing the work of the Society from beyond the vail. This, in effect, gave Rutherford the authority he was claiming for Brother Russell.
According to what is presented in the video, one would have to conclude that by refusing to act in the capacity of a prophet, Russell actually acted in the capacity of a prophet because he, without claiming any special authority and disclaiming any special inspiration, gave his thoughts about how the prophecies of the Bible may be fulfilled.
Although Russell believed his expectations would come true, at the same time admitted the possibility that he could be wrong.
The truth is that Russell never claimed any authority as a prophet, and he never demanded that all accept his conclusions as being the inspired proclamation of God. Instead, he disclaimed any special authority and urged everyone to come to their own conclusions. See links to our research related to Russell and Infallibility
I will say that even while Russell was a alive, many of his associates were promoting him as a prophet, and/or as having been given special authority from God, etc. Russell himself denied such, and gave his thoughts on this in 1910:
"Some of the dear brethren seem to find as much about Brother Russell in the Bible as they find about the Lord Jesus, and I think that is a great mistake. I do not find it there. Some of them say that I am blinded on that subject, that they all can see better than I can. Perhaps they can, I do not know, but I think, dear friends, that there is a danger in that direction, and I would like to put you all on guard. I think it is the Lord's will that we should recognize every agency God uses, but we are not to recognize any agency of God as being in any competition whatever with the Lord or with his divine arrangement. He is the fountain of blessing, he only is most to be praised. I think that is the right sentiment. I believe you all agree with that. And yet I think there is a danger of some dear friends preaching Brother Russell. Brother Russell would like for you not to do so. He thinks it would not be to the glory of God. Let me repeat, then, dear friends, that in my opinion we have so much of the Gospel of God, so much of his plan to study, so many opportunities of showing forth his praises, that we should employ all our time in that way. My advice, therefore, is that we give very little attention to anything outside of that..., but let us not go into anything that would be at all like man-worship, for I am sure that would be displeasing to the Lord and injurious to ourselves."
-1910; ("Convention Report Sermons", pg. 125)
The video presents some quotes from Russell from the Watch Tower of July 15, 1902, page 215.
The article being referred to is entitled "The Negro Not a Beast". Russell was actually responding to claims being made in a book that was very popular at that time among the various churches. This book claimed that the negro is not human, but rather a beast. Russell wrote an article in defense of the black race, showing the black people are just as human as whites. He showed that all have a common origin as being descendants of Adam, and all races are under the same condemnation through Adam. Usually, Russell referred to all of Adam's descendants as one race, not as "races". Even in this article, Russell wrote:
From the Scriptural standpoint we must and do recognize all of the human family as one race, of which father Adam was the original head; a later head being Noah. -- page 215.
As to how the races came about Russell stated:
"In attempting to account for the wide differences between whites and blacks, and the lesser differences between these and the yellow, brown, and red, we are treading upon uncertain ground, – as all ground must be in which our imperfect knowledge and imperfect reasoning powers have not inspired direction from the Lord's Word. Hence it should be understood at the outstart that all that we or others can do is to guess on this subject." -- page 215.
In effect, he was saying that we cannot know for certainty HOW the races came about, and that all he could do was guess about it.
I do not know for a certainty, but it is possible that one of the ways that races was being accounted for at that time was as Russell described. One of my elementary school teachers said almost the same thing back in the 1950s, explaining that if we were to go to live in another part of the earth, eventually we could come to have the same skin color as the people who lived there. I believed this for many years.
Of course, Russell did not have knowledge of the ozone field, and would not have understood that after the flood of Noah's day, there would not have been an ozone field for many decades or that it could have taken centuries for the ozone field to fully develop. More than likely, it was during that time that the genes of various peoples were affected, thus producing the various races. Again, this is simply a hypothesis; at present, we don't really know for certainty how the races developed.
At any rate, what Russell presented was NOT as being a prophet, nor did he present his conclusion as being infallible, or because he had some special knowledge of this, etc. Nor did he present what he stated as having authority over fellow believers as part of a visible organization clothed with authority. There is definitely nothing in the statements quoted from page 215 that means that Russell was a racist.
I will have to return to consider more of the quotes given in the video later; most, if not all, of what is presented in the video I have already addressed on my websites.
The video refers to Charles Taze Russell as the Watchtower's first prophet.
Charles Taze Russell was not a prophet. Russell never claimed to be a prophet. Russell consistently throughout the days of his public ministry disclaimed being a prophet, and he disclaimed that any of the expectations were prophecies. The only divinely-inspired prophets that Russell believed in were those of the Bible, and he believed those prophets were right, even if his conslusions may be wrong.
For links to some of my related research:
Russell and Alleged False Prophecies
In the video, when the speaker refers to "the Watchtower", he leaves the impression that the Watch Tower of Russell's day is the same as the Jehovah's Witnesses' Watchtower. Actually, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Russell's day basically ceased to exist shortly after Russell died.
The video speaks of Russell as being the editor of the Watchtower magazine for "this organization". This also leaves the impression that Russell spoke for the JW organization. Russell never spoke or wrote anything on behalf of any such organization. The JW organization did not exist while Russell was alive; Russell would not allow the Watch Tower Society of his day to be used for such purposes. After Russell died, Rutherford created the Jehovah's Witnesses organization by rejecting the core teachings of Russell and the Bible Students. By 1928, the vast majority of the Bible Students around the world had rejected Rutherford's "visible" organization dogma.
For links to more related to Russell as alleged to be the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses, see:
Russell Vs. the Jehovah's Witnesses
The video presents a quote evidently written by Rutherford in 1917, after Russell had died. This shows that Rutherford was claiming Russell to be what Russell consistently denied being, that ism a prophet. Rutherford was giving Russell authority that Russell himself had consistently disclaimed throughout the days of his ministry. Rutherford and his associates then claimed that Russell was still directing the work of the Society from beyond the vail. This, in effect, gave Rutherford the authority he was claiming for Brother Russell.
According to what is presented in the video, one would have to conclude that by refusing to act in the capacity of a prophet, Russell actually acted in the capacity of a prophet because he, without claiming any special authority and disclaiming any special inspiration, gave his thoughts about how the prophecies of the Bible may be fulfilled.
Although Russell believed his expectations would come true, at the same time admitted the possibility that he could be wrong.
The truth is that Russell never claimed any authority as a prophet, and he never demanded that all accept his conclusions as being the inspired proclamation of God. Instead, he disclaimed any special authority and urged everyone to come to their own conclusions. See links to our research related to Russell and Infallibility
I will say that even while Russell was a alive, many of his associates were promoting him as a prophet, and/or as having been given special authority from God, etc. Russell himself denied such, and gave his thoughts on this in 1910:
"Some of the dear brethren seem to find as much about Brother Russell in the Bible as they find about the Lord Jesus, and I think that is a great mistake. I do not find it there. Some of them say that I am blinded on that subject, that they all can see better than I can. Perhaps they can, I do not know, but I think, dear friends, that there is a danger in that direction, and I would like to put you all on guard. I think it is the Lord's will that we should recognize every agency God uses, but we are not to recognize any agency of God as being in any competition whatever with the Lord or with his divine arrangement. He is the fountain of blessing, he only is most to be praised. I think that is the right sentiment. I believe you all agree with that. And yet I think there is a danger of some dear friends preaching Brother Russell. Brother Russell would like for you not to do so. He thinks it would not be to the glory of God. Let me repeat, then, dear friends, that in my opinion we have so much of the Gospel of God, so much of his plan to study, so many opportunities of showing forth his praises, that we should employ all our time in that way. My advice, therefore, is that we give very little attention to anything outside of that..., but let us not go into anything that would be at all like man-worship, for I am sure that would be displeasing to the Lord and injurious to ourselves."
-1910; ("Convention Report Sermons", pg. 125)
The video presents some quotes from Russell from the Watch Tower of July 15, 1902, page 215.
The article being referred to is entitled "The Negro Not a Beast". Russell was actually responding to claims being made in a book that was very popular at that time among the various churches. This book claimed that the negro is not human, but rather a beast. Russell wrote an article in defense of the black race, showing the black people are just as human as whites. He showed that all have a common origin as being descendants of Adam, and all races are under the same condemnation through Adam. Usually, Russell referred to all of Adam's descendants as one race, not as "races". Even in this article, Russell wrote:
From the Scriptural standpoint we must and do recognize all of the human family as one race, of which father Adam was the original head; a later head being Noah. -- page 215.
As to how the races came about Russell stated:
"In attempting to account for the wide differences between whites and blacks, and the lesser differences between these and the yellow, brown, and red, we are treading upon uncertain ground, – as all ground must be in which our imperfect knowledge and imperfect reasoning powers have not inspired direction from the Lord's Word. Hence it should be understood at the outstart that all that we or others can do is to guess on this subject." -- page 215.
In effect, he was saying that we cannot know for certainty HOW the races came about, and that all he could do was guess about it.
I do not know for a certainty, but it is possible that one of the ways that races was being accounted for at that time was as Russell described. One of my elementary school teachers said almost the same thing back in the 1950s, explaining that if we were to go to live in another part of the earth, eventually we could come to have the same skin color as the people who lived there. I believed this for many years.
Of course, Russell did not have knowledge of the ozone field, and would not have understood that after the flood of Noah's day, there would not have been an ozone field for many decades or that it could have taken centuries for the ozone field to fully develop. More than likely, it was during that time that the genes of various peoples were affected, thus producing the various races. Again, this is simply a hypothesis; at present, we don't really know for certainty how the races developed.
At any rate, what Russell presented was NOT as being a prophet, nor did he present his conclusion as being infallible, or because he had some special knowledge of this, etc. Nor did he present what he stated as having authority over fellow believers as part of a visible organization clothed with authority. There is definitely nothing in the statements quoted from page 215 that means that Russell was a racist.
I will have to return to consider more of the quotes given in the video later; most, if not all, of what is presented in the video I have already addressed on my websites.
