Post by ResLight on Dec 20, 2014 14:48:13 GMT -5
Winged Solar Disk and Charles Taze Russell
One has stated that the "winged solar disk" that was used on Russell's books has "no biblical reference."
My reply:
The "sun of righteousness" illustration that Brother Russell used corresponds to that spoken of in Malachi 4:2. Even Fritz Springmeier (author of "The Watchtower and Masons") recognized this, but he seems to attribute Malachi's quoting Jehovah as being due to the "pagan" influence on the Jews at that time. If this were true, then this would, in effect, mean that Malachi was a false prophet, falsely attributing Jehovah as saying something that Jehovah did not say. -- Deuteronomy 18:15-22.
Brother Russell spoke of this "sun of righteousness" in the first volume of his Studies of the Scriptures, in the first paragraph of the first study:
"The period in which sin is permitted has been a dark night to humanity, never to be forgotten; but the glorious day of righteousness and divine favor, to be ushered in by Messiah, who, as the Sun of Righteousness, shall arise and shine fully and clearly into and upon all, bringing healing and blessing, will more than counterbalance the dreadful night of weeping, sighing, pain, sickness and death, in which the groaning creation has been so long."
The sun of righteousness [straightness, justness] is in contrast with the sun of crookedness and vanity that is spoken of in Ecclesiastes, and which Paul alludes to in Romans 8:19-22. This is closely associated with the "ransom for all" and the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, which is the core teaching of the Bible, and which served as the central teaching that Brother Russell used throughout all of his work. Joseph Rutherford began to replace this core teaching in 1923 with his new views on the second death, and in 1938 he openly rejected the basis of the "ransom for all" altogether, replacing it with a teaching that basically states: "join my organization or else you and your children may be eternally destroyed in Armageddon."
See my research listed under the "Sun of Righteousness" category on my website related to Brother Russell:
rlctr.blogspot.com/p/sun.html
One has stated that the "winged solar disk" that was used on Russell's books has "no biblical reference."
My reply:
The "sun of righteousness" illustration that Brother Russell used corresponds to that spoken of in Malachi 4:2. Even Fritz Springmeier (author of "The Watchtower and Masons") recognized this, but he seems to attribute Malachi's quoting Jehovah as being due to the "pagan" influence on the Jews at that time. If this were true, then this would, in effect, mean that Malachi was a false prophet, falsely attributing Jehovah as saying something that Jehovah did not say. -- Deuteronomy 18:15-22.
Brother Russell spoke of this "sun of righteousness" in the first volume of his Studies of the Scriptures, in the first paragraph of the first study:
"The period in which sin is permitted has been a dark night to humanity, never to be forgotten; but the glorious day of righteousness and divine favor, to be ushered in by Messiah, who, as the Sun of Righteousness, shall arise and shine fully and clearly into and upon all, bringing healing and blessing, will more than counterbalance the dreadful night of weeping, sighing, pain, sickness and death, in which the groaning creation has been so long."
The sun of righteousness [straightness, justness] is in contrast with the sun of crookedness and vanity that is spoken of in Ecclesiastes, and which Paul alludes to in Romans 8:19-22. This is closely associated with the "ransom for all" and the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, which is the core teaching of the Bible, and which served as the central teaching that Brother Russell used throughout all of his work. Joseph Rutherford began to replace this core teaching in 1923 with his new views on the second death, and in 1938 he openly rejected the basis of the "ransom for all" altogether, replacing it with a teaching that basically states: "join my organization or else you and your children may be eternally destroyed in Armageddon."
See my research listed under the "Sun of Righteousness" category on my website related to Brother Russell:
rlctr.blogspot.com/p/sun.html
