Introduction

The goal of this blog is to see whether Watchtower teachings are found in the Bible or are based on something else. Watchtower teachings and the Watchtower itself are pretty much inseparable and Watchtower history has a tremendous bearing on the Organization's current teachings, not to mention on the lives of it's followers.

The Organization, which has in recent times rebranded itself as JW.ORG (not it's first rebranding by any means) seeks to present itself as the only channel through which God has been moving for more than 100 years. The foundation for the Organization's views rests on the life and teachings of Charles Taze Russell (1852 - 1916).

Russell was heavily influenced by the teachings of Adventist writer Nelson Barbour (1824 - 1905), who had a deep interest in Biblical prophecy. Barbour initially believed that Christ would return to earth in 1873. This date moved forward one year to 1874, and when Jesus did not return that year either, Barbour, convinced of the new date, re-interpreted Christ's return as initially a spiritual one, which in his view would later become a physical return as taught in Scripture (Acts 1:10-11). 

This belief in the spiritual return of Christ in 1874 became the cornerstone of Russell's own beliefs and later his teachings. Despite the fact that Jesus, in speaking of His return and the time of end things that "of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." (Mark 13:32), Barbour and Russell decided that dates could indeed by discovered by a combination of Biblical prophecy and other methods, including Egyptology, involving the study of the Great Pyramid of Egypt.

Russell believed that measurements obtained from the Pyramid were ordained by God as a hidden message for a future generation to discover the actual date of Christ's return, contradicting Jesus's own words. Jesus said in the verse above that not even the angels or He Himself knew this date. But Russell ignored Christ's statement and further, believed that the God of Israel, who warned His people on many occasions of trusting in the pagan gods of the nations around them, then went ahead and used the occultic religion of Egypt to communicate to the world, Most Christians would find this inconceivable, but Russell did not.

This blog will try to tease out whether this error of judgement of Russell's, and his teaching about 1874, was the only mistake he made, or whether it was just the first in a series of wrong turns he took which, years after his death, resulted finally in the formation of the religious grouping known commonly as Jehovah's Witnesses.