Joseph Franklin Rutherford

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Joseph Franklin Rutherford (November 8, 1869 - January 8, 1942), also known as Justice Rutherford, was president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society Society of Pennsylvania which is the legal entity used by Jehovah's Witnesses.

Biography

Early Years

Born on November 8, 1869, on a farm in Morgan County, Missouri, USA, into a Baptist family. When he was 16, his father allowed him to go to university, on the condition that he pay for his studies and at the same time support an employee who would do his jobs on the family farm. Rutherford, got a loan from a friend, with which he was able to work and study law simultaneously.

He also learned shorthand and went on to work as a court reporter. At age 20 he was appointed court reporter for the courts of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit of Missouri. On May 5, 1892, he graduated as a lawyer in Missouri. For two years Rutherford served under the tutelage of Judge E. L. Edwards. Later, he was a public prosecutor in Boonville, Missouri, for four years. Then, on several occasions, he substituted for the special judge of the Missouri Eighth Judicial Circuit court.

In 1909, he was accepted to practice law before the Supreme Court of the United States, which is why he became known as "the judge" Rutherford.

Relationship with Jehovah's Witnesses before 1917

According to an interview he himself gave in July 1913 to the newspaper The Homestead, the Springfield (Massachusetts, USA), before they were married, Rutherford's religious beliefs were Baptist, and those of his future wife, Presbyterian. When the Rutherford pastor said that "she was going to hell because she wasn't baptized and he was going straight to heaven because she was, his logical mind rebelled and he became an agnostic." It would take several years of careful investigation for him to again have faith in a personal God. Charles Taze Russell's books had a decisive influence on his final convictions. He stated that his reasoning was based on the assumption that "what does not satisfy the mind has no right to satisfy the heart." Christians “must make sure that the scriptures they believe in are true,” he said, adding: “They have to know the foundation on which they stand.”

While working selling encyclopedias during his early career, he promised himself that when he was a lawyer, if someone came to his office selling books, he would buy them. True to his word, he accepted in 1894 three volumes of & # 34; The Dawn of the Millennium & # 34; (written by Charles Taze Russell, president of the Watch Tower Society), when he was visited by two colporteurs or evangelists (called colporteurs , predecessors of of today's forerunners) in his office. Several weeks later he read the books, and subsequently sent the Watch Tower Society a letter stating: 'My dear wife and I have read these books with the deepest interest, and consider it a gift from God and a great blessing to have read them. had the opportunity to receive them".

In 1905 he was visited by the pilgrim (traveling representative of the Watch Tower Society) Alexander Hugh Macmillan, who encouraged him to spread his beliefs. In 1906, Rutherford was baptized by Macmillan in Saint Paul (Minnesota) along with 144 other people. That same year Rutherford wrote the pamphlet "God's Plan of Salvation From a Lawyer's Point of View" ("God's plan of salvation from a lawyer's point of view").

In 1907 he became the legal counsel of the Watch Tower Society and served at the Pittsburgh headquarters. He was in charge of negotiating matters when the Society transferred its operations to Brooklyn, (New York) in 1909.

President of the Watchtower Society

When Charles Taze Russell passed away, he was elected as the second president of the Watch Tower Society in January 1917. He managed the spiritual affairs of that society well. By laws passed by both the Pittsburgh convention and the board of directors, it was declared that the president would be the executive director and general manager of the Society, which implied coordinating the entire world work of Jehovah's Witnesses. As the new president, he expanded the "deliverer" service. in this way he thought that the preaching of the Kingdom would be more intense. This brought the total number of couriers up from 337 to 461. To help them, in 1917 the Society began publishing a newspaper called the Bulletin. This contained periodic instructions for the service from the head office.

A few months after his election, some members of the movement opposed him. Shortly before his death, Charles Taze Russell wanted to send Paul S. L. Johnson, a skilled orator, to Great Britain to strengthen the Bible Students in that country. Out of respect for Russell's will, the Society sent him in November 1916. But, on arriving in Britain, Johnson dismissed two of the Society's trustees and claimed in speeches and letters that the work he was doing had been foreshadowed in the Scriptures by Ezra, Nehemiah, and Mordecai. He claimed that he was the steward Jesus referred to in his parable in Matthew 20:8. He tried to take control of the Society's money, and sued in the London High Court to get his way.

Unsuccessful, he returned to New York. There he tried to gain the support of some who served on the Society's board of directors. Four of the seven directors, Robert H. Hirsh, Alfred I. Ritchie, Isaac F. Hoskins, and James D. Wright, decided that they had erred in supporting Rutherford's expansion of powers, claiming that Rutherford had become an autocrat.. They therefore introduced a resolution to revoke the charter of the Watch Tower Society, to develop a collegiate system of government led by the board of directors as a governing body. They also opposed the publication of Rutherford's book "The Finished Mystery" —vol. 7 "Studies in the Scriptures", based on Russell's writings, since they considered that they should have been consulted and not only three members of the writing committee, as Russell had established in his will (only Hirsh was a member of that editorial committee of five). Rutherford took legal action whereby he was able to ask his opponents to leave Bethel Home. At the annual meeting of the shareholders of the Watch Tower Society early the following year, when the board of directors and principal directors for the following year were chosen, the opponents were overwhelmingly rejected. In the wake of this, they and other opponents of Rutherford's presidency formed their own separate sects.

In Los Angeles, California, on February 24, 1918, J. F. Rutherford delivered a Bible lecture entitled "The World Has Ended: Millions Now Living May Never Die." In 1920 it would be published in book form, it came to be known in Spanish as: "Millions who now live will never die".

In June 1918 Rutherford was imprisoned along with seven Bible Students to 20 years' imprisonment. The charges against them revolved around some statements made in the seventh volume of Studies in the Scriptures, entitled "The Finished Mystery". Such statements were interpreted to imply opposition to the United States' participation in World War I. He was released in 1919, nine months after being sentenced, and the war was over. On May 5, 1920, J. F. Rutherford and the others were exonerated.

In 1919 Rutherford decided to hold a great convention, with an extraordinary purpose. The place chosen was Cedar Point, (Ohio) at this assembly, Rutherford delivered a speech "Announcing the Kingdom", in which he announced the publication of a new magazine: & #34;The Golden Age" which later became known in Spanish as "¡Despertad!".

On Sunday, September 7, at that same assembly, he spoke to a public audience of 7,000 on the subject: "Hope for anguished humanity," and he spoke in favor of the kingdom of God against what he considered the human substitute, the League or League of Nations that had then been proposed.

In 1921 the Watch Tower Society published a new book called "The Harp of God", written by J. F Rutherford and published in 22 languages.

Changes of organization and doctrinal adjustments

As president of the Watch Tower Society, he introduced numerous organizational changes and doctrinal adjustments, in addition to greatly enhancing the preaching activity for which Jehovah's Witnesses are known today.

He reorganized the movement under a centralized, hierarchical structure he called "theocratic" since the positions were not occupied by receiving votes but by fulfilling requirements based on the Bible.

Doctrinally, he adjusted many biblical understandings of his predecessor's time, calling them a better understanding of various aspects of the Bible. This includes the idea that the Messianic Kingdom was born invisibly in heaven in 1914, that the testimony of Matthew 24:14 would be fulfilled after that date, that the great crowd of Revelation (Revelation) c. 7 would live forever on Earth, that the most important theme in the Bible is not the salvation of man but the glorification of God, that celebrations with pagan roots such as Christmas or birthdays, or patriotic celebrations, etc. should be avoided.

During the twenties and thirties of the XX century, preaching was organized more systematically and specific days were set aside for it.

Starting in the 1920s, J.F. Rutherford and a few associates traveled the world on a preaching and branch-establishing tour of the Society. In these tours of service he was in: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Crete, Cuba, Denmark, Egypt, Fiji, Finland, France, Great Britain, Greece, Hawaii, New Zealand, Netherlands, Palestine, Portugal, Spain, Samoa, Sweden and Switzerland among others.

In February 1924, the first Watch Tower radio station began to operate, as a means of spreading its beliefs, which reached great heights especially in the 1930s XX. They continued to use it until 1957, when it was sold, having served its purpose for more than three decades.

A change in the formality of their religious services was introduced in May 1926, when at an assembly in London, Great Britain, J. F. Rutherford spoke from the platform while wearing ordinary street clothes instead of the formal black frock coat worn by religious speakers.

In 1927, in order to facilitate the printing of Biblical literature, they built their own factory in Brooklyn.

From July 24 to 30, 1931, the Bible Students held an assembly in Columbus, Ohio, it was a special event. Joseph Franklin Rutherford in a resolution introduced by himself and entitled "A New Name" said:

"Now therefore, that our true position may be known, and believing that this is in harmony with the will of God, as expressed in His Word, should be resurrected, as follows: "That we love Brother Charles T. Russell much, by his work, and that we gladly recognize that the Lord used and greatly blessed his work, but we cannot in consistency with the Word of God consent to be called by the name 'russelists'; that the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and the International Association of Students of the Bible and the Peoples Pulpit Association are merely names of corporations that as a company of Christian people we hold, That having been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ our Lord and Redeemer, justified and begotten by the Lord God and called to his kingdom, without hesitation we declare our complete loyalty and devotion to the Lord God commissioned to do a work in his name, and, in obedience to his commandment, to give the testimony of Jesus Christ, and to make known to the people that Jehovah is the true Almighty God; therefore we have joyously accepted the name of the Lord Jehovah ' s Witnesses"

J. F. Rutherford was inspired by the verse from Isaiah 43:10, and stressed the importance of bearing witness to these beliefs.

Also in the decade of the thirties of the XX century, provisions were made for the use of portable phonographs, specifically in the year 1934 The Watch Tower Society introduced it from house to house to show recordings of President Rutherford's lectures and Bible literature, cars with loudspeakers also being used for the same purpose.

On February 9, 1934, Joseph F. Rutherford sent Adolf Hitler a letter protesting Nazi intolerance toward Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany. The missive was seconded on October 7, 1934, by some 20,000 letters and telegrams from Witnesses in 50 countries, including Germany.

From 1935 the general use of the name "Kingdom hall" as a result of the visit that year of the president of the Watch Tower Society, Rutherford, of Hawaii and to begin the establishment of a branch in Honolulu designating said auditorium with that name.

In 1935 it was held in Washington, D.C. a convention of Jehovah's Witnesses. Rutherford's address on the second day of the assembly dealt with the "great crowd" foretold in Revelation or Revelation 7:9-17. In it he explained that the great crowd was made up of the "Jonadab" (as those who claimed not to be from the anointed class of Jehovah's Witnesses were known) of our times and these had to show the same degree of faithfulness to Jehovah as the anointed ones.

On January 31, 1936, Rutherford released the book "Riches" which showed a new view of the Watch Tower Society regarding the Cross, indicating in this book, that Jesus Christ had been executed on a "torture stake."

His enemies (mainly members of other religions, as well as those of groups that splintered from his), launched dozens of accusations against him, which continue to be repeated today especially through the Internet and books by former Jehovah's Witnesses.

For example, he was accused of violating Russell's will to oust directors opposed to him, despite the fact that the will does not name a board of directors. He was also accused of being despotic and violent; His friends admit that he had a rude and passionate character, but not violent. Macmillan came to say of Rutherford that he was a "direct and frank man who did not hide what he felt". His opposition to religious hypocrisy led some to accuse him of being ungodly and using too vulgar language. His opposition to the idea of fundamentalist groups that Prohibition had a divine origin led to his being accused of being an alcoholic.

His friends and members of his movement, on the other hand, consider him energetic but humble at the same time, determined and enthusiastic, and they consider that he played a key role in a very difficult time for the movement, the time of the two world wars. and the interwar. J.F. Rutherford died on January 8, 1942 in a house donated by a friend, named Beth Sarim, sick with colon cancer. His corpse spent 3 weeks without burial while his friends and collaborators tried to get legal permits to bury him in Beth Sarim. which they never got. Rutherford was ultimately buried in Rossville, New York, on Staten Island, in a now unknown plot, in the private Watch Tower Cemetery.

Works

Books published by Joseph Rutherford:

  • Man's Salvation From a Lawyer's Viewpoint, 1906.
  • Can the Living Talk With the Dead?, 1920.
  • Millions now living will never die, 1920.
  • Talking With the Dead, 1920.
  • The harp of God, 1921, 1924-8, 1937, 1940.
  • Comfort For The Jews, 1925.
  • Deliverance, 1926.
  • Creation, 1927, 1939.
  • Restoration, 1927.
  • Government, 1928.
  • Prosperity Sure, 1928.
  • Reconciliation, 1928, 1937.
  • Life, 1929.
  • Prophecy, 1929.
  • Our Lord's Return, 1929.
  • Light, Book 1, 1930.
  • Light, Book 2, 1930.
  • Vindication, Vol 1, 1931.
  • Vindication, Vol 2, 1932.
  • Vindication, Vol 3, 1932.
  • Preservation, 1932.
  • What is Truth?, 1932.
  • Jehovah, 1934.
  • Universal War Near, 1935.
  • Riches, 1936.
  • Armageddon the Greatest Battle of all Time, 1937.
  • Enemies, 1937.
  • Face the Facts, 1938.
  • Salvation, 1939.
  • Religion, 1940.
  • Children, 1941.

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