The Ransom for All

We first wish to point out that there are many rituals and practices involving the cross that are indeed idolatrous and of an occult nature. It is usually because of these practices that many say the cross itself is an idol. We believe this to be an extreme view. Such a conclusion would mean that the sun itself is an idol because there are people who worship the sun as a god. Likewise, with the moon, the stars, the constellations, the zodiac, etc., all of which are presented in the Bible as being God's creation. God's creations, as such, are not idols, but anything of God's creation can be used as an idol. It is the way such may be used that makes it an idol in its usage, not that the thing created is of itself an idol. We need to note that a form of the cross is used throughout both the Old Testament and the New Testament in the form of a letter of both the Hebrew and Greek alphabet — usually referred to as "Tau" — both in Hebrew and Greek. If this shape i...

  The leadership of the Jehovah's Witnesses sometimes refers to the days of Russell as though the Jehovah's Witnesses and their organization were existing in those days. As a result, the dogmatism of the "Jehovah's organization" concept and many of the teachings related to that concept are often attributed to Charles Taze Russell. Nevertheless, the reality is that Russell never taught that "the true church" is represented on earth by any such authoritarian "visible organization" such as the Jehovah's Witnesses. Russell never spoke of "Jehovah's organization", although he did on very few occasions speak of "the Lord's organization", yet an examination of the context shows that he was not speaking of such in the same sense of Rutherford's "Jehovah's organization" dogma.   At least one of the JWs we have corresponded with has made the claim that Russell at first preached against such an organizatio...