Do JWs Actually Follow the Teachings of C. T. Russell?

By Ronald R. Day, Sr.

In the book, Kingdom of the Cults, (2003 edition), on pages 17 and 18, we find the following statement: "Jehovah's Witnesses, for the most part, are followers of the interpretations of Charles T. Russell and J. F. Rutherford." This could be misleading, since most people do not know that Rutherford created the "Jehovah's Witnesses" organization by rejecting the core teachings of the Russell and the Bible Students, especially as related to Christian liberty, organization, and the atonement. 

Along this line of reasoning, one site claims "as far as the core doctrines are concerned Jehovah’s Witnesses still believe and teach what Charles Taze Russell and the International Bible Students believed and taught." This, however, is false, as anyone truly familiar with the work of Russell and the Bible Students would know.

Many others have repeated the same thought, obviously without knowing how Rutherford, in creating his organization (claimed to be Jehovah's visible organization), rejecte the major teachings of Russell and the Bible Students.

The Ransom For All

The Jehovah's Witnesses have indeed rejected Russell's core teaching that the ransom for all provides salvation for Adam as well as absolutely all who are dying in Adam. Russell believed as his central message that Jesus died for all, and thus that the gospel (good news) is indeed great joy that will be for all people. This is the core teaching of Russell's books: The Divine Plan of the Ages and The Atonement Between God and Man. The message preached by the Jehovah's Witnesses, however, is almost the very opposite. Their "good news" includes the bad tidings of great woe that will be for most of the people that they (and their children) will go into the second death during Armageddon if they do not come to Rutherford's organization for salvation. Russell actually preached against similar teachings some held to in his day. Not only this, but the JW leadership had assumed the authority to judge many peoples down through history who were never regenerated as being unworthy of receiving the benefits of Jesus' sacrifice, and thus they claim that such will not be raised in the last day. Furthermore, Jehovah's Witnesses, in effect, deny the basis of the ransom as Brother Russell presented from the Bible, for they say that Adam himself is not covered by that Ransom. Rutherford, in effect, claimed that the first man, Adam, was to condemned to die a death for which there is no ransom to be provided. (Hebrews 10:26) From Russell's standpoint, this would mean that Adam, in effect, did not die the "Adamic" death, the death in Adam ( Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22).  Of course, since all who are dying in Adam came under the same condemnation as Adam, then if Adam came under the condemnation of the second death, it would mean that all of Adam's descendants likewise come under the condemnation of the second death. 

For links to studies relaed to this, see our resource page:

The Ransom and the JWs

Chronology and Time Prophecies

Russell never claimed authority to demand that everyone had to accept his conclusions regarding chronology and prophecies. Nevertheless, two of Russell's six volumes are almost totally devoted to study of Biblical chronology and time prophecies. The Jehovah's Witnesses reject practically everything Russell presented in those volumes. This means that they reject practically everything that Russell presented in his books The Time Is At Hand and Thy Kingdom Come. Brother Russell presented from the Bible Biblical evidence that the time of the end had begun in 1799, that Christ had returned in 1874 and that the times of the Gentiles were to end in 1914. And there are some other dates Russell believed to be designated in the Bible that the Jehovah's Witnesses reject. The Jehovah's Witnesses still accept the date 607/6 as the year of Jerusalem's destruction, but the chronology they present before that date is not in the same as that Brother Russell presented in his book The Time Is At Hand. The only prophecy that the Jehovah's Witnesses still use that Brother Russell presented in his books is that of the "seven times" of Daniel 4. Without all the supporting chronology and time prophecy applications as Russell presented, this lone application for the year 1914 would seem very paltry, as far as evidence for the date 1914. Of course, the JWs accept the date based on the authority they ascribe to their leadership.

Church Organization and Christian Liberty

And the Jehovah's Witnesses reject much of what Brother Russell presented concerning Church organization as he disclosed in his book The New Creation, as well as elsewhere. After Russell died, Rutherford created an organization dogma with a structure very similar to that of the Papacy.  See also our resource page: Russell, Authority and Organization.

Armageddon

They also reject most of what Brother Russell presented concerning "Armageddon" in his book The Battle of Armageddon. Russell was never expecting an "Armageddon" that was to eternally destroy millions or billions of unregenerated men, women and children, as the Jehovah's Witnesses teach. Russell believed Armageddon was to chastise the people of the nations, not eternally destroy them.

Thus, it can be seen that the Jehovah's Witnesses reject most of the basic teachings that Russell presented in all of his six volumes of studies called the Studies in the Scriptures. Such rejection of what Russell believed could hardly mean that they "are followers of the interpretations of Charles T. Russell", or that the Jehovah's Witnesses still believe the core teachings of Charles Taze Russell.