Astrology and the
Watchtower Society.
By B. J. Kotwall
http://www.caic.org.au/jws/astrolog.htm
Three article in the Awake!
magazine (1994 July 8) deride astrology and star worship. What is missing
in these articles is what the Watchtower Society (WTS) used to teach.
For 62 years, 1891 to 1953, the WTS taught
that God resided on the star Alcyone in the Pleiades constellation and
that from this star he governed the universe!
This belief was taught in 1891 in Volume 3
of Studies in the Scriptures and was based on passages in the
Bible.
The WTS also taught that the Great Pyramid
of Egypt provided additional proof of God's throne in the Pleiades! (The
Golden Age 1924 September 10 pp. 793-794)
The International Bible Students
Souvenir Convention Report (1914) says:
The Pleiades, the centre of the
universe, are located in Taurus, and as though to emphasize the
foundation, the original meaning of Alcyone, one of the chief stars of
the Pleiades, is "foundation". How significant that the whole
universe should throughout the ages swing about that constellation and
that star which alone picture so clearly the Ransom! The bullock offered
on the brazen altar in the court was indeed the foundation: it
represented the sacrifice of the Lord. The bullock in the sky
represented the very same thing. (pp. 252-253)
The book Reconciliation (1928)
says:
But the greatness in size of other
stars or planets is small when compared with the Pleiades in importance,
because the Pleiades is the place of the eternal throne of God. (p. 14)
In 1953 the doctrine about Alcyone and
Pleiades was discarded:
Some attribute striking qualities to
these constellations or star groups and on the basis of such they then
offer private interpretations of Job 38:31,32 that amaze their
hearers...when viewed Scripturally they are completely without
foundation. (The Watchtower
1953 November 15 p. 703)
The Bible verses quoted in this 1953
article which were used by "Some" to "amaze their
hearers" were in fact the verses used by the WTS to prove that God
resided on the star Alcyone! (The Watchtower 1915 June 15 p.185; The
Golden Age 1928 May 16 p. 540)
A different link of WTS doctrine with
astrology appeared in the Watch Tower of 1903. There astrology and
planetary positions were said to support the WTS's predictions of the
"long promised era" to start by 1914. (Watchtower Reprints
1903 May 1 p. 3184)
The constellations of the Zodiac are
presently considered by the WTS as being of pagan origin. (Insight on
the Scriptures Volume 2 (1988) p. 1240) The same were regarded in 1914
as of Divine origin with each of the 12 Zodiacal signs having numerous
correspondencies with the Bible.
To my knowledge the WTS has not directly
admitted their error about God's throne on the star Alcyone. Their latest
history book Jehovah's Witnesses Proclaimers of God's Kingdom
(1993) which they claim is "objective" and "candid" is
silent on the subject.
Copyrighted:
INVESTIGATOR Magazine
P.O. Box 3243
Port Adelaide 5015
Australia
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