Alcyone -- a name every Jehovah's Witness should know

[David_A_Reed]

Can you identify in the night sky the Pleiades constellation? The brightest star of that group is named Alcyone.

This should be important to every Jehovah's Witness, because their organization taught for decades that Jehovah God lives there -- that God's home is on the star Alcyone.

The Watchtower Society's founder and first president Charles Taze Russell referred in his Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 3, to "Alcyone, the central one of the renowned Pleiadic stars...from which the Almighty governs his universe." (page 327)

In his book Reconciliation the Watchtower Society's second president Joseph F. Rutherford referred to the Pleiades and taught that "one of the stars of that group is the dwelling-place of Jehovah." (page 14)

Search the web; I'm sure you'll find documentation. Or, better yet, visit eBay or Amazon auctions where you can find the original old books for a few dollars. There is no end to the nonsense that this organization has published while claiming to be "God's mouthpiece" and "the channel of communication from God."

They seemed to back away from this particular teaching in a 1953 Watchtower issue. But then in the 1980's they again asserted that God is physically located somewhere at some spot in the universe, only not naming the star this time:


"God being an individual, a Person with a spirit body, has a place where he resides, and so he could not be at any other place at the same time." - The Watchtower, February 15, 1981, page 6

How far different is the Bible's inspired teaching!:


"But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have built!" - 1 Kings 8:27

[Dee Dee Warren]

I have never heard that before, that is very interesting. The Pleiades is a beautiful constellation - it look like a really tiny dipper (but it is not the little dipper)

I used to be able to name all seven of the sisters

[technomage]

I have never heard that before, that is very interesting. The Pleiades is a beautiful constellation - it look like a really tiny dipper (but it is not the little dipper)

I used to be able to name all seven of the sisters
I could never remember the names ... but I always told my daughter that you can only see six of the Seven Sisters because the littlest one has to go to bed early. :smile:

[furay]

I could never remember the names ... but I always told my daughter that you can only see six of the Seven Sisters because the littlest one has to go to bed early. :smile:
Awwwwww. :demure:

[Krusader]

I once wrote Watchtower headquarters in Brooklyn (then) and asked them if it was true that their Jehovah was not omnipresent. They sent out two "hit" men and we had a lively discussion on God's omnipresence. Sure enough, they think their Jehovah is sitting in some geographical location on a throne and is only able to know what's going on by the communication of his agents, the angels. So, their Jehovah is not omniscient either - which fits nicely with their Jesus being a created spirit-creature named Archangel Michael.

[technomage]

David, let me ask you this--I can understand disagreeing with the JWs because of this assertion. However, Jack Chick made a similar assertion in his comic, Sabotage. In reference to the Orion Nebula, he says "This could well be the entrance into the glory of Heaven, that we'll pass through at the Rapture." (Chick, Jack. Sabotage. p 20.)

If we condemn the JWs for their claims, should we also condemn Jack Chick for his?

[Bill the Cat]

David, let me ask you this--I can understand disagreeing with the JWs because of this assertion. However, Jack Chick made a similar assertion in his comic, Sabotage. In reference to the Orion Nebula, he says "This could well be the entrance into the glory of Heaven, that we'll pass through at the Rapture." (Chick, Jack. Sabotage. p 20.)

If we condemn the JWs for their claims, should we also condemn Jack Chick for his?
Lat's not forget about Kolob either...

[technomage]

Lat's not forget about Kolob either...
Precisely.

[Krusader]

David, let me ask you this--I can understand disagreeing with the JWs because of this assertion. However, Jack Chick made a similar assertion in his comic, Sabotage. In reference to the Orion Nebula, he says "This could well be the entrance into the glory of Heaven, that we'll pass through at the Rapture." (Chick, Jack. Sabotage. p 20.)

If we condemn the JWs for their claims, should we also condemn Jack Chick for his?

Cup, that's very intersting. Dake's Study Bible also seems to reduce God to some type of Being who occupies a throne on some distant planet. As far as I'm concerned, this is border-line Mormonism.

[technomage]

Cup, that's very intersting. Dake's Study Bible also seems to reduce God to some type of Being who occupies a throne on some distant planet. As far as I'm concerned, this is border-line Mormonism.
I don't even know that I could call it "border-line Mormonism," because there's no doctrinal connection between Mormons and JWs--and definitely no connection with Chick. However, I would list it as a common doctrinal error that all three share.

[Krusader]

I don't even know that I could call it "border-line Mormonism," because there's no doctrinal connection between Mormons and JWs--and definitely no connection with Chick. However, I would list it as a common doctrinal error that all three share.

I think Dake's seems to teach that the members of the Godhead all have some types of physical bodies. It's almost tritheistic. I remember when a close friend bought a copy and was shocked at the footnotes. You know, I do have those Anglican scruples even though I've gone Baptist. Anglicans can be real sticklers on proper doctrine.

[technomage]

I think Dake's seems to teach that the members of the Godhead all have some types of physical bodies. It's almost tritheistic. I remember when a close friend bought a copy and was shocked at the footnotes.

Dake? Pentecostal/Charismatic? In all reality, he was a "dirty word" in the Baptist circles I grew up in ... even though they used his End Times Chart. :hehe:


You know, I do have those Anglican scruples even though I've gone Baptist. Anglicans can be real sticklers on proper doctrine.

Anglicans can be real sticklers in general. :hehe:

Did I say that? :innocent:

[Krusader]

Anglicans can be real sticklers in general. :hehe:

Did I say that? :innocent:

True.