Customer Reviews

The Pastor Russell Anthology

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

(NOTE: This is not a review of the ENTIRE "Pastor Russell Anthology," but only of the two-day debate in October 1903 between Charles Taze Russell---founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses---and E.L. Eaton, "pastor of the North Avenue Methodist Episcopal church," and author of The Millennial Dawn Heresy. There is no listing on Amazon of this debate in book format, but happily it is available on this CD-ROM, along with all of Russell's other writings, including his other debate, Russell-White Debate: A Public Discussion.)

The propositions being debated were: (1) "The Scriptures clearly teach that divine grace and power, full and free, have been constantly exercised toward mankind since the fall, to the intent that all, if they would, might be saved: hence there will be no probation after death, nor need of any. Dr. Eaton to affirm. Pastor Russell to deny." (2) "The Scriptures clearly teach that the souls of the dead are unconscious while their bodies are in the grave. Pastor Russell will affirm. Dr. Eaton will deny."

Here are some excerpts from the debate;

(CTR) "I admire the brother's generosity, but I do not think it is at all like the Father's plan that because a man was born a heathen, or an idiot, or died in infancy, therefore he must be saved... If our brother's proposition is the end, how unfortunate are you that you did not die in infancy; unfortunate that you are not a heathen, and thus have been able to escape the responsibility of hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ." (Pg. 6)
(ELE) "In all ages God has given men the opportunity. Our first parents had their chance. It was simply a question of obedient faith in God. He tells us that nobody is saved except those who had an opportunity for believing in Christ. That is a strange thing. What about Abel, Abraham, and Noah?" (Pg. 11)
(ELE) "My brother seems to think that the full and complete revelation of God must be made in order to give the world a fair chance, and that is to be in the millennium; but he has fixed the funniest kind of millennium I ever heard of." (Pg. 12)
(CTR) "(S)alvation is only attainable through Jesus Christ the Redeemer. What ever anybody may get outside of him, they cannot get salvation. Ignorance never saved any man, and it never will." (Pg. 13)
(CTR) "I will read this text (Luke 23:43), which our brother sets so much store by... It could more properly be translated, 'Verily, verily, I say unto thee this day, thou shalt be with me in paradise.' What change have I made? Simply the transposition of a comma, and we have just as much right to put the comma one place as another, as anyone else has, for the punctuation marks were never inspired." (Pg. 32)
(CTR) "(N)ot universal salvation, but a universal opportunity to come to the knowledge of the only name given whereby we may be saved." (Pg. 35)
(ELE) "A very important part of this discussion is, what are we going to do about Lazarus and the rich man? I have asked night after night for his explanation, and I haven't got it yet. He has refused thus far to give his interpretation, but I have it in print... If there is probation after death, it is in the intermediate state, and the theory of the rich man and Lazarus settles it. If there is any soul sleeping after death, the story of the rich man and Lazarus ought to settle it. But there is no soul-sleeping after death, nor is there any probabion after death. Jesus said that very plainly." (Pg. 49)
(CTR) "There will be hundreds and thousands of millions, nearly the whole world, in this attitude of opposition toward God, for comparatively few, a little flock, are the Lord's servants. And when they are brought up in the millennial age they will be given the opportunity to decide whether they are enemies of Him or not." (Pg. 59)
(CTR) "(T)he Lord declares in Matthew 11:23, that 'it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment' than for Capernaum... because of greater responsibility on the part of the former. The Sodomites are to have a chance, and you can read at your leisure concerning their opportunity in the sixteenth chapter of Ezekiel, verses 48 to 63." (Pg. 61)
(ELE) "The word gehenna does not appear here (Mt 10:28), yet it is the same class of comparisons that is mentioned in the sermon on the mount. This intimates that gehenna and everlasting fire refer to the same thing." (Pg. 70)
(CTR) "Where did they get their ideas of torture and inferno? Not from the sciptures; they got them from the great adversary..." (Pg. 75)
(CTR) "I hold that all punishment from the Divine standpoint must be corrective, just as the best and noblest sentiments of mankind must have determined that all earthly punishment shall be corrective, never vindictive. I am pleased, indeed, to see that in all the penal institutions of the United States gradually this sentiment of corrective punishment is being introduced..." (Pg. 77)

The information in this CD is interesting however,the CD was not compatible with Microsoft 7. The oldest version that could support the Cd is Windows 98. That was disappointing.