Serious Bible Students

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The Serious Bible Students are a Christian community that emerged in the late 19th century and that may have grown from it. a. formed today's Jehovah's Witnesses . They consider themselves to be the keepers of the teachings of Charles Taze Russell . After statutes contemporary assuming the presidency of the Watchtower by JF Rutherford there were violent power struggles, a significant number which resulted in Jehovah's Witnesses from the Watchtower parted. The Serious Bible Students should therefore not be confused with today's Jehovah's Witnesses, with whom they originally shared the same name. This controversy, which lasted from 1916 to 1919, broke the group into those who remained faithful to the teachings of Russell and therefore retained the title of Serious Bible Students, while the others reformed various things that became today's Jehovah's Witnesses. There are currently approximately 16,000 Serious Bible Students worldwide.

Self-image

The Serious Bible Students emerged from the so-called Bible Students Movement that began in the late 19th century when Charles Taze Russell founded the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Its members called themselves "International Bible Students" and were known in Germany as "Serious Bible Students". Bible Students' meetings were formed under his leadership in many countries around the world. These meetings were loosely connected and only linked through the magazine "Zion's Watchtower and Herald of the Presence of Christ". The Watchtower Society was an organ of Bible Students' meetings and other activities in Russell's day, but it did not prescribe creeds or guidelines for the then independent congregations, but developed recommendations and organizational proposals that they believed were scriptural and daily Practice of the congregations of Pennsylvania and New York in their opinion proved to be effective.

history

  • 1916–1919: After Pastor Russell passed away , the Watchtower Biblical and Tract Society began to put itself above the independent congregations as the supreme body. She referred to the procedure of the Jewish Christians , who constituted themselves as churches around the city of Jerusalem . Many congregations, however, refused to abandon the principle of the democratic election of elders or preachers who had responsibility in the congregations; from then on the time of separation began. Already in 1916 this split from the Watchtower Society began. In 1918, at the general assembly in New Jersey, the Pastoral Bible Institute was finally founded and, for the first time, its own magazine, entitled "The Herald of Christ's Kingdom", was published for the Bible Students.
  • 1929: The Watchtower Society no longer resembled its original state. Further individual Bible Students and entire congregations left the Watchtower Society again. In Pittsburgh (USA), for example, the Bible Students' meeting that met in Russell's old Bible House chapel separated from the Brooklyn leadership. The initiative to bring together the scattered, hitherto completely independent Bible Students came from this meeting (1st reunification conference 1929).
  • 1930: A long-independent Brooklyn congregation began broadcasting programs on the local station. (The elders of the assembly also formed the radio committee to carry out the work.) With this, this assembly had also started a national work that led to the cooperation of like-minded people.
  • 1931: A new name made the difference between the various Bible Students clearer. The Bible Students of the Watchtower Society gave up the names Bible Students and Serious Bible Students , from now on they were called Jehovah's Witnesses . The Bible Students kept their name.
    • From the point of view of the Serious Bible Students today, the renaming was made to distinguish between the Watchtower Society Bible Students and those who are independent of the Watchtower Society.
    • From the perspective of Jehovah's Witnesses, the renaming was made in order to find a biblical basis (Isaiah 43, 10-12: “You are my Witnesses, is the saying of Jehovah”) for the group name.
  • 1926: The Watchtower Society no longer publishes the scriptural studies published by Charles Taze Russell and has since discarded many of the interpretations of the Bible contained therein.
  • 1931: The 2nd Bible Students Reunion marked the birth of the Dawn Bible Studies Association . The work practiced in Pittsburgh and Brooklyn was coordinated and all Bible Student collections were combined into a loose community. Through magazines ( Daybreak ), tracts, and their own radio and television programs, the Serious Bible Students have had a certain influence , especially in the United States under the name of Associated Bible Students .

The Dawn Bible Studies Association and Pastoral Bible Institute are relocating Charles Taze Russell's scripture studies after the Watchtower's copyright expires to this day.

Biblical scholar in the time of National Socialism

In the public media of the last few years the Bible Students who separated from the Bible Students of the Watchtower Society in the twenties and thirties were almost completely omitted, although the "Free Bible Students Association" was also banned in November 1933 and January 1934 and was persecuted. The reason for this was the lack of organization and the assumption that the movement refused to participate in the state. Members of this group were marked with the Bible Students' “ purple triangle ” in the concentration camps .

Synonyms

The terms Bible Students , or Serious Bible Students , are not used consistently; local congregations are also partly registered as associations with the designation “Bible Students Community” (with city names), or “Bible Students Meeting”.

Teaching

General

For the Bible Students, the Bible is the sole guide in faith and life. She believes it was written by humans, but inspired by God's holy spirit (2 Timothy 3:16). They see themselves as Christians who tie in with the early apostolic community as it appears in the New Testament . They see the previous development of Christianity spoiled in decisive points by concessions to the Roman- Hellenistic religious world.

Trinity

The doctrine of the Trinity is regarded as unbiblical and rejected because God, the Heavenly Father, has always been there and Jesus Christ was begotten by him. This happened before any other creation that God then created through His Son. The deity and personality of the Holy Spirit is rejected. The Bible distinguishes between “holy spirit” (the power that believers receive from and are filled with) and the “holy spirit” (another word for God).

Jesus Christ

Jesus was born of Mary - begotten by the Holy Spirit of God - a perfect human being made of flesh and blood, but without sin (Luke 1:35). At baptism he became Christ, God's anointed (Luke 3:22). Jesus was an exemplary teacher who instructed the disciples, remained apolitical, and finally gave his life on the cross as a ransom as a prerequisite for humanity to be delivered from sin and death (1 Timothy 2: 6).

Death and resurrection

With regard to hell and the condition of the dead , the Serious Bible Students take the stand of annihilationism . This means that they regard death as a state of sleep and justify this with passages in the Bible such as Ecclesiastes 9: 5–10.

Parusia

The members believe that Jesus is invisibly present (Greek parusia) and only reveals himself to mankind when the last of the faithful has fallen asleep in the Lord. Only then will the kingdom of God come on earth.

Israel

Israel is and was a chosen people of God and formed the first theocratic kingdom on earth (Romans 11). According to God's plan, these people have returned to the land of their fathers. Today the Bible Students in Israel still recognize a people in disbelief.

organization

A special feature of the Bible Students' Meetings is the extensive autonomy of the individual local assembly. There is no superordinate organization among the Bible Students ; the independence of the individual congregation (local assembly) is very much emphasized. The assemblies are autonomous, i.e. H. independent and responsible and are not subject to any human organization.

Worship and practice

Bible and prayer

Because of their devotion (consecration) to God and following Jesus, they often research the Bible and try to implement it as an everyday norm. Prayer and regular attendance at meetings are very important, and free prayer is the main focus.

New Testament Priesthood

The common aspect of the New Testament priesthood (1 Peter 2: 5; Revelation 20: 6) plays an important role among the Bible Students. Each individual should deal personally with the Bible, study it privately and in Bible groups, interpret it and let it work. Hence there are many among the Bible Students with considerable knowledge of the Bible. They also see it as an important task to develop in oneself all gifts of grace for the future work of service to humanity, in order to be witnesses of Jesus before the world (Acts 1: 8).

baptism

The members practice the baptism of believers as a sign of their consecration to God and thereby become members of the assembly ( ekklesia ) of God. The performance of baptism takes place through complete immersion in water (according to the biblical baptismal practice); this symbolizes the death of the old man (Romans 6: 3, 4; Colossians 2, 12) and the beginning of a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Although the Serious Bible Students do not have centralized leadership, they work together in the work around the world and participate in regional, national, and international meetings throughout the year. Every form of everyday life and religious practice is based on their understanding of the Bible.

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