Ensin lukijan kyssä, oleellinen kohta korostettuna:
Questions from Readers
• My husband possesses a book, The Chaos of Cults, by Jan Karel Van Baalen, and, on pages 218, 219, that book states regarding Pastor Russell: ‘His boldness was so extraordinary that he calmly announced in the opening pages of his Studies in the Scriptures that it would be better to leave the Bible unread but read his comments than to omit the latter but read the Bible.’ My question is, did Pastor Russell really state or have written such a statement in the book or books Studies in the Scriptures?—E. N., United States.
In view of the reputation enjoyed by the Bible Students in Pastor Russell’s day and that being enjoyed by the witnesses of Jehovah in our day for knowing their Bibles, which reputation is justly deserved, there must be something wrong with what Van Baalen says in his book. There is.
In the first place, let it be noted that the two disciples on the way to Emmaus were Bible readers and yet did not understand why God had allowed Jesus to be put to death. The scribes and Pharisees read God’s Word continually and yet failed to appreciate that Jesus was their Messiah. The Ethiopian official that Philip met was reading the prophecy of Isaiah but did not understand what he was reading. Obviously, merely reading the Bible is not enough; we need help to understand it. That is why God provided apostles, prophets, missionaries, shepherds and teachers.—Luke 24:25-27, 32; John 5:39; Acts 8:30, 31; Eph. 4:11-15, NW.
As for the statement made by Van Baalen, neither it nor anything even remotely similar ever appeared in any of the six Scripture (w57 July 1 p. 414)
Annettu vastaus pitää paikkansa, tuo viitattu asia ei ole Raamatuntutkielmissa, vaan Vt-lehdessä vuodelta 1910 (korostus lisätty):
“Furthermore, not only do we find that people cannot see the divine plan in studying the Bible by itself, but we see, also, that if anyone lays the Scripture Studies aside, even after he has used them, after he has become familiar with them, after he has read them for ten years - if he then lays them aside and ignores them and goes to the Bible alone, though he has understood his Bible for ten years, our experience shows that within two years he goes into darkness. On the other hand, if he had merely read the Scripture Studies with their references, and had not read a page of the Bible, as such, he would be in the light at the end of the two years, because he would have the light of the Scriptures.” (w1910 Sept. 15 repr. p. 4685)
Tuossa vuoden 1957 vastauksessa on tuttu tyyli, toinen esimerkki:
”Eräässäkin maassa julkaistiin perätön uutinen, jonka mukaan todistajat olisivat tukeneet Hitlerin hallitusta toisen maailmansodan aikana.” (Vartiotorni 1. syyskuuta 2004 sivu 16)
On aivan totta, että Rutherford ei nuoleskellut Aatua toisen maailmansodan aikana, Aatun nuoleskelu tapahtui ennen toista maailmansotaa.