Free Bible Students

The Free Bible Students are a Christian religious community that, according to their own teaching, relies exclusively on the Bible as the basis of faith and on the example of the early Christian church. This community is a branch of the Bible Student movement. The Free Bible Students form independent, autonomous assemblies and the name, "Free", is given to them to distinguish them from Bible Students, with whom they share historical roots. The group discarded many of the teachings of Bible Student founder Charles Taze Russell.

History

In 1905, Charles Taze Russell, founder of the International Bible Students Association (from which the Jehovah's Witnesses emerged in 1931), changed fundamental doctrines – especially concerning the New Covenant, the redemptive work of Jesus, and the ransom. This revised teaching was published in The Watchtower and triggered massive protests^[1]^[2]. Many members saw it as a departure from biblical doctrine.

Russell reconsidered the question and in January 1907 wrote several Watch Tower articles not only reaffirming his 1880 position – that "the new covenant belongs exclusively to the coming age" – but adding that since the church was under no mediated covenant, it had no Mediator at all.^[3] Further, the church itself would join Christ as a joint Messiah and Mediator during the Millennium. Several prominent Bible Students vigorously opposed the new teaching. A great storm of protest ensued, which would eventually become the second-largest schism in the Bible Student movement.

New Covenant Believers

On October 24, 1909 former Society secretary-treasurer E.C. Henninges, who was by then the Australian branch manager of the International Bible Students Association, based in Melbourne, wrote Russell an open letter of protest trying to persuade him to abandon the teaching and calling on Bible Students to examine its legitimacy. When Russell refused, Henninges and most of the Melbourne congregation left Russell's movement to form the New Covenant Fellowship.

Hundreds out of the estimated 10,000 US Bible Students also left, including pilgrim M.L. McPhail, a member of the Chicago Bible Students and A. E. Williamson of Brooklyn. The dissidents formed the New Covenant Believers. In 1908 they began publishing The Kingdom Scribe, which ceased publication in 1975. Since 1956 they have published The Berean News, a small newsletter. The founding group is now known under the name Berean Bible Students Church in Lombard, Illinois.^[4]

Christian Millennial Fellowship

In 1928 the Italian Bible Students Association in Hartford, Connecticut withdrew their support from the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania and in 1938 established the Christian Millennial Fellowship as a publishing arm for their ministry work. In 1940 they began publishing The New Creation, a Herald of God's Kingdom.^[5] The publishing house eventually reorganized and relocated to New Jersey, with branch offices in Australia, Austria, England, Ghana, Germany, India, Italy, Japan and Romania.^[6]

A few years later, Gaetano Boccaccio began to be influenced by the writings of E. C. Henninges and M. L. McPhail. The CMF eventually discarded most of Russell's writings as error. Gaetano Boccaccio was its leader since its inception, having been with the Society since 1917 and dying only in 1996. Today, the ministry work is now known as Christian Discipling Ministries International.^[7]

Free Bible Students Association

Conrad C. Binkele the former Branch Manager of Watchtower Society founded in 1928 the community of "Free Bible Students Association" in the German region with other brethren. He began publishing "Der Pilgrim" a religious magazine from 1930 to 1934. These efforts were all suspended around the advent of the Nazi regime. Members of this community were interned in the Nazi concentration camps under the "Purple Triangle" of the Bible Students.^[8] After the war, the Free Bible Students were again able to receive literature and the Mission again at startup.

All Christian of all this Missionworks they refer to themselves as "Free Bible Students", implying that they are no longer under the control of a man or organization.^[5] Unlike the Bible Students, they eventually discarded most of Watch Tower Society founder Charles Taze Russell's writings as error.^{[citation needed]}

Magazine

The New Creation is a bimonthly illustrated Christian magazine, printed and published via the Christian Discipling Ministries International in New Jersey and offices in Australia, Austria, England, Germany, Italy and Romania. The first publication was started by 1940 under the title The New Creation and a Herald of God's Kingdom and has been distributed free of charge worldwide.

The topics of the magazine include articles for Bible study, Christian life, and biblical interpretation. The New Creation represents a relatively coherent worldview that is politically neutral, conservative, optimistic, and above all biblically-Christian oriented.

Beliefs

Among the Free Bible Students, there is no overarching church organization or leadership. Each congregation is responsible for itself, including financially. However, this does not exclude cooperation with other congregations locally or beyond. In their congregations, there is no formal membership. According to their view, all who believe in Jesus Christ and have chosen to be Christians are members of the body of Christ.

The Bible Student churches are autonomous and are understood as a reflection of the New Testament congregation. They believe that the real leadership rests with Jesus Christ as the head of the Christian assembly (Eph 1:19) and that this leadership is exercised by the Holy Spirit to this day. The offices of the local congregation are under the care of elders (not a single pastor), deacons, and preachers. The congregation is largely led by volunteer laypersons.

They see themselves as a 'Bible-faithful' Christian congregation, with congregational life as well as the understanding of teaching being similar in many respects to that of other free church communities. The aspect of the general priesthood (1 Peter 2:5) is strongly emphasized. The Free Bible Researchers emphasize not only personal conversion but also a path of spiritual perfection.

Dead and Resurrection

The Free Bible Students hold the view of soul sleep (Mark 5:39), according to which the soul remains in a state of rest after death until the resurrection. This perspective emphasizes that there is no conscious state between physical death and future life, but rather a complete resting of the person. Death is not understood as a transition into an immediately consciously experienced afterlife, but as a state comparable to a deep sleep in which all perception and activity are suspended.

Only through the resurrection from the dead at the return of Jesus Christ does a person receive their consciousness again through a new body (1 Cor 15:20-22). This hope of resurrection therefore forms a central component of this doctrine: It is not an immortal soul that continues independently in an otherworldly realm that is central, but the renewed life of the whole person (body + spirit = a living soul) given by God. This emphasizes the complete dependence of humans on God, both in life and beyond death.

Second Coming

At the center of their teaching is the expectation of the imminent return of Christ (John 14:2–3) and the restoration of humanity to perfection (Acts 3:21). Thus, the Free Bible Students constitute an eschatological religious community.

Kingship and kingdom of God

Free Bible students believe that the Kingdom of God is realized in three stages:

The Spiritual Kingdom This refers to the kingship of Jesus, which reigns in the lives and hearts of believing Christians. The kingdom was already foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament and revealed during the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ (Luke 17:21). This spiritual paradise is attained when one turns away from sin and serves God in faith in the redemptive act of Jesus Christ.

The Millennium of Christ's Kingdom They believe that Jesus will return in power and glory. His kingdom rule will then last for a thousand years, during which all human governments, religions, and enemies will be overcome, and even the devil will be rendered powerless. Yahweh God has the goal in His thousand-year kingdom under the rule of His Son Jesus Christ that all people should have the opportunity to receive eternal life under paradisiacal conditions (Isaiah 35:8–10). However, incorrigibly evil people go into the second death.

The Eternal Kingdom of God God's eternal kingdom will begin when Jesus Christ has put all enemies under his feet and hands over the kingdom to the Father (1 Cor 15:24). God will dwell with the redeemed in a new heaven and a new earth, where there will be no more suffering, pain, or death, and where righteousness and peace will reign forever (Rev 21:1–4).

Worship Service

There is no binding order of worship services; they can vary somewhat from congregation to congregation. There are no dress codes. In the churches, however, women wear a head covering when they pray publicly, that is, aloud in the congregation, in reference to 1 Corinthians 11:5–13.

Self-understanding and Ecumenism

Although the Church of Free Bible Researchers makes no claim to absoluteness and does not consider itself the only true and valid church, and acknowledges that other Christian communities also contain Christians who have a living relationship with Christ, it does not seek membership in the World Council of Churches.

References

^ "The Three Great Covenants". Zion's Watch Tower. March 1880. Archived from the original on 2013-11-02. Retrieved 2010-04-15 – via Most holy faith.
^ "New Covenant vs the Law Covenant". Zion's Watch Tower. September 1887. Archived from the original on 2010-06-15. Retrieved 2010-04-15 – via Most holy faith.
^ "The Mediator of the New Covernant" Archived 2010-06-17 at the Wayback Machine, Zion's Watch Tower, January 1, 1907, pages 9, 10.
^ "The Berean News". Archived from the original on 2013-02-03. Retrieved 2012-09-08.
^ ^a ^b Who are the Free Bible Students and what is their history? Archived 2009-08-03 at the Wayback Machine
^ The CMF Annual Report for 2006, Nr 2, 2007.
^ Christian Discipling Ministries International
^ Detlef Garbe: Between resistance and martyrdom: Jehovah's Witnesses in the Third Reich; p. 100

External links

[1] "The Three Great Covenants". Zion's Watch Tower. March 1880. Archived from the original on 2013-11-02. Retrieved 2010-04-15 – via Most holy faith.

[2] "New Covenant vs the Law Covenant". Zion's Watch Tower. September 1887. Archived from the original on 2010-06-15. Retrieved 2010-04-15 – via Most holy faith.

[3] "The Mediator of the New Covernant" Archived 2010-06-17 at the Wayback Machine, Zion's Watch Tower, January 1, 1907, pages 9, 10.

[bbschurch.org-4] "The Berean News". Archived from the original on 2013-02-03. Retrieved 2012-09-08.

[cmfellowship.org-5] Who are the Free Bible Students and what is their history? Archived 2009-08-03 at the Wayback Machine

[6] The CMF Annual Report for 2006, Nr 2, 2007.

[7] Christian Discipling Ministries International

[8] Detlef Garbe: Between resistance and martyrdom: Jehovah's Witnesses in the Third Reich; p. 100

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