Do Jehovah's Witnesses know that JF Rutherford wrote in Reconciliation 1928 page 14 that the Pleiades is the place of the eternal throne of God?

Answer 1

In astronomy, the Pleiades, or "Seven Sisters", is a star cluster located in the constellation of Taurus; Alcyone being the brightest. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky. The book "Reconciliation"(published by Jehovah's Witnesses in 1928 - see above) stated: "The constellation of the seven stars forming the Pleiades, APPEARS to be the crowning center around which the known systems of the planets revolve even as our sun's planets obey the sun and travel in their respective orbits."

and went on to say...

"It has been SUGGESTED, and with much weight, that one of the stars of that group is the dwelling place of Jehovah and the place of the highest heavens; that IT [the constellation] IS THE PLACE TO WHICH THE INSPIRED WRITER REFERRED when he said: "Hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven" (2 Chron. 6:21)" -- Book "Reconciliation" pub Watchtower Society 1928 ([all CAPs mine] See the related link "Reconciliation" below for this excerpt.

While it should be noted that the book is concurring with a suggestion¤ it does seem that the Witnesses at the time believed that Ezra (the writer of Chronicles) was referring to this star formation when he spoke about Jehovah's dwelling place.

A related comment indicates Jehovah's Witnesses may well have been referring to the teachings of be Rev Joseph Seiss (D.D) a LUTHERAN Minister (1904- ) See the related link below titled "Seiss."

Whether the Witnesses at the time believed that God literally lived in a star or not, it's clear they correctly ALSO recognized that God is not a human but a mighty spirit creator of all things that exists above and beyond his physical creation. The Watchtower of that same year states:

God is the great Spirit, the Creator of heaven and earth; and his glory and majesty and power are ABOVE earth and HEAVEN. (Psalm 148 : 13)-- Watchtower Feb 1, 1928

God was BEYOND the starry heavens and they worshiped him as the Creator of both heaven and earth. -- Reconciliation p. 11

As time progressed Jehovah's Witnesses gained greater understanding regarding Pleiades and admitted:

Pleiades can no longer be considered the center of the universe and it would be unwise for us to try to fix God's throne as being at a particular spot in the universe. Were we to think of the Pleiades as his throne we might improperly view with special veneration that cluster of stars" -- Watchtower 1953

Jehovah's Witnesses have never hidden the fact that we are a progressive organization that view alterations as evidence of divine enlightenment (see Proverbs 18:4). It is for this reason that we view past mistakes as a positive affirmation of our forward movement and proudly point to changes in the study articles of our magazines. This seems to be one such case.