"The Ring of Truth"

[Jack Ryan]

In paragraph 9 of this weeks Watchtower it was talking about how children’s comments at the meetings can prompt newly interested ones to recognise the ring of truth.

I donÂ’t recall ever hearing it referred to as the ring of truth before. Is this a new phrase theyÂ’re going to try and get everybody using along the lines of, the truth, the brotherhood, this wicked system of things, etc etc.

 

[JW Insider]

That man in the picture is a lot smaller than I thought he was.

[Guest Nicole]

I don't see something similar in the Spanish version, it only mentions "the truth" not "the ring of the truth" 

A pesonal comment:  if you had not post that photo,  the first thing tha came to my mind was "the fellowship of the ring" ?as in "the Lord of the Rings" ?

[Evacuated]

14 hours ago, Jack Ryan said:

I don’t recall ever hearing it referred to as the ring of truth before

Whilst not exclusively a WT magazine expression, it seems to have been used there fairly consistently in a similar context since March 1st 1951.

[TrueTomHarley]

6 hours ago, Gone Away said:

Whilst not exclusively a WT magazine expression, it seems to have been used there fairly consistently in a similar context since March 1st 1951.

It never ceases to amaze me what things can be tracked. 

[JW Insider]

7 hours ago, Gone Away said:

Whilst not exclusively a WT magazine expression, it seems to have been used there fairly consistently in a similar context since March 1st 1951.

I'm pretty sure this is just a data anomaly, but if you check the use of the word ("with quote marks around it") as found in full text searches of many thousands of books available in Google Books (through 2007), it would (at first) appear that the Watchtower was using it even before it was widely found outside the Watchtower:

But that was my mistake. That was just with quote marks around it; otherwise it was apparently used since the 1800's.

By the way, those Watchtower numbers are just the Wt magazine alone. I notice that it was used almost as often in the Yearbooks, 27 times since 1970. It's especially frequent in personal experiences where a person says they "recognized the ring of truth" after reading one of our publications.

[Evacuated]

5 hours ago, JW Insider said:

 "recognized the ring of truth" 

It appears difficult to actually get the origin of the expression definitively without a depth of research I do not have time or resource for at present.

However the idea of glass making a duller sound than crystal when tapped, gold and silver coins having a more distinctive "tinkle" than baser metal, a bell striking a true note when struck, (even the tuning of musical instrument strings), all share the thought of a sound test for accuracy or trueness or even genuineness. There is also the thought that an explanation or reason might have a convincing or plausible nature.

All these definitions seem to imply an accepted standard which enables a measurement of genuiness. Scriptural references such as John 10:4-5; Romans 2:14-15; 2Tim.1:13 all come to mind in connection with "the ring of truth". ?