When we have doubts about some teaching in our publications, we have been encouraged to remember from whom we have learned all the wonderful truths from the Bible that have come to distinguish us. For example, God’s name and purpose and the truth about death and the resurrection. We are encouraged to remember that we have been freed from Babylonish captivity by the revealing of the falsehood behind the teachings of the Trinity, the immortality of the human soul, and hellfire. Since all this has come from our ‘mother’ Organization, from the faithful and discreet slave, we should be grateful and continue to respect and obey this divinely ordained channel of communication.
Okay. Fair enough.
We are now taught that the faithful and discreet slave didn’t exist before 1919. We are taught that it began with the appointment of Judge Rutherford (and other prominent men at headquarters). We are taught that Russell wasn’t part of the faithful and discreet slave. He was not therefore God’s appointed channel of communication.
Okay. Fair enough.
But wait! It wasn’t Rutherford who revealed the truth about God’s name and purpose. It wasn’t Rutherford who taught us that there is no Trinity, no immortal soul, no Hellfire. It wasn’t Rutherford who taught us the truth about death and the resurrection. All this came from Russell. So it wasn’t the faithful and discreet slave, God’s appointed channel of communication, that came to teach us all the wonderful truths that have freed us from Babylonish captivity. It was Russell. In fact, the ‘faithful and discreet slave’ has taught us that we don’t have the hope of the heavenly resurrection; something we’ve now learned is a falsehood[i] ranking up there with hellfire and the immortality of the soul, because all three rob us of the reality of the hope Christ revealed to his disciples.
So they are asking us to be grateful to them for a legacy of truth they are not only not responsible for, but which they have actually corrupted with false teachings.
Hmmm…..
Faithful and Discreet Slave Identified by God After Divine Temple Judgment
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The Governing Body Popes and the Bethel Inquisition Fulfills Signal Prophecy Leading to Final Temple Judgment
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The Total World Judgment “The Judgment” Begins With Jehovah’s Witnesses
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To be honest this whole line of resoning seems wrong to me. Lets reason who should we be grateful to for revealing wonderful truths about god and his purposes. John 1 v18. Colossians 2 v 2 to 4. Lets think logically if we find someone tells the truth even a great many times does that mean that we can be sure that they do every time. 1 thessalonians 5 v21. James 3 v2. With regard to obedience to gods channel of communication the brothers very often qoute hebrews 13 v17. But its my understaning that the greek word for obedience… Read more »
I concur. Really, all gratitude should go to God. However, it is instructive to turn the very logic used to bolster obedience for the Governing Body back on itself. Empirically, the logic is flawed. However, they are looking at things very subjectively. Their premise is that the one who originally taught you important truths merits special consideration, and more than that, your obedience. This is unscriptural and nonsensical, but many witnesses actually accept this premise as valid. I was attempting to show that even granting their premise, we do not owe them what they ask for, because they were not… Read more »
I find the fact that Rutherford claimed that the work was guided by angels rather than holy spirit troubling, especially in light of Paul’s warning at Gal. 1:8
I noticed on the new video, World Headquarters – History is Being Rewritten, that is up on the jw.org site, treats this move as if it were something ordained by Jehovah. In fact Guy Pierce of the GB stated at the 2011 Annual Meeting “Although we are not yet certain of Jehovah’s will regarding Warwick, we are proceeding to develop the site with the intention of relocating the world headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses there.” Apparently there is no uncertainty now. However, although repeatedly saying it is God’s will no actual reason, Biblical or otherwise is offered. I am left wondering… Read more »
Maybe Guy Pierce who was not certain 2 years ago of Jehovah’s will regarding Warwick, is now certain because an angel transmitted this information to him invisibly (as believed by Rutherford in the 1930s)?
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While we appreciate your sentiments, Observer17. The purpose of this site is to deepen our understanding of scripture with a view to drawing closer to Jesus and our Father, Jehovah on an individual level. Like C.T. Russell in his early years, we believe that any type of human leadership will inevitably lead to the corruption of Christianity. One is our leader and he rules over us individually, not through an administrative hierarchy. (This, actually, would make an excellent subject for future study.) So while we sympathize with you on many levels, we felt it best to remove your comment to… Read more »
Great comment Jimmy G. I’d just like to add another point. In 2001 the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York was listed among the top forty revenue-generating companies in New York City, reporting an annual revenue of about 951 million US dollars according to Wikipedia.
To both of you: Who, exactly, is living in obscene opulence off of those funds? Or are large sums of money inherently bad?
I did say it was up to the readers to decide for themselves whether these were ‘scams’ or not. Maybe, though, I could ask: 1. What type of accommodation is to be constructed for GB members in comparison to the rank and file bethel workers? If all are slaves of God there should be no difference at all. 2. ‘The large sums of money’ are the voluntary donations of JWs- it is not their personal fortunes. JWs contribute to a so called ‘worldwide work’, but there is no transparency as to how these funds are used. How is it used-… Read more »
I found it interesting, JimmyG, how many of the items for the new display mentioned at the Annual Meeting were donated by members or former members of the Bethel family. Some had items they had purchased and I thought to myself, “Where did they get the dough?”
Dosen’t Governing Body imply the act of governing or ruling over us? Sounds more like a faithful and discreet master rather than a faithful and discreet slave.
DONT BE DUMB!!!!! There has always been A GOVERNING BODY since 33 C.E. Just not the Faithful Slave YET. No need to get all weird and negative about the situation here. Lol!
It is inappropriate and unchristian to be insulting. It is even worse when you do not check your facts. We’ve shown both in posts and comments on this forum that there is no proof for the belief in a first century Governing Body. If you believe we are wrong, then by all means, present your evidence. Unsubstantiated opinions are of little value.
Good point. Which brings us to their “we are just imperfect men being used by Jehovah” argument, which once again pushes the blame away from themselves. Unfortunately they are so besotted with their own perceived special standing before Jehovah that they think they can lie in His name and He will overlook it. Despite Mose’s long record of faithfulness when he acted rashly at Meribah he was punished. The WTS has done much much more than act rashly, so do we imagine their punishment to be any different? Sometimes I find myself hit by a wave of astonishment that I… Read more »
In any case, the point is fallacious. If the individual brother or sister who studied with me were to start behaving in an unchristian manner, should I continue to associate with him or her? It is entirely possible for the person – or the institution – that taught us so many beautiful truths about Jehovah and his word to wander off the straight and narrow. Are we not accountable to Jehovah for what we, as individuals, do?
A viewpoint I never considered before; yet so obvious. How well conditioned we are.
Russell learned his stuff from Barbour, Storrs and others. Rutherford just manipulated the whole thing and made the money making scam bigger and now the WTS is cashing in big money.
If you are going to accuse anyone of engaging in a “money making scam”, you will have to provide proof. Please do so, or retract the comment.
Readers can make their own minds up whether the following are ‘scams’ or not: 1. The WT organisation appeared on the guest list of the 2012 hedge fund conference in London. Whether or not it actually invests any of its wealth in hedge funds cannot be proven, but you have to ask why was it invited to attend? 2. The sale of all its New York real estate is purported to total over one billion US dollars. Just recently a cluster of buildings, including the Adams Street building netted $375,000,000. While acquiring these mind boggling amounts of cash, the call… Read more »
Hi everyone, my name is Prophecy-Believer, and this is my first post on this board. I would like to raise a question for thought dealing with Zechariah 8:23. “This is what Jehovah of armies says, ‘In those days ten men out of all the languages of the nations’ will take hold, yes, they will take firm hold of the robe of a Jew, saying: “We want to go with you, for we have heard that God is with you people.”‘” (Zechariah 8:23 – NWT 2013 release) My question is this, who do you see today as fulfilling this prophecy? Or,… Read more »
Greetings Prophecy-Believer, That is an excellent question. Our official position is that the 10 men are members of the other sheep class who have an earthly hope, grasping hold of the metaphorical skirt of the anointed Christians making up spiritual Israel. These ones bow down to the anointed ones in a spiritual sense and minster to them. (Revelation-Its Grand Climax At Hand!, p. 60, 61; w88 1/1, p. 16; Worldwide Security Under the “Prince of Peace” (1986), p. 88, 89) Of course, that can’t be the fulfillment unless we are willing to accept that the vast majority of Christians are… Read more »