In this month’s tv.jw.org TV broadcast, Governing Body member Mark Sanderson concludes with these words:

“We hope that this program has assured you that the Governing Body truly loves each one of you and that we notice and appreciate your steadfast endurance.”

We know that Jesus Christ truly loves each one of us. We know this because he has the capacity to know each one of us. He knows you down to the number of hairs on your head. (Matthew 10:30)  It would have been one thing for Brother Sanderson to give glory to the Christ and assure us of Jesus’ love for each of us individually, but he makes no mention at all of our Lord in his closing remarks. Instead, his entire focus is on the Governing Body.
This raises several questions. For instance, how are the members of the Governing Body capable of loving each one of us? How can they truly love persons they have never known?
Jesus fully knows each one of us. How reassuring it is to know that our Lord, our King, our savior, fully knows us as individuals. (1Co 13:12)
Given that wondrous is truth, why should we care one iota that a group of men we have never met claims to love us? Why is their love so important that it deserves special mention? Why do we need to be reassured about it?
Jesus told us that we are all good-for-nothing slaves and that what we do is only what we ought to do. (Luke 17:10) Our faithful work gives us no basis to boast nor to exalt ourselves above others. That means that the members of the Governing Body, just like the rest of us, are – to use Jesus own words – good-for-nothing slaves.
Brother Sanderson’s closing remarks, well-intentioned though they may be, will simply serve to exalt the position of the Governing Body in the minds of the faithful rank-and-file. Most will not miss any mention of Jesus’ love for us.
It appears to this particular writer and long-time Jehovah’s Witness that this is yet another step in the slow but steady progression we have been witnessing for the last few decades from worship of God to worship of creatures.

Meleti Vivlon

Articles by Meleti Vivlon.
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