The reason it so crucial for the average witnesses to have a "correct" understanding of the "faithful and discreet slave" is because he has been taught that his very salvation depends on it! He must identify this "slave" and faithfully follow its teachings. Concerning the "slave", the Society had this to say....
"The fact is, many things are needed to be a real Christian....a Christian has to recognize the AUTHORITY of the "faithful and discreet slave." (The Watchtower, October 1, 1991, pg. 20). In the AWAKE! (October 8, 1991, pg. 13), we read the following: "Thus, we are enlightened by God's answers to present-day problems, answers that reveal where we are in the stream of time and how we can successfully plan for the future. Those answers come to us through the channel of "the faithful and discreet anointed slave" class, WHICH USES THE WATCHTOWER SOCIETY AS ITS PUBLISHING AGENCY." (So now Jehovah needs a publishing company!)
And all this time I thought reading the Bible, God's Word, would provide the answers we need! Not so, at least according to the Watchtower. Consider this amazing statement....
"It is unlikely that someone who simply reads the Bible WITHOUT TAKING ADVANTAGE OF DIVINELY PROVIDED AIDS could discern the light. That is why Jehovah God has provided "the faithful and discreet slave", foretold at Matthew 24:45-47. Today, that "slave" is represented by the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses." (The Watchtower, May 1, 1992, pg. 31).
Just what are these so-called "divinely provided aids" that are necessary for us? Why, the Society's publications, of course! According to them, God's INSPIRED Word isn't sufficient to help us see "the light". We need man's UNINSPIRED books and magazines for that! The Bible disagrees, however. In 2 Timothy 3:15, we are told that the Scriptures "are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." (Most of the books published by the watchtower cannot even be used today because all the doctrines have been changed. They are simply a waste of time and paper.)
It is incredible to me how anyone could believe anything that these men say! Yet people keep following them, defending them.
6 comments:
""It is unlikely that someone who simply reads the Bible WITHOUT TAKING ADVANTAGE OF DIVINELY PROVIDED AIDS could discern the light. "
"And all this time I thought reading the Bible, God's Word, would provide the answers we need! "
It is a true statement that the casual reader will not be able to discern the light. It takes a lot of study.
TJ, you could run circles around most of the "Christians" and most religious leaders out in the general public because you well know they are morons when it comes to bible knowledge. Your own knowledge has come about from what appears to be decades of serious study of the bible. That is not something that just happened from a casual read through the bible.
"Do Jehovah's Witnesses Have A Correct Understanding of the Faithful and Discreet Slave?"
...probably not.
"Do Jehovah's Witnesses Have A MORE Correct Understanding of the Faithful and Discreet Slave than anyone else?"
...probably.
That is the way a smart person would bet, in my opinion.
Why? Results in the areas that are actually important ... human advancement, and pursuit of righteousness.
The diamonds of great value are often down at they very bottom of a colossal barrel of crap.
That is what pesky humans do. There are no exceptions.
I am a retired design engineer, and I care more about practical things, and just as the Jewish Nation was a collection of inept screw-ups, and God still put up with them, basically because of his extended love for Abraham ... so Jehovah's Witnesses as a whole somehow have glommed onto basic core truths that NO ONE ELSE HAS ... and more to the point.. no one else has been able to consistently practice as a national group.
I throw my lot in with Jehovah's Witnesses because I can see the "diamonds" of great value ... still surrounded by crap.
.... sigh
Jehovah is training a nation bought out from the world to pursue righteousness ... a field of endeavor that outside of rare individuals like Isaac Newton ... NONE OF US have the talent, inclination, or background for.
It's a messy, hard, often dangerous, stumbling inept process ... but history shows us that when Jehovah showed favor to the Jews as his name people ... that was just as messy, etc.
Smart people learn from that experience ... dumb people cry about it ... apparently forever.
The clueless continue to print irrelevant drivel, and those who learn from experience learn discernment.
If you are still crying about the FACT that theology as practiced by humans is like swimming through a light-year of pudding ...
... you have been "head-faked" by your own nearsightedness.
Tom.Rook@Technik-SA.US
Nice comments Tom and I'm with you on having to take the bad with the good because there is no perfect organization.
It doesn't appear that the owner of this blog believes in a Trinity, or hell, or all the pagan celebrations that the other "christian" religions have polluted the faith with. Which means he still subscribes to the truth of the bible that the WT teaches. You can argue against the organization all day, but still have to admit that those basic truths have been given a sounding board by the WT organization. That is important since Christendom has worked for centuries to all but drown out bible truth.
Yes, guys. the watchtower teaches some truth. The law of averages says that they had to get some things right. But there are many other religions that get some things right too. In fact, Aesop's Fables give us rules to follow that will culminate in a good life.
".....no one else has been able to consistently practice as a national group."
You're kidding, right? What about the Mormons and the Seventh Day Adventists? Those religions started around the same time as the witnesses and they are still flourishing.
I feel sorry that you, and so many others, feel the need to be guided by the whims and rules of mere men.
Does the blogger class have the correct understanding of what it takes to really know the truth in the bible?
THE BC teaches in their endless posts that anyone who even just casually reads the bible will come to know the deep things of the bible. Many Christian denominations throughout the last 2000 years of Christianity have taken this exact same position. Thus, the Blogger Class is actually borrowing this teaching from the organizations they rally against.
Can someone really come to understand the full bible through a casual haphazard study of it? The bible and the religion it contains can go from surface level principles to deep prophecies about the future and everything in between. What has history shown us? Christianity is actually the most blood guilty religion in the history of the world. Those professing to be Christian don’t look to God’s Kingdom as the only hope for mankind, a core teaching running though the whole bible. They have in fact become extremely violent, immoral, and ever more materialistic in their views. Obviously the bible is not to blame nor is God as none of this is taught in the bible. The blame falls squarely on the reader then!
History proves that people who only casually read the bible will absolutely never come to know the bibles full truth. Without that, the bible is powerless to actually change people’s actions for the good.
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