AAG,
You're right about the way the FDS works. I am still amazed that this self-serving and contrived doctrine, cobbled together from a few misapplied and mismatched scriptures, had me fooled for so long. When you take a step back, it seems pretty clear that the FDS doctrine is a means to an end. That is, it's simply a way to give some kind of scriptural underpinning to the power asserted by a man or group of men (the GB).
I've heard the wheat and weeds tie-in. Again, it's another example of how the Society's self-serving applications of Jesus' parables fall apart when examined closely. So, from the end of the 1st Century down to Russell's time, there were two mutually exclusive conditions: (1) the FDS was providing the right food at the right time, but (2) they were indistinguishable from weed-like false Christians (so indistinguishable that Jesus can't even tell them apart?).
As to 1914, I've had some discussions with my wife about this. She's not unreasonable, but she is definitely more "in" than I am. She concedes that 1914 may not be the right date, but asks "what does that change?" We've discussed the 1919 appointment of the FDS, and how if 1914 was wrong, then the FDS wasn't appointed in 1919. Her reply is that it could have happened some other year. In other words, she's not too hung up on dates. But she realizes the problems with the org., and the false prophecies, etc.
The things that keep her hanging on are: (1) JWs don't go to war; (2) JWs avoid celebrations/traditions with pagan origins; and (3) JWs are doing the preaching work. When I discuss whether you need an organization, #3 is what keeps her hanging on. She says that if the preaching work has to be done, you need an organization to do it, and it doesn't make sense to have lots of fragmented individuals going off teaching a variety of doctrines. Thus, you need some kind of unified organization. My response is that this is a human viewpoint. If Jesus wants to get a work done, he can see that it's done to his satisfaction without needing some American corporation to oversee it--especially an American corporation with a 130-year history of falsely prophesying in his name, etc.
Anyway, it looks like I hijacked my own thread...
You're right about the way the FDS works. I am still amazed that this self-serving and contrived doctrine, cobbled together from a few misapplied and mismatched scriptures, had me fooled for so long. When you take a step back, it seems pretty clear that the FDS doctrine is a means to an end. That is, it's simply a way to give some kind of scriptural underpinning to the power asserted by a man or group of men (the GB).
I've heard the wheat and weeds tie-in. Again, it's another example of how the Society's self-serving applications of Jesus' parables fall apart when examined closely. So, from the end of the 1st Century down to Russell's time, there were two mutually exclusive conditions: (1) the FDS was providing the right food at the right time, but (2) they were indistinguishable from weed-like false Christians (so indistinguishable that Jesus can't even tell them apart?).
As to 1914, I've had some discussions with my wife about this. She's not unreasonable, but she is definitely more "in" than I am. She concedes that 1914 may not be the right date, but asks "what does that change?" We've discussed the 1919 appointment of the FDS, and how if 1914 was wrong, then the FDS wasn't appointed in 1919. Her reply is that it could have happened some other year. In other words, she's not too hung up on dates. But she realizes the problems with the org., and the false prophecies, etc.
The things that keep her hanging on are: (1) JWs don't go to war; (2) JWs avoid celebrations/traditions with pagan origins; and (3) JWs are doing the preaching work. When I discuss whether you need an organization, #3 is what keeps her hanging on. She says that if the preaching work has to be done, you need an organization to do it, and it doesn't make sense to have lots of fragmented individuals going off teaching a variety of doctrines. Thus, you need some kind of unified organization. My response is that this is a human viewpoint. If Jesus wants to get a work done, he can see that it's done to his satisfaction without needing some American corporation to oversee it--especially an American corporation with a 130-year history of falsely prophesying in his name, etc.
Anyway, it looks like I hijacked my own thread...