Paul also helps us to understand that those with an earthly hope do not partake of the Memorial emblems. [Wow, putting words in Paul's mouth...] He said to anointed Christians [although he just thought of them as plain old Christians]: "For as often as you eat this loaf and drink this cup, you keep proclaiming the death of the Lord, until he arrives." (1 Cor. 11:26) When does the Lord 'arrive'? When he comes to take the last of his anointed bride class to their heavenly home
This is ridiculous when you really look at it. First, they teach that Jesus "returned invisibly" in 1914. With absolutely no evidence whatsoever, they claim that the resurrection for the anointed started in 1919. The above quote now states that Jesus does not actually "arrive" until the last of the 'anointed' dies. When does this happen? well, according to the February 15, 2008 WT* , they say that some of these anointed will still be alive when the Great Tribulation begins. Since the WT does not subscribe to the idea that the anointed will "be caught up in the air to meet with the Lord", these ones would have to die a natural death before 'receiving their reward'. But what happens if even one of them survives the GT and Armageddon? That means that they would surivive into the Noo System of Things. In other words, Jesus would not "arrive" until after Armageddon----a totally absurd idea even in Dub-dumb Land.
* "....Today, people who don't have the spiritual understanding think that there is nothing of "stunningly observable" as to the signs of Jesus' presence. They reason that all continues as before. (2 Peter 3:4)...... As a group, those anointed comprise the present "generation" of comtemporaries who won't pass away "until all the things come to pass". This indicates that some of anointed brothers of Christ will still be alive on earth when the foretold great tribulation begins."
I also find it quite typical that they take great liberty with the term "parousia" to suit the whim of whatever bizarre doctrine they're trying to promote. While they have generally deviated using "parousia" as "coming" (as they've repeatedly shown), and instead translated it as "presence", they did not do so in this case which leaves them with the perplexing problem of trying to explain away Jesus' "presence" and his "arrival". To anyone with an ounce of thinking power, the scripture in 1 Corinthians 11:26 that makes reference to his "arrival", is speaking of thesame event spoken of in Matthew 24:3, 27, 37, 1 Corinthians 15:23, 1 Corinthians 4:11 - 13, 1 Thess 2:19, 3:13, 5:23, 2 Thess 2:1, James 5:7, 8, 1 John 2:28, namely the Second Coming. Yet if the Watchtower were to teach that Jesus' 'arrival' happened in 1914, then that raises the obvious problem of why anyone is even still practicing the Memorial, as the scriptures state that Christians are supposed to do this only "until he arrives".
Rather than realize that they've painted themselves into yet another corner, they invent a succession of progressively bizarre theories, each of which are precipitated by phrases such as "apparently" and the ever-faithful "evidently". While this will be accepted by the average Witness, it leaves the Writing Department with a much needed loop-hole----their "Get Out of False Interpretation Free" card. When they paint themselves into yet another corner down the road, they can always fall back on "we never said for sure---we only said "evidently".
I truly don't think there is another 'Christian' faith that comes up with more bizarre explainations of simple scriptures than the WTB&TS.
