Hi Tim - There is an excellent chapter in Ray Franz' book In Search of Christian Freedom just on this subject. I highly recommend your obtaining a copy and reading it - you will be surprised at the content - presented in a mild, reasonable manner - no "apostate" type bashing at all and great spiritual depth. Since I realize this may be difficult or uncomfortable for you to do at this time maybe I might make a few quick citations of points I highlighted in the material myself -
Might also add I used to consider myself of this class for many decades.
On page 126 - "...since in Scripture all true Christians are shown to be anointed of God." And he uses 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, I John 2:20, Romans 8:8-9, and verses 9-14 of this chapter also - to back this point up. "Of course the Watch Tower Society does not view all Christians as anointed and and divides Christians living today into two classes, a non-anointed class with an earthly hope, and an anointed class with a heavenly hope."
I might add my own scriptural reference in addition to Brother Franz's - that of Ephesians 4:4-6 which reads "One body there is, and one spirit, even as you were called in the one hope to which you were called, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all persons who is over all and through all and in all." I emphasize there is ONE HOPE - not one class of Christians that are better than another or more spiritual or higher in rank - we are one flock under one Shepherd to quote John 10:16. Please, please don't divide the Bible up for yourself saying well that passage doesn't apply to me - I'm not of the anointed "rank" - it is ALL there for you to drink from and be enriched by.
To go back to Franz on the same page 126 it says "Today this slave class is said to be composed of a remnant of 144,000 anointed ones yet alive on the earth.............the overriding concern is to authenticate and enforce - the view that God and Christ deal with people only through an organization, and that today that organization is the one connected with the Watch Tower Society."
"In the book God's Kingdom of a Thousand Years Has Approached on pages 185-186 it pointedly says of Russell's initial study group 'Thirty years later (1874) found a small group of men not associated with the Adventists or affiliated with any of the religious sects of Christendom, studying the Holy Scriptures at Pittsburgh, (Alleghany) Pa. They studied independently so as to avoid looking at the Bible through sectarian spectacles."............Back to Franz "Such a course today would be denounced as presumptuous, ineffectual, a rejection of God's channel, contrary to God's historical way of providing understanding of His Word through an organization. Remember the Watchtower's statement:
..........the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible. For this reason the Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah's visible organization in mind. 10/1/1967 - page 587.
In The Society's official history, Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose (page 17) further says of Russell:
He made no claim of a special revelation from God, but held that it was God's due time for the Bible to be understood; and that, being fully consecrated to the Lord and to His service, he was permitted to understand it.
He clearly believed that the "faithful and discreet slave" first came on the scene in his own day, and he makes crystal clear that he himself had not gone to any "faithful and discreet slave class" for enlightnment. In the April 15, 1904 Watch Tower Russell gives detailed arguments opposing the idea of a "composite steward" or "class" and in favor of a particular individual as the "faithful and wise servant." Many in those days viewed Russell as that servant. Yet the fact remains Russell did not turn to any earthly organization. He acted independently on his own.
There is tons more here of great interest that conclusively illustrates the unlikelihood of Jesus Christ ever appointing the organization in the years 1918/1919 as His "chosen" channel or "faithful slave." But to bring it up to date the perceptioin that the food you receive in the WT magazines comes from the "slave class" is almost totally erroneous. Less than 1% of the contributions come from the remaining remnant - the great bulk comes from the great crowd. And the GB is not even likely to survey or pass on the content today - the great bulk of the writing and even the supervision of the Writing Committee has often been in the hands of the great crowd as it was in the days of Ray Franz even though he himself was a partaker of the emblems. And he points out that even if and when an article comes from the slave class it is not given any preference on that basis and not infrequently it is turned over to one of the great crowd for rewriting, editing, etc. And I myself know this also from what I have experienced and from those who know several on the Writing Committee in person.
I think particularly perceptive here are his comments on page 163 under the heading Masking Over Reality - For What Purpose?
"What then does the fictional teaching about a worldwide administrative and spiritual-food-supplying slave "class" accomplish? It provides a prime basis on which the organization's authority rests, by which a small group of men, whose number represents only one-seventh of one percent of the 8,800 "anointed," (numbers would be even worse today) assumes the right to determine not only what all the "anointed," but in fact all Witnesses, will read, study, believe and practice. By its stress on a "class" it also serves to robe the real authority structure with a shroud of anonymity, giving the appearancwe of a wide diversity of membership and globality that is 'not of whole cloth,' simply not true. This fictional concept enables the real authority structure - the dozen (now 8 I believe) or so members of the Governing Body - to ask for almost total obedience to their own directives, without appearing as arrogant or self-serving. "..........."As "the slave class" that authority source takes on a certain vagueness, an amorphous quality and an extensiveness belonging to an essentially faceless aggregation that is not definable or identifiable in any real sense for the average member. The euphemistic use of the expression and surprisingly, THEIR OWN BELIEF IN THE CONCEPT, also enables the Governing Body members to publish statements calling for almost total submission to their decisions without being troubled personally by a sense of arrogance."
There is so so much more of value here to say but knowing it is probably as difficult for you to sit and read this volume of material as it is for me to type it out let me conclude with one key point he makes on page 165 - "The body of Christ" to which "class" all anointed Christians belong, is a spiritual body, its members not identified by earthly organizational membership."
