It's been a while since I posted anything biblical... Christianity is not really my cup of tea anymore, except from a purely academic perspective. However, I just had an interesting thought today.
The JWs always say that you should submit your judgment to the organization. When I was talking to the elders who were investigating me for apostasy, I asked them: "So what should a brother do if he conscientiously believes that some teaching of the organization is unbiblical, and he cannot support it?" The elder's response: "I don't think he can presume to know better than the organization."
The biblical counterexample that occurred to me today was the story of Jehu's campagin against the Baal worshippers. From the NWT:
2 King 10:18,19,25-28
Further, Je´hu collected all the people together and said to them: "A´hab, on the one hand, worshiped Ba´al a little. Je´hu, on the other hand, will worship him a great deal. So now call all the prophets of Ba´al, all his worshipers and all his priests to me. Do not let a single one be missing, because I have a great sacrifice for Ba´al. Anyone that is missing will not keep living." As for Je´hu, he acted slyly, for the purpose of destroying the worshipers of Ba´al.
...
And it came about that as soon as he finished rendering up the burnt offering, Je´hu immediately said to the runners and the adjutants: "Come in, strike them down! Do not let a single one go out." And the runners and the adjutants began to strike them down with the edge of the sword and to throw them out, and they kept going as far as the city of the house of Ba´al. Then they brought out the sacred pillars of the house of Ba´al and burned each one. Further, they pulled down the sacred pillar of Ba´al and pulled down the house of Ba´al, and they kept it set aside for privies down to this day.
Thus Je´hu annihilated Ba´al out of Israel.
Now let's say an Israelite had said: "Well I think it's wrong to worship Baal. But King Jehu is Jehovah's anointed representative, so if he says it's alright, it must be alright!" Based on the Watchtower's reasoning, that's what they should have done. They should have subordinated their own judgment to that of the divinely appointed king. But if they'd done that... they would have been killed!
So according to the Bible as understood by the Witnesses, a worshipper of Jehovah could be put to death for listening to "Jehovah's anointed representative" instead of his own reading of God's law.
So much for the GB's claims!