Governing Body Questions

by PurpleV 8 Replies latest jw friends

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  PurpleV

  I've seen this topic debated/mentioned on other threads. But I'm wondering if I'll get any JW apologists on this one.

  Question 1:

  What makes the Governing Body (comprised of elderly "gentlemen" who have never owned a home, held a secular job, raised children, struggled with a marriage, gone out in service with any regularity, worried about health insurance, housing, taxes, military service, or their pension,) think they have the right to dictate such stringent rules to all these millions of people who don't have the protection of "Bethel" and are just struggling to survive and please "Jah?"

  Question 2:

  Why, after all the history in the Middle East, including Israel, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Rome, etc., would God choose to renew his communication with mankind (after approximately 1900 years of silence), to some freaky white male escapee from the Seventh Day Adventists in Brooklyn? (That would be Charles Taze Russell, to any new JWs who may not know the whole true history of their organization. Go look it up.)
• 

  musky

  Good questions. I am not a JW apologist, But in response to your first question. I find it difficult now to own a home, maintain it, maintain it, maintain it, raise a family, continue to somehow afford the cost of health insuraance, work 8 hours a day, etc. I can only imagine how much tougher it would be for me to do all that PLUS go to all the meetings, service, prepare, study. The last time I really was going to meetings consistently was while I was in an apartment, single. Easier then. It really is a lot to ask from the governing body. I hope that they can appreciate how much dedication it takes from there followers. They think they have the right bacause they believe Jehovah speaks through them.
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  fulano

  Pierce, new member of the GB has raised a family of 5 kids, and did secular work to maitain them.

  The latest member is black.
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  Cygnus

  The GB doesn't have that right if you don't let them. I know JWs who don't follow the "rules" they don't like. And some GB members are married and served as circuit and district overseers so they certainly are familiar with the ministry and family issues in probably hundreds of congregations. Perhaps more important, they use the Bible as their guide.

  Also, the WT organization and Chuck Russell had nothing to do with Seventh Day Adventists at any time whatsoever. So maybe you ought to rethink your assertions.
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  Pleasuredome

  ref: Q1

  yes, not exactly pillars of the community are they?
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  NeonMadman

  Also, the WT organization and Chuck Russell had nothing to do with Seventh Day Adventists at any time whatsoever. So maybe you ought to rethink your assertions.

  Technically a true statement, but you ignore the fact that the JW's and SDA's have common roots. Both grew out of the Millerite (Adventist) movement of the mid-1800's. While it's true that neither came directly from the other, they are certainly both branches of the same tree.
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  PurpleV

  Charles T. Russell himself admitted how much the Adventists influenced him:

  http://www.geocities.com/ekron35/charles.html

  While he was still searching for truth, one evening in 1869, something happened that reestablished Charles' wavering faith. Walking along near the Russells' store on Federal Street, he heard religious singing coming from a basement hall. In his own words, this is what took place:

  Seemingly by accident, one evening I dropped into a dusty, dingy hall, where I had heard religious services were held, to see if the handful who met there had anything more sensible to offer than the creeds of the great churches. There, for the first time, I heard something of the views of Second Adventists [Advent Christian Church], the preacher being Mr. Jonas Wendell . . . Thus, I confess indebtedness to Adventists as well as to other denominations. Though his Scripture exposition was not entirely clear, . . . it was sufficient, under God, to re-establish my wavering faith in the divine inspiration of the Bible, and to show that the records of the apostles and prophets are indissolubly linked. What I heard sent me to my Bible to study with more zeal and care than ever before, and I shall ever thank the Lord for that leading; for though Adventism helped me to no single truth, it did help me greatly in the unlearning of errors, and thus prepared me for the Truth.
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  Francois

  Knowing "about" children isn't the same as knowing "children." In fact, knowing about anything isn't the same as knowing.
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  NotBlind

  Sorry PurpleV, the Adventists Russell hung around were NOT Seventh Day Adventists.