by Ryan1 36 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I have been doing a bit of research into the witnesses. I have been told the faithful and discreet slaves reside in Brooklyn NY. These men believe they are appointed by God to lead the Jehovah's Witnesses and run a publishing company.
What scriptures do they use to back up this claim?
I have also been told that if you question their authority you are excommunicated. Has anyone here been excommunicated for questioning the authority of the faithful and discreet slave?
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THE FAITHFUL AND DISCREET SLAVE- neither faithful, nor discreet, nor a slave. Discuss!
Welcome, Ryan1.
There is a book called "Captives of a Concept" by Don Cameron that is all about the Faithful and Discreet slave, watchtower style. It can be downloaded onto your computer for 5 bucks, from "Lulu.com" I highly recommend it. It's only 145 pages, and so won't take you forever to read it, but it covers the subject very thoroughly.
Don is a member here, also. If you look him up in "member directory" under "Cameron" I think you'll find it. He also has a web site, if you Google "Captives of a Concept", you'll get the ordering info. If you get the download version, you can read it today.
Another good book is "Crisis of a Conscience", by Ray Franz. A much larger book, but it will dispell any feeling that the Watchtower is the Faithufl and Discreet slave and is nothing but a printing company, run by lawyers.
Also, for research, check out www.jwfiles.com
Has anyone here been excommunicated for questioning the authority of the faithful and discreet slave?
I would say probably half the people on this board.
Glad to see you here.
Hubert
Welcome Ryan!!!!
Has anyone here been excommunicated for questioning the authority of the faithful and discreet slave?
I Disassociated myself before a tribunal could be formed to investigate me for questioning the authority of the frauds who run the Watchtower Society.
They call themselves the Governing Body and claim to be the sole representatives of the "Faithful Slave" 'Class' while in reality they are the thieves Jesus warned about in John the 10th chapter.
Watchtower Magazine January 15, 1994 Page 16 Paragraph 5
"Shepherds and Sheep in a Theocracy"
In 1919 that slave was identified as the remnant of anointed Christians. Since then, as represented by the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, it has been the center of theocracy on earth. Around the world, the Governing Body is represented by Branch Committees, traveling overseers, and congregation elders.
Crazy isn't it.
When elders call or judicial committees are formed, the primary question in cases of "apostasy" is whether or not a person still recognizes the "faithful and discreet slave" as God's sole channel of communication. In my case, I didn't say definately one way or another, but rather said that I had "doubts" about the Watchtower's interpretation of Matthew 24: 45-51. And since the committee refused to let me know what the specific charges were and who my accusers were I did not submit myself to their decisions. (As it was, I later found out that the charge was "apostasy" and the accusers were the same elders who sat on the committee.) I was df'd "in absentia."
I have been told the faithful and discreet slaves reside in Brooklyn NY. These men believe they are appointed by God to lead the Jehovah's Witnesses and run a publishing company.
The "faithful and discreet slave", in the beginning years of the Jehovah's Witnesses, was the founder, Russell. When Rutherford took over, the doctrine was changed to include the exclusive anointed, 144,000, of which about 8,000 are claimed to be alive today. Witnesses believe that these "anointed" are destined to rule over mankind, as joint heirs with Christ. An anointed may be male or female.
In practice however, these 8,000 have no direct authority over the society. In practice, an all-male "Governing Body" nearly all who claim to be "anointed", review the publishing proofs and decide what is to be printed.
What scriptures do they use to back up this claim?
Faithful and Discreet Slave:
Matthew 24:45-47 NWT "Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Happy is that slave if his master on arriving finds him doing so. 47 Truly I say to YOU, He will appoint him over all his belongings.
Limited to 144,000:
Revelation 14:1 NWT And I saw, and, look! the Lamb standing upon the Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.
Excommunication:
The WTS calls it disfellowshipping, or shunning. This is what they say about the matter themselves:
http://www.jw-media.org/beliefs/beliefsfaq.htm
What they don't say is that one of the most serious sins is to question the Faithful and Discreet Slave's authority.
The teaching on the F&DS went through many changes over the years: (1) Originally for Russell the "faithful and wise servant" represented all faithful spirit-begotten Christians in the Body of Christ, (2) then when Russell was being personally attacked, his wife Maria suggested that Russell himself was "that servant" and promoted this idea throughout the ecclesias, eventually it became widely accepted and Russell privately adopted it, (3) after Russell's death, Rutherford and the WTB&TS heavily promoted the idea that Russell was the F&WS to establish themselves as the rightful heirs of Russell's legacy when competing Russellite sects emerged after 1917, (4) in the early 1920s, Rutherford began to shift the identity of the F&WS by claiming it was the collective "Society" as represented by Russell, and by the late 1920s, Rutherford began to deny that Russell ever was personally "that servant," (5) for the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, Rutherford and his followers wavered in whether the "Society" (and the F&WS by extension) was the WTB&TS or whether it was the class of spirit-begotten Christians. Both were described as practically the same thing, and in many instances it was clear that the "Society" represented by the F&WS was the WTB&TS, (6) When the Jonadabs/"great multitude" became a significant social class in the JWs in the late 1930s, they were specifically excluded from the F&WS class, (6) With the release of the NWT in the 1950s, the F&WS became the F&DS and the official publications essentially settled for themselves that the F&DS referred to the anointed class and not the WTB&TS, but (7) throughout this whole period up until the 1990s, all literature from the putative F&DS and all letters from the putative F&DS to individual congregations with directions bore the name of the WTB&TS and as late as the 1980s, the Watchtower once blundered into admitting that the F&DS was the WTB&TS.
The point about the "Slave" is that no one can REALLY put their finger on it. Officially the "Slave" comprises all anointed ones living on the earth at any given time. The total sum is 144,000. However, the "Slave" in practice does not do anything. It is the "Governing Body" leaders out of this "Slave" that do all the "food distrubtion". If a "Slave" member in Africa wanted to give "new spiritual light" on his or her own, they would be running ahead of the "Slave" and would be censured. So in reality, the "Slave" is NOT who it is supposed to be, according to the Watchtower's definition.
WT 2004 Ist March p10
. Hence, the expression "faithful and discreet slave" refers to all members of that anointed spiritual nation as a group on earth at any particular time from 33 C.E. until now, just as every Israelite living at any time from 1513 B.C.E. until Pentecost 33 C.E. was part of the pre-Christian servant class. Who, though, are the "domestics," who receive spiritual nourishment from the slave? In the first century C.E., every Christian cherished the heavenly hope. Consequently, the domestics were also anointed Christians, viewed, not as a group, but as individuals.
I wonder if the latest info on the subject changes anything?
WT 2007 May 1st p31.
However, genuine anointed Christians do not demand special attention. They do not believe that being of the anointed gives them special insights.....they do not believe that they necessarily have more Holy Spirit ........Nor do they claim that their partaking of the emblems places them above the appointed elders in the congregation
