NIV - Matthew 24:45 – 51: Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, “my master is staying away a long time, and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Cross reference of faithful servant to Matthew 25: 21-23 – speaks of the master handing talents to different servants – and each servant went off and either invested it, bartered or dug a hole in the ground and buried it.
We all know that the JW belief on who this servant has changed a number of times – as KurtBethel pointed out there was a time when it referred to a group, then one man Russell, then back to a closely knit group of JWs made up the 144 000 (remnant to be number at 10 000 or so – when I was in the faith 4 years ago it was 8 000 – their numbers are growing??) The Faithful and Discreet Slave is described as a "class" of Christians that operates under the direct control of Jesus Christ. (from Wikipedia)
If this is the case that they were operating under the direct control of Jesus – there is a serious problem! The stand on many doctrines has zigzagged and changed so many times that it is difficult to keep track of what the Governing Body maintains as truth. When Christ spoke something, he never went back on it or changed it, or said he meant something else – he spoke the truth! One cannot go back and change truth – as the initial truth would then be a lie. You can elaborate on the truth or add on to it, but your initial truth would be able to stand up to scrutiny. (this is just logical thinking)
Imperfection of men I hear the JWs “reason”. Sure sure, man is imperfect and Jesus Christ was perfect. So when God spoke through imperfect Moses, Isaiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, Hezekiah, Jacob, David, Saul - did God make mistakes or give them wrong information? Or did those things God prophesied through these imperfect people come to be? Do not make imperfection an excuse for all the blunders and failed prophesies.
So who is this servant then? Is it a group that one can point too and say “it’s them”, or is it an individual? My logical reasoning tells me that if this is the word of God, the bible has to be valid at any given age in mans’ history and has to be able to be interpreted in that age, so it cannot point to a class/group/individual. Plus you have to take the WHOLE bible into account when you read even one verse – see how that verse fits in with what the bible is saying in general.
Matthew 24 & 25 is speaking about a time when the end comes and has many illustrations/parables that let us know what we should be doing when that end comes. The end of what though? The earth? Wickedness? The end of spiritual darkness? And where are we to find our answers? In man?
Does not the word of God say that you will be taught of God and not of man? So why do the JWs look to imperfect men, that have clearly blundered over and over again to be their leaders, why do they not look to God and be lead of his spirit, that can give you your spiritual food when you need it.
I urge JWs to really consider deeply the things of God and to meditate and reason on the word of God and to be lead of spirit, instead of man.
If you don’t know who that faithful & discreet slave is – I can’t tell you – it’s not for me to reveal these things to you.
