In an effort to support the belief in an organization as the only way God deals with people, Jehovah's Witnesses often point to the nation of Israel and the Christian congregation of the first century. Surely, Jehovah has used organizations in a mighty way. Well, has he? Perhaps we can start from the very beginning and trace organization's history.
Many have come to appreciate Jehovah's heavenly organization as being an example of God's perfect order, of his being the Supreme Organizer (which, frankly, sounds a lot like a Staples commercial). How well did that turn out? If Revelation's description of things is any indication, and assuming the JW understanding of it is what we're going on here, 33% of all who belonged to that organization departed, choosing to side with Satan. I would think that an organized group in the very presence of God should have a better retention rate. But hey, free will does that to you, I guess. That and really hot Earth women. (If even angels couldn't resist them, how the heck are men supposed to be able to? Seems like the deck is stacked against us men. Still, I don't consider that an excuse. The angels did at least get married, presumably.)
Human organization seems to have started with Nimrod. God apparently felt that no organization that wasn't started by him should be tolerated, so...he confused the languages.
Noah was spared in the flood, as an individual, along with 8 other individuals. Since there was no organization involved, the only way out of this problem for the Watchtower Society was for them to appoint an inanimate structure--the ark itself--as 'the organization' of that time. Hey, they said it, not me.
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph were individuals, part of a family, not part of an organization. God dealt with them as individuals. I think in particular Joseph is worthy of consideration here. He was separated even from his family, the closest thing to 'organization' around at the time. Did he write to 'the organization' for help when he was tempted by a man's wife? No. He knew what was right, and he did it, as a man on his own. He had been taught about God by a person, Abraham, and obviously had his own personal relationship with God.
An interesting side note on this is that what happened with Joseph and Potiphar's wife could have a very different outcome if it played out that way today, amongst JWs. Imagine, the elders find out that you're in the house alone with another man's wife, and it's been reported that you ran out of the house with no clothes on and were accused of attempted rape. Is it likely you would escape disfellowshipping under those circumstances? I'll leave that to the mock courts to decide.
So, we come down to Moses. He was a member of a nation, chosen by God to lead them to freedom. Again, was it an organization that God chose for that purpose? No. It was Moses. Even before they could get laws down in stone, Aaron, who took the lead amongst them, directly involved himself in their idolatrous worship.
What happened to the people in that nation as they became organized, under the Law? Let's call them an 'organization'. They trusted completely in men like Joshua and his contemporaries, not in Jehovah at all. Once those men died off, the organization did what it pleased, until the judges. Again, the people's (organization's) trust was in the judges, not in Jehovah. Same deal--the judge dies, the people do what they feel like.
Eventually, the organization rejects Jehovah's kingship altogether and asks for a human ruler. Jehovah accepts. The vast majority of these kings, taking the lead in the organization, were wicked men who worshipped idols made of stone or gold or whatever. The prophets ended up, as individuals, representing Jehovah God. Elijah, for example, worshipped God inside an organization that was so corrupt there were only 7,000 men that could be found who hadn't bowed down to idols.
Even the best kings amongst them, David and Solomon, committed gross sins, some of which caused the deaths of thousands of Israelites. All of which brought reproach on God's name.
In time, Jerusalem was destroyed, and the Jews exiled to Babylon. Again, God works through Daniel, a person. Ezekiel, a person. Jeremiah, a person.
Jesus Christ, a man, not an organization, comes. 'The organization' of that time gives him a mock trial and sentences him to death. The people in the organization collectively sign his death warrant.
The Christian congregation gets organized by means of the apostles--people, individuals who work together as brothers--but in the end, the organization falls apart and becomes a cesspool of greed, corruption, and politics.
The pattern of history shows that every time a large group takes on the shape of an organization to serve God, bad things end up happening, from the top down. The path to God ends up being illuminated through individuals--often individuals who oppose the status quo of whatever organization they happen to be in. Dogma gets cast aside, and the deeper things, the simplicity of love itself, gets brought to the front again. This is what Jesus did. He died not long after trying to warn his apostles of the danger of taking to themselves too much authority and acting as if they were more than just servants to each other.
In my own experience, I have come to see that anything can be done in the name of organization. Frankly, people are just better off finding their own way, in a lot of ways. As individuals, we can see where things are wrong and act without being bound by the restraints of our particular belief system. Operating outside of that is sometimes where we can make the most difference.
I may be wrong. I'm just another man, after all. But hopefully, for some, this might be food for thought.
--sd-7