July 15, 2010 WT page 22, 23:
Would all anointed Christians “shine”?
In a sense, yes, for all Christians would participate
in preaching, in disciple making,
and in building one another up at meetings.
Anointed ones would set the example.
(Zech. 8:23) In addition to this, however,
deep things were to be revealed during the
time of the end. The very prophecy Daniel
recorded was “sealed up” until that time.
(Dan. 12:9) How and through whom would
the spirit search into these deep things?
When the time comes to clarify a spiritual
matter in our day, holy spirit helps responsible
representatives of “the faithful
and discreet slave” at world headquarters to
discern deep truths that were not previously
understood. (Matt. 24:45; 1 Cor. 2:13) The
Governing Body as a whole considers adjusted
explanations. (Acts 15:6) What they
learn, they publish for the benefit of all.
(Matt.10:27) As time goes on, further clarifications
may be needed, and these too are
honestly explained.
--This article makes abundantly clear that only the Governing Body receives clarification from the holy spirit. Ultimately, anyone else, even other anointed ones, no matter what understanding they THINK they have, cannot have received it from holy spirit if it does not agree with the Governing Body.
Of course, my first thought is the use of the term 'clarification' here. An example of a clarification is as follows: Your spouse asks you to, "Go to the store." A clarification of that statement would be, "Go to Jim's Warehouse Store, the one on 55 Ross Street." It would not be a clarification if your spouse said, "Don't ever go to the store again. Ever." That would be the exact opposite of the first instruction, which was to go to the store. Right? Same with 'adjusted explanations'. If a screw is out of place in your engine, maybe you take it out or screw it in properly, but you don't destroy the engine altogether. But often these 'adjusted explanations' do just that with the previously held belief--they render it completely false, they throw it out altogether.
Did holy spirit at any point ever lead the apostles in Jerusalem to a false conclusion, which they then directed all other Christians to follow without question? If anyone can post a scripture here to support that, by all means do so, but...I imagine you might have some trouble with that.
This quote from the Watchtower--a future study article--demolishes people who can come here and claim that they don't recognize the faithful slave class and yet are still Jehovah's Witnesses. To say that is essentially to say the holy spirit doesn't operate through them at all. To say that Jesus did not anoint them and therefore probably hasn't even been invisibly present since 1914. I was expelled for saying just that, not for believing in the Trinity or something like that, but simply for not recognizing the faithful slave. The above quote is why said recognition is so critical.
One last thought--the statement that these adjustments in belief are "honestly explained". Having read the two Questions From Readers, the one banning organ transplants and then the one allowing them, I didn't see a mention of the previous dogmatic belief published that organ transplants were cannibalism. Is that honest? Someone who came in after the ban and read that might never know it had been banned previously. Granted, yes, references to previous understandings have been made. The other problem however is that honestly explaining that, gee, remember that belief? Uh, it's not true, at all, here's a new one--that tends to create a separate issue. Would JWs excuse any other religion for honest adjustments in their belief system? Not bloody likely. It would be more evidence of men being 'led hither and thither by every teaching'.
It reached a point, in my experience, that JWs were constantly expecting and not surprised by the 'new understanding' of this that or the other. Anytime you have to write a new song book to keep up with your newest doctrine, that should be a warning sign that you've got a lot that ain't right going on. (Although I have to mention that several of the songs had no doctrinal problems in them at all--they were changed to insert the 'faithful slave' into the song or to remove any negative thoughts from the song [ie. the possibility of the faithful slave being imperfect or of people rejecting the door-to-door message].)
I just felt a need to post on that. I'll be quiet now.
sd-7