Debator,
After reading through the challenges and responses on this thread, it sounds to me like you are drawing a distinction between two different genres of guidance.
For example, if I invited you over to my house for dinner, there are only two categories that directions to my house would fall into:
Active guidance: I would stay with you on the phone or even ride along with you in the car and say, "Turn left," "Turn right", "Now go straight," etc.
Passive guidance: I would write down the address and let you Google it, find it on a map, etc. and decide for yourself how to get there.
The parallel to communication with the Divine should be obvious. When information crosses the gap between heaven and earth by any means whatsoever; be it plenary inspiration, angelic visitation, visions, dreams, etc. it is active guidance. For believers, the writing of the Bible is probably the most outstanding example of active guidance.
However when someone simply reads and studies the Bible, in a manner analogous to the way you would read and study a book or map to figure out how to get to a particular destination, this would be passive guidance. Regardless of whether it was written by God or not, you are still consulting a static piece of information when you read the Bible. Therefore while you could in a sense say that you were guided by God, this would not be a claim of Divine inspiration inasmuch as God has not actively imparted information to you.
This is what I understand you to be saying in response to the various challenges to explain quotes from JW literature that could possibly be read as claims of active guidance.
Is this summary accurate and fair or have I gone off the reservation entirely?
