Appointed Men ........ Boooyah|

by Slidin Fast 7 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Slidin Fast

  Note - Selected study material in italics. My comments and Bible quotes are in plain text.

  *** btchap.5pp.41-43“WeMustObeyGodasRuler”***

  The material we are expected to slurp up is and swallow is so slick and slimy that sometimes it comes back up a little. Take tonight’s book study for instance.

  18 “The apostles, acting as the governing body of the expanding congregation, recognized that it would not be wise for them “to leave the word of God to distribute food.”

  Apostles = governing body (lower case), this an introduced term.

  "To resolve matters, they directed the disciples to search for seven men “full of spirit and wisdom” whom the apostles could appoint over this “necessary business.”

  (Acts 6:2-3) NW So the twelve called the multitude of the disciples to them and said: “It is not pleasing for us to leave the word of God to distribute [food] to tables. 3 So, brothers, search out for yourselves seven certified men from among YOU, full of spirit and wisdom, that we may appoint them . . .

  The text reads not that the twelve (note; not governing body) but the multitude of disciples did the choosing. How does that translate to appointment practice today?

  “Qualified men were needed because the work likely involved not just serving food but also handling money, purchasing supplies, and keeping careful records”.

  This shamelessly projects the modern practices and obsessions backwards and assumes that because they are done now, they were done in the same way then. Can you imagine? Stephen goes home to his wife “I may be busy for a few weeks I’ve been appointed catering overseer, it’s a real privilege of service” Barf!

  20 ““Jehovah’s people today follow the apostolic pattern… Under the direction of the Governing Body, men who meet the Scriptural requirements are appointed….”

  So now apostles = governing body = Governing Body

  Therefore Governing Body = apostles. Modest huh!

  Bye the way a s a disciple I don’t remember being consulted about who to appoint.

  “Those who meet the qualifications can be said to have been appointed by holy spirit.”

  Yeah right.

  Hope you followed this little diatribe. I know i am preaching to the converted but I just have to unload.
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  DesirousOfChange

  "....men who meet the Scriptural requirements are appointed….Those who meet the qualifications can be said to have been appointed by holy spirit.”

  I caught this comment in the bookstudy (oops BIBLE study) last night. Isn't this a change from what has been previously said in past publications? Seems to me they used to make it sound like the "appointed by Holy Spirit" meant there was some hocus pocus divine decision making when these dudes were chosen by the BOE. Now, it just means that some subjective opinions amongst the BOE says they are OK to be included in the GOBC (Good Ole Boys Club).

  I think there have been so many lousy appointments in recent years (bros who are gay or having affairs right at the time they were appointed) that it has totally dispelled the idea that there was any HOLY SPIRIT involved in the decision making. I mean, how many mistakes can the HS make before you question its holiness? Or, the holiness of the group making that claim?

  With this new explanation, now the f&ckups are the fault of poor local elder decision-making, not the fault of the HS or evidence that they do not truly have the HS on their side.

  Of course, DO NOT question anyone who has been "appointed by Holy Spirit" or you are in deep $hit!
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  undercover

  Good summary.

  They are a bunch of sneaky bastards, aren't they?
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  nugget

  So glad I wasn't there it was such a relief not to have to mind juggle.
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  LongHairGal

  Slidin fast:

  Back in the day when I was still in the religion, I saw how they were elevating themselves ever higher and I knew something was wrong. I thought it was a crock of shit when they referred to elders as being appointed by holy spirit. Now, this takes the cake: the GB equaling themselves to the apostles.

  They have to give themselves more of a spiritual "mystique" to distance themselvesfrom the "secular" (which is really what is at the heart of the publishing company/religion). They are trying to silence the critics and think that by making yet another divine claim this will do it.
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  AwareBeing

  Our big family knew witnesses from many districts and one things for sure,

  "appointments" of a certain type are near at 80% in our area. The qualifications:

  young, immature, sexually charged, clueless, yes men. Sorry if this is embarrassing,

  but it seems to be the only ones that they can use or abuse now.
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  Quendi

  I am part of a small group which is studying the Bible independently and sharing our thoughts with each other via e-mail since we live all over the United States. With respect to the position of the Twelve Apostles in the first century, it is clear that they never saw themselves as administrators of any kind. They also did not have anything to do with appointing elders, ministerial servants, or other people in the individual congregations. In fact, those early congregations operated as autonomous bodies that were concerned primarily with preaching the Gospel. True, "the apostles and older men" in Jerusalem did look into the issue of whether Gentile Christian men had to be circumcised, but nowhere do we see them issuing edicts and orders on other matters. And they certainly weren't concerned about collecting money. Yes, the book of Acts does say that those early believers did contribute financially to the preaching work, but we don't see the apostles overly concerned even with that "necessary business" unless fraud or dishonesty was involved as was the case with Annanias and his wife Sapphira. Our group has concluded that there was no "governing body" for the first century Church, and so there should not be one today.

  First century congregations chose their own officers. They did not seek the approval of some central body in Jerusalem or anywhere else. In those ancient times that would have been hopelessly impractical anyway given the slow rate of travel. Besides, the New Testament does not mention any such arrangement. The WTS' way of doing things was started by Joseph Rutherford who was primarily interested in ending the autonomy of the different "classes" or "ecclesias" the Bible Students had in those days. He wanted them all under the direct control of Brooklyn. To get that control, he first began the practice of having the Society appoint a "Service Director" for each congregation whose job was to oversee the local preaching work. Congregation servants were still being elected by the individual groups back then. But when a congregation in London asked the Society to appoint all of its officers in 1938, Rutherford seized on that development to make the practice of placing only Society-appointed servants in every congregation an organization-wide one.

  The WTS claims that holy spirit is the "active force" behind all the appointments it makes. Considering the many serious problems that have arisen with unqualified men holding important posts and privileges in the different congregations, circuits, districts, zones, and branches, that simply cannot be true. What we have now is a perversion of the first century model. The WTS justifies its way of doing things by claiming that it is "theocratic" or God-directed. That claim allows it to shift the blame for any problems from the Society to Jehovah himself.

  That same grip of control which exists over the organization is also exercised on individual Witnesses. Hence we see the endless list of rules, regulations, and edicts from the Society and its representatives. Again, the organization blames Jehovah by saying that what it requires of the rank-and-file is what God himself will require of them in the New World. The snooping into people's sexual lives, the dictation of standards for dress and grooming, the heavy-handed way judicial committees work, and many other practices all stem from the lie that the Society is "spirit-directed" and so is not answerable to anyone regardless of what harm is done.

  But it is only when an individual has broken free from the control this cult exercises that these things can be seen and finally understood. I don't doubt there are many good and sincere men and women who are serving their congregations in various capacities. I was a Society-appointed pioneer. I have known women who were wonderful full-time workers. I have known men who were not just elders but real shepherds who lovingly cared for others. But the overall fruitage of this arrangement has not been good and does not bear the stamp of divine approval. It remains in place so that the Society can use its "iron fist in a velvet glove" to keep absolute control over the rank-and-file to its enrichment and their harm.

  Quendi
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  Slidin Fast

  D of C

  caught this comment in the bookstudy (oops BIBLE study) last night. Isn't this a change from what has been previously said in past publications? Seems to me they used to make it sound like the "appointed by Holy Spirit" meant there was some hocus pocus divine decision making when these dudes were chosen by the BOE. Now, it just means that some subjective opinions amongst the BOE says they are OK to be included in the GOBC (Good Ole Boys Club).

  I think you are right. the elders and the CO had their pow wow, the letter goes off. Two weks later it comes back, rubber stamped "appointed by Holy Spirit". They always insisted that the decsion was divine, theocratic. The phrase in this section seems to step back from that.

  Quendi. Thanks for that analysis, I can't argue with any of it.