Who is the Faithful and Discrete Slave?

by Etude 41 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Etude

  Recently, I've had memories about that topic, which I had suppressed for a long time. My original question came up when I encountered a few members of the "anointed" in my congregation (we're talking almost 30 years ago).

  There was one sister who partook of the "emblems" who had come from Cuba. I learned from her that her health was frail because she had smuggled some expensive jewelry in a condom and stuck it up her colon. I guess that trying to escape the Castro regime didn't mean you had to be totally destitute. Well, the plan apparently had deleterious effects on her caused some permanent damage.

  I learned this because she was staying at our house in Queens, N.Y. when she had no other place to go. I don't remember the reason why she had to leave where she was. Eventually, I don't remember if she just moved away or was asked her to leave by my parents -- Yes, there were problems. It wasn't a big to-do (asking an anointed to leave our house) because my dad, although sympathetic, was not a Witness and, as I recall, she was not the most endearing person. Anyway, I thought about her then and the fact that she was of the "anointed" and I couldn't help but think: "What is her function as a member of the "Faithful and Discrete Slave"?

  According to the WT literature, that class "provides nourishment at the proper time" for Jehovah's people. I didn't see her doing that. I knew at least three "anointed" in my congregations. And, except for Ray Franz (he attended at least 2 congregations that I also attended) I didn't know that the others I was acquainted with did anything of significance for the flock. Later, when I ended up living in Bethel, I noticed that there were a lot of individuals in the writing department who wrote and/or managed the "food" publication for "Jehovah's people". What I gathered was that the "anointed" and the "Faithful and Discrete Slave" class did not "map" one-to-one.

  It's such an obvious thing to me that I know I must have received some sort of explanation to help me suppress that blatant disparity. I don't remember what it was. I suppose that most dedicated JWs deal with that in their own way. How did any of you here reconcile that discrepancy if you faced it? I suppose that by way of an excuse, I must say that their spell on me was complete.

  Etude
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  G Money

  Could you be perhaps, confusing the 144,000 (annointed) with the Faithful and Discrete Slave which the governing body purports to be?
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  Etude

  G Money:

  I don't think I'm mistaken, although I could be wrong. My understanding is that those that are of the anointed class, demonstrated by their partaking of the "emblems" are the "Faithful and Discrete Slave":

  "Witnesses of Jehovah understand that the "slave" is comprised of all anointed Christians as a group on earth at any given time during the 19 centuries since Pentecost." Watchtower of March 1, 1981

  Since only the 144,000 are the "anointed" that would make them all one and the same ("Reasoning from the Scriptures", p. 166). As far as I can remember, the "slave" class was the 144,000. That may have changed in the years that I've been gone from the Organization. And of course, we know that at one time, that's all there was, until they received "new understanding" and found the "Great Crowd". Even if the WTBTS was not equating the "Faithful and Discrete Slave" class with the 144,000, the numerical group is described by them as a "priestly class". There was nothing "priestly" about many of the "anointed" I knew in that they didn't do anything special to mark them as such.

  Of course, I can see now (and even then) how someone could delude him or her self into thinking he/she was of the anointed class. It's not unlike what some "Born Again" Christians experience (a kind of rapture) that makes them praise Jesus. I remember one year when their numbers went up when they should have been dying down. They had to come out with an article about it. So, am I confused or is it clear that the 144,000 are the anointed and the "slave" class? If so, what the heck are these other people who don't write literature and are rather marginal in the congregations do to make them part of a "priestly" class? Is the argument good enough to show the holes in the WTBTS teachings?

  Etude.
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  daystar

  Etude,

  I'm with you. I recall holding the same belief, that the FDS and anointed were one and the same. I was under the impression that the GB was made of of anointed, but did not include all anointed, of course. So we had anointed who were simply in the congregation, working just as the rest did, only they were, well, anointed.

  I don't know why I never considered asking their view on how they should be directing Jah's earthly organization.
• 

  Pole

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/94909/1.ashx
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  greendawn

  Etude, were the people you knew in the writing department mebers of the annointed or as they call it members of the big crowd?
  
  The way things work in the WTS is that the GB doesn't invite or wish in the least the rest of the annointed to offer any ideas because they want a monopoly of everything. So the marginalised annointed may be willing to offer spiritual food but the GB absolutely prohibit it. It's their sinful lust for power.
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  Doubtfully Yours

  The answer varies, depending on who you ask.

  7th Day Adventists say it's them. Pentecostals say it's them. Baptists say it's them. Jewish still believe they're exclusively God's people. Everybody believes they're the ones that got it right.

  DY
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  AlanF

  The Watchtower Society officially defines "the faithful and discreet slave class" as all living members of the "144,000 class". However, the Governing Body does not act in accord with this definition, nor have any Watchtower leaders since Rutherford initiated the doctrine in the 1920s. In practice, "the slave" is nothing more than the most powerful Watchtower leader, or group of leaders. These leaders have included only Rutherford, Knorr, Franz and Jaracz. They take little note of what any of those professing to be of "the anointed class" have to say. Furthermore, these leaders consider almost all of today's "anointed" to be counterfeits, except for a few hundred men around the world, most of whom live in the New York area. Naturally this is almost unknown among rank & file JWs.

  AlanF
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  daystar

  AlanF,

  If that is the case, should one "feel" they are one of the anointed, how is that processed by the WTS? I've never known the process having never asked (not that my asking necessarily would have resulted in my knowing). Are they then given a special book telling them of their responsibilities?
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  stillajwexelder

  The FDS is a composite body and consists of AlanF, Farkel, Blondie, Leolaia, Dogpatch, Bill Bowen , Simon and Hillary Step - they oversee the worldwide spiritual feeding programme