Ok. Sorry about early posting. Anyway, you posted:
Tell me why I should ignore Jesus's command at Luke 21:8. I am not telling you to ignore Jesus' command. I am telling to examine the subject in context. By this logic, if we were first century Christians we should not have listened to the apostles since they claimed to have authority from Christ himself. It is a relative command (to the context), not a definite one.
My answer is: Luke 21:8 says :He said: “Look out that YOU are not misled; for many will come on the basis of my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The due time has approached.’ Do not go after them.
You can not compare the “slave” to the apostles. The apostles had evidence of holy spirit. They could heal, raise people from the dead etc. That is evidence.
On the other hand the evidence that the FDS is actually who they say they are is non-existent. Remember Deuteronomy 18:20-23, this is how Jehovah tells us to determine if a prophet is true or not. The FDS fails that test. And yes, it is true they do have many quotes in writing where they claim that they are not prophets, but you and I both know I can find quotes where they compare themselves to Jeremiah and Ezekiel, even quotes where they come right out and say they are prophets.
Battling quotes leads to nowhere though. The WTBTS claims to be God’s only “spirit directed” organization. How can you be spirit directed and not inspired. They want to have it both ways. They want to claim to be “God’s sole channel of communication” and at the same time say they what they are speaking is not from God. Give me a break.
As far as Nathan, as I said earlier I am open minded and I will read those passages in the bible tonight with an open mind and see if there is indeed a parallel.
As far as Mark 13:31, did not CT Russel and JF Rutherford both say that Jesus was present in 1874? Yes they did. How does Jesus say to respond to teachings like that which are not true? He says “do not believe it”. You know what? That is good enough for me. Are you saying that we should do other than what Jesus clearly says to do?
I am at work right now gotta run, but I will read the section about Nathan and post later.