Apostolic Succession and the Govenring Body

drew sagan

The Watchtower feels that there was two Governing Bodies. One in the first century, and of course the one that has "appeared" in the 19th century.
A huge question that I've never heard the Watchtower explain (mabye you can point me in the right direction) is why did jesus apostles, the members of the original governing body not appoint succesors to the governing body? Why was not this important fundamental body of christian leaders allowed to break up and dissapear? Wouldn't Christ have talked about this at all during his earthly ministry if this would have been true?
Many of us know that when talking to other witnesses that most look upon the beliefs of lets say the Catholics and Apostolic Succession as a joke, something that is more hoped for than seems to be reality. But the idea that these men in the 19th century onward somehow fill the same position of men almost two thousand years ago, with a giant gap in the middle seems to be even more preposterous. And not only that the WTS on the subject is absurd, but it is so very similiar to what they have been condemning.
Since the "original" governing body never appointed successors, why isn't the modern governing body should of the same form? Why did the original hand picked disciples of Christ last a shorter amount of time than the modern one?
So many of us while JW thought that everything we believed was logical and simply made sense. We didn't look at the things being done in the orgainzation as resembling the wild claims that others make, instead we viewed them as simply the logical way christians today would carry out the work of God. That's where I think we all had the biggest fault, we failed to see that little by little the Society wasn't simply doing things because the bible said so or because it made logical sense. Instead it was about preservation of the orgaization and it's goals. Getting people to believe that God is directly behind an organization helps retain members and sustain organization. I don't doubt the sincerity of those who write the magazines and lead this organization simply because I was blinded by the same kind of thinking, I myself took part in it. I know what it's like to believe things out of passion instead of truth.

serendipity

Hi Drew,

Good point. This is just one of many things I never thought about.

Nellie

Drew this was always a question in my mind. Not only questioning the GB, but also Russell himself. When the society released the Kindgom Proclaimers book, I thought - FINALLY, my questions will be answered. Instead, the whitewashed history account forced me to look for more indepth answers - ultimately leading me .... here.

I thank God, I had the courage to but the apostate-boogieman phobias aside and was openminded enough to accept the facts that I discovered.

greendawn

That GB doctrine is such a load of bollocks to validate this body that only received teaching authority after much resistance from Franz in the 1970's.

Did the early church have a tiny number of inner circle men upon whom all Christians exclusively looked for light (spiritual food) in due season? Of course not and when James was to decide on the mosaic law applicability for gentile Christians he consulted the Jerusalem church, also Paul was acting independently from the Jerusalem church.

Neither were the apostles known for producing erratic dogma that changed every few years.

stillajwexelder

But the idea that these men in the 19th century onward somehow fill the same position of men almost two thousand years ago, with a giant gap in the middle seems to be even more preposterous. And not only that the WTS on the subject is absurd, but it is so very similiar to what they have been condemning.

ABSOLUTELY

Narkissos

Interesting points.

Leaving aside the whole idea of a 1st-century "governing body," it is noteworthy that the latest "mainstream" NT writings do rely on some sort of apostolic-episcopal succession. E.g. 2 Timothy 2:2: "what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well." This handing down of tradition was expected to control the so-called "heretics" in the next generations, not to be lost into a general apostasy of the church leaders as JWs (and other Protestant sects) suggest.