Yes Minimus, I never could grasp that one myself. That chapter is where Jesus is talking about literal slavery under the Hebrew law and using the parable to talk about the Holy spirit. Paul describes himself as being a "slave" to Jesus and so on. No slave "class" though. This whole "class" of Christians bit was strange to me. I also had a lot of difficulty with Revelation Chapter 9 and their silly explanations too.
What Do You Think About The "Faithful&Discreet Slave Class"?
by minimus 86 Replies latest jw friends
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minimus
C.T. Russell loved "classes". Everything was a class to his group.
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Outaservice
My wife was a Special Pioneer many years ago and they used that scripture in a letter to her admonishing her to be 'faithful & discreet' in her Pioneering ministry. So, I guess she could have been a 'faithful & discreet slave'!
Outaservice
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I quit!
First off they're not faithful. They betray the Bible, their followers and even their own teachings at times.
They're not discreet. Not only have they said many stupid things they were dumb enough to put them in writing.
Slave? Now there's a joke. Since when do slaves run the show?
I think "Unreliable Foolish Bully Class" would be a little more accurate. But then who would listen to them?
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Flowerpetal
OOPS! I meant to add to my comments, that the NWT shows two slaves, the faithful one and the evil one. Of course, the society identifies with the faithful one never even considering the possibility that they could become the evil slave. But as you said, it's a parable anyway, and we have all realized that it's the governing body who is running the show--not the remaning ones who claim to be the 144,000.
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true
True,
Welcome to the board!
Can you supply us with a solid scriptural link showing that the "slave" of Matthew 24:45-47 has to be the same as the 144,000 from Revelation 7 / Revelation 14?
PS "The Watchtower says" doesn't count as a scriptural link!
No, there is no link.
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Apostate Kate
Matthew 24:45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
Mt 24:45
Verses 45--51. This passage is in fact a parable, though it is not
expressly so called. The design is to show that his disciples should
act as if they were each moment expecting his return. This he
illustrates by the conduct of a servant who did not expect his master
soon to return, who acted with great impropriety, and who was
accordingly punished.Verse 45. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, etc. By the
conduct of a faithful and wise servant he intends to denote a faithful
Christian, a servant of God, or a teacher of religion.Whom his lord. His master. It has no reference to God. It means the
lord or master of the servant. Applied to Christian teachers, in the
spiritual meaning of the parable, it refers to Christ, who has
appointed them as teachers, and who is their Lord and Master, Joh
13:13-14.Over his household. His family. Christian ministers are the servants
of God appointed over the church, the family of Christ, 1Th 5:12-13;
1Co 3:5; 4:1; 12:28.Meat in due season. The word meat here means food of all kinds.
When the Bible was translated into English, it included, as the
original does, all kinds of provisions requisite to support and nourish
life.In due season. At the proper time. As they need it, or in the
accustomed times. This was the office of a steward. Among the
ancients this office was often filled by a slave--one who had shown
himself trusty and faithful. The duty was to have a general
superintendence over the affairs of the family. Applied to Christian
ministers, it means that they are to feed the flock of God, to minister
to their wants, and to do it as they need it, Joh 21:15-17; Ac 20:28;
1Co 4:1-2.{n} "meat" Jer 3:15
{o} "due season" Mt 13:52Barnes
There has never been any controversy concerning this passage, not in the 2000 years since it was written except for the Watchtower tweaking it to glorify themselves in the perverted way they do.
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onesong
Questioning the FDS teaching was what started the unraveling for me.
Some issues I saw as I examined it : -every other time in the scriptures the term "faithful and discreet slave " is used it is always refering to an
individual (even according to JW reasoning)
- The Society loves to point to Matthews version which is stripped down compared to Luke's version. (Luke 11) When you try to apply the Society's interpretation of Matt. 24 to Luke 11 things begin to break down. (Ex. In Luke's account there are MANY slaves in the house awaiting the masters arrival--not just 1 as can be derived from Matthew)
- Matthew 25 has an account where the master tells the the servant "Well done good and faithful slave" and the Society's interpretation is that it applies to individuals. A closer look reveals that the account is merely continuing from Matt.24 where supposedly Jesus is talking about a slave "class". How can you give two different definitions to the same subject?
-I was also interested to see that in the Insight book under the heading "Illustrations" it makes the comment (I'll paraphrase because I joyfully flung my copy into the dumpster last year) that illustrations or parables are merely for teaching moral lessons ect. and NOT for expressing doctrine. They then proceed to examine and explain 30 of Jesus illustrations. Notice which illustration isn't there. You guessed it! The most important illustration to JW's, the one where all of their authority comes from! I believe the reason it's not there is because a close examination reveals the many holes in their theory.
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drew sagan
When it all comes down to it, the 'Faithful and Discreet Slave Class' doctrine (along with 1914) are the only teachings that are truely original and specific to the Witnesses. Most all of their other teachings can be found other places, but this teaching that they are the central authority for these 'true' teachings on earth is really their core doctrine. All other things are 2nd to this doctrine.
JWs can't see through this because many simply don't want to. I didn't. I wanted this to be true more than anything else. It was scary thinking there wasn't some physical organization that God was direction exclusively. Where else was I going to go???
Once we believe that a few core doctrines are true that the WT teaches, we then begin to put our trust in them. More trust than we really should be giving. Over time we no longer challenge what they say but instead just have faith they are doing the right thing. But there is a very large problem with this model....
Nothing is perfect, and their orgaization is no exception to the rule. Our blind faith in the organization is what kept us there. For one to realize it is untrue, they have to see how that salve has not truely been faithful. If they don't see the lies that come from that slaves mouth, then people in the Watchtower will never leave because their trust is still with the org. They need to see how their trust has been violated.