Dramatis Personae:
=Christopher (human male, non-person doomed to destruction)
=President Nathrick Knorranz, successor to Pastor-Judge Charles Fraze Russellford, who finished his earthly course earlier in 2010, as part of the generation of anointed ones who saw 1914, and whose lives will be overlapped by the generation of anointed ones who will see the great tribulation. (See "Holy Spirit's Role in the Outworking of Jehovah's Purpose" in the April 15, 2010 Watchtower.)
: He-hey, guys. How's it goin'?
: It's good to see you're attending the meetings again. So far, have you found any other organization providing timely spiritual food and direction like ours?
: Well, I will say one thing. Your food is definitely unique.
: Indeed, it is. Jehovah provides direction through the "faithful slave" class "at the proper time." Have you found any other organization that can do that?
: At the risk of sounding like an arrogant apostate, I'm going to say yes. I'm also going to apologize to Think About It for borrowing his emoticon for the purposes of this discussion.
: Really? I find that unlikely. Where is this organization?
: Well, Jesus is its Head, and everybody else who wants to listen to him is the body. Of course, we could go with your uh, "Jesus has 144,000 body parts and some random spare parts in his 'belongings' area" approach.
:
: I see your countenance has fallen. You okay? Got a little, little sin crouchin' at the entrance?
: Until you recognize the "faithful slave" as the channel Jehovah is using today, you know that you will never be a true head of your household, and you are setting them up for entering the new system without you. Is that what you want?
: And here I thought Jesus was the way to salvation. You're telling me there's another way?
: Wha--? No! I'm telling you that the "faithful slave" that he has appointed over all his belongings must be obeyed. Its direction comes from Jesus Christ and Jehovah God. To ignore the slave is to ignore the Master.
: Excuse me--I had something in my eye. So...I thought the slave's job was to provide food, not directions. Don't the slaves already get directions from the Master? Why would they need another slave to give them directions they've already been provided? Or are these new directions? If so, how do we know they're from the Master?
: Because the Master appointed the slave over all his belongings.
: So, how come we're belongings, anyway? Can't we be, you know, people or something? 'Belongings' sounds more like suitcases or dishes or...those plastic bags you plan to reuse but they just keep building up till you have to throw some away.
: As Paul said, "You BELONG to Christ; in turn, Christ belongs to God."
: Well, good point. ...
: Yeah. That's what happens when you study the Bible. You make good points. How's your sporadic Bible reading coming along? Get out of 2 Kings yet?
: Since I've read the Bible 4 times already, I don't see a need to rush through its contents a fifth time. I've enjoyed reading the New Testament, especially Paul's letters, along with my usual readings. No, I don't read it every day, but I do read it. As I recall, you never particularly read it every day either.
: ... The slave class provides us with a reading schedule that enables us to read the whole Bible in the course of a year or two. I try to keep up with that.
: Wow. Is there anything the slave class doesn't provide? Hmm...how about EVERLASTING LIFE?
: Following the slave's direction will put us in line for everlasting life, when Christ and his spirit-anointed brothers gradually restore mankind to perfection.
: Yeah. I hear that a lot. Can you show me in the Bible where the anointed will 'gradually remove' sin and death from mankind? Here I thought that was Jesus' role, and that it's not a gradual process--he died once for all time so that we could stand forgiven of our sins NOW. Ever read Romans 5? Great stuff there.
: The anointed are spoken of as kings and priests in Revelation 5:9, 10. They are underpriests, serving alongside the High Priest, Jesus Christ. Through Christ and the 144,000, blessings will flow to mankind during the Thousand Year Reign. I thought you studied when you were serving Jehovah. Have you forgotten even those basic truths?
: Okay, so...we know the 'anointed' are kings and priests. Wonderful. But you still haven't proven, using the Bible, that they will help Jesus remove sin and death from us. That's Jesus' job, and I'm pretty sure the anointed need forgiveness of their sins and the removal of death themselves. So they get forgiven first, but everyone else has to work for 1,000 years to receive perfection? Talk about a serious imbalance of justice. By the way, basic truths are found in the Bible--and you haven't shown me how what you said is proven there. The Bible does talk about 'repentance toward God, baptism, the laying on of the hands, resurrection and everlasting judgment'. Hebrews 6. Those are my basic truths. I'm pretty happy about them. They're simple. They require no calculations or black and white pictures of guys in early 20th century business suits standing in order by height.
: Are you speaking about Brother Rutherford and those who were persecuted when the brothers went into exile to Babylon the Great in 1918 and the preaching work almost came to a halt?
: Is there a scripture that talks about Christians in the early 20th century going into exile to Babylon the Great?
: Revelation chapter 11--the two witnesses prophesying in sackcloth. This is symbolic and was fulfilled by the brothers in 1918.
: Hey, far be it from me to question Jehovah. You've obviously done your research.
: Jehovah's organization is moving forward. Your wife sees it. When you're ready to come back to Jehovah, I hope you'll be humble enough to accept his counsel and discipline again.
: Hey, you got it, pal. I'm off to sleep on, as the rest do....
