Have the Faithful and Discreet Slave been replaced by.......?

by Terry 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Terry

  Have the FAITHFUL and DISCREET SLAVE been replaced (quietly and surreptitiously) by the GOVERNING BODY?

  Doctrinally, has there been a subtle shift?

  With the internet and apostate information sites up in proliferation would it not be tactically correct to shift emphasis away

  from a crackpot scheme to put Pastor Russell and his wife (and later Rutherford) in the forefront as a majesterium?

  The Oracle at Delphi and the FDS were similar inventions.

  Both have been debunked.

  Can the extreme campaign to create a monolithic be-all out of the Governing Body be the new FDS in disguise?

  Loyalty has replaced faith, has it not?

  Enforcement has replaced undeserved kindness.

  Proxy authority has replaced the mediatorship of Jesus Christ.

  The old doctrines of Pyramidology, charts of Divine Plan of the Ages, Dispensationalism (the shadow and the modern fulfillment crap),

  Jesus was clean-shaved/Jesus has a beard..........all those transitional segues........are we in the middle of another one?

  Have the Faithful and Discreet Slave been replaced by the Governing Body?

  Don't say, 'they are one and the same'....they aren't. Not by a long shot.

  Until the mid 70's the President of the Watchtower was THE FDS in reality (even though phoney lip-service was paid to the body at large.)

  Was there a coup d' etat with the slaying of FDS for Governing Body?

  You tell me.
• 

  thetrueone

  I doubt that it will since the term Governing Body is not read anywhere in the bible, but FDS is, so the continuance of that term

  places viability to the organization more so than GB.

  They wearily use the term GB in their publishings for that very reason.

  FDS sounds so much more divinely spiritual than the corporate term GB of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.

  Sustaining that divine image of themselves has importance to the WTS. for commercial appeal.
• 

  cantleave

  Yes they have. Last year there was a WT article that clearly stated the following

  *** w09 6/15 p. 22 par. 10 The Faithful Steward and Its Governing Body ***

  10 However, were all spirit-anointed Christians involved in overseeing the preaching work and in preparing spiritual food? No. The apostle Paul tells us: “Not all are apostles, are they? Not all are prophets, are they? Not all are teachers, are they? Not all perform powerful works, do they?” (1 Cor. 12:29) Although all spirit-begotten Christians engaged in the preaching work, only a very limited number—just eight different men—were used to write the 27 books of the Christian Greek Scriptures.
• 

  thetrueone

  Either way you look at it, its all Watchtower propaganda that eludes to power and prominence over and above

  the lowly body of members.

  The marketing executives of the WTS. should have stronger spiritual ties to god above shouldn't they ?
• 

  SirNose586

  I always hated the phrase "the Faithful Slave and its representative governing body." It's misleading because they have never represented any group of people.

  A representative in Congress is--in theory--supposed to represent you and the people in the district when dealing with national affairs. If I want to write to my representative, which happens to be Susan A. Davis, I can. In the California state legislature I can write to Lori Saldaña. The bottom line is that with representation comes accountability because I can vote against my representative during re-election if I do not approve of the work my representative is doing.

  Do anointed members have this ability? Of course not. The Watchtower throws in the strawman argument that "not everyone makes decisions," which is the same scenario in the state legislature or in congress. I don't get to vote on bills and then send my decision to Susan Davis for her to follow. But I do have the ability to tell her how I think she should vote on something. Or I can voice my displeasure with her voting record. If enough constituents don't like her, out she goes.

  So now the question is, are these governing body members accountable to the anointed class? If I were anointed, could I write Ted Jaracz and tell him how I think he should vote on a certain issue? Upon that rhetorical question the myth of representation is slain. We don't know what goes on in those weekly GB sessions. There's no transparency. We don't know who voted on what issue. And there's no voting anyone out because the appointments--chosen from within--are for life.

  Furthermore, how is anyone to be represented when they aren't even properly accounted for? Allow me to return to the comparison with Congressional representation. Based on my voter registration (which I finally had the testicular fortitude to submit last year), I can only vote on the incumbent or challenger(s) for my particular district. I can't vote on another state's representatives. Now think of the anointed: who are they? Besides a head count after every memorial, what data are there about them? Is there an official list of partakers? Of course there isn't an official list; to have one would expose the literal 144,000 doctrine as false. The end result is a faceless sea of partakers which will keep growing, thanks to "new light" on the 1935 cutoff date. Members of this group have tried to influence doctrine, but were flatly denied consideration, despite claimed anointed status.

  The Watchtower Society is a totalitarian state. Since when did totalitarain states make themselves accountable to the governed?
• 

  RR

  The Governing body has ALWAYS ruled supreme in the borg. Technically the offiocial Watchtower belief is that the FDS class oversees everything. But the Gb makes all the rules. When I was a witness, the GB never contacted me for my imput. Earth bound elders disfellowshipped anointed ones at a drop of the hat if they disagreed with the GB. It's all a farce!
• 

  wobble

  Spot on ,RR, the silly little cult is a farce, so far beyond normal that it isn't worth satirising, they do that to themselves.

  I think Terry has highlighted a shift that has happened, and Cantleave has given examples of how it has been achieved, with subtle mind- controlling propaganda.

  The R&F Dubs now accept that the GB is the FDS and the rest of the Anointed are a support group in all matters. So now instead of "One Faith, one Baptism" etc. they have three distinct groups, 9 old farts who are running for the hills from Brooklyn, the anointed scattered around the world, and the O.S

  A NOT funny farce indeed !

  Wobble
• 

  Terry

  1.Indoctrinate

  2.Stop mentioning doctrine

  3.Start mentioning new doctrine

  4.Pretend the whole damned thing is a non-issue

  Rinse and Repeat.
• 

  mrsjones5

  I've noticed that shift. Glad to see I'm not the only one.
• 

  Terry

  Maria Russell coined the interpretation of Faithful and Wise Servant (KJV) which became Faithful and Discreet Slave.

  The original idea was that she and her husband C.T.Russell were the "Twain" or composite "slave" channeling God's Truth.

  Russell grew to like that, but, preferred to fly solo.

  Judge Rutherford allowed Russell to remain the solo FDS for awhile until he consolidated the various congregations under his own authority.

  Then, Rutherford got rid of nay-sayers (and disabled the veto of fellow board members) and applied the FDS to himself and a phoney application to the other anointed. (I say "phoney" because none other than himself really had much actual power).

  The Kingdom Hall definition of FDS would be a sort of shimmering ideal of magic apostles in Brooklyn channeling God's spirit and direction.

  The idea of mysterious and mystical remnant with secret decoder rings was thrilling to some.

  The power wielded by Rutherford and later Knorr rankled some others at the top badly.

  Around 1975/76 a sort of coup took place with Fred Franz and Knorr on one side and everybody else of note at Bethel on the other and power

  was wrested away from the one-man-rule.

  That was the REAL birth of the Governing Body as a genuine majesterium who began strangling its darlings one by one starting in Bethel and commencing a reign of terror that reached each Kingdom Hall throughout the world.

  The religion dramatically changed as a result of the very public and very embarassing failure of Armageddon in 1975.

  The inability to face that failure and acknowledge it for a long time proves NOBODY was really in charge at that point with any backbone or direction!