Inspired vs spirit-directed: what's the difference?

by keyser soze 7 Replies latest jw experiences

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  keyser soze

  I remember asking this question to couple of elders who came to visit me. I had pointed out their failed prophecies, and the fact that they were constantly making corrections in their publications, and how this proved god wasn't really behind it.

  They went into the usual song and dance about how the GB were simply imperfect men, and never claimed to be infallible. I reminded them that the bible writers were also imperfect men, and yet the bible supposedly was infallible. Why? Because god's spirit was behind it. If god's spirit were really behind the organization, than why wasn't it infallible as well? Why the constant corrections?

  They responded that, yes, the organization was spirit-directed, but they weren't inspired as the bible writers were. It was a genuine WTF? moment for me.

  It seems like nothing more than a grammatical loophole, to give them an out, when and if their prophecies fail, or when and if they receive "new light", and need to make a correction on a doctrinal matter.
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  straightshooter

  You are right that this is a word loophole. To be "inspired" implies that God has complete control and is infallible. To be "spirit directed" implies that God is guiding the situation but is not in complete control and that the person or organization can still do there own thing. Is the holy spirit really behind a "spirit directed" arrangement if it is not in complete control? Why follow a fallible organization that can be directing a person in the wrong direction?
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  donny

  Inspired = "God told me what to write"

  Spririt Dorected = "This is my opinion of what I think God would want me to write, but I may be wrong."
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  cantleave

  Here's my explanation - or it was when I was an elder.

  To be directed you are given directions to follow, but you are still in control and may still make a mistake. For example. You maybe lost so ask someone for directions. They tell, even show you on a map, but in the end you are still driving, and once they have giving you the info you need, the person giving the direction leaves you to complete the task on your own.

  In the case of the organisation they pray for direction, are given the bible and will follow it to the best of their ability. They may make mistakes in following it because they are leading the organisation and the person they asked for direction (JG) id not at the helm doing the steering.
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  PSacramento

  Paul makes it clear, a few times, that there are things he says that come from God and others that coem from him, automatically that makes at least Paul's letters both inspired by God AND the opinion of a Man.
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  blondie

  Inspired = "God told me what to write"

  Spririt Dorected = "This is my opinion of what I think God would want me to write, but I may be wrong."

  Sounds great, donny.
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  Essan

  It is a loop-hole in that 'Spirit directed' is meaningless.

  If you can claim to be 'spirit-directed' and yet are allowed to repeatedly make mistakes for which your excuses is "Well, I'm fallible, I never said I was inspired.", then how would anyone ever know who was really 'Spirit-directed" and who was just a decetitful scam artist? The answer is they wouldn't. And the Society is banking on that.

  Claiming 'spirit-direction' is really a claim to authority over others, but without any requirement to prove your entitlement to that authority. It places all the obligation of trust on those who are stupid enough to listen to the Society without any burden of requirement placed on them to show they are worthy of receiving that trust.

  It's nonsense. Sleight of hand. BS.

  The Society has played this ridiculous game for a long time, claiming inspiration but using every word to describe 'inspiration' other than inspiration - rather like a woman hanging out at the curb at night, dressed like a hooker, stopping men and offering them a "good time", sleeping with them and accepting money, but never actually calling herself a "prostitute".

  It doesn't make a difference, sweetheart, a hooker is as a hooker does.

  And the Society has long claimed inspiration and unwarranted Divine authority, but without using the exact word "inspiration". They have other words that amount to the same thing with which to impress and awe the unwary. But then they bamboozle them further when their words fail by faling back on the technicality that they never actually claimed to be "inspired".
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  THE GLADIATOR

  Essan

  It's nonsense. Sleight of hand. BS.

  That about sums it up.

  DEFENITIONS OF Inspired, spirit directed:

  Led along by holy spirit

  Guided by god

  To affect, guide, or arouse by divine influence.

  To fill with livening or exalting emotion

  To stimulate to action

  To affect or touch; to breathe life into

  To cause, guide, communicate, or motivate as by divine or supernatural influence
  
  To prompt, or cause to be written or said, by influence

  To to inspire a rumor.

  ............................................

  No-one really has a clue what these terms mean. It is all a trick of the mind, an attempt to produce reality out of something less real than thin air.

  To those capable of such magic, I salute you.