Governing Body ALMOST declares themselves "God's anointed"

cedars

Hi everyone

I'm just going through the latest April 15th Watchtower, and in particular the study article entitled "Betrayal - An Ominous Sign of the Times".

Predictably, the article has a lot to say about the perils of being disloyal to God and his organization.

It gives examples of three wicked individuals:

Coniving Delilah
Treacherous Absalom
Traitorous Judas Iscariot

Then notice the summary paragraph (pages 9 and 10):

What have we learned from these warning examples? Absalom and Judas both met a shameful end because of their having turned traitor against the anointed of Jehovah. (2 Sam. 18:9, 14-17; Acts 1:18-20) Delilah’s name will forever be associated with treachery and feigned love. (Ps. 119:158) How vital it is that we reject any tendency we may have toward blind ambition or greed, which would cause us to lose Jehovah’s favor! Could any lessons be more powerful to help us reject the loathsome trait of disloyalty?

In case you missed it, the Society ALMOST describes themselves as the anointed of Jehovah. The actual intended summary of the examples begins from the words "How vital it is...", but the Society surely intends the reader to begin drawing the comparison earlier on in the paragraph. Hence, a disloyal one isn't just disloyal to Jehovah, he is disloyal to the anointed of Jehovah.

Predictably, John 6 is wheeled out again to guilt-trip any doubting Witnesses into saying "Lord, whom shall we go away to" of the Governing Body rather than Jesus Christ himself. Note the language that is used in quoting the scripture (pages 10 and 11):

So Jesus turned to his 12 apostles and asked: “You do not want to go also, do you?” It was Peter who responded: “Lord, whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life; and we have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:67-69) Did this mean that Peter fully understood all that Jesus had just said about His coming sacrifice? Probably not. Even so, Peter was determined to be loyal to God’s anointed Son. [next paragraph] Peter did not reason that Jesus must have the wrong view of things and that if given time, He would recant what he had said. No, Peter humbly recognized that Jesus had “sayings of everlasting life.” Likewise today, how do we react if we encounter a point in our Christian publications from “the faithful steward” that is hard to understand or that does not match with our thinking? We should try hard to get the sense of it rather than merely expecting that there will be a change to conform to our viewpoint.— Read Luke 12:42.

I think it's telling that the writers of the article push the phrase "God's anointed" in applying John 6 to the situation any doubting Witnesses find themselves in today. As the title of my post suggests, they stop short from outright declaring the Governing Body to be God's anointed, but use that terminology repeatedly when arguing why any dissenters need to remain loyal.

It's also extremely telling that the article writers more-or-less insist "if you don't like something in our publications, GET USED TO IT, because we ain't gonna come round to your way of thinking."

Cedars

iclone

Here is another gem from Paragraph 17 of the same article;

17 Consider just one example of the
good that can come when a family loyally
upholds Jehovah’s decree not to associate
with disfellowshipped relatives. A
young man had been disfellowshipped
for over ten years, during which time his
father, mother, and four brothers “quit
mixing in company” with him. At times,
he tried to involve himself in their activities,
but to their credit, each member
of the family was steadfast in not
having any contact with him. After he
was reinstated, he said that he always
missed the association with his family,
especially at night when he was alone.
But, he admitted, had the family associated
with him even a little, that small
dose would have satisfied him. However,
because he did not receive even
the slightest communication from any
of his family, the burning desire to be
with them became one motivating factor
in his restoring his relationship with
Jehovah. Think of that if you are ever
tempted to violate God’s command not
to associate with your disfellowshipped
relatives.

...finally the WT puts it in print the ONLY reason people seek reinstatement. It has nothing to do with any remorse towards Jehovah or feeling guilty about their lifestyle, it is all about restoring their relationship with family-not Jehovah. Never once did this shunned individual say ANYTHING about missing the meetings, ministry ect, he does not even mention anything about his relationship with Jehovah. Hilarious! Most people I know that finally capitulate and get reinstated to restore family ties, do enough spiritually "to get by", their only motivation is to restore family ties-period!

LostGeneration

Blind obedience, that is what they want these days.

Peter was determined to be loyal to God’s anointed Son. Peter humbly recognized that Jesus had “sayings of everlasting life"

how do we react if we encounter a point in our Christian publications from “the faithful steward” that is hard to understand or that does not match with our thinking? We should try hard to get the sense of it rather than merely expecting that there will be a change

Compare these two quotes. WT=Jesus. In fact, WT>Jesus -because if you find something in the Bible that contradicts what Jesus said, you have to go along with the WT explanation and quit "thinking" you silly fool.

MeanMrMustard

JWs

=

man oh man

11 Peter did not reason that Jesus
must have the wrong view of things and
that if given time, He would recant what
He had said. No, Peter humbly recognized
that Jesus had "sayings of everlasting
life." Likewise today, how do
we react if we encounter a point in our
Christian publications from "the faithful
steward" that is hard to understand
or that does not match with our thinking?
We should try hard to get the sense
of it rather than merely expecting that
there will be a change to conform to our
viewpoint.

I like how they equate themselves with Jesus as well.

On second thought, don't they, the faithful steward continuously recant Jesus words?

Constantly changing what Jesus meant by "generations"?

cptkirk

i'd love to see what god is thinking if he actually exists, after reading this bullshit. i can just picture god stepping out of the shadows while they are writing this garbage and saying SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU FILTHY FAT FUCKING PRESUMPTUOUS LAZY FUCKING USURPERS, NOW DRINK OF THE WINE YOU HAVE SERVED MY PEOPLE YOU FILTHY DRUNK FUCKIN PIGS!

fight fire with fire.

jonathan dough

Who is the self-proclaimed king passing judment on posts and putting up the thumbs-down sign?

A bit too JW for me. It has a chilling effect. Show thyself!!

jonathan dough - I think I know what you're referring to. I put the "thumbs down" sign in the post header as a sign of disapproval against the Governing Body... NOT to criticize my own post!

Sorry about that. I hope that explains things!

Cedars

Oh. Then I take back what I said. When I see the thumbs down I think it means it's a bad thread and should be avoided. Which yours isn't.

I'd give it a thumbs up.

cedars

jonathan dough - I think I know what you're referring to. I put the "thumbs down" sign in the post header as a sign of disapproval against the Governing Body... NOT to criticize my own post!

Sorry about that. I hope that explains things!

Cedars

sabastious

Moses seemed to try to appeal for his people. A true public servant and it seems God respected him for it:

Exodus 32 - 31 So Moses went back to the LORD and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”
33 The LORD replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”
35 And the LORD struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.

God didn't seem to particularly care one way or the other about Moses' outburst of emotion he simply said, "These people have sinned against me. PLAGUE. But Moses, we're still cool and I'll forgive that little naive outburst back there. Lets pretend it never happened." Moses went "all in" with God in an appeal for his people and that's probably why God seems to give him implicit trust.

-Sab

sabastious

The Governing Body are the other side of the Moses coin. They throw people under the bus like it's going out of style.

-Sab

Governing Body ALMOST declares themselves "God's anointed"

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