"If a person walked up to you one day and started telling you what to do, how to do it, and threatening you if you refused, wouldn't you immediately ask them by what Authority they had such a right? Wouldn't you want to see a badge? Credentials? A uniform and the citing of some Law? Certainly you would! Otherwise, you'd tell them to get the hell out of your face.And yet...7 million people on this planet listen to every word published, spoken or taught by a very small group of old men. These 7 million people will even go so far as to die defending what those men tell them! They will allow their own children to die because of what those old men say should be done!These obedient millions will march against their own family society, state or Nation and do the very opposite of their fellow man simply because those few old men have told them it is the only right course of action!"
The governing body does not tell us what or what not to do. Do we have a list of movies we can't watch? Or a list of websites we can't visit? Or a list of times we can do certain things? You are reaching for the stars with that one buddy. To answer your main question, the governing body has credentials. I don't need to quote the scripture in Matthew since I'm sure you already know it very well. Just as there were a group of older men in Jerusalem to make decisions and help Christ's followers to understand the Scriptures, so it is in modern times with the restoration of true worship. Everything we object to, whether it's military service, blood transfusions, saluting the flag, and so forth are all based on Scriptural principles. Why would anyone "Christian" who has hope in God's Kingdom avidly support this world's rulers and nations when God has on a number of occasions told us NOT to in his word, the Bible? What a ridiculous argument. Instead of posting your clouded viewpoints, let's post some specifics and I'll refute every one of them from the Bible.
"The Jehovah's Witness Governing Body has made certain that specific teachings have been taught as True Doctrines of the True Faith only to turn around later and change those True Doctrines of the True Faith to something different.If holy spirit were leading them to these teachings we must ask: which time were they led? When it was wrong, or, now that it is presumably right?The Watchtower Society refers to these changes by calling them "adjustments" as though it were a sharpening of a fuzzy focus. Yet, changing a doctrine to its opposite is hardly that. An opposite teaching repudiates the one it replaces! This means one is determined FALSE in order that the newer one be TRUE.If Jehovah or Jesus were actually directing this Governing Body to "govern" (or "control") the teachings from one thing to its opposite, would it not change the definition of TRUTH into "Whim" instead?"
This is another futile and weak argument. Jesus' spirit directed his disciples, yet they STILL had misunderstandings about his death and the restoration of the Kingdom. Years after his death, there still wasn't a concise, clear-cut understanding of the true significance of Jesus' death and the effect it had on the Law covenant, even though it was very clear from 33 C.E. onward that Jehovah's blessing was with the early Christians. Having to make readjustments or changing a doctrine is not evidence of it not being God's organization. The churches have been teaching the same things for THOUSANDS of years, and will even admit the Unscriptural origin of their beliefs. Jehovah's Witnesses, like the first-century Christians, make ANY needed changes in belief/thinking, as it is revealed to them by holy spirit.
"A sudden change of mind that is unexplained is a "Whim". When 1925 was publicly "marked" as the year of resurrection for ancient faithful men of old and laterrepudiated, this was "Whim".It was neverE-X-P-L-A-I-N-E-D as to how the wrong conclusion was allowed to pass by the attention of holy spirit guidance, Jesus Christ approval and Jehovah soverign direction! The same could be said of the huge publicity campaign targeting 1975 as the "end of six thousand years of human history". It went unexplained how the year could be so important that it was the center of JW attention only to fade into silence.Was Jehovah not paying attention when he directed the Governing Body to publish the error? Was holy spirit asleep at the wheel? Was Jesus off ruling some other corner of the universe?If 1925 and 1975 needed to be taught, believed, published and embraced obediently we must ask what was TRUE about the TRUTH contained in those messages that the very opposite became reality instead?" WHIM!What source of authority could the Governing Body or anointed leadership or "faithful and discreet" slave point to to JUSTIFY such errors being taught as TRUTH leading to eternal life??It went without any explanation at all!!"
What you need to understand is, being "guided" by holy spirit does not automatically make anyone free from making mistakes. 1925 was explained actually, here's a WT that explains it. w84 2/15 23-24
1975 was also explained. Since the Bible said a "day" with God is as a thousand years, and God had six creative days (6,000 years) and then he rested for a "seventh day". So at the end of those 6,000 years, they thought, Christ would begin ruling since God was now "resting".
Again,the details/misunderstandings regarding these dates/expectations is not important. It did not remove Jehovah's holy spirit as the preaching work has continued to take place, years after these events. Wrong expectations are due to imperfect thinking, and imperfect reasoning. Being guided by God's spirit does not make one exempt from these things. Stop allowing imperfections to stumble you. Your criticism and strong dislike of the governing body is due to your simple misunderstanding of how holy spirit works. Even with their "failings", the faithful and discreet slave follows the Scriptures to the best of their ability. The majority of people don't even know the Trinity, hellfire, and immortality of the soul originate from pagan religions. Christendom hasn't even gotten the BASIC things together after THOUSANDS of years. It's obvious who the "slave" truly is.
