Recovery requested I post in the other thread, but really, who could add anything more to what Leolaia has to say on the matter? For the most part, objectivity was lost and things became personal. As you pointed out Winston, we already had the same topic going on over here, and many questions have not been addressed by the apologist (for instance in regard the Other Sheep).
Revelation is highly interpretive. I've a preterist viewpoint (somewhere between partial and full). Some are historists, idealists, and futurists. There are the atheist and agnostic viewpoints about Revelation as well. And in each, there are various schools of thought. There is no consensus "apostate" interpretation. But coming to a consensus on matters of theology is not what this forum is about.
In this thread the key thing is examining whether the Society's current viewpoint can withstand the exegesis. To do that, we must examine what the Society is saying currently and compare that to the Bible alone. The apologetic response actually has not been in accord to what has been in the Publications. I'm not sure if the Society would view the response as apostate or not, but if so, that would be ironic.
The Society views the vision of the Great Crowd in play now…that is, that there is a present Great Crowd who will survive the great tribulation, who are currently serving in the earthly courtyard of the temple. They view the remnant of the 144000 as serving in the Holy Place, doing priestly duties, and their presence in the Holy representing the duties of spirit-begotten sons of god on earth who upon death and resurrection pass through the curtain (their flesh), and enter the Most Holy (heaven itself). They do not view the Great Crowd as sons of God until the 1000 years have ended, nor do they ever have priestly duties, rather they are the beneficiaries of the priesthood of the 144000.
So if we take the Holy/Most Holy Temple interpretation as a given (that those rendering service in the Holy Place on earth are spirit-begotten sons of God and have Priestly duties and they pass into the Most Holy upon their resurrection), one can see the implications for the Great Crowd. They render priestly service on earth in the Holy Place (the Naos), as spirit-begotten sons of God. They therefore have a heavenly destiny in the Most Holy.
