How can man be condemned as weak, capricious and error-prone on the one hand and yet—be the sole transmitter of TRUTH and the arbiter of JUSTICE on the other?
The OP’s view of man is in many ways inaccurate, in my view. Man has never been perfect in anything, but it doesn’t preclude the transmission of truth because, as he said, we are, by default, the sole transmitter. Do we reject all histories because they were written by man? And isn’t much of religion a form of history? We look at people like Moses, Elijah, Isaiah and we inspect their writings and what they did, and man can derive spiritual benefit from them. We look at Jesus and examine how the prophets in the Old Testament pointed the way to Christ. There may be errors in transmission, but if the hand of God is in it, it becomes of benefit to man.
God, in times past, spoke to men through prophets and I personally believe in prophets today. One has to either determine whether 1) they’re lying; 2) they’re mistaken regarding their callings (as are the men making up the Governing Body); 3) they’re being deceived due to the foibles built in to the human psyche; and/or 4) the prophets are telling the truth in what they experience in visions, revelations, and so forth.
When one looks at all the many ancient prophecies that came to pass, there does indeed seem to be a super intelligent source guiding them. Jesus said, “Search the scriptures, for they are they which testify of me.” If one reads Isaiah 53, written centuries before the coming of Jesus, it becomes very difficult to explain away. Jesus prophesied that the Jews would be destroyed and scattered, and they were. And the prophets before him also prophesied likewise. They also wrote that in the latter days that the Jews would be gathered from the nations of the Earth and restored to their ancestral homeland. The prophets also saw that Israel’s enemies would be their neighbors, and that they would rise up and seek the destruction of the Jews. But the Lord stated that he would be with the Jews and that he would fight their battles, which so far has come to pass (see Zechariah 12-14)
Men are just as prone to screw up history, yet we don’t reject it because, many times, it’s all we have. People complain about Josephus and Suetonius, yet they’re still published and we’re still reading them. In the case of religious histories, though, they’ve been remarkably consistent in most cases. With the discoveries of new libraries and new accounts, we’re learning much more and in many cases we’ve had to change our views as we learn that the Hebrews weren’t always monotheists, and that the Christians believed things that we didn’t know about until very recently. (Not only did they believe that all men have spirits, but that man existed prior to coming to Earth. (See Jeremiah 1:5) This is something that is supported by many “near death” experiences as well, where people “die” and not only see people they knew in life, but people they knew before coming to Earth.)
In short, man has an intellect, and as faulty as it can be, we’re naturally a record keeping animal. And we shouldn’t reject the histories of men because men are flawed and opinionated. In the religious area, some people can be so easily led to the point that a few men can exercise complete control over them. But as the intelligence of men varies, so does the quality of their religions. Christianity and the earlier Law of Moses are outstanding examples of compassionate philosophies, and the Mosaic Law required farmers to leave behind part of their crops for the poor and hungry. In fact, it prohibited the use of fences to keep the poor out and nets on top of their fig trees to keep the birds from eating the figs in the upper branches. It also required periodic forgiveness of debts and forbade the refusal of loans when debt forgiveness dates loomed. Additionally, the old eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth aspect was only the threat of such. In the vast majority of cases, people worked out reparations.
The Jewish religions also were entrenched in the law of witnesses. Seventy elders of Israel saw God and dined in his presence. And Peter, James and John saw Moses and Elijah on the mount of transfiguration, not to mention the healings of the sick and the raising of the dead. In addition, the apostles not only saw the risen Christ and felt the prints of the nails in his hands and feet, but spent 40 days being taught of him after his resurrection. I don’t know many people who feel that the gospels and the teachings of the ancient apostles and prophets were superficial and superstitious.
But each person must decide for himself. That’s what makes this so much fun.