Who is the real faithful and discreet slave?
My venting #6mtwtf
Would the real faithful and discreet slave please stand.
Have your credentials ready.
The 2012 Annual Meeting Report of the wts appears to shift the privilege of membership of the Faithful and Discreet Slave away from the 144,000 and give it solely to the Governing Body – when dispensing spiritual food. As jw are taught to revere the FDS the way Roman Catholics revere the holy spirit, this new dogma might take some selling to rank and file members.
At the same time, this new light should make no practical difference to the life of any of the 99.99% of anointed, whose past, present and likely future contribution to the spiritual feeding program of the wts is zilch.
Nonetheless, when parts of the wts 2012 Annual Report are read in conjunction with excerpts of other published comments, it looks as if “new light” is about to be shone on the FDS. These excerpts are:
FDS as defined in OM book, 2005
So the “faithful steward, the discreet one”, must symbolize the complete body of Christ’s spirit-anointed footstep followers who live on earth at any given time.
OM. 2005. P16. “Identifying the faithful and Discreet Slave.
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FDS as defined in Steven Unthank court case 2011
During the court hearing legal counsel for the Watchtower Society, … made a statement on behalf of the Watchtower Society that: “The faithful and discreet slave is not a legal entity.”
Vincent Toole Solicitors presented arguments that the “faithful and discreet slave” do not exist as a “person”
Nor do they exist as a “body” of Christians.
The wts then (argued) that the "faithful and discreet slave" ... were nothing more than a "theological arrangement."
(Sizemik post 3.15.2012)
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FDS as defined in Annual Meeting Report, 2012
“The faithful and discreet slave”…is the small, composite group of anointed brothers serving at world headquarters ... who are directly involved in preparing and dispensing spiritual food. When this group work together as the Governing Body, they act as “the faithful and discreet slave.”
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What was previously seen as a loose amalgam of the magically networked spiritual thoughts of the thousands of anointed alive on earth at any given time, has now been whittled down to the decisions of those few members of the GB alive at any time since 1919; but only when they are engaged in the feeding the Master’s household.
FDS First Summary
Piecing together these snippets of information produces this summary of the FDS.
The FDS is not a legal entity;
he is not a person;
he does not exist in the flesh;
he is not an unincorporated body;
he exists only during a meeting of the GB;
wts decisions, interpretations, understandings and actions cannot be promulgated without his consent!
Without doubt, the FDS is an important theological arrangement to the wts.
More light needed.
The note of the Annual Meeting Report says the GB “act as” the FDS, but it stops short of saying the GB IS the FDS, appointed by the master to feed his household. This is the same as saying: “This heap of stones will act as a barrier”? Does this mean that the stones are serving as a barrier, or do they only pretend to be a barrier, but will soon be swept away? When will a real barrier be constructed? Brighter light is required.
Since this acting FDS does not profess to be the real FDS, we have to ask what has happened to the real one? Perhaps the FDS has not yet been appointed by the Master?
Did the various GBs from 1919 to 2012 know that they were only acting as the FDS, or did they believe that they were the real FDS?
How does today’s acting FDS know how the real FDS would act under all circumstances? Is it possible that this latest incarnation of the FDS only professes to know how the real FDS would act, but doesn’t actually know?
Maybe modesty prevents the GB from laying claim to being the real FDS? At the same time will the GB encourage rank and file dubs to reason that since the GB acts as the FDS, the GB must be the FDS! (We use same this elementary line of reasoning when we identify a duck by its waddle, its quack etc.)
Finding a suitable model for the FDS.
Apart from those questions, there is the major question of how the GB should function as the FDS in today’s setting.
Let us face it, with 7.5 million “subjects”, the wts is a larger organization than many member nations of the UN. Hence, it would be quite appropriate for the wts to employ management practices drawn from UN affiliated nations.
The best model I could find as to how the FDS might function as a small nation, came not from religion or commerce, but from the government sector where the well known governmental arrangement, called Governor in Council, is employed.
(See Notes below for more detail.)
Summary of the governmental arrangement known as Governor in Council .
A Governor in Council is not a legal entity;
he does not deliberate over issues of Government policy;
he is not a person;
he does not exist in the flesh;
he is not an unincorporated body;
he exists only when the Governor is sitting in formal meeting with the advice of the Executive Council;
he ceases to exist once the meeting is over;
yet laws of the land cannot be passed without his consent!
Without doubt, the Governor in Council is an important legal fiction in British Commonwealth countries.
Interestingly, decisions of Governors in Council are reviewable by courts of law and the courts may require the production of evidence supporting decisions of a Governor in Council.
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When what we know of the FDS is broken down into its basic components, we find the individual pieces fit very neatly into that governmental model.
Definitio n of FDS.
The FDS is the Coordinator of the Governing Body (CGB) in formal meeting with the Executive Coordinators – i.e. Coordinators of the wts standing committees (EXCs).
Purpose of the FDS
The FDS exists to give formal approval to the decisions, interpretations, understandings and actions of the wts as developed through wts standing committees.
It does not deliberate over issues; rather, it gives formal approval or otherwise to matters put before it.
Nature of the FDS
The FDS is a theological arrangement.
The FDS exists only when the Coordinator of the GB sits in formal meeting with the Executive Coordinators.
When a formal meeting concludes, the FDS ceases to exist.
Corrections
The FDS’ decisions may be reviewed by subsequent formal meetings of the GB. (And presumably by courts of law.)
Final Summary of the FDS
The FDS is not a legal entity;
he does not deliberate over decisions, interpretations, understandings and actions before him;
he is not a person;
he does not exist in the flesh;
he is not an unincorporated body;
he exists only when the Coordinator of the GB is sitting in formal meeting with the advice of the Coordination Executives;
he ceases to exist once the meeting is over;
yet wts decisions, interpretations, understandings and actions cannot be promulgated without his consent!
Without doubt, the FDS is an important theological arrangement to the wts.
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There is little doubt in my mind that a Governor in Council style FDS would function as well for the wts as it has done the last 100 years for so many governments. However, this would leave us with a governmental arrangement, not a theological arrangement as promised. Either way however, it would still not be a FDS as we have known it for many years.
So, does this analysis have any relevance?
At best, it may approximate to what is happening.
At worst, it may be no more than one person’s premature ruminations and way off track.
Moreover, I haven’t touched the question of whether the Master intended to place a person, or persons, or a theological arrangement in charge of his household?
And what about the domestics of his household? What form should we envisage them to take;
Then there is the question of the Evil Slave. Was he simply an autocratic, dictatorial, theological arrangement, or was he a wicked person, or persons?
In any event, what is written here won’t make the slightest difference to the GB which is sure to follow its own agenda, no matter what.
Yet, if nothing else, this post purges my feelings of what I see as theological connivance involving misuse the term Faithful and Discreet Slave.
mtwtf
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Notes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the UK, the Queen-in-Council (during the reign of a male monarch, King-in-Council) is, in each of the Commonwealth realms, the technical term of constitutional law that refers to the exercise of executive authority, denoting the monarch acting by and with the advice and consent of his or her privy council (in the United Kingdom and Canada's federal jurisdiction) or executive council (in most other Commonwealth realms and in Canadian provinces). In Commonwealth realms other than the United Kingdom and some British Crown dependencies, the Queen's powers and functions are delegated to the governor-general, lieutenant governor, or governor. In these cases, the Queen-in-Council is replaced by a Governor-General-in-Council, Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council, or Governor-in-Council, respectively.
In Commonwealth countries the governor is not an elected official and does not deliberate over issues of Government policy. He gets no say in the framing of laws in that country. In the USA model, a governor is an elected official who is heavily involved in framing laws of that land.
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It is customary for Executive Councillors to be the same persons who comprise the Ministry and Cabinet; however, it requires a quorum of only the Governor and two Ministers for a meeting.
The Governor is not a member of the Executive Council but summons meetings on his/her authority and presides at all meetings of the Council unless otherwise prevented from
doing so.
The first part of the approval process involves the submission of Executive Council Minutes to Executive Councillors (IE. Ministers) for consideration.
The second part of the approval process is the submission of the Minutes to the Governor in Council for approval.
The Governor in Council, unlike Cabinet, does not deliberate over issues of Government policy; rather, it gives formal, legal effect to the decisions of Cabinet or individual Ministers.
Decisions of the Governor in Council are reviewable by the courts.
The first part of the approval process involves the submission of Executive Council Minutes to Executive Councillors (IE. Ministers) for consideration.
The second part of the approval process is the submission of the Minutes to the Governor in Council for approval. Meetings of the Executive Council are summoned by the Clerk of the Executive Council under the authority of the Governor and in the normal cycle are held on the Thursday following the Cabinet meeting.
Upon the return of the Minutes from Cabinet they are processed (numbered, dated and stamped) and delivered to the Governor on the Wednesday afternoon to allow the Governor time to peruse each Minute in detail.
The meeting is held each Thursday in the ordinary cycle. In compliance with quorum requirements, at least two Executive Councillors, exclusive of the Governor are present and assisting throughout the whole of the meeting. The Clerk of the Executive Council also attends. Each Minute is then signed by the Governor at the meeting. Special meetings are held from time to time to deal with urgent matters.
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FDS Approval Process
The first part of the FDS approval process involves the submission of the minutes of the Standing Committees to their respective Executive Coordinators for consideration and approval.
The second part of the approval process is the submission of approved minutes to the Coordinator of the Governing Body for consideration and approval by the FDS.
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