by free2beme 46 Replies latest jw friends
No, not exclusive to the WT at all Char, they dont have the monopoly on where the Holy Spirit is sent, as the following from a 'worldly' resource shows:
Spiritual anointing with the Holy Ghost is conferred also upon Christians by God. ( 2 Corinthians 1:21 ) " Anointing "expresses the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit upon Christians who are priests and kings unto God.
http://topicalbible.org/a/anointing.htm
Loz x
Edit PS The WTBS aren't the only ones who use this term either.
Trust me, Loz, the existence of the anointed as per the Watchtower is unique to them.
Topical Bible isn't a definitive resource, and can't be used as an encyclopaedia.
The whole thing is a result of taking what happened at Pentecost and then creating a doctrine out of it. It is maybe within a particular tradition of which I, with a long lifetime of experience of the Anglican and Catholic churches (of course the Anglican Church is very much within the catholic tradition), have had no encounter. Other experience through friends and extended family of theMethodists, Congregationalists,Presbyterians and others has never brought me into contact with this teaching. So I don't think the understanding is very prevalent.
What I am familiar with, and suspect that this is the origin of the whole thing, is the sacrament of Confirmation, in which the Holy Spirit is conferred on a person through the laying on of hands, by a bishop or, in the case of the Catholic Church, in particular circumstances, of a priest to whom episcopal authority has been granted for that specific occasion. After the Holy Spirit has been received, a person can receive Holy Communion, the Body and Blood of Our Lord in the form of bread and wine. Many Catholics (and Anglicans) do so daily. I have a feeling JW's may not be the only ones who do this only yearly but I can't bring any sect to mind that does. Pretty well every Catholic over the age of, maybe 7 or 8 has been confirmed, and can communicate daily, if they want, and most Anglicans over, maybe 12-14 are also confirmed.
The anointed class of the JW's is their own bizarre creation, pure fiction, as are the doctrinal beliefs appended to it.
my grandfather was one of those - he came over from the old country around the time of the first world war, ran into the bible students and became a baptized member - and they were all anointed back then. he never mastered the english language - he did take the lead in the area back in the 30's....and i imagine was the main guy - whatever they called them in that era - but in my childhood and up until he died he never held a "position of oversight". he was big on fs, of course....i think he was well-meaning enough, but sired a most dysfunctional bunch....a couple of us are still amazed we ended up relatively normal.
These annointed are not 'company men'. They cannot control who is annointed, they cannot know who is telling the truth and who is lying (because they,themselves, are not annointed); so these are given a position of nothing, and now, a possible mentally diseased designation.
I think the bigger the wts grow, the more their doctrines are going to backfire on them.
Annointing is being baptized with the spirit, like Cornelius and his family. You do not have to be annointed to partake. You simply have to want to follow Christ and listen to Him, and to belong to Him.
Peace,
tammy
Eden, probably, but also strangely correct.
I knew a Circuit Overseer who was a "young annointed" - started partaking while he was at Bethel in the early 1960s. He told me that "new annointed" are watched carefully for a time to see if they were "real" - in other words, that they have to pretty much meet the same path to promotion as non-annointed do.
Therefore, he denied that being annointed got him into the circuit work more easily...
For what it is worth, he also was completely unable to explain to me in convincing terms how he "knew" he was annointed.
I wasn't suggesting that Topical Bible was an encyclopaedia, just that many other bibles translate the word in that scripture as 'anointing', it's a familiar term that I heard even before the WT. I agree that the way the WTBS have divided people into separate classes based on their term 'anointed' is unique to them and inaccurate, but it doesn't negate this action of the Holy Spirit.
Confirmation in the Cof E that I received granted me freedom to 'take communion' but it had nothing to do with the actual Holy Spirit performing any action upon me in reality, the clergy just used the words. Of course many churches refer to the 'anointing' as being 'born again' too.
Loz x
EP, an exception to your rule may be Blondie's husband. He strikes me as being an earnest and compassionate man, which is likely why Blondie snapped him up in the first place.
On the other hand, once he had a good look behind the scenes he could not tolerate the hypocrisy long.
Oh, and to stick to the topic, I met an "annointed" in Calgary. She was legally blind and carried her large print bible in two shopping bags which she arranged on the seats on either side of her. She would look up every scripture, whipping open those books like a pro.
For some reason, she was not considered for any leadership positions. One must assume her full role would begin in heaven.
This whole annointed thing confused me mightily, as I came from an evangelical background. Everyone in my church was annointed. Partook, too.
they are a strange lot alright , I studied with one for over a year and all he had was the familiar ,it's just some sort of knowing answer , he was and probably still is an elder . I asked him if he ever saw spirits and he said no , apparently normal people can't see spirits , they think you are nuts just for that or demonically possesed , the SOB made me extremely mad one thursday night and I never have anything to do with the religion anymore , I was never convinced he was, "special", in any way . I was in a state of mind to give them yet one more chance to prove they were better than what I read on this board but it all turns out to be true .
