"Jehovah ALWAYS had/used an organization". How would you reply?

by EdenOne 108 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  adamah

  Aurelius said-

  Paragragh 17 of the same study article:

  "17 As we learned in the preceding article, the harvest season began in 1914. In that year, a number of important developments began to unfold. Jesus was enthroned as King, and the last days began. ( Rev. 11:15 ) From 1914 to the early part of 1919, Jesus accompanied his Father to the spiritual temple to do a much-needed inspection and cleansing work. * ( Mal. 3:1-4 ) Then, starting in 1919, it was time to begin gathering the wheat. Was it finally the time for Christ to appoint one organized channel to dispense spiritual food? Yes, indeed!"

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  'to appoint' implies to me that an organized channel was not previously appointed.

  Sorry, but 'to appoint' only means to formally assign the task or responsibility to someone; it doesn't mean someone else wasn't unofficially serving in the role before someone was officially appointed to the job.

  It happens ALL the time, when gov'ts are overthrown, and the ruling party is ousted. Usually the rebels set up an ad-hoc (informal) gov't to serve as the de-facto leadership in the interim, but usually the group tries to solidify and justify their power grab by passing a constitution, appointing cabinet members, even possibly holding free elections, etc.

  Adam
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  Aurelius

  Adam,

  I have a scenario for you:

  If I lived in the 18th century (or any century between the 2nd and 19th) was 'conscious of my spiritual need' and wanted to worship God 'in spirit and truth'.. which organisation should I have joined in order to get spiritually fed? (remember the wheat was still amongst the weeds).

  Which specific organization was God using during this time?

  - Aurelius
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  adamah

  Aurelius said- If I lived in the 18th century (or any century between the 2nd and 19th) was 'conscious of my spiritual need' and wanted to worship God 'in spirit and truth'.. which organisation should I have joined in order to get spiritually fed? (remember the wheat was still amongst the weeds).

  If you lived anytime before the Age of Enlightenment (which is when the concept of someone choosing their religion emerged), you'd choose whatever the prevailing religion in your area was that your family attended. In other words, you WOULDN'T have a choice.

  So if you lived in England, you'd likely be a Catholic (or Protestant). If you lived in Japan in the 14th Century, you'd likely be a Shintoist; in China, you'd likely be a Taoist or Buddhist (depending on which was prevailing at the time, due to the whims of the Emperor), and if in India, you'd likely be a Hinduist, etc.

  Idea being, the whole idea of people being able to choose their own religion after comparison shopping is a fairly-modern concept, and it's generally a mistake to project that kind of thinking onto other cultures/times, since it doesn't always hold true (eg Socrates was put to death in 400 BC for not believing in the Gods of the Greek State, since the Gods were seen as supporting the land, and saying they didn't exist was traitorous).

  Aurelius said- Which specific organization was God using during this time?

  Eh, being that I'm an atheist, do you really need me to tell you my answer (that all religion is a snare and racket, designed to control people and fleece the flock)?

  Adam
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  Aurelius

  Thanks Adamah.

  Your previous comments appeared to be supporting the WT position. My mistake!
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  hooberus

  Mark
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  Emery

  adamuh
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  MegaDude

  I didn't read through all the responses but my short and pithy reply to "Jehovah always used an organization" is to say "Jehovah always destroyed his organization."
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  williamhconley

  What organization did JOB belong to? How about:

  Adam?

  Abel?

  Enoch?

  Noah?

  Daniel? (by the way he would be df for working at a political position)

  Joseph? (Same df offense for being Prime Minister of Egypt)

  Jonathan (He actually won God's favor for NOT obeying the King in his pursuit against David...today he would be DF by the WT)

  John the Baptist (He spoke out against the leaders of his day...he would be df by the WT today for causing divisions)

  Jeremiah? (same df offense as John the Baptist by the WT)

  You can shut the mouths of the JW's by telling them that J.F. Rutherford did NOT OBEY theocratic arrangement by not following the MAJORITY of the board of directors (AKA GB) as it was 4 against the Drunk Judge and 3 in his favor. He also ignored C.T. Russels will and removed the editing commitee and he HUMBLY appointed himself as the sole manager with full authority. This is one more example of the politics and hypocrisy of the WT. They will speak of obeying theocratic arrangements when it's convenient in their behalf.

  However, the Bible can be interpreted in anyway you want to. You can even justify murder, slavery, adultery (solomon & patriarchs) and genocide using the Bible.

  W.H. Conley
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  undercover witness

  Here's my answer for what it's worth.
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  Separation of Powers

  Better yet, when the new and improved understanding of the F&DS entered the picture, the org stated that from the death of the last apostle until the selection of the modern day FD&S there was no real organization running the show....you can't have it both ways.  

  Same vein different point, You can't say that the Catholic Church is an apostate church and in the same breath say that they were responsible for the canonization of the bible......  If God entrusted them with the selection and protection of his word, then weren't THEY the chosen organization  AND if they were considered apostate PRIOR to the formal canonization of scripture.....then God trusts apostates.