Theocratically Appointed "servants" (page 2)

Maverick

I find it interesting that the Holy Spirit is mentioned exclusively in the beginning and the Governing Body is shuffled midway in the article. Toward the end of the article, authority is transferred to the Governing Body as the out working of Holy Spirit. You could insert Governing Body in any place Holy Spirit is placed. Hey! What am I saying! They did that! And the GB, by inference, claim Apostolic authority. The article is written in a convoluted style to mix up the J-dud mind. Somewhere in this looping reasoning they just give up and let it flow in unimpeded. It is a prime example of, " If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit!" Maverick

MacHislopp

Helo Zev,

thanks for the post. That article shows what great opinion the WTBS has

of the R& F in general.

Imho, Maverick gave a great answer:

1***"Holy Spirit is mentioned exclusively in the beginning and the Governing Body is shuffled midway in the article. Toward the end of the article, authority is transferred to the Governing Body as the out working of Holy Spirit. You could insert Governing Body in any place Holy Spirit is placed."

and

2*** "Somewhere in this looping reasoning they just give up and let it flow in unimpeded. It is a prime example of, " If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit!" Somewhere in this looping reasoning they just give up and let it flow in unimpeded. It is a prime example of, " If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit!"

Yet for some they still are:

" God's visible representatives on earth" and

"the anointed remnant , brothers of Jesus Christ"

"the only channel to understand God's will"!!!

Greetings, J.C.MacHislopp

Jonadab

Why did Jehovah appoint Chitty, Greenleas and the worst apostate of all Ray Franz, to the governing body. Surely the Holy Spirit would at least make sure the governing body would be kosher if no one else.

If you want to use this line of reasoning you may as well ask why Judas Iscariot was allowed to be one of the 12 apostles.

yesidid

Hi Jonadab'

You said:

"If you want to use this line of reasoning you may as well ask why Judas Iscariot was allowed to be one of the 12 apostles".

It appears from reading the Bible that Jesus knew Judas' heart before choosing him. In fact Judas was chosen to fulfil prophecy. Perhaps you could enlighten us as to which prophecy the men I mentioned [Chitty Greenleas, and Ray Franz] fulfilled.

I am not criticising any of these men, but the GB saw fit to remove them. If they were appointed by the Holy Spirit were the GB not presumptuous in removing them?

anti-absolutism

To Jonadab:

Am I to understand that you are suggesting that the whole Jesus' sacrifice and Judas being the traitor but the entire thing being predicted already and therefore it just means that it was a good story for people that don't analyze it enough to realize that it basically nullifies Jesus' TREMENDOUS sacrifce?

Because that is basically exactly how I view it right now!!!!!

If anybody wants to explain how that shouldn't make sense to me, please do. I am a little more cynical than normal lately due to being served with divorce papers a couple of days ago.

Brad

Dansk

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I gather you are all insinuating that those ~~loving~~ elders and ministerial servants aren’t appointed by holy spirit.

minimus

It's very easy to convolute the reader's thinking. "Theocracy" means ruled by God. "Appointed" suggests God does the appointing. "Servants" show that they are lesser ones.To be a theocratically appointed servant means, therefore that you must become friends with the elders in your congregation and never let them get to know you well because if they do, they will not appoint you (because THEY are the ones to get the democratic, I mean theocratic ball rolling.) Once you can convince THEM that you're good enough, you've got to make sure that the Circuit Overseer( the guy that's never even met you) likes you, too.( If he doesn't get a good vibe from what he can see, you don't get appointed.) Promising him a restuarant meal is a good way to get to know him better. WINK WINK. After you win him over, he tells the elders how nice you seem and that it appears you would be a fine elder. But now since HOLY SPIRIT does the real appointing, the Faithful Servant, as represented by the Governing Body has to prayerfully consider whether your appointment should be made. Of course, the Governing Body doesn't really know you, so they don"t really appoint you. But the Service Desk looks over your record and since nothing seems out of line, they put a stamp on the approval letter saying that you have been appointed to serve as an elder, by the Governing Body. 3 weeks after the Circuit Overseer leaves the congregation, the body of holy-spirit appointed elders read a letter saying that the Governing Body appointed you an elder because after prayerfully considering your "application", you have been deemed by the Holy spirit to be qualified to serve as an elder. But before the elders make the announcement, they must talk to you FIRST, to see whether or not you don't qualify. "Is there any reason that we shouldn't announce this appointment by the Governing Body?" When the answer is "I believe I qualify and nothing stops me from serving", then the announcement is made that you are now a "theocratically appointed servant". Of course, you never told them that you've been committing some disfellowshipping sin, but God will forgive you, and after all, he must have! You DID get appointed as an elder by Him!!!

reporter

8 As servants of the Great Theocrat, Jehovah, we do well to bear in mind the differences between democratic and theocratic procedures. Democratic processes call for equal representation and are often characterized by campaigning for office and election by majority vote. Such procedures are not involved in theocratic appointments. These do not come from men; nor do they proceed from some legal entity. Apparently alluding to his own appointment by Jesus and Jehovah as "an apostle to the nations," Paul told the Galatians that he had been appointed "neither from men nor through a man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him up from the dead."—Romans 11:13; Galatians 1:1.

Contrast the above paragraph with the ending one:

19 Theocratic appointments come from Jehovah through his Son and God’s visible earthly channel, "the faithful and discreet slave" and its Governing Body. (Matthew 24:45-47) The whole process of such recommendation and appointment is directed, or guided, by holy spirit. This is the case because the qualifications are set out in God’s Word, which is inspired by holy spirit, and the individual appointed gives evidence of producing the fruitage of that spirit. Therefore, the appointments are to be viewed as being made by holy spirit. Just as overseers and ministerial servants were appointed theocratically in the first century, the same is true today.

Hey, zev, you forgot to highlight any of paragraph 8!

In p. 8, we read "these do not come from men" , then in p. 19, "God's visible earthly channel"....that's a group of men! D'oh! "faithful and discreet slave" ...that's still a group of men! D'oh! I guess the holy spirit is a visible channel of men! Or is it God's invisible active force?

In p. 8, we read "nor do they proceed from some legal entity", then in p. 19, we read "and its Governing Body"! D'oh! The Governing Body is in charge of the legal entity known as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.! And they are ultimately in charge of a plethora of other "legal entities" which further appoint more groups of men! Are the shareholders of these corporations the holy spirit??? Don't shareholders vote? How does the holy spirit vote theocratically???

What part of the holy spirit are men and legal entities, I wonder? Isn't the holy spirit supposed to be God's invisible active force? There's my observation. Paragraph 19 completely invalidates paragraph 8!

Maverick

I guess Holy Spirit didn't like my cowboy boots or mustache. Those were the reasons a CO would not recommend me to be an Elder in one Hall years ago! And my boots were very expensive and cleaned and polished. The CO's shoes looked like he stole them off the back of a car with a "just married" sign on it! Holy Spirit must have been mad at me, cause this Holy Spirit appointed CO sure was when I told him how ratty his shoes looked! Maverick

Theocratically Appointed "servants"

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