by waton 24 Replies latest watchtower bible
LHG: Paul mentioned that the local servants," captive gifts in men", using the "gifts of the spirit" were for the perfecting of the saints, so, we saw our service as work in progress, the rotating options as a way to learn some of that perfection (1000 years to go). now it is obedience to the next echelon above you, right or wrong,
The article enshrined the one- man rule.
WATON:
Yeah, I get the point. Back then they were helpers and more likable and Christian. Then they got the idea they wanted to be looked up to.
I joined the JW religion because they said they had no clergy class. They lied. They have as many titles as Christendom. I ultimately walked away because I wasn't buying it.
LHG: good for you. imagine, the local overseers, but particularly the coordinator are now officially designated as " Glorious Ones" , I kid you not.
WATON:
It really is an evil of human nature and an age-old story when people seek to set themselves over their fellow man. The goal? An easy life.
Well, I'm no longer sitting there as a captive audience! My experience in the Witness religion has turned me off religion forever.
28 At any rate, the experienced elders and overseers will be available for the Messianic King to appoint as “princes in all the earth,” from the very start of his thousand-year reign onward. [Man's Salvation (book), 1975, page 363, par28] (bold added)
[There are other references saying that "princes in all the earth" applies to elders. (Ps 45:16)]
So they went from being called servants to elders and overseers, to princes and glorious ones. And don't forget the reference that says they are "worthy of double honor." (1Tim 5:17)
Wow, that's more presumptuous and worship seeking than what we usually see in the churches' clergy.
The rotation of positions in the congregation was implemented at the same time as the elder arrangement came in - i.e. at the start of the 1973 Service Year.
It did not last for very long, though. From memory, the first position to be made non-rotational was that of congregation secretary. That happened fairly quickly, well before the 1970s were out - something to do with the congregation requiring a "fixed address" for all its correspondence.
In the very early 70s I recall the WT "A Body of Elders with Rotating Chairman". Previously the congregations basically managed by the long time Congregation Servant, of whom I knew many that were fine men, working hard and adding no burden to the brothers. Generally past middle age. Congregation records well maintained. Come the rotation and records etc went to pot good time, over time as the age of elders seemed to get younger, keen, pioneers types became obsessed with power. In time a Secretary was assigned for each congregation and I can vividly recall the younger elders fawning over Circuit Overseers, when time came to appoint a Secretary, My view is that the farce of rotating elder positions gave no evidence of scripture backing nor of Jehovah's backing. Most of the generation that built Kingdom Halls and founded congregations now gone, and as each younger strata gets apparent power and control then things go further and further from the position of brothers 'serving' congregations, and the opposite came true
GB members age now well below mine as an average, yet I should have seen New Order, decades ago. GB1 all dead, GB2 all dead, GB3 all brain dead. How many old lights have been cast aside to let this lot say they are Gods channel, brothers of the anointed class as we knew it, who served in the 20s and 30s, would disown this lot if they were still alive.
"rotating of positions" period
You must be an old timer, they stopped doing that more than 40 (literally) years ago.
My view is that the farce of rotating elder positions gave no evidence of scripture backing nor of Jehovah's backing. Laf:
Scripture shows changing chairmanship in the early congregation (see above), and if increase, and decrease*** is an indication of efficacy (if not the 2 J's backing), the compulsory limiting of the term of office really works, ask the Clinton's. In other words, enough is enough. applaud as they step down from the platform.
*** greatest jw number increase during rotation, greatest drop after cancelling of rotation.
s82: yes, the closest decimal point is 90. and have a realistic expectation to have >10 years more to go. and see several rotations out of undeserved positions.
In 1971, another significant change came with the introduction of a body of elders. The body was to rotate individual responsibilities annually, with the Watchtower 1971 November 15 p.685 and p.691 noting that the Early Christian elder bodies "likely rotated." It is common for Watchtower to introduce a comment that has no solid basis with phrases such as "of course" and it is "likely".
"Of course, in such a congregational presbytery or “body [assembly] of older men” there would have to be a chairman, to direct the order of meetings of the “body of older men.” Just how a member was appointed as the chairman is not shown in the Scriptures. It would not be a permanent chairmanship, but likely it was ternporary, for a period of time, and was rotated among all the coequal members of the “body of elders.” Watchtower 1971 Nov 15 p.691
Four years later, the 1975 Yearbook praised the success of this new arrangement as "God's doing."
"Reflecting on the new congregational arrangement providing for elders and ministerial servants, Roger Morgan was moved to say: "This is God's doing." Doubtless others will agree, since they may have considered the resulting benefits. The first shifting of responsibilities began in September 1972, and by October 1 the arrangement of things in most congregations had been adjusted. ... The Watchtower remarked: "Truly, Jehovah is bringing his congregated people into an organizational condition in which they will be able to ride out Armageddon into God's new order under divine rulership."" Yearbook 1975 p.250
However, rotation did not work effectively and it was done away with in the 1983 Organized to Accomplish You Ministry, page 41.
"The elders do not serve in these positions on a rotational basis." Organized to Accomplish You Ministry p.41
How can a procedure be God's doing with Biblical backing if within a few years it required removal? Watchtower justifies this as refinement.
Watchtower 2014 Jan 15 p.15
Back and forth changes to organisational structure are not refinements from God, they are simply different management decisions, as occur in any corporation. If Jehovah really had directed the arrangement to be in line with the early Christian example, he would have gotten it right the first time around.
