This post is for the lurking dub. The PIMC (physically in, mentally confused) lurker dub. The guy who reads the Watchtower stuff and scratches his head, sure something is amiss but not sure of what’s really happening.
It may also be of some interest to those curious of the nuts and bolts of Watchtower’s methods of scripture twisting.
In tonight’s “Digging for Spiritual Gems: (8 min.)”, there is a point that demonstrates that the dubs in the pew are totally and completely devoid of reason. They are mentally asleep. This can be seen by the Watchtower’s commentary, as well as the comments of the dubs, including by chance our CO.
They pride themselves as being learned in the Scriptures and being teachers of it, yet they understand nothing.
The “gem” is as follows.
Lu 9:49, 50—Why did Jesus not prevent a man from expelling demons, even though the man was not following him? (w08 3/15 31 ¶2)
The biblical text under consideration from the “gem” is as follows, taken from the NWT.
49 In response John said: “Instructor, we saw someone expelling demons by using your name, and we tried to prevent him, because he is not following with us.”
50 But Jesus said to him: “Do not try to prevent him, for whoever is not against you is for you.”
Why indeed did Jesus not stop the man? Conversely, it could also be asked ‘why would he want to?’
I’ve included at bottom the Watchtower’s explanation, but I will summarize to save readers the trouble of reading it. The Watchtower says, in summary, that Jesus didn’t stop him because there was no congregation yet, the inference being that there was no Organization yet to tell him what he could or couldn’t do.
First, the fact is that the Bible verse quoted shows clearly the real reason why Jesus told his followers not to interfere with the man. Jesus set the principle “...whoever is not against you is for you.” Very simple.
And the disciples who tried to stop the man weren’t using their brains.
The man, if he was proving successful, obviously had the blessing of God Almighty. The Holy Spirit is not a talisman that one would pick up on the street, pass a string through and tie around one’s neck, then illegitimately use.
It is the finger of God. If it did anything, it was because God intended it to be so.
Why, in fact, would you desire to stop somebody from working towards the same goal that you work for? Only pride, thinking that “we haven’t given him OUR permission to do this work.” This prideful attitude was the very same reason the Jewish leaders hated Jesus, -Jesus didn’t seek their permission. As if He needed it. As if God, and the Holy Spirit needed a man’s permission to work miracles.
The CO chimed in with the mantra... “we see order, order, order and organization” and where the actual words attributed to Jesus teach that there is no need for an ‘Organization’ of any sort, The Watchtower text turns it into the complete opposite, even more thoroughly with the help of an Uber Elder or CO.
Thick as a brick.
(w08 3/15 31 ¶2)
9:49, 50—Why did Jesus not prevent a man from expelling demons, even though the man was not following him? Jesus did not prevent the man because the Christian congregation had not yet been formed. Hence, it was not required that the man physically accompany Jesus in order to exercise faith in Jesus’ name and expel demons.—Mark 9:38-40.Lessons for Us:1:32, 33; 2:19, 51. Mary preserved in her heart the events and sayings that fulfilled prophecies. Do we treasure