faithful and discreet slave?

by eyeslice 3 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  eyeslice

  I have started this thread as the two threads "March 1st Botchtower - A "Slave Who Is Both Faithful and Discreet!" got me thinking again.
  
  
  
  
  
  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/65051/1.ashx
  
  
  I have never quite understood Matthew 25:45-51 in the light the Society puts on it, i.e. there are two classes a faithful slave and an evil slave. I have read that passage in the NWT and all the online translations at http://www.biblegateway.com. My reading is that Christ was talking about two possible outcomes for the same person. Either the servant was faithful or evil.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 

  LittleToe

  Yup. A fresh reading, especially in another translation (ANY translation) does kinda put another slant on it.
• 

  Oxnard Hamster

  Where did the Society get the two class idea from?

  They use their meaning in order to enforce the notion that they alone are the faithful and discreet slave, and all JWs should meekly follow their lead.

  The passage in the Bible is more ambiguous than that. I'm not sure what is the actual meaning.
• 

  Frannie Banannie

  What's your take on it? Where did the Society get the two class idea from?

  ...um.....Not a lot of finger-pullin' goin' on at Bethel, do ya think?

  Seriously, tho....according to the Young's Literal Translation at Bible Gateway, Matthew 24: 45-51 literally translates as:

  Matthew 24
  45 `Who, then, is the servant, faithful and wise, whom his lord did set over his household, to give them the nourishment in season?
  46 Happy that servant, whom his lord, having come, shall find doing so;
  47 verily I say to you, that over all his substance he will set him.
  48 `And, if that evil servant may say in his heart, My Lord doth delay to come,
  49 and may begin to beat the fellow-servants, and to eat and to drink with the drunken,
  50 the lord of that servant will arrive in a day when he doth not expect, and in an hour of which he doth not know,
  51 and will cut him off, and his portion with the hypocrites will appoint; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth

  While verse 45 asks the question as to who the slave is, verse 46 presents a future perfect tense in the words "Lord, having come, shall find". Then in verses 48 and 49, the passages, "if that evil slave may say" and "may begin to beat" also show that the thought is future perfect, indicating that the whole concept is an "either or" case involving one individual.

  As an aside.....I believe the WTS, "Mother/Bride - wacko/slave has already been discovered as stated in verses 48 thru 51...."Her" 'slip-ups' are showing....

  Frannie B