ministers or not?

carla

I believe the wt has flip-flopped on the if the rank & file are 'ministers' or not. What is current? Husband called himself a 'minister' awhile back. disgusted, carla

MerryMagdalene

I've been out for a while and don't know what current thought is on this. I'm sure someone else around here must know though, so bttt.

~Merry

GoingGoingGone

From the WT 11/15/00 article 'Who are God's Ministers Today?'

"4

Hence, in the churches of Christendom, the privilege of being a minister has been severely restricted. Yet, this is not the case among Jehovah’s Witnesses. Why not? Because it was not that way in the first-century Christian congregation.

Who

Really Are God’s Ministers?

5

According to the Bible, all Jehovah’s worshipers—heavenly and earthly—are ministers. Angels ministered to Jesus. (Matthew 4:11; 26:53; Luke 22:43)"

There may be something more current, but my WT Library is from 2001. I believe all are still considered ministers, though.

GGG

NeonMadman

All baptized, active JW's are regarded as ordained ministers. However, some are more ministerial than others, since elders are the only ones allowed to perform marriages, for example.

Will Power

Actually as well as ministers they are also.....

IDENTIFYING THE "PROPHET"
These questions can be answered in the affirmative. Who is this prophet? ... This "prophet" was not one man, but was a body of men and women. It was the small group of footstep followers of Jesus Christ, known at that time as International Bible Students. Today they are known as Jehovah's Christian witnesses. ... Of course, it is easy to say that this group acts as a "prophet" of God. It is another thing to prove it. The only way that this can be done is to review the record.

Watchtower 1972 April 1 p.197 'They Shall Know that a Prophet Was Among Them' ***

Thanks Quotes! http://quotes.watchtower.ca/prophet.htm

Gee that was 1972 - they still use the bible, hmmm written how centuries years ago? This must be accurate. (unlike their prophecies)

and in Brazil?....
*** Yearbook 1997 p.15-16 *** (more recent)
An unusual six-year legal fight came to a positive conclusion in Brazil during this service year. In November 1990, Brazil's National Institute of Social Insurance notified the Society's branch office that henceforth the 853 (now 1,150) members of the Bethel family there would not be viewed as religious ministers and so would come under the country's labor laws. A long legal battle began. Happily, on June 7, 1996, the Judicial Advisory of the Office of the Attorney General in Brasília issued a decision upholding the position of members of the Bethel family as religious ministers working as full-time volunteers.

Ministers who vote?
*** Watchtower 1950 November 15 pp.445-6 Subjection to the Higher Powers ***
But it is when these ministers of Jehovah's Word are called up for induction into the army that then they present themselves and take their stand according to God's Word and pay to him what belongs to him. Likewise where Caesar makes it compulsory for citizens to vote.
AND
So the ministers of Jehovah's Word do not possess the vote within his organization.

wp
I would've highlighted the words if I could