I know that this screed will not be the last post on this topic..... several of you will, in all likelihood, see to that.
What many of you may fail to understand is this: Throughout Biblical history (NOW..... for this to have ANY meaning, you have to BELIEVE the words in the Bible), God had A way.... IN THE SINGULAR......
let's start with Noah who God commissioned to build an ark and save mankind and the animals (the unicorn apparently was not a real animal..... ;-)....) ONE ark..... not several.....
God later commissioned Abraham to leave Chaldea and move to the area that would become the Promised Land..... the promise went to Abraham's son Isaac- NOT to Ishmael or any of the other children Abraham had with Keturah (did I spell that correctly?) and it was not jointly received by all of them either.... the promise continued through to Jacob- NOT to Esau...... and again it was not split and received by Isaac's sons jointly.....
Later, in Egypt, God due time came and he raised up Moses to be the leader ..... Aaron, his brother, was bestowed with the designation of high priest...... Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt...... Moses and Aaron were the target s of many murmuring campaigns by these Israelites- the most serious of which was arguably the incident of Korah, Dathan and Abiram along with 250 others (apparently all of them being chieftains and otherwise prominet heads of families, clans, tribes etc amongst the Israelites.... we know what happened to them.... Moses' brother, Aaron and his sister Miriam at one time also challenged his authority.... for which she was struck with leprosy and, if I am not mistaken, this cost Aaron his right to passage into the Promised Land...... but... ONLY ONE leader ..... throughout the records of the nation of Israel, there was always only ONE channel of information, authority etc. .... on the occasions when there was more than one prophet at a time, the were NOT in competition with each other...... after the destruction of Jerusalem in 607 BCE, and the exile ended, God commissioned only one group to go back all others who went later JOINED that one group.... they did NOT set up competing spheres of authority.....
Centuries later, only ONE Jesus was sent to the earth (and John the Baptist who was, in his own right an important figure in this event, acknowledged that it was Jesus, NOT himself, that his disciples should now follow) ...... let's have a look at some of the events of Jesus recorded life on earth.....
Jesus was exremely able as a communicator and, due to his postion as the son of God now on earth, apparently had divine intervention by way of having miraculously received all written word up to that time embedded in his memory..... he did not attend religious schools as the scribes and pharisees did... (as alluded to by the apostle Paul)..... all of Jesus apostles were looked upon with disdain by the Jewish religious leaders as being ordinary and unlettered (which is widely accepted as meaning not educated)...... these are the apostles we are talking about here .... who would later become the governing body of Jehovahs Witnesses of the era....
Jesus, at times, spoke in parables and symbolically..... at times his words were not understood...... sometimes they were understood and missed by them .... Jesus said words to the effect that unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood you will not be saved..... many people reasoned that these words were shocking and who could follow this?...... resulting those people leaving being his followers..... He asked his apostles if they too were leaving..... they replied with words to the effect that where would they go to and jesus had words of life..... would anyone construe that this was because they understood the meaning of Jesus' words?..... I would think not..... but again..... I believe that they knew that in due time the meaning would be revealed..... (oh... there is that due time stuff again.... I know some of you don't like that term) ..... how about the apostles having heated arguments (yes, in plural!) amongst themselves as to who was the greatest amongst them? I have already stated in my earlier post that they did not understand that the promised kingdom restoration was not going to be earthly nor that it was not going to happen at that time..... the event of Pentecost 33CE dispelled that...... they received miraculous gifts at that time as well..... speaking multiple languages and apparently superhuman amounts of knowledge... and specifically, Peter received the keys of the kingdom, which, when God's due time was right, he received divine instruction to use them.....
The apostle Paul, a person who, in his earlier years was in opposition to Jesus' apostles and this new religion (and who is described in Acts as a person, who at one time, was breathing threat and murder against the Christian congregation), became one of the foremost proclaimers of Gods way..... in several of the Bible books written by and about Paul, it is clear that Paul endured opposition....... and NOT just from outside of the congegation- from within it too.... words to the effect that that although Paul's writings seemed powerful, Paul, when present, came across as being weak...... Paul referred to some of these ones as SUPERFINE APOSTLES....... I always liked that term..... there were also the accounts of Judaizers amongst Christians of that era- the ones who opinionated (as if it was scriptural fact) that all Gentile adherents to Christianity had to get circumcised and adhere also to the Mosaic Law.... now, Paul, by virtue of being an Apostle, was ALSO a member of the GOVERNING BODY of the day.... the account of the circucision issue taken to Jerusalem shows that, at first, not all members of the Governing Body were in agreement on this issue..... but we all know that they did come to a united decision on it ...... incidentally, there was ONLY ONE governing body at that time..... in Jerusalem..... Paul also wrote words to the effect that after his passing, oppressive wolves would enter into the congegation and would not treat the flock with kindness...... it is what history has shown to have happened.....
The writing of James also speak of the need for works along with one's faith.....
Now , let's fast forward to the 20th and 21st centuries..... and look at the situation today...... how many organizations on earth are involved in announcing and preaching Gods Kingdom?...... Like the question in the "Live Forever" book asked, and I paraphrase here, if a person constantly spoke to you of Jehovah, the Bible, a future paradise and other similar topics, what religion would you conclude that he was?
Now, I look at a lot of the drivel that is posted on this website, I look at numerous items that are well written, articulate and thoughtful although not necessarily in harmony with the Bible and other nosensical postings, I am firmly of the belief that, even if the Governing Body has gotten things wrong over the years, there is NOBODY on this site that has enough credibility for me to want to follow them instead...... I keep thinking of Jesus' apostles here ..... the incident I described above about the eating of Jesus' flesh and drinking his blood.... personally, I will wait on clarification ...
I know that what drives a lot of the mindsets to post many of the things written is that once you have been exposed to the teachings of JWs and you have been an active witness, you really can't go back to the world..... deep down inside, most of you know that there really is little, if anything of substance in the world to go back to..... the pursuit of material possessions is about as close to anything of value that the world offers.... that is sort of my inclination, if not my situation..... the propounding of a lot of these opinions is, in all likelihood, one way of telling oneself why he or she left......
Again, all of you, take care
L L Ryder
