Spike, I'm trying to keep this thread on an intellectual level. I appreciate your thoughts and opinions here, but please do not try to bait the other posters. No one has made any assertions of leadership.
reniaa, thank you for your response. I agree that a system of voting in GB members would not result in the members being any more perfect. Have you ever seen the movie Remember the Titans? In a stirring speech, one of the football players says, "Now, I ain't saying that I'm perfect, 'cause I'm not. And I ain't gonna never be. None of us are. But we have won every single game we have played 'til now. So this team is perfect."
This thought could be applied to the writers of the Bible. Individually, all were imperfect. But with the application of God's spirit, they produced perfection. Would you agree with that?
If someone claims to be acting in accord with God's spirit, is it unreasonable, then, to hold their actions, as a group, to a higher standard?
The point of this religion is not simply whether they are better than the other religions out there. The point is whether or not they do, in fact, have God's backing. If they do not, there is no meaning to what they do. You are, of course, welcome to still do it. But if there is no meaning in it, most people would not choose to live such an unrewarding lifestyle. Therefore it is of the utmost importance to this religion to convince people that it does have God's backing.
The onus is not upon the people to say, "Well, it looks like they maybe got something right, so I guess I'll believe everything they say." The onus is on the GB to show through everything they do and say as a group that God is working through them. Is God incapable of overcoming human imperfection to get correct information disseminated?
I believe any one of us can say "IF God chose to work through me, he would make his work perfect despite my imperfection."
Looking at the context of Romans 12:6-8, I do not see that this indicates an organized body of leaders that must be obeyed. There are many different ways in which a Christian may be a leader, without being a general rule-maker.