You said, Holy Spirit would continue the teaching. Do you beleive that teaching would come through an organization or individually? Doesn't every religion claim to teach from holy spirit? If they truly taught by holy spirit, they would have the fruitage of that spirit - love, joy, peace, kindness, etc.
Personally, I think the Spirit can teach individually, to a group, or in whatever way God wants. I lean toward that teaching coming individually. But that is not to say that those individuals can not come together and form a group, and then the group is led by the Spirit. This seems to be what we had in the first couple centuries, as well as an elder or a shepard to encourage and look over that group. (which seems to be the case from Paul's writings)
But fast forward a couple of thousand years, though, with over 38000 Christain denominations - many of which claim to be the only ones in the truth - and how do we know who to turn to?
The answer, imo, has to be Christ. (which makes everything individual again)
I mean, I scarcely trust my own judgment of 'the truth', much less someone else's (especially not an organization). I can only put my faith in God, through Jesus; that He will lead me where He wants me to be.
But I do believe this:
Any organization or person claiming that you must go through them to reach God is a liar. This is one of the reasons I like Shelby, and trust that she isn't out to swindle anyone or grab power for herself. She claims that God speaks to her, directly through Christ, and she tells us what she hears. But she never tell us that we have to listen to what she says, or even believe it.
She tells us to go to Christ on our own.
I don't have to believe her to hear the truth in that. I won't ever trust a person or group who says otherwise again, because that is a lie. And that might be exactly why you don't see much of that fruitage (kindness, love, joy, peace, etc) in the WTS.
Maybe Jesus didn't write a book because words can be twisted to mean something different than what was originally meant.
Look at people today. For many of us, the Bible is the new law (the way the commandments were to the jews), with no exceptions. I wonder how many people would fail to recognize Jesus if he was walking around today, just because he did some things differently than it was written in the Bible.
Sort of like the way the Pharisees would have condemned him for healing people on the Sabbath. It had become legalistic without mercy, and that is the way the teachings out of the Bible have become for many people today. (not all, but many)
The law of love, compassion, mercy and forgiveness should be what guides us. Not a set of rules.
Sorry for the length of this. Hope some of it helps. My non-morning-person-aunt is calling me to help feed our children breakfast- so I've got to go :)
Tammy
