Another thing mentioned was the apostles (Known as the governing body)
arguing whether or not circumcision is necessary since the gentiles up to
this time were not accepted into the christian congregation.
Known to whom as the governing body? Certainly not to each other or to the Christians of that day. The term never appears in the Bible (you know, like the word, "Trinity". So it can't be true, right?) The Watchtower loves to use the meeting of the apostles and older men at Jerusalem described in Acts 15 as a biblical example of the governing body in action. In fact, it was no such thing. The apostles and older me were all out in the field, doing the Lord's work as He directed them. A controversy arose within the congregations about circumcision, and, in order to resolve the controversy, leaders from many areas stopped what they were doing and gathered in Jerusalem in order to resolve an issue that had begun to threaten the peace of the congregations. After the meeting, they all again went their way and resumed the work they had been doing.
The Bible does not say that these men were any sort of "governing body," meeting on a regular basis to determine policy for all congregations, and dictating in minute detail every aspect of Christian life and practice. It does not say, as the Watchtower contends, that the apostles and older men were "headquartered" at Jerusalem, and directed the congregations from there. All of this is Watchtower fiction which is added to the Bible to justify their organizational arrangement. Undoubtedly some elders did live in Jerusalem, since there were Christian churches there which would need leadership. But the idea that elders serving at Jerusalem were somehow given more authority than elders in other places, or that they had authority over all Christians everywhere, is not found in the Bible. Again, the Watchtower has framed their accounts of Biblical events to lend support to their own teachings and power structure.
In fact, the gathering at Acts 15 sounds much more to me like one of the many church Councils that have been held by the churches of Christendom over the centuries than it does like the Watchtower's governing body.
If changing thinking on certainBut the apostles did not change their thinking back and forth like blinking light on these issues, as the Watchtower does on many teachings. Peter was informed through direct inspiration from God that Gentiles were to be recieved into the congregation. He didn't "change his mind" on that issue, God revealed something new to him. Unlike the Watchtower's "new light," it didn't need to be revised at some later time; Gentiles are still, almost 2000 years later, allowed to become Christians.
doctrinal issues is a turn off for you, then Christianity as a whole then
should be a turn off since the early Apostles changed their thinking not
only about the circumcision issue but also on whether the gentiles were
worthy of being Christians also."
Now, because Gentiles were allowed to become Christians, the question of circumcision arose, and in this area, really, is where Christianity established itself as a separate religion, and not just a sect of Judaism. The question of whether Gentiles needed to be circumcised had never arisen before, because they had not been accepted into the congregation. Now that they were, some of the Jewish Christians thought that circumcision was necessary, because it had been necessary to be part of the Jewish congregation. Others disagreed. The council of Acts 15 met to settle a completely new issue that had arisen, they settled it, and it remained settled thereafter. Christians who harbored differing ideas met in unity and worked out their differences. They did not "change their minds" as a group, though some may have done so as individuals.
How different is the Watchtower's record! Look at the shifting light on issues like the "superior authorities," the resurrection of the Sodomites, organ transplants, vaccinations, whether all Christians are ministers, etc. etc. They have shifted back and forth and back again on these issues according to which way the wind was blowing at Bethel that day, and advancing every change as "new light" from God. They prophecy in God's name, and after the prophecies fail, they again receive "new light" to explain away their failure. It is shameful that Jehovah's Witnesses would attempt to justify their misrepresentation of God by comparing it with the way matters were handled by the early Christians; there is no comparison at all.
Tom
"The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure; to live it you had to explode." ---Bob Dylan