The Truth is simple! It
becomes complicated only when we deviate from it by going "beyond the
things that are written."
—1 Corinthians
4:6
Please
Note:
The mention of "the
Society" in my articles refers to the "Watchtower Bible and Tract
Society" that is publishing our literature. By "organization"
I mean the entire brotherhood in all the congregations, who are expected
to be submissive and loyal to the Society and its Governing Body.
"Faithful and
Discreet"
or "good-for-nothing" slaves?
The foremost shepherd of God's sheep is Jesus Christ. (John 10:11)
But Jesus said that there would also be others, slaves of his, who would be
appointed to feed and care for the sheep. The faithful slaves would be
rewarded with greater responsibility, while any wicked or evil slave who
abused his position would
be dismissed and punished. That is why Jesus asked the rhetorical question:
"Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed
over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time?" (Matt.
24:45)
The Governing Body members enjoin that Jesus was referring to them. Thus,
they love to refer to themselves as "the Faithful and Discreet Slave,"
having adopted this as their title of distinction. They claim to have
already been rewarded by their master and entrusted with all his
belongings.
But Jesus put any presumed importance of his "faithful and discreet slave"
into proper
perspective when he said: "[The master] will not
feel gratitude to the slave because he did the things assigned, will he? So
you, also, when you have done all the things assigned to you, say, 'We
are good-for-nothing slaves. What we have done is what we ought to have done."
―Luke 17:7-10, NWT
"This
Generation"
The
Watchtower of February 15, 2008, (pages 23-25), offered an updated
explanation regarding "this generation," as mentioned by Jesus at Matthew
24:34. But this was not a "new" understanding, as it returned to the
interpretation of 81 years earlier, in the
1927 Watchtower, February 15, page 62.
The changing explanations over the years of "this generation":
C.T. Russell taught that "this generation" referred to people in general,
who were living at a significant time in history. (Battle of Armageddon,
pages 603-605)
J.F. Rutherford changed this in 1927 to apply only to the members of
the "new creation," the anointed. "Some members of the new creation will be on the earth at the
time of Armageddon."
(W27, 2/15,
p 62,
click to view photocopy (res. 900x1191)
In 1942, "this generation" was no longer identified with
just the
anointed. (W42, 7/1, p 204, par. 43)
In 1949 it
was more clearly explained that it "had its modern counterpart in our
generation from A.D. 1914 forward. This generation is the one that sees the
Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven as foretold by Daniel." It was
expected that the generation of 1914 would be on hand to witness the
end of this system. (W49, 7/15, p 215, par. 19)
By 1995 time for "this generation" had run out and the explanation
needed to be updated. Therefore, "this generation" became "the wayward
people who make up this contemporary 'wicked and adulterous generation,'"
but no longer limited to any particular date. (w95 11/1 p. 15 par. 21)
Then in 2008, we were told: "As a class, these anointed ones make up
the modern-day 'generation' of contemporaries that will not pass away 'until
all these things occur.'" (W08, 2/15, p 23-25)
This explanation was a return to the one offered in 1927, which had already been discredited.
The April 15, 2010 Watchtower adds the following "increased light":
"[The word
'generation'] usually refers to people of varying ages whose lives overlap
during a particular time period; it is not excessively long; and it has an
end...[Jesus] evidently meant that the lives of the anointed who were on
hand when the sign began to become evident in 1914 would overlap with the
lives of other anointed ones who would see the start of the great
tribulation. That generation had a beginning, and it surely will have an
end."
Isaiah foretold:
"O my people, those leading you on are causing [you] to
wander, and the way of your paths they have confused. . . Jehovah
himself will enter into judgment with the elderly ones of his people and its
princes." —Isaiah
3:12-14.
Jehovah's Witnesses Statistics
(1914 to the Present)
▪ Number of Peak Publishers
▪
Number Baptized
▪
Memorial Attendance
▪
Memorial Partakers
▪
Number of Congregations
▪ Number of Lands
What is the
"AGAPE"
[αγάπη] as used in the Scriptures?
Is it a special kind of godly or Christian love?
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