"The Faithful and Discreet Slave"

Now about this "faithful and discreet slave" himself. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that on the basis of Jesus Christ's parable at Matthew 24:42-47: "Watch therefore, for you do not know at what hour your Lord will come.  But you know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have been awake and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.  Wherefore ye also be ready, for at an hour ye think not, the Son of man shall come. Who, then, is the faithful and discreet servant whom his master has set over his servants, to give them food in season?  Blessed is the servant whom his master finds, when he comes, doing so;  verily I say unto you, that he shall set him over all his possessions." And here I want to ask my dear brothers and sisters, for whose sake I am writing: "Please note this, where is it that says about any organization or structure that will be appointed by God? Is it not said here of each of us personally: "Watch! Be discreet servants of your Lord! Teach right, if you are set to do so, then Jesus will "come" and bless you with his trust." Probably, by "possessions" we should understand the Kingdom of God. That's it! This parable says "having come," but when did it happen in 1874, or in 1914, or maybe it is still in the future? The point is that in the first century this "slave" did not exist at all, since, according to the teaching of Jehovah's Witnesses themselves, Jesus Christ "came" or became "present" only in 1874 or 1914, and the slave is appointed to his position and receives approval only after that. And before that, it simply does not exist! Although Jehovah's Witnesses teach that he was present in the first century in the person of the apostles and other Christians "anointed with holy spirit," this is an obvious confusion that is simply not explained to the Witnesses in magazines, conventions, or congregation talks and sermons. Perhaps a new "flash of light" from Jehovah is expected to explain this. In the meantime, almost every Jehovah's Witness, in fact, does not even suspect such a contradiction. So, let us repeat: this parable is about you and me, about our ministry and watchfulness, but not about something more, into which the leaders of Jehovah's Witnesses turned this parable in order to subdue the masses of believers.

"The Governing Body"

As a consequence of this doctrine of the "faithful and discreet slave," the doctrine of the Governing Body arises. The Watch Tower Society now asserts that the Governing Body is the representative of the "faithful slave," i.e., his materialization, so to speak, in the visible sphere. In the beginning, Russell and his followers had no teaching about the Governing Body at all (because Russell himself was considered a "faithful slave", no less, no more, but that's it, a "faithful slave" and that's it!). At that time, there was simply the Board of Directors of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, headed by C. T. Russell. This was enough until over time it became necessary to "ennoble" this organ to a "spiritual" level. This is how the idea of giving the Board of Directors the powers of a "spiritual" Governing Council appeared. A very complex transformation has taken place, here I deliberately omit all the details, since this is a topic for a separate conversation.

Let us return to the term "Governing Body". There is no such expression in the Bible at all, but Jehovah's Witnesses cite the example of the guidance given by the apostles and elders from Jerusalem on the issue of rules for Gentile converts to Christianity (Acts chapter 15). But here the question arises: Where in the Bible does it say that this was a permanent council that was always engaged in what the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses is really doing now? Most likely, this was an isolated and extraordinary case that arose because of an acute question that threatened the unity of all Christianity at the dawn of its appearance? Perhaps it would be more correct to call this event not the Governing Body, but the general assembly of the apostles and elders of Jerusalem, or, as traditional Christianity does, the Apostolic Council (which later served as a model for the Christian Church to exercise spiritual leadership, the culmination of which was the Ecumenical Councils).

Выражение «собор»  так же не встречается в Библии, но оно более точно отражает сущность, дух и природу этого события. Поэтому является домыслом, что подобный орган «верного раба» (как учат Свидетели Иеговы) существовал в первом  веке. А раз это так, то и в веке 21 такой орган не имеет никакого права существовать и «брать на себя руководство» (как опять таки Свидетели Иеговы утверждают). Конечно, на эти мои слова можно возразить тоннами журнальных статей и сотнями библейских прообразов и тому подобными «доказательствами». Но не является ли это «творчеством» ради доказательства недоказуемого. В данном случае это, вероятно, именно так и есть.

Проблемы терминологии

Продолжая обсуждение вероучений, Свидетели Иеговы, хотелось бы поговорить о терминологии. Такие выражения, как «разъездные надзиратели», «общие пионеры», «правовые комитеты», требуют разъяснения. Непосвящённому читателю их очень трудно понять.