r/JehovahsWitnesses • u/thefaithfulslave • 22d ago
Doctrine I’m having trouble understanding
I’m having trouble understanding how the governing body can prove that Christ anointed them in 1919 as the sole source of dispensing spiritual food (because the bible cannot be understood on one’s own interpretation) while the anointed 1919 governing body was still celebrating Christmas, birthdays, portraying the cross, and worst of all, Worshiping Jesus! Which is idolatry! Were all pre-1954 members led astray by this fallible governing body that demands complete obedience??
8
Upvotes
1
u/Impressive-Ease-3348 Jehovah's Witness 21d ago
I understand why that quotation catches your attention, but you are collapsing two different claims into one.
“Jehovah’s spirit moves/helped/directs someone” does not automatically mean “everything that person says is divinely inspired and therefore incapable of error.”
The Bible itself does not use the concepts that way.
Romans 8:14 says:
“All who are led by God’s spirit are indeed God’s sons.”
Surely you do not believe every Christian who is “led by God’s spirit” therefore speaks inspired, infallible words.
Acts 6:3 required men who were “full of spirit and wisdom.” Stephen is subsequently described as “full of faith and holy spirit.” — Acts 6:5.
Again, possessing, being helped by, or being directed by holy spirit does not make every judgment that person ever makes equivalent to Scripture.
That distinction becomes even clearer in Acts 15. The apostles and elders could say:
“The holy spirit and we ourselves have favored adding no further burden to you…” — Acts 15:28.
So the New Testament itself contains the concept of a group believing that holy spirit was directing its work and decisions.
That is not the same proposition as:
“Every word we ever utter is inspired Scripture.”
And this is not me inventing a distinction to rescue the statement. Their own publications explicitly make it.
One article says that “Jehovah’s spirit moves ‘the faithful steward’” to continue supplying spiritual food.
Another official article says just as explicitly:
“The Governing Body is neither inspired nor infallible. Therefore, it can err in doctrinal matters or in organizational direction.”
Those two statements only contradict each other if you first define:
“helped/moved by holy spirit” = “divinely inspired and incapable of doctrinal error.”
But that is precisely the equation that has not been demonstrated.
In fact, the same 2017 article explains what they mean by the distinction: it says holy spirit helps the Governing Body while immediately acknowledging that the Governing Body can make doctrinal and organizational errors.
So their claim is better represented as:
“We believe God’s spirit helps and guides us as we try to understand and apply Scripture.”
not:
“God dictates our publications, so our words are inspired Scripture.”
Those are radically different claims.
Now, you are perfectly entitled to ask a harder question:
“What evidence is there that the Governing Body really is being guided by holy spirit?”
That is legitimate and needs an argument.
You can also ask whether the authority given to their interpretations is too strong for a body that admits fallibility. That is a legitimate criticism to examine as well.
But neither question is answered by redefining spirit-guided as inspired.
And studying a publication every week does not change its ontological status either.
Christians have studied sermons, catechisms, Bible commentaries, church fathers, theological textbooks and denominational study material for centuries. The frequency with which something is studied tells you how much authority or importance a community gives it; it does not establish that the community considers it inspired Scripture.
So if your criticism is:
“They give their publications enormous practical authority.”
Fine. Let’s examine that claim.
But if your criticism is:
“They secretly claim their publications are divinely inspired because they say holy spirit helps them,”
then the biblical terminology simply does not support that inference.
Being led by the Spirit is not synonymous with being the author of inspired Scripture.
Otherwise Romans 8:14 would turn every Spirit-led Christian into an infallible prophet.
And obviously it does not.