Channel C²

Posted by royboyxx on Fri - Apr 16 - 10:16pm:

I think we’ve all heard the expression that “error begets error.” I listened to Rick Townsend’s audio of his and his wife’s judicial committee. There was something that one of the elders said that Rick was unable to answer. Rick was telling the elders how the governing body members have made some errors that have costs Witnesses their lives. He was pointing to the issue of the brothers in Malawi who died over a .25 cent political card and today voting is acceptable in situations that may cost a witness their life. The errors of the vaccination and organ transplant policies.

The elder made reference to king David and how he gave the order to take a censes in Israel against the commands of God. David’s error in judgment costs the lives of thousands of Israelites. David was of the anointed of God and yet due to that one error, many people died, but that didn’t mean that David was not approved of God or he was anointed of God.

First of all, I don’t want this to sound like I’m criticizing Rick because I think he did a fantastic job explaining his position to the elders. When I heard the tape, I had to stop and think about it a long time myself. Rick was in the hot seat and I would not have had an answer for the elder either. I had to realize that the reason Rick didn’t have an answer and neither did I understand it was due to the fact that we had false assumptions. The Watchtower always liked to use parallels such as this one to show that they could make errors, as did the faithful men of old. I’d like to present my view of how our wrong assumptions lead us to false conclusions.

First false assumption: The assumption that the men on the governing body are appointed and anointed by God, as was King David. I believe that there is plenty of evidence that God did not appoint them in 1918 and this point has been mentioned many times, so I won’t go into that. But for the sake of argument, let’s just say that God did appoint them because this discussion would end right here if that one point were true.

Second false assumption: The elder was implying that the reason thousands died was because King David was the only one who was responsible and culpable for their deaths due to his order to take a censes. The assumption that the censes takers were only following orders and were being loyal to the Kings commands just as we should be loyal to the anointed governing body is a false assumption. King David was not the only one that was culpable. “Obey God as ruler rather than man.” Acts 5:29. Those who David sent out to do the censes taking could have said, “no, we won’t do this because we know that God commanded us not to.” They may have lost their lives because they disobeyed David, but was obeying a higher source. Are not Witnesses under the same command to think for them self and obey God as ruler when they see that a command is in violation of God’s orders?

Third false assumption: The Israelites suffered and died only because of the order of the king. The Israelites were not innocent victims either. When the censes takers came to their doors, the Israelites also knew the command of God and therefore did not have to comply with the censes. They could have refused which may have brought trouble to that household, but they would have been obeying God’s commands over the king. The nation of Israel suffered, not only due to the command to take a censes, but they were all players in breaking God’s command.

I bring this up because a C.O. told me when I asked a similar question as Rick did. The C.O. answer to me was that even if the “faithful slave” has made a mistake, the important thing for me to remember is to just remain loyal to them. “Jehovah will hold them responsible for their errors, but I will not be held accountable to Jehovah because I was loyal to His anointed ones.” Using the same parallel that the elder used on Rick, I can see now that the example of King David’s error is proof that each individual is accountable, so it’s up to each Jehovah’s Witness member to speak up when they see the anointed making a mistake. Funny how we see things more clearly when we see the false assumptions.

Roy