Posted by Bibleman [Bibleman] on October 22, 1999 at 23:05:08 {sA799hgHlsMSSTtTA17sslyACFuF8c}:
In Reply to: *******To AF posted by Joseph Malik on October 22, 1999 at 17:25:27:
Hi Joseph,
Just let me say this. That the idea of a specific "slave" being in charge of providing spiritual food is at least suggested in scripture. You have Jesus sending out 10 slaves with a denarius to do business during a period of time when he would be away to get "kingdom power." One of the slaves proves sluggish and simply buries the coin. That coin is then given to the slave who did the most increase.
If these are not individuals, then they must be "ministries" or organizations in charge of spiritual leadership. Based upon this alone, therefore, the "evil slave" at one time has to be part of an arrangement to dispense spiritual food, only he fails to do so. But he is not kicked out of god's arrangement until the very END of that generation or the harvest time. So for a while he is dispensing spiritual food.
In the case of the "temple organization" which I believe must be Jehovah's Witnesses, this is a wheat-weed organization from the beginning. But it is allowed to continue growing with the wheat among the weeds because of some honest-hearted sheep like ones who had already begun to associate with the organization.
Futhermore, as I keep telling you, just because this is the particular "temple" organization, it would not mean that other groups would not be approved by Jehovah and provide sheep during the last generation. There were 9 other slaves that had increase! I assign the "evil slave" to the WTS org. So, of course, others have truth as well. But I think each group specializes in developing a certain area of truth. Just as you have focussed on the Trinity and Jesus' last days, etc. but are not that opinionated on chronology. Maybe that was for somebody else to develop. It certainly is difficult to fully become expert in some of these areas and sometimes it takes a 100% commitment. So everything you say I agree with basically. The WTS was just one out of ten (earthly completeness) slaves. You don't have to be a witness to get into the kingdom.
Interestingly enough, they teach that the second resurrection occurs during the millennium which I find contradicts scripture. But that's just view view. So it depends upon the doctrine whether one thinks the WTS has "truth" or not in certain areas.
Now as far as the "sun" and "moon" representing Jesus and the anointed (ten virgins, actually), that's just my personal interpretation. Jesus is called the "bright morning star" in Revelation. And probably I can find some exegetical commentary on it by the WTS. But anyway, since sometimes the Bible does use things figuratively, it is my personal belief the "sun" in this instance is the Messiah and the "moon" is the anointed among Jehovah's witness. It's just my personal view so I won' defend it beyond that.
Incidentally, even references that the "moon would be turned to blood" is thought to merely suggest a total eclipse since the moon does turn red during a total eclipse. Thus it suggests that the "light" they illuminate would be blotted out for a while. This harmonizes with the "ten virgins" NODDING just before the Messiah comes.
So I won't defend that interpretation. You can called it "undeveloped" at this point. But I'm curious now to see if the WTS has ever considered the Bride Class the moon. I'll have to look it up.
Cheers,
Bibleman