Governing Body Represents Who?

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For many decades the community of Jehovah’s Witnesses has been told by the Watchtower organization that its Governing Body headquartered at Brooklyn, New York represents and acts for what it terms the “anointed ones” on earth.

For example, in 1976 Watchtower stated:

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Yet in recent years Watchtower has stated:

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At face value it seems absurd that Watchtower’s Governing Body can rightly be understood to represent the “anointed ones” on earth given that it neither has nor maintains a network of those whom it purportedly represents.

In an attempt to explain the apparent disconnect between itself and those whom it supposedly represents, Watchtower states:

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That is an amazing piece of explanation. Why?

Watchtower teaches that the composite “slave class” is the sum total of all “anointed ones” on earth at any given time, and that these "anointed ones" have the assignment to provide spiritual food. Specifically, Watchtower states:

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According to the above, as recent as year 2007 Watchtower’s Governing Body taught that all of the “anointed ones” would provide spiritual food. Yet Watchtower’s 2009 explanation expresses that some of the “anointed ones” do not have the assignment to provide spiritual food.

Watchtower’s teaching on this point is cloaked in the conundrum of “a composite body”. The apparent theory of this “composite body” is that though it is made up entirely of the “anointed ones” and no one else, and though all of the “anointed ones” comprise this “composite body,” when the “composite body” acts in its singular assignment it is not the whole “composite body” that is acting in that singular assignment, that is to provide spiritual food.

Notwithstanding supposition of various “work assignments,” one can only wonder how an organization can rightly claim to represent persons for whom admittedly it neither has nor maintains a network of.[1]

Marvin Shilmer
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1. To see why this Governing Body does not bother to create a global network of "anointed ones" see the article Watchtower’s Governing Body.