Monday, November 30
Your murmurings are not against us, but against Jehovah.
Jehovah and Jesus are perfect Shepherds. The human undershepherds to whom they entrust the care of the congregations are not. This reality may make it challenging for some to follow the elders’ lead. Such individuals may reason: ‘They are imperfect humans just like us. Why should we listen to their counsel?’ However, we need to have a proper view of their shortcomings and weaknesses. The Scriptures candidly acknowledge the failings of those whom Jehovah used to lead his people in the past. In having Bible writers record the shortcomings of men whom he had commissioned, God showed that he can use imperfect men to lead his people. We should not use the imperfections of those who take the lead among us today as an excuse to murmur against them or to ignore their authority.
COMMENTARY
Not all murmuring is against Jehovah. The 6th chapter of Acts records a murmuring among the Greek-speaking Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution. The apostles swiftly dealt with the legitimate complaint.
Curiously, though, the new edition of the NWT has dropped the word “murmuring” from Acts 6:1 in favor of “complaint.” However, even the Kingdom Interlinear uses the word “murmuring,” as do various other translations. It is not that the word “murmuring” has fallen out of use though, seeing that the revised NWT uses it in the account recorded in Exodus. Why the change? Is it in order to cast murmerers among Jehovah’s Witnesses in a bad light even if their cause for murmuring is legitimate, as was the complaint of the Greek-speaking widows in the first century?
As regards the so-called imperfections of the men of former times whom God used, it should be noted that their sins were made public. In the case of David God punished him for his disrespectful acts. Peter was also publicly rebuked by Paul for his hypocrisy.
But who really is taking the lead among Jehovah’s Witnesses? Is it the local elders? No, of course not. It is the Governing Body and their helpers. The question they ought to consider is this: Is there any legitimate cause for complaint against them on the part of Jehovah’s Witnesses? And if so, what do they propose to do about it? As it stands presently the Governing Body rule as gods over the organization. Any voice of complaint or criticism against them, no matter how warranted, is considered a form of blasphemy against God. That attitude is reflected in the Daily Text.
Yet, when a member of the Governing Body appears before a legal agency like Australia’s Royal Commission, for example, and his sworn testimony is viewed by tens of thousands on YouTube, and the spokesman for Jehovah’s earthly organization states unashamedly that the elders would gladly set aside their Bible principles that supposedly prevent them from cooperating with police in the investigation of crimes committed against the children of Jehovah’s Witnesses if only the law required them to do so, is it murmuring against Jehovah if Jehovah’s Witnesses sigh and groan over such a flagrant and disgusting act of hypocrisy and deceit on the part of Jesus’ undershepherds?
Not only that, when the same representative states that the Watchtower may consider compensating victims of child abuse, is that not an outright admission of negligence on their part? And if the Watchtower is going to compensate victims in Australia, what about in America and Great Britain and everywhere crimes against children have gone unreported? And if the Governing Body now consider it proper to compensate victims, why are they still the legal adversaries of child abuse victims during the interim when they are “considering” compensating the victims of their failed policies?
