I plan on responding in a future question(s) if I find one or more answers that do not add up, but for now, I just want to know if you believe that individual Witnesses are inspired by God, inspired but not by God, and the same for your Governing Body. But in either case for either group, please do your best to defend your answers. Remember, Jehovah is watching you!
Anonymous
They will answer NO.
If they are not inspired, are inspired the disassociations they practice?
They shut up!
They may be sincere, but are they sincere and honest to answer this contradiction?
Many Jehovah's Witnesses who prove errors taught by the governing body are disfellowshipped. Does Jehovah guide such disassociations?
Anonymous
Out of 8 million Witnesses, only some 14,000 alive today claim to be born again and indwelt by Jehovah's spirit. This includes the 7 men who make up the Governing Body. They say they are not prophets and dismiss any claims to be inspired by God, yet they say that everything they publish (which is the responsibility of the Governing Body) comes from Jehovah God himself:
THE WATCHTOWER (STUDY EDITION) MAY 2016 article Benefit Fully from Jehovah’s Provisions: 6 Above all, each one of us should bear in mind that God is the Source of our spiritual provisions. Through the prophet Isaiah, he said: “I, Jehovah, am your God, the One teaching you to benefit yourself.” (Isa. 48:17)
Given the errors, omissions and downright false claims to be found in these publications, I can only conclude that their inspiration can not come from God because God does not lie, nor does God change. However, it is not for me to judge them. People have to make up their own minds as to where their inspiration comes from.
Edit: As for individual Witnesses being inspired by God or not, I knew a Witness who was of the "anointed remnant" who absolutely seemed to be inspired by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That was back in the 1950's. But remember that 8 million Witnesses admit they are not born again, are not indwelt by the Holy Spirit (which they say is Jehovah's inanimate energy or power) and so therefore can not be inspired by God. They appear to be inspired by their Governing Body, though, thinking that every utterance that comes from them via their literature is coming directly from Jehovah.
?
The words "inspired by" have been so twisted when in religion that people forget what the words actually mean.
I'm inspired by you to answer this question and to read most, if not all, of the responses. Does that mean you entered into me and gave me some sort of knowledge that I did not have before? No.
My dad inspired me to become a carpenter when I was younger. I enjoyed the work. Did my dad have to enter into me for me to be inspired? No.
So what exactly does inspired mean? If you look up the root word "inspire" on dictionary.com you will find 7 meanings to the word. But all of the 7 have one thing in common, to influence.
Can God influence us without his holy spirit? Oh yes he can. At Romans 1:20 Paul talks about how God's invisible qualities are clearly seen through creation. Different aspects of creation has inspired men to do all sorts of things.
Jet fighter engineers look at different types of birds to inspire them to come up with a new wing configuration.
Navy seals have been known to watch dolphins and other marine life to inspire them to try new techniques in swimming and diving.
Men looked to birds for inspiration on flight long before the Wright brothers got their contraption off the ground.
So then we have to ask ourselves are we "inspired by God"? If we breathe we have to be inspired by God to do so, without oxygen that he created we simply would not be.
?
If the Watchtower Society was inspired by God...
1) ...it would not have found it necessary to come up with its evil NEW WORLD TRANSLATION, a systematic perversion of the Bible, deliberately done so as to underpin its false dogma
2) ...it would uphold Jesus Christ AS GOD HIMSELF, GOD INCARNATE IN HUMAN FLESH
Brian
We are not inspired of God.