Religious Freedom

[Alex]

Well, he self-appointed himself a holy leader. I consider that assish.

Let me rephrase this. I was responding to wendybeth saying she can't believe how much people subvert themselves to the teachings of self-appointed religious leaders allowing themselves to be coerced into things she takes to be bad.

I assumed, erroneously, that she was talking about modern "self appointed religious leaders (such as Russell, Rutherford, and the current leadership of the Watchtower Society). So I was pointing out that this particular teaching goes back to the earliest "self appointed holy leadership" of the Christian faith.

To the extent that what the modern "self appointed holy leadership" does is assish* for being self appointed and telling others what to do, so was Jesus Christ, and the church structure immediately following him.

To the extent that this particular element of Jehovah's Witness doctrine is bad and coercive, it was so 2,000 years ago. Unless you reject that this was a teaching of Christ as passed on by Paul. But once you do that, the Bible becomes worthless as a vehicle for passing on the teachings of Christ.



* wendybeth did not use this word, or necessarily this sentient. I introduced it to the conversation. Though it seems apt for describing the behavior of self-appointing yourself a holy leader and then coercing others to do bad things.