I recently went on a camping trip with a number of Jehovah’s Witness friends of mine. Keep in mind that, while most of them know that I am inactive and no longer attending the meetings, none of them are aware that I’m actually an atheist. One night, while sitting around the campfire, I posed a question that ignited a several-hour-long debate regarding the Anointed, or Heavenly class (the 144,000 faithful Christians who are allegedly chosen by Jehovah to go to heaven). I did not expect or intend for my inquiry to cause such a heated discussion, even causing one of the guys to walk away in frustration. This was over his idea that the Anointed, despite their state of imperfection, would naturally hold themselves to a higher moral standard than the rest of the Other Sheep, or the rest of those with the Earthly hope. Not one to argue, for most of this time I simply sat back and listened to the responses, especially since the argument that ensued wasn’t really directly related to my original question.
Anyway, my question was: How do individuals claiming to be of the heavenly class actually come to realize, with all certainty, that they are one of the chosen 144,000?
The official, printed information on this subject is frustratingly vague. If you were to ask someone who claims to be one of the 144,000, most likely the answer you will receive is something along the lines of “I just know.” Actually, I have done just that on several occasions. In fact, I posed this question to a man named Samuel Herd, who was one of my former district overseers (and is now one of the members of the Governing Body–the highest attainable ruling position in the religion). Again, his answer was short and sweet — he just knows.
As the campfire discussion wore on, I had to rephrase my question a bit. I vaguely understand the official response… basically a faithful Witness is ‘touched’ by holy spirit. But what I really want to know is, what exactly is alleged to take place when one becomes anointed? And how is their claim verified by the congregation? Is there an actual angel that privately visits them during their waking hours? Are they treated to an undeniable vision or dream? Are they born with this thought, or does the idea simply pop into their minds at baptism, or at some later time? Does a deep booming voice descend from the clouds? Are they presented with the Golden Ticket to the Great Chocolate Factory in the sky? Seriously, how do they really know?
The general consensus from the half dozen or so participants in this discussion, was that nobody really knows for sure. All of those who have had any direct contact with anointed individuals have never been able to get a straight, first-hand-experience or answer to such questions. Everyone also agreed that at least a small percentage of those who claim to be chosen are actually mentally ill or are just plain lying.
Becoming anointed also seems to be a prerequisite for becoming a member of the Governing Body, or the Faithful and Discreet Slave. Perhaps this is a motive for some? This is the class of men who claim to be the only direct channel of God, through which the Watchtower receives it’s divine direction. Whether they claim to be directly ‘inspired’ by God or not is something that they seem to flip-flop back and forth on over the years, depending on which answer conveniently supports whatever argument they are making at the time. How they can actually be the official channel or mouthpiece of God without being inspired in some fashion is beyond me. Without some kind of inspiration, it seems to me that the anointed “Faithful and Discreet Slave” class is made somewhat redundant and unnecessary.
Interestingly, during this century, the number of the anointed class has been increasing at a rate faster than that of the overall organization, with the latest reported number being 9,105. The excuse for this is that some former anointed individuals have fallen away from true worship, and new replacements are needed. Which doesn’t make much sense, since these men and women were supposed to have been sealed by Jehovah himself. Like one of my camping buddies suggested, you would think that Witnesses who knew they were chosen to be one of the 144,000, and thus had some kind of enlightening experience involving contact with the holy spirit, would hold themselves to a certain higher level of standards and integrity.
Perhaps most, if not all 9,105 living anointed are somewhere between exceptionally deluded, mentally ill, or pathological liars.
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