Thank you for your comments, Pure. It is indeed sad whenever anyone rejoices over someone else's calamity. Like Red (hello, Red!) mentioned, it's far from being the worst thing said. It reminds me of an incident that happened long ago while a 'brother' and I were working together on a commercial building that was being remodeled. He points to a group of 'worldly' workers off to our left and says: "Aren't you glad we're not like them? I wouldn't want to be them at Armageddon."
This guy was not and is not a bad person. Actually, he's a kind person and I don't think that he would ever deliberately hurt anyone. But like so many others, he's been conditioned to think along certain lines.
I reminded him of the parable about the tax collector and the pharisee in the eighteenth chapter of Luke: "The Pharisee stood up and prayed about£ himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”--NIV
One of the great problems with religions as they exist is that they cannot help but offer up interpretations for virtually every statement recorded in the Bible. Some, most notably the WTBS, offer these as THE ONLY explanation that can be made. Once the believer 'accepts' this contrivance then it is close to impossible for that one to see any alternative meaning until and unless that authority to which he has submitted himself/herself suggest something different on the matter. That being the case it is more easily understood how a witness cannot apply Jesus' parable (above) to himself or his 'brothers'.
Taking a narrow view of something is never wise and sometimes it's quite dangerous. Sometimes I get a little 'static' when I mention something favorable to witnesses in general or particularly the Society. (smile) It's then that I think back of when I had the green glasses on and how difficult it was for me to attribute anything positive to anything and anyone not 'in the truth'. Now the green glasses are gone and I hope that I do not somehow slip on another color in it's place. Oz is really quite lovely with the naked eye.
