God is not a good Samaritan

by peacedog 79 Replies latest jw friends

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  peacedog

  I don't start threads very often, but yesterday I had something of an epiphany as I was doing some work in the yard. Deep in thought, as I usually am when doing mundane tasks, it occurred to me that while Jesus encouraged us to be "good Samaritans", God himself is not a good Samaritan. In the parable by Jesus, a traveler is left beaten and robbed on the side of the road. A priest and then a Levite both pass the man by, ignoring his need. Finally a Samaritan comes along and tends to the man's need. I realized that in this parable, God fits the roles of the priest and the Levite, not the Samaritan. While so many of us suffer and are in need each day, God simply passes us by. Though he has it in his power to appease our suffering and assuage our need, he chooses not to.

  Thoughts?
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  leavingwt

  peacedog -- Yes. Thousand of years before you and I were born, philosophers figured this out. If there is a god, she is one mean _________.
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  wasblind

  I feel that way today,

  but there are a lot instances in my life where i felt

  that God knew what i needed long before i did.

  And he delivered what i needed when i didn't know i needed it at the time.

  hope i didn't confuse anyone
• 

  tec

  God gave us life. A beautiful planet to rule over. And even after we have denied him, destroyed his gift, abused his people (the faithful and the not faithless, since all are His), He still sent Jesus to show us the way and to unite us with Him. He still forgives us. He still offers us eternal life through his son.

  That's more than most of us do to our fellow man, good samaritan or not.

  Tammy
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  leavingwt

  Tammy -- What about the billions of good people who lived before Jesus was born?
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  tec

  Leaving - I think they are being comforted now (or will be at the resurrection - whatever the meaning or interpretation of that). I think I would consider a lifetime of suffering worth an eternity of peace and comfort. Maybe not during the suffering, mind you... but in the end, yes. I understand that it takes faith to be able to trust in this, though. At least I think it does.

  Tammy

  Edited to add: He also sent prophets and such to try and help before Jesus as well.
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  leavingwt

  He also sent prophets and such to try and help before Jesus as well.

  He sent these to a select few, if we accept the Bible. Still, this all means that you and I must live our lives in a radically different way than billions of others, or we'll go to Hell (however defined). These others were judged based upon what? Being good people?
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  tec

  These others were judged based upon what? Being good people?

  I think so, yes.

  "For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but rather those who obey the law who will be declared righteous... This will take place on the day that God judges men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares."

  I also think everyone has to live the same way - using love and mercy to guide them. Faith in Jesus should give people that if they're following Him and His example. The difference is that we can have life through Jesus in the here and now , and there is no judgment or fear of judgement for those people who do.

  Also - not everyone who thinks they're following Jesus actually are, and not everyone who thinks they're not following Jesus, actually are not. (From the parable when Jesus separates the people into two groups and they ask 'when did we see you hungry and feed/or not feed you)

  Tammy
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  PSacramento

  I think it is very hard to reconcile a God that doesn't do what he askes us to do.

  The Good Samaritan is an example, even if the parable wasn't meant to be take that way but to show that, soemtimes, an "outcast" is better and more "godly" than those professing to be that way.

  We have had so many threads about why God allows this and that and why God doesn't intervene and typically they are started by those that don't believ ein God and are trying to show those that do that they are right or by those that are trying to understand why God allows bad things to happen to good people and that IS the point of asking these things isn't it?

  No one really cares when "bad" people get bad things happening to them, but why do bad things happen to good people?

  That is the question, isn't it?
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  peacedog

  Thanks for the comments.

  My epiphany was more about the *irony* in Jesus telling the parable of the good Samaritan when all the while God is passing us by just like the priest and Levite.

  The older I get, the more the idea of a loving God who permits suffering seems like an oxymoron.