"Do not hold back good if it is in the power of your hand" Prov 3:27

by stuckinarut2 9 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  stuckinarut2

  I was musing over this scripture at Proverbs 3:27

  "Do not hold back good from those to whom it is due , if it is in the power of your hand to do so"

  This passage has often been used to show that if we have the means, or opportunity to do good, or to assist others in need, we should act. Failing to do so shows neglect, and a lack of love.

  So thinking of JW theology, and applying it to Jehovah "allowing" satanic wickedness on the earth, it doesn't add up!

  JWs teach that Jehovah is allowing satan to rule over this earth, and inflict all sort of suffering on individuals until he decides to act and save all worthy ones....

  But would that scenario work in a family environment?

  Lets say mother and father are having an argument. As they battle, the small helpless children are neglected and not fed for weeks, and have wounds and injuries that are not attended to. They sit in squalor and filth. Father thinks, "well, that's ok, because once this argument is over, I will attend to their issues"

  But in the meantime, those children experience real suffering, for something that is NOT their fault.

  So too with Jehovah.

  What he is apparently doing is failing to show love by neglecting his children while he has a dummy spit argument with another powerful being...

  He is "holding back good"

  Thoughts?
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  sir82

  Well, the WTS learned its hypocrisy & double standards somewhere!
  
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  days of future passed

  That's a new way of thinking about it. That's something we would have never thought of as a witness. Now if the GB heard this version, they would simply say "well it's you that is holding back from doing good for God!" (and us .
  
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  CitizenofEarth

  JW's would sadly argue that we are fed through the Bible and the GB. And i wouldn't even know what to say to that... Im just too tired of all these faithbased claims from JW's everywhere.
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  stuckinarut2

  Nice thoughts and comments!
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  NVR2L8

  I was thinking of using this reasoning with my JW family: would a loving parent watch his child drown in a lake just to prove he believes in the resurrection? I know god is going to resurrect little Dany...what's the big deal? Likewise, god's power to resurrect does not excuse him from letting people suffer and die.

  I find it much easier to believe there's no god than trying to justify how such a loving god can watch all this suffering from the sidelines.
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  days of future passed

  NVRZL8 - I was thinking along the same lines, but I would use the president.
  

  But my line was this: What if the president knew where a terrorist group was operating in the US - but he refused to take action until everyone that hadn't supported him as president, acknowledged they were wrong. So the terrorist group continues to kill while the president refuses to get rid of them. And he blames it all on the non supporters.

  When I was believing this was all the "truth", I would have come up with an excuse as to why it was ok for God to let everyone suffer. And that is the main problem - the WT taught us to make excuses for God. (and for them too of course)
  
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  stuckinarut2

  NVR2L8 and days of future past! Great thoughts! Wow!
  
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  Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

  Posts like this are what make this forum an absolute gold mine (for me, anyway). There is nothing more thought-provoking than humanizing divine behavior and really asking, "is this genuinely acceptable, even in relatable terms on a human scale?" Too often do we have atrocious doctrine chalked up to "righteous indignation". You've revealed yet another facet of modern man's reasoning, rationale and morality being of far greater sophistication than the deity worshipped by the masses, @stuckinarut2.

  It pains me to see millions upon millions of capable human beings resorting to these thought-terminating cliches of "well, no one understand's God's thinking. It's higher than man's." It's the same encumbered pattern of thinking that finds more awe in a burning bush than the elegance of Einstein, Sagan, Darwin or Krauss. These people have forsaken their incredibly complex minds to hide behind human dogma, masquerading as divine. It's tragic.
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  stuckinarut2

  Well said @ Wake me!

  Yes, It is mind-blowing to think that us "mere imperfect humans" seem to have a higher sense of morality and love than the Almighty, in whose image we were supposed to have been made!

  If we as humans find conduct such as this unacceptable, how can "God" tolerate or excuse such?