Is Jehovah really a loving and compassionate "father" to his children? As a JW I would have definitely answered "Yes", followed by the typical "he allows suffering, but doesn't cause it", or perhaps the "he has created us to enjoy life and wants us to be happy" mumbo jumbo.
Today's daily text demonstrate this reasoning (bold mine):
See what sort of love the Father has given us!—1 John 3:1.
Jehovah is the Creator of all humans. (Ps. 100:3-5) That is why the Bible calls Adam a “son of God,” and Jesus taught his followers to address God as “our Father in the heavens.” (Luke 3:38; Matt. 6:9) Being the Life-Giver, Jehovah is our Father; the relationship between him and us is that of a father to his children. Simply put, Jehovah loves us the way a devoted father loves his children....
Pausing here for a second, I'd like to add that I have two children of my own, so I understand what parental love implies. Any Parent would surely agree with me in that this love we feel is an indescribably profound affection where almost all we do is for the purpose of our children's happiness. Has history shown Jehovah to display this same type of "love"?
...Human fathers, of course, are imperfect. Try as they may, they do not fully reflect the way Jehovah expresses his fatherly love. In fact, some individuals have dark memories of growing up in family situations that have left them with deep emotional or psychological scars. That is painful and sad, even tragic. To be sure, Jehovah is not a father like that....
Human father's are indeed imperfect. Yet I still manage to display tender love and affection to my children. Never would I purposely subject them to torture or physical pain so that they learn a lesson.
I remember a common analogy among JWs attempting to disprove the concept of Hell. They'd ask a parent something along the lines of: "Would you ever burn your child's hand as a form of discipline? Neither would our loving heavenly father subject us to an eternal fiery torture". While it is true that I would never even think of burning my child's hand, does this analogy really fit the God of JWs?
I'd argue that the following analogy would more appropriately fit the that God:
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A parent explains to his young son that he should not attempt to cross the road without his supervision and that doing so would definitely result in injury. One day, the child is told by a friend that a toy he desires lies across the other side of the road and encourages him to go get it.
The child, in complete disregard of his father's warning, proceeds to do so. His father, peeking through the window, observes the child approaching the busy road, and rather than running to his rescue, decides to allow it for the purpose of teaching a lesson in obedience. He reasons that there is a Hospital nearby capable of healing any injuries he might receive. The child unavoidably gets struck by a vehicle and while laying severely injured on the ground, the father approaches him and says: "This is what you get for not respecting my authority":
The father decides that he will allow the child to linger in pain for some time before calling for help, so that the lesson sinks deep into his heart. Hours go by and the child, barely alive and crying for help, continues getting only lectured by his father on the importance of obeying his authority. Only after his young child has lost consciousness does the father decide to take action and call for medical services.
He also proceeds to murder young friend of the boy that originally instigated him to cross the road.
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Would you say that this father acted lovingly? Has not Watchtower's Jehovah done the same thing, only in a more cruel fashion? Not only has he supposedly allowed humanity to suffer for millennia with the intent of teaching them a lesson in obedience, but while at it has also directly plagued them with countless sources of calamities such as diseases and/or natural disasters.
Does this sound like a "Loving Father" to you? The daily text's commentary concludes:
Knowing how Jehovah loves and cares for us will surely draw us closer to him.—
I beg to differ