I had a conversation with an old JW friend and he spent a good part of the evening preaching to me. As I am “inactive”, I am forced to stay low, thus, I was not argumentative. Yet, at one moment, he said that angels protect JWs in field service and other situations. This stuck a nerve. I said: We all heard about pioneers dying in traffic accidents or even families dying while going to the kingdom hall, or what about the 20 JWs who died in the kingdom hall in the hurricane that hit the Philippines a few years ago. Why would JW save you and not them?
He than answered that Jehovah measures the impact of such tragedies on all people involved and if this would result in greater suffering then his servants could endure, he will intervene. For instance, he might have saved him understanding that it would be too much for his wife to bare.
I stayed there, silent. In part due to the fact I didn’t want to be argumentative at the risks of making the conversation memorable. In other part due to the fact I was shocked by the profound stupidity and injustice of the argument.
What does it mean “too much”, “more than one can bare”? There was a little girl that was interviewed in a JW broadcast; she had lost her family in the kingdom hall that crashed. But it’s alright, Jehovah decided that she could bare this tragedy. On the other side of the planet, a 70 year old man is miraculously saved from a car accident because his 65 year old wife would not have been able to bare it?
You cannot be self centered to a higher degree.