The WT and Freedom to choose Evil

by jst2laws 16 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Deputy Dog

  jst2laws

  Why does creating evil or sin make God gilty of it?

  D Dog
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  jst2laws

  Deputy Dog,

  You asked:

  Why does creating evil or sin make God gilty of it?

  I hope I did not convey that this was a matter of guilt. We humans are the ones who seem to have a need to dealing with that. I don't have a strong opinion about this matter of evil. But I do see problems with the theology that states humans chose something that did not exist.

  If God created evil, as the Bible says He did, it does not make God evil as he also created "all things" that are good. This is called "Dualism", Good vs Evil, Light vs Darkness. There are at least four different religious concepts describing how this good/evil dualism can be explained by the Bible. None of them make God "guilty", but some give us a different perception of the ultimate reality we seek.

  Please respond if you are still unsettled with this answer.

  Jst2laws
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  ros

  Very good points, ezekiel3.

  In my opinion, it is impossible to create good if there is no possibility of bad (relativity). How could one have an opinion about "good music" if there was no such thing as "bad music" in that one's view?

  Without bad, there would be no such thing as good, and vice-versa. With out bad, it would be impossible to know good. "They have become like one of us, knowing good and evil."--Gen3:22) Evidently it required experiencing bad to realize good.

  Caveat: I do not take the Genesis metaphoric story literally. However I believe it conveys an important message. In this case, that we must know/experience evil to know and realize, appreciate, and enjoy good to the fullest.
  (I fully realize the issues skeptics and fundamentalists raise that suggests that a *loving God* could in any way have anything whatsoever to do with allowing evil to exist. It is much easier to reckon that loveless evolution and bigoted natural selection (survival of the superior) did it. :-)))

  ~Ros
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  jst2laws

  Farkel,

  Of course, any dub who made that argument would see it quickly demolished. There was a tree in Eden called the tree "of the knowledge of good and evil." If evil didn't exist, then why use a word that points to something that didn't exist. Furthermore, if evil didn't exist, Adam and Eve could have no concept of something they knew nothing about and could not conceive anything about.

  Damn logic. How is a fundamentalist to survive in this Rational world?

  Ros,

  Nice to have you come by,

  Caveat: I do not take the Genesis metaphoric story literally. However I believe it conveys an important message. In this case, that we must know/experience evil to know and realize, appreciate, and enjoy good to the fullest.
  (I fully realize the issues skeptics and fundamentalists raise that suggests that a *loving God* could in any way have anything whatsoever to do with allowing evil to exist. It is much easier to reckon that loveless evolution and bigoted natural selection (survival of the superior) did it. :-)))

  There we go. That 'literal' word again. How is it the WT will say the snake didn't literally speak, but that Satan literally spoke for him? A "ventriloquist" even? The WT pats itself on the back for not taking the Genesis account literally as the fundamentalist do, and then takes every bit of chapter 3 literally except for the talking snake.

  You point out another problem Fundies have with the "loving God" 'having anything to do with allowing evil to exist'.

  Thanks for the comments, Ros

  Jst2laws
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  Paradise Found

  I gave up posting on this board because of trying to explai n the following point and the cynical replys I got back .My fault In part as Iam not the most articulate on the net.

  Anyway what I belive from Genesis Is God created the light from the darkness.(But with photography Light and Darkness are not conpatible and cant co-exist.) I do not belive the darkness exists. I belive the darkness is the wrong thinking of people.It doesnt exist. That Is why I now have no fear of the Watchtower Organisation its message or Its members.I mean living for ever on a paradise earth used to exist to me. Armaggedon used to exist to me but it doesnt exist any-more. It was only darkness presented as light.

  The elders would love to dissfelowship me. I havnt been to a meeting in years.They no I associate with disfellowshipped people I think they know I smoke?So much more to. But when they came to see me I said "come In lets sit down" mentiond some stuff about an elder lying in court as a witness on child-molesting case and the suicide of a brother on what I belived was fear of there judical meeting and said now before I go further Iam calling the police here. In short they made there excuses and left. Sadly that brother who committed suicide would be here today(In my opinion) if the fear of a judical committe didnt exist. That darkness and fear really only existed in his mind. The elders are living in darkness a world that only exists in there imagination and are afraid of the light that God created.
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  ellderwho

  The WT pats itself on the back for not taking the Genesis account literally as the fundamentalist do, and then takes every bit of chapter 3 literally except for the talking snake

  Hasnt this been the problem for basically all the interpretations that come from the "Towers" ????

  E.
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  ros

  Jst2laws:

  I should acknowledge one flaw in my comment: Fundamentalists don't attribute anything to evolution. :-)
  (My apologies to fundamentalists for that inferrence.)
  Their reasoning is that a "loving God" not only does not create evil, but has made a burning lake to torture anyone for eternity who says otherwise.

  Comparing good and evil to light and dark is a pretty good one I think. Creation of light would not mean that darkness was created, but the alternative exists by default, and it does create an option (choice).

  ~Ros