By the way, Tetra, as an atheist I find your dedication to your appendix to be offensive. Everyone knows there is no such thing as an appendix. It's just a myth.
"Grateful for God's Protection"
by Scully 40 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Scully
RunningMan:
My mother told me that something bad would happen to my family because we no longer have God's protection. Unfortunately for her, we have been on a pretty strong roll of good luck for the last few years. I guess it's because Satan wants to keep us happy in our sinful condition.
HA! I'm quite certain my JW family is just waiting for something terrible to happen to us so they can look down their noses at us with that we-told-you-so look. I know it bugs the heck out of them that our life over the last 10 years has done nothing but improve.
Jehovah sure seems to be lame at "providing" for his people. By contrast, Satan really knows how to show the money.
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RunningMan
Yep, there's nothing quite like getting a visit from Gramma, the voice of doom. She is very concerned about my daughter being on the volleyball team. She thinks that the girl's changeroom is a perfect breeding ground for lesbianism.
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BrendaCloutier
It's disgusting to me, too. How much more self-righteous and egocentric can these idiots be?
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kid-A
Its incredibly offensive.....I wonder if they are equally willing to curse god for him 'failing' to protect their neighbours? Its as pukey as those celebrities thanking god at their award shows for winning the grammy, immediately before running into the bathroom to snort a line of coke.
I find it almost as obnoxious as "I will pray for you".......uggggggghhhh.....pass the barf bag!!!
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bebu
Tony Campolo once wrote about this kind of topic. When several Christian athletes compete, he asked, why is it that the winner assumes he's the only one who was really blessed? Does God not care about the other runners?
People simply have a knee-jerk reaction to thanking God only during times when things are going "right"--according to their definition. Also, if they have found comfort during times of fear, they want to acknowledge their gratefulness. I don't have a problem with that.
The way I look at things is, if God is good... then He is not good simply on occasion, or now and then, or when He's feeling especially generous. If God is good, then He is good ALL the time, and in each circumstance for each person, whether it can be understood at the moment or not.
My mom had a close call with a cancer diagnosis which proved to be MS. It was a very painful time for me and my family, but whether or not the diagnosis was confirmed as cancer, or the final outcome for my mom, we all trusted God was in control and all would work for good. (Trust is a pretty big compliment to God when things are going upside down.)
Thru the last weeks, my mom learned something about her children that she could never have guessed. The outpouring of support overwhelmed her so much, I suspect that she felt secretly afraid that she had screwed up so much as a mom that our response would have been limited in some ways. She never knew how much we loved her. --WE didn't know how much we loved her, until this happened! And it is sweet to see newer levels of kindness and tenderness being opened up in our family, all due to a medical crisis. We have gained all of this even while we were suffering and waiting for answers. My mom will still die someday, but we gained something tremendous here that will not die.
Similarly, it is ironic that shunning has caused so much suffering, and yet for many it was the light they needed to leave the cult.
Pain and suffering are undesirable, but they are not necessarily inherently evil. They are catalysts thru which people can work out who they are, reach out to each other, and reach out to God.
Just 2 cents.
bebu
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tetrapod.sapien
runningman,
if you would just open your eyes and look around at the resplendant creation around us, it is obvious that it was designed by my appendix. i cannot fathom how any of it could have come about without my appendix.
plus: has my appendix ever let YOU down before? no, of course not. next time your daughter's volleyball team wins a game, then just remember: my appendix. and if they lose? well, my appendix cannot make all believers happy at the same time! or perhaps they deserved it for being lesbians!
TS
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Cognitive_Dissident
You're definitely not alone, Scully. That type of sentence, which people invariably spit out after some major disaster, makes me want to projectile vomit all over them, and then ask, "Where's your God now?"
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VM44
Hi Scully,
What you describe is similar to when a JW receives a gift, perhaps money, from an individual, and then the person says "Jehovah has provided!" when really it was the kindness of the person who gave the gift that is responsible for the gift.
This sort of thing bothers me greatly! In particular, the case of thanking "Jehovah" for the gift giving actions of an individual is rude!
Perhaps a person saying that any good thing that happens to them is due to an action from God is an attempt by that person to "prove" that God is taking action in their life, the person can say. "See? Look at all these good things that have happened to me, that is proof that God is working to benefit my life."
The Watchtower Organization also has this viewpoint, especially when they write that the "Physical Facts" show that Jehovah has chosen them as His organization! (The Watchtower never really goes into just what these facts are though!)
--VM44
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ChrisVance
HA! I'm quite certain my JW family is just waiting for something terrible to happen to us so they can look down their noses at us with that we-told-you-so look. I know it bugs the heck out of them that our life over the last 10 years has done nothing but improve.
When I left the dubs 14 years ago, my cousin called me and said that when I got AIDS she'd take care of me. Of course, she assumed that all gay men get AIDS and that it's a punishment from gawd. I suppose I should be greatful she's going to take care of me. Fortunately it hasn't happened and I've done some of things that she would like to be able to do, but can't, like go to college.