@defenderofteuth
I didn't say this thread was a waste of time, I said the ongoing debate is pointless when compared to the fact that the issue has never been definitively proven one way or the other.
To paraphrase Einstein, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. That's what I am saying.
Debating something that doesn't have an answer doesn't free JWs because that is not the point of the argument: Theists, why does G-d allow suffering? The question is designed to challenge theists into debate.
Whatever you might feel I see it illogical for atheists to demand proof of a deity, claiming they would believe if only there was empirical evidence. That is a cowardly condition for some atheists to take. Are you afraid to tell a god that does in fact exist that you won't worship him or serve him? I'm not.
As a Jew I don't believe Jesus is the Messiah. But that belief is not based on my telling myself Jesus wasn't real. In fact I believe he was a historical figure. He might have very well performed every single miracle attributed to him, even being resurrected from the dead. He can even come back tomorrow from wherever he's been for the past 2000 years in a display of miracles and celestial events...but none of that makes him the Messiah. None of those things will make me kneel to him because none of those things were prophesied about the Messiah, Jews never expected a dying Christ, nor do some of us (like myself) believe a personal Messiah is even supposed to be a literal figure. My view on Jesus is not conditional, and no "proof" he can offer will change that because he already had his chance and did not measure up.
I don't sit around arguing about if Jesus is the Messiah, or because this or that miracle happened here or there that I should perhaps reconsider my position or what would I do if Jesus did return on the clouds of heaven. It's irrelevant because none of that makes sense to Judaism or me personally. I go on, living life now. I don't waste my time challenging Christians to prove their faith in Jesus. And I don't go around claiming that arguing such a point is designed to help JWs.
Is this thread itself a waster of time? No. But is the centuries-long worn out debate? Yep.
Does G-d owe any of us proof of his existence? Where is it written that suffering is G-d's responsibility? I can show you in the Tanakh where it says it is ours, where humans are expected to do something about the world.
And in the end who cares what the Tanakh says or what I as a Jew believe or if G-d exists. In the end there is still suffering. In the end you have the power to stop it. It exists because we aren't stoping it. The world is what we make of it.