A statement in the Watchtower that angered me... (page 2)

kid-A

The book of job = the ultimate justification for atheism.......

lovelylil

My understanding is that Job was writing from his own pessimistic understanding of God and why he was suffering from affliction and is not to be taken literally. But then again, I could be wrong.

jstalin

It's interesting to note that Satan was a member of god's court during the Job story.

Maybe this is true for all religions, I don't remember from before I was a dub and I'm not going back now, but JWs are incredibily callous. It doesn't matter that someone loses their entire family because they were able to replace them. Ah, well, that's okay then. Children you raised and loved, now gone because of a squabble between Titans. Shrug it off and get you some more...that makes is all better. Ah, the manifold blessings of Jehovah.

They can contemplate, vividly, in house-taking-over detail, their neighbors, non-dub relatives and billions of other people being massacred and smile with smug delight. Oh, no, we don't take delight in the annihilation of our fellow human beings...its out of our hands, isn't it? Oh, and I've got dibs on the mansion on the hill... Thank you, Jah! Witnesses don't learn to be more caring, more sensative, more loving...they are trained to be less. They are taught to be self-deceptive and selfish...and call it the opposite.

There is a disconnect that occurs with dub training that allows them (us once) to entertain the idea of unspeakable pain, suffering and death with flip, pat, simplistic, even stupid, JW rhetoric...so focused on their own goal of perfection and the shining pot of gold at the end of their rainbow, that nothing else matters.

PrimateDave

I recently read Robert A. Heinlein's Job: A Comedy of Justice

Excellent book. Mr. Heinlein is known as a science fiction writer,

but in this work he takes a stab at religion.

Anyone else read this book? Seems to me Mr. Heinlein had little use

for a divine being that would be so callous with his own 'volitionals'.

luna2

I've read it, Primate. It was awesome.

AuldSoul

I think the story of Job did not involve a descendant of Abraham at all but came into usage as a fable in Israelite tradition. There is nothing in the book to indicate any connection to Abraham's line, and there was every reason for Moses (or a Moses figure) to use a familiar fable to assert the notion of a monotheistic God.

Exodus admits very candidly that neither the Israelites, nor Abraham, Isaac, nor Jacob knew the name YHWH. But the accounts from Moses' pen are filled with this hitherto unknown name, including his version of Job.

Respectfully,
AuldSoul

Nemesis

I noticed years ago when researching the book of Job that the Watch Tower has had its sticky fingers in the bible once again, and altered critical words to have a totally different meaning!

If you read Job 42:11 is says: “Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials [or adversity/evil] the LORD had brought against him. . .”

Note the word “trials [or adversity/evil] the LORD had brought against him. . .” Then read the altered Watch Tower version which says: “. . all the calamity that Jehovah had let come upon him. . .”

Some examples:

NTL -"trials the LORD had brought against him"
NKJV - "adversity that the Lord had brought upon him"
NASB - "adversities that the LORD had brought on him"
RSV - "all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him"
Webster - "all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him"
Young - "all the evil that Jehovah had brought upon him"
Darby - "all the evil that Jehovah had brought upon him"
AVS - "all the evil that Jehovah had brought upon him"
HNV - "all the evil that the LORD had brought on him"

Watch Tower New World Translation – “all the calamity that Jehovah had let come upon him”

Many people would miss this crucial alteration if they don’t cross check with non-Watchtower Bibles. The meaning is completely different from “letting” something happen, or bringing it on to someone. Even Job recognised that “good and evil” can come from God, but apparently the Watch Tower Society feel they have the divine right to alter the scriptures and their candid account.

Navigator

I suspect the Jews "borrowed" that story from the Persians. It has been edited so many times over the ages that it is difficult to tell who wrote what. Some of the lines from one character appear to have been intended for womeone else. In any case, the answers are not very satisfactory are they?

jgnat

I like the story for what it says about the human condition. Even today we tend to blame the victim for their calamity. After all, bad things can't happen to good people, can they?

A statement in the Watchtower that angered me...

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