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If you would have taken time to read the comment from Gumby, you may have gotten the point. You missed the point because you are looking at things through WT eyes. In the parable of | |
the Good Samaritan, Jesus demonstrates what it means to truly be a neighbor to ones fellowman. A Jew is left for dead on the side of a road after being set upon by robbers. Fellow Jews, a priest and a Levite. pass him by. Then a Samaritan sees the Jewish victim on the side of the road and he takes care of his wounds and transports him to a local inn. He sees to it that this man's needs are taken care of and he even leaves some money to cover the expenses.
Jesus answers the question about who proved himself to be this man's neighbor. This Samaritan man proved himself to be a good neighbor by showing love, not for a fellow Jew, but for a fellow man. It is interesting to note what Jesus did not say. He did not say that being of a certain religion was necessary for ones survival. There was nothing at all about what one needed to do to be saved. It was a simple parable that illustrated our responsibility as fellow human beings to show love for one another regardless of ones ethnicity, nationality, religion, etc. If people all over the world would stop insisting that their religion was the right one and they would simply love their fellowman from their hearts, there would be a real change on this earth. It is religious fundamentalism that causes persons to hate one another over artificial differences.
You insist that the Witnesses preach the good news because they love their fellowman and they don't want them to die at Armageddon by God's hand. I say that the war of Armageddon as outlined in the Bible is an invention of man. This belief causes men to serve God out of fear. As long as they toe the line, they just might survive when God comes to perform the greatest act of mass murder in history. How is such a teaching consistent with a God of love? This God, that is supposed to possess superior knowledge and wisdom chooses to solve the problems of this earth by destroying everyone on it, except for JW's. So, when God is faced with difficult problems, the only way that he knows how to solve those problems is through mass murder. Might does not always make right. Those persons that survive Armageddon would then serve God out of fear that they may suffer the same fate if they step out of line. Any love for God would be suspect. That love would be a love given under coercion, not by that ones free will.
You seem to also think that everyone, save JW's, have been turned away from God by Satan. Again, you are looking at things through WT eyes. There are millions upon millions of persons that demonstrate the love of God through their actions. If you would just open your eyes you would see that their are many non-JW's that are good people. You have been taught that everyone outside of the JW's are in Satan's grasp. They all have the propensity for evil. This teaching is just a way for the WT to keep their members inside the fold. I have family members that are still JW's. If that's what they want to do, I have no problem with that. Yet, I feel sorry for them because the WT has kept the real truth from them. They go through their whole loves believing the WT paradigm. They sacrifice their lives, not for God, but for WT teachings and dogma. That is sad. But I don't hate them, I love them. The teaching that former JW's become evil hateful apostates is another lie put forth by the WT.
You probably won't listen to what I have had to say. But you owe it to yourself and your family to at least examine what I have had to say. God loves all mankind. He just doesn't love JW's and hate all others. Jesus's message was intended for all men and women, not for those persons of a particular religion, nationality, ethnicity or sect. There will never be an intervention from God where he destroys just about every last one of us. Only we humans can change what happens on this planet. The sky God won't come to magically fix our problems. Each one of us needs to work at changing ourselves. It is only when we choose to change from within and try to effect changes from without that changes will come. If we finally realize that we have the power to change this earth through our positive actions is when a change will come about.
Mr. Shakita