by caliber 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Isn't guilt closely related to your conscience.... a pre-warning alarm system that you are wandering into thoughts that are not
to your advantage by quick reflection back to other life choices and the recorded dangers of their outcome ?
Could guilt be much like the example of pain which is undesirable but it can serve a valuable purpose in us seeking
relief and in ultimate recovery ?
There are consequences to every action. However, when one threatens to add additional negative consequences or begins initiating them for no good reason, that is when guilt becomes negative. This is common in religions--God threatens to burn people forever or annihilate them for piddling "infringements". You masturbate, you burn in hell. Commit fornication or homosexuality, you burn. Desire something that belongs to others, instead of moving one to earn something of its kind, you burn. Worship another god (which serves to keep people locked into their own religion), you burn. You fail to donate 1/10 of your wealth to the church, you burn. You expose God as a tyrant (another tool to keep people from communicating what kind of god Jehovah himself really is), you burn. And so on.
If a person makes a genuine mistake, let that person know what the consequences are from that mistake. At which point, it should be possible to fix the problem it created or even use it to one's advantage. You flub up in starting a business, you know what not to do and you try again. You screw up your computer even worse trying to fix it, you learn that this is not the answer and are one step closer to finding the real fix. You get scammed in a MLM, you waste the money but you learn that most MLMs don't pay off as they promise. And so on. But, threatening with destruction or hellfire, and getting cut off from family, when that is not the natural consequence of the action is not my idea of acceptable.
