basicallyblues wrote:

> Bob Felts wrote concerning Mark 10:18:
>
> >Then you have a problem. If no one is good, except God, then you have to
> >admit that Jesus was not good.
> >If Jesus wasn't good, then He wasn't the spotless lamb of God, and all
> >of us are still in our sins.
>
> that's rather a pedantic take on it.

That's a null label. It's either true, or it isn't. It either matches
what the rest of Scripture says, or it doesn't.

"Only God is good" is a statement backed up by all of Scripture. Paul
is emphatic on this point in Romans 2:9-12:

What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We
have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike ARE ALL
UNDER SIN. As it is written: "There is no-one righteous, NOT EVEN ONE;
there is no-one who understands, no-one who seeks God. All have turned
away, they have together become worthless; there is NO-ONE WHO DOES
GOOD, not even one."

So now you have a problem. If only God is good, and Jesus is not
(somehow) God, then Jesus is not good. That should cause you no end of
grief.

And if Jesus is only a man, then Jesus, like all other men, is under the
power of sin, as Paul says. If he is just a man, he cannot be the
spotless lamb of God.

So, in JW theology. how do you end up with a man who is both good and
sinless? What makes Jesus different from everyone else who has ever
lived?

> Jesus rebuked the man who addressed him with the title "Good Teacher,"
> because Jesus recognized not himself but his Father to be the standard of
> goodness.

So Jesus doesn't measure up to that standard of goodness.

> (Mark 10:17, 18) However, to measure up to what people generally mean
> when they say that someone is good, Jesus surely must have been
> truthful.

It doesn't matter what man thinks. What's important is what God thinks.
As Jesus consistently taught, God's standard of righteousness is higher
than man's. And Paul clearly taught that no man measures up: "for all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23).

> Indeed, even his enemies acknowledged that he was. (Mark
> 12:14) Likely the young man used "good" as a title, so Jesus let
> him know that such a title belongs to God alone.

Even if true (which I don't agree with), it still doesn't help you.

>
> Also, consider that Jesus was fully aware of the story of Job when God
> called him "blameless" so Christ was not contradicting that.

But Job was not blameless because he was intrinsically righteous.

>
> The more important point is that Jesu