Neighboring Peoples

 The October 8, 1974 Awake!, p. 20 states: 

“God’s concern for all human creatures is strikingly manifest in his dealings with the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. These had sunk into extreme debauchery. God said: “The cry of complaint about Sodom and Gomorrah, yes, it is loud, and their sin, yes, it is very heavy.” (Gen. 18:20) Evidently neighboring peoples were shocked and grieved at the corrupt conduct and cried out to God. He respected their dismayed attitude and their right to be free from the danger that the debauchery of the Sodomites posed to them. For that reason he determined to destroy those two cities and associated ones.” 

The comment that it was “evidently neighboring peoples” that “cried out to God” is interesting. Remember, according to their doctrine, God had chosen to remain ignorant about what was going on in Sodom and Gomorrah for some unspecified period of time. He really did not know if Sodom and Gomorrah were as bad as people were saying. Hence, it would be expected that Witnesses would say that any outcry against them that he had heard came from neighboring peoples, not from within those cities, despite Lot presumably complaining about the inhabitants of the cities. (2 Peter 2:8) If they concede that he had heard any outcries coming from within those cities, then they could not reasonably claim that he was not already fully aware of what was going on in there. For it is utterly incredulous to suppose that God would be generally unaware of what was happening in those cities yet able know when exactly to pay attention to some areas within them whenever Lot or whoever else was afflicted by their inhabitants decided to cry out and then immediately turn away the gaze of his awareness so as to remain truly ignorant of what was actually transpiring in those cities. In other words, if God was unaware of what was happening in those cities, he must not have heard any prayers coming from within them. And this inference fits nicely with this Witness publication’s claim that the cry of complaint concerning Sodom and Gomorrah had come from neighboring peoples. 

Is this what is meant by the publication’s reference to neighboring peoples? Perhaps not. But at any rate it serves as a suitable occasion to bring up this implication of their bizarre doctrine that God’s knowledge of the present can be selective and not exhaustive.