(How) Does Truth Set Free? (page 2)

truthsetsonefree

I guess for me it is similar to the expression "knowledge is power". Truth to me is knowledge and understanding of reality. As with many of us the reality of the "truth" of the WT freed me to be an independent individual with time for myself and the things that mattered most to me.

Isaac

llbh

This reminds of the words of Voltaire, "Man is born free yet is evrywhere in chains". Truths should both anchor us and liberate us.

I am sure you have heard of Edward de Bono and his ideas on lateral thinking; some of our greatest leaps in understanding have come about by just such thought processes. Like the jet engine. Stealth materials are another.

Free associative thinking liberates us, not binds us

David

jaguarbass

I would rather have the truth, facts of a particular matter rather than opperate under deception.

Garbage in = garbage out.

lilybird

I am happy you started this thread, because I had been actually thinking about this very question this week. I wondered how I really felt free in the "truth" when I never really realized I was enslaved by the politics and policies of the organization. The only truth that sets you free, is being true to yourself living life as is best for ourselves. I heard a great quote by of all people, Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock of course. He said that all he wanted from life was to "have truly used his life". In other words, the freedom to do what and all you desire in life is ultimate. It is what really defines being alive and what (if I did believe in a creator) is what I feel a truly loving creator would want for all of us..Not the power-hungry, cruel god of the jws.

quietlyleaving

nakissos - you always make me stop and think

"The truth shall set you free" (cf. John 8:32) is the kind of sentence that potentially transcends any contextual setting. As we know only too well, it has been used over and over again in religious propaganda and is very easy to return against it (i.e. "the truth about the 'truth' shall set you free" -- from it).
But when you think of it, it is a rather problematic assertion. In principle, "truth" of any kind (including true and false!) first demands recognition,submission and conformity. It is, as we use to say, compelling. In a sense, that is the very opposite of freedom. Of course a "truth" can make you free from a previously held "truth" by disproving it, i.e. by moving it from the status of "truth" to that of "lie" or "error". But if you get free from that so-called "truth" because it is not the truth, you logically remain subject to truth in general -- and, in particular, to the new religious, scientific or philosophical doctrine which you now consider to be "truth" -- no matter how broad and practically unconsequential it may be.
In the Prologue of Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche likens the three "ages" of man to that of the camel, the lion and the child. First the camel kneels down to be loaded with as much burden it can carry -- especially truths of every kind, including the most disagreeable and painful ones; then, the lion rejects every burden and roars alone in the wilderness; against any compelling truth, its motto is "I will"; last, the child comes up and plays, both with "truth" and "will". This at last looks like freedom, neither obedience to truth nor sheer revolt against it.
So there may be a relationship between "truth" and "freedom" but it is probably not as simple and immediate as we can think. Truth may contribute to freedom, depending on how we relate to it.
Any thoughts?

I guess simplicity shouldn't be a default position because it tends to hinder exploration - children never go for the simple option - they are always exploring - getting in an out of trouble. But they also seek boundaries - however boundaries (to me truth) change as they get older and more knowledgeable. However recognition, conformity and submission are always in play too but so is rejection and defiance. All that changes once societal norms become ingrained. Maybe we need to untrain ourselves.

Ithink it is very important to be aware of the propaganda element of "Truth" - at the same time recogonise that truths are useful and important but are man made concepts and their purpose must be seen in the context within which and for which they are defined.

WTWizard

The simple truth about morals set me free from obeying complicated rules that serve no purpose other than to distract from fulfillment. Once I found that they were so extremely simple, I realized that I needed little further religious guidance, and that it all made so much sense. And I was set free from spending countless hours at boasting sessions and out in field circus.

jwfacts

No one is free, we are all bound by constraints. Even an omnipotent God is bound by rules.

I feel that the more one knows, the less free one becomes, as life becomes more complicated. The simple minded that take everything they are told may be bound by the rules of their religion, but they are free from many burdens of thinking and decision making.

To this layman it seems that Jesus was simply saying that the truth of of his message could free men from sin

It certainly has not set men free from sin; even in the Christian sense, 2000 years after the Ransom we die as a result of sin. Potentially, at a future time this statement may be true.

hillary_step

The truth sets one free from falsehood, and in this sense brings a sense freedom.

Whether it is always an advantage to know the truth is another argument altogether. I tend to prefer knowing the bitter truth than the sweet fantasy, though this is not always easy to bear.

HS

BurnTheShips

When they said at meetings and assemblies that the truth shall set you free and the freedom lovers district convention emphasized it, I couldn't understand how it sets us free when we have so many rules to follow so as not to get df'd. I never felt free at all.

That's because the WT's version is really arbeicht macht frei. Jesus said I am the way, the TRUTH and the light. John 14:6 Jesus is the truth that sets us free. He was referring to Himself. BTS

Rapunzel

B.T.S. - The inscription above the gates of the death camps at Auschwitz and Dachau read: "Arbeit Macht Frei." Also, I would not associate this now-infamous phrase with the Watchtower or the witnesses because, in doing so, it trivializes the unspeakable horrors that were carried out in the death camps. As bad as the Watchtower Society is - for all its abuses and wrongdoings - it approaches nowhere near the Nazis' systematic program of genocide in terms of evil. Unfortunately, it occurs to people to use the word "Nazi" as an epithet to describe anyone whom they do not like for one reason or another. Or else, they take some other notion, like "jackboot," or "stormtrooper," associated with the Nazis, and apply it to a group with whom they find fault. The problem is, the more a word or concept is used [and especially misused], the weaker and more diluted in meaning it becomes.

(How) Does Truth Set Free?

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