I don't know. That's a tough question.
It's like saying what if you could go back to being a baby and starting over again, would everything happen the same again? I don't know.
Maybe it's not a good analogy.
Theism or Atheism? If you awoke with amnesia tomorrow...
by unshackled 53 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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unshackled
I think if the entire world awoke with amnesia, we'd be on an entirely new plane of consciousness and the masses would be seeking the origin of life together. After all, the majority wouldn't "know" like they do now.
So if the hypothetical scenario was this: world awakes with no knowledge of religion, supernatural beliefs, etc. But everything else intact - all other knowledge such as driving cars, running nuclear power plants (knock on wood), scientific method and such. Would we eventually develop religious or supernatural beliefs?
The roots of those type of beliefs came from early times of human evolution, when we didn't know any better, such as "what is that bright thing in the sky?" We still have questions about our existence....but do we now know enough about our existence, that we wouldn't still make up supernatural answers for those questions? Starting from scratch I don't think we'd recreate supernatural beliefs...invoking a creator as an answer.
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FlyingHighNow
I can remember being a baby so young that I could only think in feelings. I didn't know words yet. I felt God then. He's always been with me, long before I could understand the concept of God or be told about God. He's always been as real to me as the air I breathe and the ground beneath my feet.
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tec
So there you go.
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unshackled
It's like saying what if you could go back to being a baby and starting over again, would everything happen the same again? I don't know.
Nomad, that in itself is an interesting question. But yeah...not quite the same as waking up tomorrow being who you are, but with all god belief/non-belief wiped out. I'm sure if I went back to being a baby, indoctrinated by a JW family, I'd grow up a believer again.
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FlyingHighNow
Put it another way. If the entire world woke with amnesia... would no one seek out or believe in a creator? Tammy
Most of us would look around and think, okay, man made this and that, who made man? Who made the earth and sky? The stars.
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FlyingHighNow
I wasn't a jw baby.
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nicolaou
If you could know NOTHING and start from ZERO, where would you end up?
A longtime poster, tetrapod.sapien, who doesn't seem to post anymore stated in that earlier thread;
"if i were to start from real zero, with no data or logic ability, then i would argue that the way i saw the universe would be very similar to the way that our distant ancestors saw the world and life 150 000 years ago. which is to say that my answers to the above questions would be way different. even magical."
I think I agree with that. We try our best to eradicate ignorance but it takes time . . .
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unshackled
We try our best to eradicate ignorance but it takes time . . .
Nicolau: Interesting quote from tetrapod.sapien...and your line kinda reminds me of the quote from SBC earlier...
"Nine times out of ten, in the arts as in life, there is actually no truth to be discovered; there is only error to be exposed." - Mencken
I can remember being a baby so young that I could only think in feelings. I didn't know words yet. I felt God then.
FlyingHigh: unfortunately personal experience, especially from such a young age, doesn't go far for an argument. I respect your experience...wish I could know the feeling. But can't expect anyone to adopt it as fact. BTW, congratulations on not being a JW baby! -
FlyingHighNow
I don't expect you or anyone to adopt it as fact. This thread is not about fact. This thread is speculative. I am fortunate to have had God with me all along. I have had it suggested that it was my guardian angel. I feel for people who do not have the same experience. I've seen, along with a group of eyewitnesses, unseen beings move things about a room after a seance. Now, if you told me the same experience, I know I would feel skeptical because it's human nature to feel skeptical of something you didn't see or experience yourself.