by Nickolas 55 Replies latest jw friends
So you acknowledge the existence of truth while remaining aware that no human on this planet has it in whole?
Absolutely. But there are subsets to truth as a whole. What I am reading in Captives by Cameron is a body of facts and evidence which demonstrates that the WTBTS has not been telling the truth about itself, and any organisation that is not being truthful cannot represent Truth in the larger context.
Nickolas: If you have not already done so, PLEASE read the following book.
Thus Saith Jehovah's Witnesses
http://www.freeminds-store.com/thus-saith-jehovah-s-witnesses.html
It only means that the need to leave will be evident.
It is interesting how such a statement can be so simple and yet insightful.
thanks, lwt. I'll put that one on the list, too. I'm devouring Captives but it looks like Crisis is a bit of a tome.
yes, jay, it really comes down to that, doesn't it? If you're clueless about the WTBTS and happy in your delusions there is no need to leave it. (It makes me wonder sometimes whether it's right to burst someone's bubble. If not for the hurt and harm done by the Society, I would be well inclined to leave it all alone.)
Pasted below, for your enjoyment, is a sample of the 'Thus Saith' book. As you can see, muc of the book is simply scans of their literature, and then Randy's commentary, helping the reader to connect-the-dots.
And here is the very next page:
Truth is that which corresponds one on one to reality.
Our source of truth begins with the accuracy of our senses. We have at least 5 (sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell).
Once we have "sensed" something the analytical mind chews it like a bite of pizza.
Our mental faculty sips the impression the way a wine taster sips wine.
What happens next is where TRUTH begins and ends for us as knowledge: is our "taste" of the thing itself accurately representational
of the Whole? (The Truth, the Whole Truth and NOTHING BUT the Truth).
If reality is obvious then Truth is obvious.
The less obvious a real thing is the less likely we are to recognize the Truth of it.
Example: Ancient men standing on the ground gazing in all directions concluded the world they lived in MUST BE FLAT because their SAMPLE (the part they stood on and traveled around) was itself flat.
Further, if the world wasn't flat...if it was...saaaaay ROUND, wouldn't the people on the bottom of the sphere fall off or hang upside down?
This is the example of what we do with an extract or sample of the reality we have before us. Partial information leads to guessing!
It is exactly like being blindfolded and biting a pizza and getting the only part which contained jalapenos and concluding something about the WHOLE pizza which would not necessarily be true.
AS LONG AS WE ARE AWARE how big or small our SAMPLE of reality is (the limit of our actual knowledge) we will AVOID making that sample TRUE OF ALL PARTS.
TRUTH stops where our evidence ends.
What starts where Truth stops? Imagination.
I step outside at dusk and see what I imagine to be a snake coiled and ready to strike! I react fearfully and jump back. Turns out upon closer investigation it is the garden hose. My emotional reaction (my VERY STRONG FEELING) was not to the REALITY of the garden hose. My emotional reaction was to my IMAGINATION in misperceiving.
SUPERSTITION comes from our emotional reaction to our misperception (guesses) of reality itself.
Until we have a more detailed examination (Science) of things,,,,,,,,, we cannot TRUST our EMOTIONS as a source of information.
Emotions follow and do not lead our INTELLECTUAL PERCEPTION.
Emotion is never a true source of actual information.
Just because we FEEL STRONGLY about something does not make it VALID as a fact. (Snake=Garden Hose).
No matter how strongly I feel about that "snake" I can't regard a garden hose as a poisonous danger.
(marking)
Thanks for this topic Nickolas.
To a JW I know, and presumably many others, the mere existence of DNA evidence of god.
Leaving aside that the patterns found in DNA are actually evidence of evolution, how do you argue with that?
If reality is obvious then Truth is obvious.
The less obvious a real thing is the less likely we are to recognize the Truth of it.
I suppose this is central to what prompted the OP. The more I research the WTBTS, read its own words as well as the words of those who have had the opportunity to be closely associated with it, the more the truth becomes obvious. Millions now (1920s) living will never die. Well, they did. Christ chose the Watchtower (1919) as his official mouthpiece based on it having passed inspection, but almost none of the key teachings are consistent with what is being taught today and, in fact, anyone who might even consider them as correct would be DFed. So many false prophesies that didn't come true cannot be buried. The evidence is overwhelming and conclusive that truth does not reside in the WTBTS.
I'm looking forward to getting that book, lwt.
None so blind as those who refuse to see, goddidit.
Good night, all.
