In two sentences: What I learned during my exit from the Watchtower

by SweetBabyCheezits 13 Replies latest jw friends

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  SweetBabyCheezits

  So I doubt my little aphorism is anything close to original but after boiling things down over the last year and a half, this is how I tend to dichotomize mankind:

  Those who are concerned with truth and reality use critical thinking to suppress bias and prejudice.
  Those who are concerned with beliefs and contentment use bias and prejudice to suppress critical thinking.

  Science seems to promote the former (through scientific method) while religion and politics seem to promote the latter (through faith, tradition, and propaganda).

  Granted, not everyone falls into one category or the other. As with many things in an analog life, there are varying degrees between the two ends of the spectrum.

  (Okay, so a bit more than two sentences. I'm no math whiz.)

  

  If anyone else wants to sum up, in a very few sentences, what you learned during your exit, pop a squat on this thread right hyah. Just keep in mind this is about getting to the roots of your perspective, so please dig down asking how and why until you don't think you can regress any further.

  This concludes this test of the FML Broadcast System.
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  SweetBabyCheezits

  Obligatory "Bueller?" post....
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  leavingwt

  Your summary is a more precise version of this:

  "People will believe what they WANT to believe."
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  undercover

  Funny...

  I see no sentances... no ones... not even my own.

  Do you exist? Do I exist?

  I think, therefore I am. But I can't see, so maybe I'm just a figment of imagination
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  SweetBabyCheezits

  LWT, concise as usual. I'll learn how to do that someday.

  Undercover, are you a solipsist?
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  unshackled

  Cheeeee-eeez…this is a tough one, you're asking us to think? I'll take this in a somewhat different direction and try to convey in a few sentences what has been on my mind lately…though it is still half-baked...
  
  The JW world is a microcosm to what goes on in mass society. The masses need to be controlled and religion has played a key role in this for millennia. Religion is not the only means of course, and there are varying degrees of control. Consumerism, for example, leads the sheeple to slave away to get the latest, greatest stuff that no one really needs. The capitalism machine keeps pumping out junk and the masses keep buying - to the detriment of themselves and our increasingly plastic oceans.
  
  That's all I got for now…besides I gotta run to Starbucks for a $5 froofy coffee, and I see Walmart is selling over-sized calculators in the shape of a foot. Cool!
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  sabastious

  Those who are concerned with truth and reality use critical thinking to suppress bias and prejudice.
  Those who are concerned with beliefs and contentment use bias and prejudice to suppress critical thinking.

  The Witnesses have buzz terms called "Accurate Knowledge", "Thinking Ability" and "Discernment." Those who chose to remain could use the above sentences to back up their decision to stay.

  They actually believe that they are the critical thinkers.

  -Sab
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  nugget

  Calling it truth does not make it true.

  Men will do what they want to what God wants is irrelevant.
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  paulnotsaul

  To quote the Sex Pistols: "have you ever felt you been cheated?" and "It's a swindle!"

  peace to all. paulnotsaul
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  SweetBabyCheezits

  Shack, my boy, salmonella aside, that was the best half-baked thought-nugget I've enjoyed this year. Kudos to you and your Starbucks coffee and foot-shaped WM calculator! I lol'd in my pants because it's funny... and it's funny because it's true.