Accurate knowledge is..............neither

by Terry 9 Replies latest jw experiences

  • Terry
    Terry

    Thinking is what separates humans successfully from other life forms in a way that allows us technology, medicine, science, social reform and progress.

    Thinking is a neutral term. It is neither good nor bad. It is like a fork which is great for eating peas and useless for eating soup.

    Thinking we have KNOWLEDGE gives us smug satisfaction we are up to whatever task is at hand.

    Religious knowledge is manmade but wears a beard and wig of imposture.

    "Accurate knowledge" is a pebble in our shoe on a long long walk.

    It is neither accurate nor is it knowledge as it applies to manmade literature presumed Divine.

    Profound assertions imagined "true" are claims unsupported by evidence required in every other avenue of human experience.

    Willful suspension of disbelief is demanded of every child told a bible story at the same moment in life when intellectual tools are being honed for later use.

    A dangerous mixed message plants a seed of cognitive dissonance that will blossom into a devout lifetime of worship ritual.

    In the world of science and technology the "books" are constantly subjected to editing away false premises and unproved hypothesis as discoveries are made.

    Yet, no such editing, amendment or errata mining is allowed in holy documents of religion.

    To question is to betray. To think becomes a criminal act of a sinful wretch.

    The worst part of such hollow misrepresentation (accurate knowledge) is that there is no discussion or appeal when harm is being wrought.

    Both "love" and "mercy" are mere black and white corollaries doled out or witheld by moral accountants wielding arbitrary powers.

    Self-interested fantasies of an afterlife and a comeuppance for our enemy may tickle our ears with delight, however, it is a poor substitute for a well stocked larder and a bank account in the last ten years of life when our service to religion is no longer sought and we are left to our own resources.

    Remember, there is no breach of taste so abominable that a convinced person is unwilling to exploit on behalf of their godly service informed by supposed accurate knowledge.

    Children may be allowed to die. Families may be torn apart. Lifelong friends may be ignored. Pedophiles may be sheltered with impunity. Education of the young may be discouraged. Preparation for a decent life well-lived may be tossed away eagerly in pursuit of pie-in-the-sky bye and bye.

    All because of Accurate Knowledge.

  • God_Delusion
    God_Delusion

    Brilliant!

  • sd-7
    sd-7

    I think this is why I have yet to start a serious critical investigation into the Bible. Because I'm already a skeptic, and if/once it loses all credibility, I lose all common ground with anyone else I might be able to help to wake up. Last thing I'd want to do is criticize the Bible itself in front of them.

    Sad thing is, so many feel that if the Bible isn't the Word of God, they have no rules, no means or reason to live their lives. As if right and wrong depend absolutely on the existence of a god to declare them so. As long as man is by and large in a state of ignorance and/or dependence on something or someone greater than themselves, we will continue to fail at getting to the root of a number of roadblocks to a united human race. Because there will always be some strongly held different belief that shapes us the wrong way.

    Excellent post as always, Terry. [Raises glass to toast] To all the false, nonexistent gods that ever were, even if I'm toasting to someone else and not referencing any gods at all! Here here!!

    --sd-7

  • ammo
    ammo

    Thanks terry,I've spent a sleepless last 4 hours thinking about all that, and now to finally get on the ol computer and find this, more eloquently put I must say but still.... Its been a month for me so the tug/guilt is still there, some days more than others, its the way they put the word/labels on things that does embed deep within the subconcious mind, the truth, accurate knowledge, the real life,- his chosen people its all geared up to make you think you are special,seen heard and wanted by the most high and right in your choice.

    Coming to this site has been a real eye opener for me but also a daily top up of strength and logical thinking, to have almost any thoughts fears I have about leaving relayed back through others shows me all I have to do is perservere and I will get through this, I heard our opposition leader-Australia -Tony Abbot going on about China being the next world power yesterday and inwardly I felt sick thinking this would be the last king to rule for a short time, I tried to tell myself all day its because of what you have learnt through the jw's snap out of it, but the fear/triggers will be there for awhile I guess, So reading your thoughts and others, on it all helps me to put it all in place- a manageable place.

    Ammo

  • Terry
    Terry

    When somebody tells me "I prayed for you" I'm tempted to answer, "Thanks, but, did you also sacrifice a goat?"

    I view it with the same sense of cringe as if they'd said, "I contacted a Voodoo priestess to cast a spell on your behalf."

    Superstitious nonsense only sounds like nonsense if it isn't the one WE EMBRACE. The other guy's craziness is always easily identified.

    Invisible agents with powers and abilities to force our compliance should puzzle us that--instead of actually MAKING US DO IT--they fret, cajole, plead, entice, promise and wrangle our co-operation instead!

    We are miserable wretches to our God--however--God seems so miserable in His foiled plan to get us on His side!

    Any cheap magician would snap his fingers and wave a magic wand and be done with it. Not God! It has taken floods, massacres, plagues, battles, miracles and laws carved in stone to persuade us HIS "benevolent" dictatorship is better than our best guess.

    Rather stunning.

    We either are or are not worth all this effort, wrath and frustration that Almighty God contrives a Rube Goldberg cartoon "plan" to get his all-powerful way properly working!

    Science tells us man has existed for about 100,000 years with little more than 80 years per person to achieve an impulse toward society, common weal, government, science, math, education and technology that touches far reaching planets.

    Has any of this progress actually come from one word written in any ancient holy book? Or, rather in spite of it?

  • sd-7
    sd-7
    Has any of this progress actually come from one word written in any ancient holy book? Or, rather in spite of it?

    [Brain explodes] WHAAROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

    --sd-7

  • Terry
    Terry

    Man imagines himself under inspection, surveillance, scrutiny and constant moral measuring as though expected to live subjugated under servile gratitude, controlled by a script impossible (by nature) of performance.

    Bad ideas are held with perpetual immunity. Ancient thinking is promoted as superior to all the advances of the passing of millennia. Quarantine by label is enacted preventing curiousity from taking seed. Compulsive mandate for sacred duty consists of unquestioning compliance, knowledge without evidence and submission without contest.

    Whereas once, long ago, we could be COUTH...SHEVELED...MAYED...or PLUSSED....our language has largely abandanded such positives and replaced them with only a negative description.
    To wit: UNcouth...dISHEVELED..DISmayed...nonPLUSSED.
    Is all of this EVITABLE? or not? (IN evitable)
    Determinism does not imply inevitability.

    An author plans outcomes and yet the action of creating is in no way inevitable. Effort, revision, editing and rewriting brings about the outcome. The characters do not "know" each other or themselves. The author creates a semblance. It is a construct whereby the reader projects "being" into as though all the known exigency of life applies to words on a page.

    The reader's interest flows from not knowing outcome while imagining possible ones which never exist since the author was plotting only the one given.
    An actual living character can never know which of all possible worlds of imagined outcomes they themselves exist within.
    The illusion of choosing is the result of assuming.
    Assuming what? Other outcomes thought possible.

    "Yes, we have a soul--but, it is made of lots of tiny robots."

    What is man but a hundred million tiny robots? Free we are-- while our parts are not.
    We stay alive by avoiding death just as a chess playing computer avoids checkmate.

  • Terry
    Terry

    Certainty is the loudest of all alarm bells!

    Watch out when you hear yourself or somebody else saying, "I'm absolutely sure."

    It is the deafening sound of a mind slamming shut!

  • tornapart
    tornapart

    Terry.. whenever I read your posts my brain ends up in knots!! LOL

    I feel a bit like SD-7 too!

  • Terry
    Terry

    I think we all take turns here having our minds rattled.

    The hardest thing in the world is to see the same old things--but--with a fresh perspective!

    Once you do, however, it is like you've never seen it at all before!

    That, I believe, leads to real penetrating insight.

    We can't give up on looking again and again at the same old things from a different angle...

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit