Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door."
He was correct. The most invented (improved and modified) device in the history of the patent office is the mousetrap.
Should we miss the point of this? Not here on this Topic, no sir!
The point isn't that a mousetrap already exists which traps unwanted rodent invaders, now is it? No.
The point is that the task hasn't been done perfectly. As long as somebody somewhere can sell the idea that their product
or service is an improvement the market will bear yet another mousetrap.
Good. Better. Best. Which would you prefer when it comes to....not just a mousetrap----but, ANYTHING?
So, with that in mind the real Topic of this becomes transformed into a hard look at the IMPROVEMENT (or promise of improvement) connected
to what I'll call Jehovah's Better Mousetrap peddled for over 100 years.
People build their lives around safety, security, family, friends, socialization and as much happiness as possible.
Sooner or later safety and security is threatened. As a result the household puts locks on its doors. Where it is legal people carry handguns, tasers, tear gas pens and security alarms. It is not uncommon for martial arts techniques to be learned and practised, insurance policies purchased and a great many other strategies as well.
What is the product or service that Jehovah's Witnesses offer that is able to carve out a "market share" in this FEAR and SAFETY climate?
What makes the Jehovah Mousetrap the top pick for 7 Million people worldwide?
Have you ever thought about that?
There is plenty of competition with religion permeating society for thousands of years providing all sorts of credible resources.
Yet, 7 Million people reject the solid historical time tested religious "mousetrap" in favor of one that didn't get invented until the late 1800's.
Let's back up a bit and go at answering this from another angle.
Back in the 1950's the Cold War between the Soviets and the West carried a large threat of nuclear annhilation. It was made very real when nuclear installations were discovered off the shores of the U.S. in Cuba. This was as close as humanity ever came to the real beginning of the end.
How did some people deal with this ominous fear of extinction?
SOME PEOPLE installed bomb shelters.
I was a boy and a teen at that time and visited the house of a friend of mine from school whose parents had built a bomb shelter in their own front yard. They took me on a tour! I thought it was the coolest thing ever! The idea seemed very (for want of a better word) mythical that I and my family might ride out the end of the world safely and emerge to start life all over again on our own terms!
STOP right there. Did you hear what I just said?
It was the mythical and highly romanticized notion of taking your own destiny in your own hands that made the BOMB SHELTER appear to be a better mousetrap.
Why?
For one thing, it beat just waiting anxiously and hoping against hope that the worst wouldn't happen.
What is embarassing to realize now is that only a true misunderstanding of reality would lead a person to actually think a bomb shelter would
work.
But, don't miss the essential part of this: it was the SECURE FEELING of protection rather than the REALITY which addressed the FEARs.
Relatively few people actually built these bomb shelters. But, the ones who did FELT SECURE. They also felt superior!
Could it be Jehovah's Witnesses are peddling a bunker mentality? Are they appealing to ignorance and fear? Are they doing a better job of
selling the bomb shelter security than religion has done in the past?
Do Jehovah's Witnesses belong to that narrow cult of conspiracy theorists who have all the answers....thinking everybody else is ignorant but them?
WHAT IS the better mousetrap?