Being an idiot or a genius would not be average or normal in ordinary walks of life. Not by the conventional definition of those terms. In measurements of Intelligence tests the Average score is 100. I.Q. TEST score breakdown
- Idiot-0-25
- Imbecile-26-50
- Moron--51-70
- Mildly Gifted -- 115 to 129
- Moderately Gifted -- 130 to 144
- Highly Gifted -- 145 to 159
- Exceptionally Gifted -- 160 to 179
- Profoundly Gifted -- 180
- Marilyn vos Savant--228 (highest recorded I.Q.)
These tests vary and are often challenged. We won't concern ourselves with that issue, but, we will use them as an ANALOGY.
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If somebody asked you whether you would like to be MORE or LESS intelligent it is doubtful any of us would choose "less" as preferable.
Advantages come with increased awareness, problem solving capability and thinking skills especially if they are driven by purposefulness.
But, I'd like to focus on an area of human intelligence as applied to "received wisdom" or the handling of knowledge passed on by Authority Only.
This TOPIC would ask you to consider the intelligence of Jehovah's Witnesses who are under direction and control by a Governing Body who calls the shots.
Would accepting things from a religious governing body without question, for example, be indicative of rational thinking skills?
Would the refusal to conduct basic vetting of information reflect better or worse thinking ability?
Consider this odd fact, if you will.
We are a point in history where we can look back on certain predications (dates) set by the Jehovah's Witness Governing Body and all agree that dates such as
1925 and 1975 were failures according to claims officially made about them.
Let us ask a simple question:
If you were an active member of this group BEFORE those predicted dates (passed) and you exercised your personal rational thinking to the point you DISAGREED---you would have been CORRECT. (We know that now, of course, because those dates have passed.)
But, even though you thought for yourself and disagreed, the religious authority (Governing Body) would oppose and dissuade you every way possible.
In so doing, they would be WRONG and you would be RIGHT.
Are you still with me on this?
What are we to conclude?
Could we say the following?
Being correct about the facts as a Jehovah's Witness IS NO DEFENSE against the charge of Apostacy?
Would this not be because blind acceptance of Authority of Men is MORE IMPORTANT to Jehovah's Witnesses than facts and truth??
Think about that for a moment!
What is the Religious I.Q. of Jehovah's Witnesses if not a MEASURE OF WILLINGNESS TO REMAIN UNTHINKING?
When I use the term "unthinking" I specifically refer to refusal to use critical thinking skills which motive a person to examine all claims as to evidence.
In other words, wouldn't an upside down chart of Religious I.Q. mirror the standard intelligence tests in society?
Among Jehovah's Witnesses an idiot would be the publisher who would stand up and say, "No, the claims Judge Rutherford is making about the resurrection of
the Ancient Worthies in 1925 are probably wrong." As a side note: Rutherford said publicaly "I made an ass of myself."
So the "ass" would be a GENIUS and the person who stood with the facts would be the IDIOT.
Let it not escape our notice that Pastor Russell sought to provide evidence for his 1914 claims that Armageddon would occur by inovking said "evidence" from a chart of Pyramid Inches and measurements of the Great Pyramid in Egypt! His successor, Rutherford, did not disagree until 12 years after the death of Russell.
What if you were a Bible Student who thought Pyramidology was bunk and a hoax? You would have been "wrong" until 1928! Suddenly you'd be correct but nobody would publicly exonerate your views, of course.
Who would the genius be and who would be the fool? It is an interesting question, I think!
A mythos has developed among active JW's over the decades (in view of the "adjustments" made to the Truth) that it is JEHOVAH who disciplines and corrects the Governing Body. The saying is common "Wait on Jehovah".
Ask yourself why this is necessary to say this.
Wouldn't it be because the Governing Body is SLOW TO ADMIT ERROR while those considered opposers and apostates were right all along?
There was a time being "slow to realize" would have been called retarded. While being quick to see the facts would have indicated intelligence. Right?
Shouldn't somebody call out this upside down and bass-ackwards I.Q. nonsense?
What is wrong with this picture?
LOYALTY (to the Society) trumps TRUTH (according to facts and evidence) inside the organization!
Who can deny this. How?
It comes down to this: the choice to become a Jehovah's Witness is the choice of becoming less intelligent because you are forced to
be loyal to authority and errors. Even if you can plainly see something is UNTRUE you must be loyal and accepting until such a time
as those who are WRONG and in authority catch up to the facts.
Who is the idiot?
The basic follow up to this is: if an ordinary (non-anointed remnant) person can see what is true way before the "special mouthpiece"--shouldn't we all
be a bit suspicious of the CLAIM to be the spokesman for Truth?
In an organization where the apostate (who turns out to be right) is mentally defective and the leaders who are dead wrong again and again deserve the most Loyalty
isn't the obvious question: who is the fool be asked out loud?
...OUTLAW