INTELLECTUAL HONESTY....what is it? (page 2)

mP

Lars:

The result was that the more I tried to conflict with the Bible, the more I was able to confirm it

MP:

What about the lie the Messiah will be born of a virgin and people quoting Isa 8 ?

Finkelstein

An earnest desire for knowledge with an open mindset, combined with some rational balanced thinking

must be held before intellectual honesty to appear.

An acceptance of inherent human ignorance must also be present to actualize intellectual honesty.

humbled

I very much like your comment, Gladiator.

It is true that we so want affirmation in our community that we may never admit an unusual experience we may have of reality. ALWAYS seeking guidance is a plague--"A racket and a snare"--as someone once said. "Always learning yet never coming to an understanding" can make us eternal underliners.....

You say we must take personal responsibility in our search for truth. I agree. But that doesn't mean we should shut up about what has happened to us along the way.It is helpful to talk as we do on this forum. But your remark implies more-- that even while we relate our own experience we must be ready to allow for others to take personal responsibility for their own search. No one should ever be bullied into silence by another's "superior" intelligence or training.

However we should welcome the stories of fellow seekers to avoid common pitfalls --as when for the first time I had a home birth the midwife warned me NOT to go to the outhouse when I felt compelled to relieve myself--

I was fortunate enough to have experienced a wonder of God (sorry, words fail me, how to say a thing that I don't understand. Please forgive me) before the Witnesses came to my door. Their campaign to unify all experience under the banner of the "Truth" inevidibly pushed aside the validity of anything others saw, heard, felt or experienced. It wasn't until 22 years passed that I realized that to stay in the Truth I was asked to lie about my own experience of God's love.

What a great line of thought you have invited, Terry

tec

It may be painful to know that a wonderful event will get you a reputation for being delusional or a liar, but shouldn't you hold that ground? Not to say you have to convince anyone else of it or make a new cult about it. But shouldn't you NOT LIE about it?

Yes. Totally agree. Going along to get along would be lying... and intellecutally dishonest if you also listened to others and lied to yourself.

Peace,

tammy

nancy drew

I like this conversation because I'm not a born-in I've made alot of crazy decisions in my life looking for a dream. I've tried it all meditation groups, communes, Jw's, radical groups looking for the answer. I've dumped the dream because I haven't a clue what's really going on so I'm living w/o a safety net and I'm okay. I'm tired of making excuses for a god who supposedly cares for us I don't see it. We don't even know what really took place on this planet in the last 10,000 years. Now it's archeology and DNA that fascinates me and My theory is that it's just as easy to wonder about things in your nice apt a block from the ocean as you listen to music and sip on your drink.

THE GLADIATOR

“I've dumped the dream ………………… My theory is that it's just as easy to wonder about things in your nice apt a block from the ocean as you listen to music and sip on your drink.”

Looks to me like you’ve found the dream Nancy.

quincy_aka_quentin

Here!...here!...Nancy...I do believe we would ALL like that, except I'll go for woods and brooks....

Finkelstein

If this is so then all one has to do is strive to keep seeking the Truth in all matters !

Terry

JW elders scurry like rats when confronted with point blank questions about why no police were called when pedophile activity is reported to them.

They hide behind a curtain of intellectual dishonesty.

The reason for not giving simple answers is because the reasoning was secretive and conspiratorial in order to bury the scandal.

Intimidation of rank and file members is coercion and yet even this is misrepresented as "conscience".

"Let your Yes mean yes and your NO mean no" doesn't apply to those in authority because they are gaming the system.

quincy_aka_quentin

"...because they are gaming the system."

You bet they are, making it up as they go along. Wonder if the jw's will take the African Cardinal's sentiment "pedophilia is an illness" Sad, very sad when the victim, and family, is threatened, coercion is used, yet the perpetrator might have an illness. Yeah, makes sense.

INTELLECTUAL HONESTY....what is it?

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