Bible Has Problems, Yet Its One Verse Can Solve All Our Problems!

by abiather 38 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  LisaRose

  So, under your system, if I work hard, scrimp and save plan for the future to buy a rental property, invest time and money to make it habitable, lose it all because someone else decided I didn't deserve two houses. On the other hand, the folks who currently live there who took no risk, did no work, and did not invest their money can live there as long as they want, and pay rent to the government. The government then builds a house for other people who did no work, took no risk and did not plan for the future. So under your system people who work hard, plan for the future, spend wisely and save money are punished, while people who spent money foolishly, failed to save, did not plan for the future and did not work hard are rewarded.

  You realize this will never work, right? It's been proven by the failure of communism that if people have no incentive to work, save, and plan they do not. Rather than everyone being better off, no one is.

  What a crock.
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  AllTimeJeff

  I have learned to be skeptical of "one idea" that works for everyone, except for the Golden Rule, because it's harmless and helpful.

  Having "one father" is being a hair away from "one boss". Been there, done that.
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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Why do I get the feeling that a few points will be added later...

  6. A Final Solution shall be instituted to "deal with "Jews and other non-Christians, Poles and other 'non-Ayrians', homosexuals and any that do it non-missionary position, Gypsies and any others that we may randomly select, and any that contradict the 'Bible based' mandate of the government.

  7. Repeal of #3 since new light from the OT reveals that women are only the property of men.

  8. Modification of #2 to have people work 12 hours per day since productivity has dropped since all the Jews, Poles, homosexuals, Gypsies, etc. have been worked to death in the labor camps and that cheap slave labor is gone.

  Christianity has had 2000 years to "solve all our problems". It hasn't happened. Before that, the OT was there to solve all the problems of the Jews. That didn't happen.
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  OnTheWayOut

  The problems with this OP of "Everyone is equal and should have equal stuff" has been tried with communism. Even there, there were exceptions among some of the fat cat politicians saying that some are more equal than others.

  But if they did manage to do this perfectly, the imperfect examples have already shown the problem. There is no incentive to acheive, work hard, surpass the lazy man. The garbage collector who does his job slowly and poorly gets the same home and bread that the brain surgeon gets. Why go to all that studying to make a garbage collector's salary? Relax and just collect garbage.

  Some will do a good job out of pride, but many won't. And when one uses up his resources faster than the other, does he get a larger portion?

  There are no easy answers. Even the best answer in my opinion, let each work hard and reap the benefits of his own hard work, has to allow for some to be wiped out by disaster and others to be struck with ailments and disasters and just plain dumb luck.

  I would have to read more, but I imagine if one state in India does provide land for everyone, then people are flocking to that state from nearby and wanting their share. Deepak is complaining about his share being shabby compared to Rajesh's share. Plus, you make no mention of the caste system. Has that state put aside the caste system- some being more equal than others?

  ---

  Okay, I looked up Kerala and the caste system is very much alive, so some are more equal than others, Kerala is one of the four states where hunger is only "serious" instead of worse than that. Kerala hugely depends on emigration, sending citizens to the middle east and other places to make business money and send it back to contribute to the wealth. To use that as a Christian example would be likened to saying that Christians need to work in non-Christian fields to take advantage of and to do business with outsiders, in order to benefit only other Christians.
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  yadda yadda 2

  Your sources and any links to this claimed Kerala social experiment would be appreciated please.

  There is much economic research to support some of those ideas actually.

  For example, economists have proven that the number of hours worked each day could be globally greatly reduced comfortably without any loss in standard of living. The great English Philosopher and political activist Bertrand Russell was an open advocate of it in his book 'In Praise of Idleness". Many European countries have enacted laws to reduce weekly work hours, France notably. During the great depression, many US companies, including Kelloggs, adopted a 30 hour working week with great success.

  It is a very curious social phenomenon that nearly everyone is working 40 plus hours a week but nearly everyone wishes they didn't have to.
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  Island Man

  I think you're taking Matthew 23:9 out of context. Having said that though, I like some of the problem-solving suggestions given. The idea of a global universal language intrigues me. Only, I don't think it should be the primary language but as a mandatory secondary language taught in schools from kindergarten to college.

  A people's language is intimately linked to their culture and so I don't like the idea of making people switch to a different language. But I think having one universal secondary language would be a nice way to unite all the various cultures the world over in communication without the need for translators and learning several different foreign lanugages in school. Books, films, songs - you name it - can be published in the international language and marketed to the world market instead of having the additional cost of translating in multiple different languages for different regions. Every educated person would be able to travel anywhere and communicate with the local people in a language they both understand - regardless of the differences in native tongues. The whole world would be able to unite in communication while still preserving the rich diversity of their individual native tongues.

  The only problem would be getting all the nations to agree on the specific set of phonetics, vocablary, grammar and alphabet/glyph to comprise the language. I imagine that every different language group will be biased to a system that is easy to them but which other groups might find difficult. What I mean is that because of the great divesity of human language it would be difficult to develop one system that all the nations would find easy and agree to. From a phonetic standpoint I think heavy use of onomatopias can be helpfull. I can easily see all nations agreeing to use the pronounciation "meow" for cat, "ruff" for dog, etc because these sounds are universally associated with these animals. However, difficulty would still come when we arrive at expressing abstract concepts. Maybe we should just all learn to speak Mandarin since that's already the most populous language.
• 

  adamah

  Island Man said-

  I can easily see all nations agreeing to use the pronounciation "meow" for cat, "ruff" for dog, etc because these sounds are universally associated with these animals.

  Works OK for cats, but it just isn't the case for many other animal sounds (from http://www.buzzfeed.com/robinedds/what-noises-do-animals-make-in-other-languages-here-is-an-im)

  

  

  
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  cofty

  Communism in a nutshell - "We pretended to work and they pretended to pay us".
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  Island Man

  Wow, Adam! We might have to resort to some form of sign language then
• 

  Cold Steel

  Design: The NT is full of scary psychotic proclaimations. For every nice thing Jesus says it is outdone by the genocide he threatens humanity with.

  Jesus never threatened genocide nor humanicide, unless destroying the wicked is genocide. He created the earth, gave man knowledge which was written down as scriptures and revelations to apply in his daily life and make him happy. But the wicked stand as a threat to others. They seek to get power and gain, and care little for the happiness of others.

  Jesus does threaten to eliminate the wicked if they persist, but that's not genocide. Once such people are eliminated in this life and transferred to the spirit world en masse, they are restrained and caused to evaluate their lives from various perspectives in which they see their lives as God sees them. In some ways they become their own tormentors. Many Christians think of Hell as eternal torture in a lake of fire; however, everything God does regarding people is remedial. The fire of God isn't intended to torture, but to purge. When men are made to see their own wickedness, and the evil in their hearts, it's not a pleasant experience...it's Hell...literally.

  We read in the book of Jude: "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." (Jude 1:6) As with the angels, the Lord gives man every opportunity to better himself. We on the earth kept our first estate and now are undergoing our second estate, whereas Satan and his angels purposely sinned, fully knowing the consequences of their actions. They are beyond redemption; but the vast majority of humans haven't reached that point. And if humans can be salvaged, the Lord will do, and has done, everything he can to redeem them. But I can't blame Jehovah's Witnesses because the God they worship doesn't exist (thank God!).