Last evening while watching a news story I had this thought again, as I have many times when I read stories of new technology. Sorry, I dont know how to link, but I was watching FOX8 Cleveland, you can find the story online "Cleveland Doctors Studying Stem Cells with Success". Also, scroll down to the bottom of the story and click on radio personality Kim Sellars story. Doctors are making amazing strides in research for various horrible diseases. I asked my husband (never a JW) if there is a Creator and we all started with one man, one woman, in God's image, then why did we start out backward and EVOLVE into the scientifically intelligent creatures we are today? Seems it should be the other way around. (He had no answer either.) I don't know, what you think, or how would a good JW answer that? There are many good JW's still in my family but I always avoid talking about anything even remotely related to god or religion with them. So, what are your thoughts?
Why would we have started out stupid and primitive?
by SafeAtHome 11 Replies latest jw friends
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SafeAtHome
Maybe I didn't word this exactly as I should have, maybe not "stupid", but certainly not as intelligent or using as much brain power as we do today. Seems we are evolving, not regressing as some would have you believe, as we go further from Garden of Eden perfection.
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adamah
SafeAtHome said- Seems we are evolving, not regressing as some would have you believe, as we go further from Garden of Eden perfection.
Actually, it's even worse than that, since the Genesis account of Adam and Eve indicates God made the first "perfect pair" as fools (i.e. lacking sound judgment), and by forbidding them from eating the "forbidden fruit" (which promised to grant the eaters wisdom, the ability to decide right from wrong), God not only made them as fools, but actually forbade the mortals from changing their status as fools.
Not long after, you run into the account of Tower of Babel, where God is against the concept of humans cooperating on efforts, so scrambles their languages. God is defo NOT a humanitarian, encouraging human kind to advance onwards and upwards....
I love the stories found in Genesis, since if you have to go beyond the first 10 chapters of Genesis in order to figure out you're reading an ancient collections of myths and legends, the reader is not trying to think...
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clarity
SafeatHome ...excellent question.
WT's story is that we started out perfect ...well until Eve
decided to use her own new brain ....and then everything
was all downhill because of that ! Darn her anyway huh?
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So we just got dumber & dumber & stopped living 900yrs,
our lives getting shorter until now we can hardly think and
we only live for about ...............oh WAIT A DARN MINUTE!
We are actually living longer & better than our ancestors.
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http://www.nextavenue.org/article/2012-10/why-we-live-longer-%E2%80%94-and-can-still-live-better
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Iam not a 'good jw' so my answer would be quite blunt!
My observations, just as a long lived person... are that
I have seen the generations get healthier & much more
beautiful than ever..............when touring historic buildings
do you often notice how low the doorways are? If you don't
duck your head your forehead gets wacked! My grandparents
generation were pretty much all short .....my generation is taller!
All my granchildren are taller & healthier still!
So really does make you ask why it does seems opposite to what
the bible & JW's say.
clarity
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SafeAtHome
Thanks adamahand clarity, interesting links. If you check out the news story I referenced, you can read about the encouraging work being done in the treatment of MS. Two of my distant cousins have been affected by this condition, and also a best friend of my sister. Makes you wonder why people long for the "good old days" when 50 was considered old.
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BluesBrother
It does not take increased intelligence to create the modern world, so much as knowledge and the experience gained by multiple generations of forebears, each one adding to the last.
There is plenty of evidence for ancient civilisation's intelligence, eg The Pyramids and other great accomplishments. Law codes like that of Hammurabi and ancient Greek philosophies demonstrate their brain power and humanity
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redvip2000
I like this thread. It's a very good point.
I does seem incredible that these 2 imaginary people with perfect minds and bodies are not able to follow simple directions. They had millions of trees to eat from and their little world was perfect. For all we know, they had 1 law to follow, and yet as simple as that is, they couldnt do it.
When we take a step back and look at our world today with thousands of laws to follow and many more negative influences tempting us to break these laws, we find that most of us are doing a much better job at navigating these and for the most part are able to go through life without breaking significant laws - even with our imperfect minds and bodies.
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SafeAtHome
Yes BluesBrother I agree there was intelligence in ancient civilizations, but over thousands of years things stayed pretty primitive compared to now. I guess I am just amazed at how fast technology moves today, like if you buy something it has already been updated and improved before you get it home! I'm of the Boomer generation so I can be in awe of a 60 inch flat screen tv that I can carry home myself compared to the tiny screen inside a large, heavy piece of furniture I watched as a kid!
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Band on the Run
I love fashion and historical clothing. The town I lived in had gowns from the 1600s. They look doll sized. When I was young and 5'8", I had to purchase clothing from a Tall Size retailer. When I could afford normal department store clothes, the inseam for pants fit me perfectly. Now the younger women are 6' and I have to pay for hems. If you read any biography, too, people drop dead all over the place at very young ages. French nobility sent to their young to the coiuntryside b/c the country was viewed as healthier and noble parents did not want to forge emotional bonds with children who would just die.
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DATA-DOG
Check out " Adam's calendar." Whatever the real story is regarding it, intelligence was needed. The same could be said of all ancient structures that align with the constellations. I don't personally believe in dumb cave-men who grunted like animals.
DD