by metatron 29 Replies latest jw friends
Sure, some things get worse. But certainly, I'd rather be living now than 100 yrs ago, when Russell was telling everyone he could that the world was about to be destroyed as well.
Most things are much better now. Life expectancy is way up, many childhood diseases eradicated, medicine has progressed by leaps and bounds, work is easier, and lesuire time is filled with more options than ever. I'll take now anyday.
Because the "society" wants to live in the 1950's when people were beating up black people, and it was OK to punch your wife and send your daugter away for getting pregnant. To them, it WAS better back then. To rational people, attitudes toward other human beings are getting better. Of course, in some countries, there is civil war and hardships...when was it not like that?
Dorkycrass,
So which is it, dude? Is it getting worse, like the society sez, or are they "finally" declaring peace & security? I thought they already did that back in the 80's . As a a matter of fact, I seem to remember a year of peace and security declared by the great wild beast, the UN. Oh, wait, they are'nt the bad guy any more. Cause the dubs joined them. Oh, wait, we did'nt really join them. We only became an NGO like every other religion who joins the UN. Oh, but wait, they only did it to get a library card.
Riddle me this, DC. If the UN is the "Wild beast of revelation" & Christendom is the harlot.......Well, look at it this way, The UN is a john, & Christendom is a bordello with all the various harlots, doing various things w/ various members of the UN. The WTS joins this bordello, & says, well, we did'nt really join, & we did'nt have sexual relations, we only gave BJ's. Answer me, is there a difference?
It only appears to be not getting worse and worse. You see, Satan keeps transforming himself into an angel of light, and seeing as he is in control of this wicked system of things, it stands to reason that he would make things look as though they are not so bad. But God's organization, represented here on earth by the Faithful and Discreet Slave Class, can see just how bad this old world is, and if we say it's bad, rest assured it's bad.
Integ.
yup, that's the Witness view.
Ignore the facts, blind your eyes to reality
and always believe that the Society knows best and can dispense "truth" to Witlesses
with feeble brains. Sheesh! How do these people ever manage to put their pants on, in the morning
or walk and chew gum at the same time? It must be so taxing.....
metatron
Ohhhh, the JW's aren't gonna like this one!!! Yeah... things keep getting worst and worst!
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/biztech/10/02/solar.cells.reut/index.html Discovery may spur cheap solar power |
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) --A major European chip maker said this week it had discovered new ways to produce solar cells which will generate electricity twenty times cheaper than today's solar panels.
STMicroelectronics, Europe's largest semiconductor maker, said that, by the end of next year, it expected to have made the first stable prototypes of the new cells, which could then be put into production.
Most of today's solar cells, which convert sunlight into electricity, are produced with expensive silicon, the same material used in most semiconductors.
The French-Italian company expects cheaper organic materials such as plastics to bring down the price of producing energy. Over a typical 20-year life span of a solar cell, a single produced watt should cost as little as $0.20, compared with the current $4.
The new solar cells would even be able to compete with electricity generated by burning fossil fuels such as oil and gas, which costs about $0.40 per watt, said Salvo Coffa, who heads ST's research group that is developing the technology.
"This would revolutionize the field of solar energy generation," he said.
ST's trick is to use materials that are less efficient in producing energy from sunlight but which are extremely cheap.
Coffa said the materials should be able to turn at least 10 percent of the sun's energy into power, compared with some 20 percent for today's expensive silicon-based cells.
"We believe we can demonstrate 10 percent efficiency by the end of 2004," Coffa said.
Following that, ST and others would need to develop production technologies to make solar cells and panels in large quantities to achieve the $0.20 per watt target, he said.
"Our target is fixed at $0.20," said Coffa, who expects no major technological difficulties in going from prototypes to mass-produced commercial products.
Renewable energy is an essential part of research for ST, which says its chip and material expertise can be used to develop future solar cells and fuel cells.
ST said three weeks ago it had found a new way to produce tiny yet extremely efficient fuel cells that could power a mobile phone for 20 days.
I do need to disagree with Metatron et al, reluctantly. I do not wish to argue objectively whether 'things' have gotten worse or better. From my own p.o.v. I would have to say life has improved over the years - speaking as the first generation in his family to grow up with flush plumbing etc.. I have to point out that the Witnesses "worse and worse" is not based on an objective tally, coming from having balanced "better" against "worst". It comes out of their millenial world-view, which like all world-views is a way to organize personal experience into a coherent whole. The aspect I find interesting about the millenial world-view is that is in practice a revolutionary way to look at the world. I imagine the Witnesses would recall from the description of their faith as revolutionary. But their own literature bears out the description. They do not believe that incremental reform is possible during the current "system of things". No the only solution is the complete overthrow of this "system of things" in favor of God's Kingdom. [I first used "New World Society" but apparently it has been mothballed. I wonder why?] So day to day the Witnesses [and other members of millenial movements - religious and secular] filter the daily information they receive to support their belief system, and discard any data that would contradict it. Obviously anything that would confirm that this old world could be reformed, that life here and now can be enjoyable is not going to make the cut.
EXCELLENT POST!!!
sphere said:
IMO witnesses tend to believe in “the good ole days”, you know, back before 1914, back when you didn’t have to lock your doors, when a handshake was as good as a contract, when children never back talked, blah blah blah. They totally ignore the number of women who died childbearing or children who died in their first year, or how if you were a beaten or abused women or child you really just had no resources. Or if you’re a minority you were just pretty much screwed all the time.
The good ole days were good for the white man, yes ideedly-doodly. That is the good ole day filter of the WTS.
I vacillate on this topic though, certainly there are some very disturbing trends in the world, and I despair over whether or not we're going to make it as a species.
Brother Dan Sydlik anointed Governing Body member gave a talk "Don't Lose Heart "at Bethel.He supports Metatron.Some of what he said goes like this:
"Sure there is War in the world! But there is plenty of Peace in the world too!
Sure there is Sickness,but there is plenty of Health too!
Sure there is Famine,but there is plenty of Food too!
Sure people die Young,but people also live long!
Sure nature acts up with Storms,but there is Paradise conditions too! Etc,Etc.
Playing it safe,balancing the two extremes,or,it is what it is ,and has nothing to do with things getting worse and worse.
Blueblades
