Selfish/Selfless acts......... which?

by outbutnotdown 3 Replies latest jw friends

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  outbutnotdown

  I have a cousin, who I feel, was greatly responsible for me ceasing to believe in JW teachings. Besides showing me the "light" he is a very wise and kind person and deserves my respect.

  He always stressed that humans are inhently selfish. While I was a JW I quickly passed his thoughts as being too independant of "God". After I left the JW org., I think I began to understand what he was saying.

  I can honestly say that I have seen more selfless acts on this single website than I ever did in the JW congregation. Why is that? Please share your thoughts on how the great people here have helped yourselves.

  For the time-being I will only say a couple of people that I feel have made my life better..... Big Tex..... and Jez....... there..... odd as it may seem... that was not easy.......... I hope people will say who has helped them as well. Thanks,

  Brad
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  Incense_and_Peppermints

  no, humans are not inherently selfish. if we were, we wouldn't get up every morning and make the world a better, safer and more comfortable place...we'd all be lookin' out for number one and tell the rest of the world to piss off. it would be like in "mad max", or sumthin..
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  Bonnie_Clyde

  Don't you know all humans are selfish, except JW's of course. The 12-1-04 WT gives an example of a man who owns a real estate business who found a cash box in the one of the houses he was going to sell with $82,000 in it. He was all alone in the house and could easily have taken the money. But he didn't and explained it was because he was one of Jehovah's Witnesses. The article went on to infer that the worldly people would have taken the cash.

  My feeling is that most people are honest. I remember reading a similar article in the Awake a few years go about the honesty of a witness who returned someone's wallet and it was only because he was one of Jehovah's Witnesses. A few weeks later I inadvertently left my purse in a grocery cart outside the store, and later got a call that they had my purse. When I picked up the purse, I asked for the name of the person who returned my purse so I could reward him/her. They said it was no big deal. They had three or four purses returned everyday. I thought to myself then, must be a lot of JW's hanging around the parking lot as no worldly person would have returned them.
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  Midget-Sasquatch

  I can honestly say that I have seen more selfless acts on this single website than I ever did in the JW congregation. Why is that?

  I'm no expert on the human psyche, but here's my take. Many JWs (but not all) are mainly drawn to the cult because the "end is nigh" and it offers them a fantastic reward. They're serving Big J of the WT cause he'll pay out large. "Because its just the right thing to do" is tagged onto that. So maybe thats why you apparently see more selfishness among dubs.

  The really caring people among the dubs, who finally catch on, "get out of her" and that explains the awesome displays on this board. All of the posters here have made my icy cold veins warm up with their genuine love.

  In defense of many dubs I've known though, they've done some pretty selfless things. Most people, dubs and non-dubs, are a balance between selfish and altruistic with each of us at different points along that dichotomy. As social animals we're cooperative. If you're a cynic you can still argue its all strictly done out of self interest, but I'd like to think that we're ascending to genuinely more selfless creatures.