Is life any better now?

by onacruse 17 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Heatmiser

  Have humans evolved/developed/learned beyond what we were several thousand years ago?

  Do you think life, in general, is better now?

  Humans on average are taller now than they where in the past. Humans have learned alot in the last thousand years.

  Yes life is better now. We live to be 70, 80, 90 years old and even higher. In the past, 40 years old was OLD. That is if you where lucky enough to survive child hood. You ever go to an old cemetary? Look at all the childrens graves. That is one of the reasons families where HUGE back in the day. They didn't expect alot of the children to survive.

  Comparing our lives today and the lives of people thousands of years ago is comparing apples and oranges.
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  DanTheMan

  I think that in past ages people had a simple religiosity that offered them tremendous comfort regardless of their external circumstances, and in this respect I envy them.
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  Heatmiser

  There was no media cramming ideas into our heads and coercing us to amass material posessions. We toiled directly for the benefit of those we loved, not for some corporate machine that dispenses paychecks on Friday.

  99% of people didn't amass material possesions not by choice. They toiled for the benifit of the King/Queen/govt/church they lived under. The rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Unless you where of the select small percentage of the population, you toiled endlessly to meek out a living to stay alive and live to a ripe old age of 40. Of course there where a few societies that broke these generalizations, but they collapsed (Roman empire, Greek empire ect. ect.)

  Yeah you didn't have media drumming into your head to gain material possesions, you had the church torturing you to death and taking all of your meager possesions. If you think everybody was a bunch of tree huggers sitting around enjoying nature, you need to study history more. Man, woman and child toiled from sunup to sundown 365 days a year to survive.
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  jgnat

  Have people evolved? I don't think so. This has been an enduring interest of mine, I read what I can about family life, say, during the dark ages. It turns out that children have always been playing stick-ball and breaking heads, and making dollies out of rags. The only difference I see, is not in any fundamental change in people, but in the evolutionary growth of our civilization, which is now highly complex and interdependent. We also do learn from our mistakes. Thanks to the written word, we can pay forward our knowledge to the next generation.

  Children still play stick-ball, but we now sheathe our children's heads, elbows, and knees in protective gear. Not so many children die any more.

  So, though peoples' basic natures have not changed; there are as many bullies these days as there ever were, I do believe our lives are better. We swear never, never to forget. We slap down our "hitler"s if they get too uppity. Most of the time.
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  franklin J

  the simple respnse to your question is YES; it does change.

  But it will be what you make it. Make it a POSITIVE change.

  MOVE FORWARD...
• 

  upside/down

  As long as men have wives, they will amass posessions.

  I think the distinction of modern man's standard of living and lifespan are incorrect. All you have to do is leave the comfy confines of the Industiralized nations and you will see men living NOW as they have since the dawn of man.

  I have had staggering persoonal and business debt, owed the IRS, and been stessed to the point I could feel my pulse as my body throbbed while sitting at rest due to the desperateness of my lifes situation. Fight or Flight?

  I'd rather face the wooly mammoth with a spear than ever go through that again!

  But on the other hand my creature comforts exceed any king of history! I have hot and cold indoor plumbing, electricity and all the gadgets to go with it, instant world wide communication, big-screenTV, automobile, can get any meat, fruit or vegetable at the local store ANY time of year, ice cream, chocolate, heat and A/C and cold beer, Doctors, surgeons and internet porn! But all I have to do is fo to Mexico and see a modern country where the masses live in squalor- different government is the only difference!

  I live better than Caesar or King Solomon! At a fraction of the cost.

  u/d (of the lives well for now class)
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  dh

  I think it's worse than it has been at other points in history, for people and their state of happiness. I think there was probably a time when people were a hell of a lot happier than now, but I also think there may be a time in the future when the world is all fixed, that will be better than both then and now, but it won't be for many lifetimes I don't think.
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  what_Truth?

  The main difference between now and then is that we turned our local perspective into a global one. One of the sad tradeoffs is that we're losing more and more importance in the things around us. People will gladly donate hundreds of dollars to tsunami victims they've never met but won't give a bum on the streets their last cigarette. Isn't it funny also how people care more about a soccer game played across the world then a little league game played down the block. Oh yeah, the key to life isn't possesions. It's doing what God created you to do. There's no sense having a new Cadilac if your driving it to a job you hate.