I get this from my mom when we talk on the phone. We'll talk about some problem on the world scene, and she'll say that men can't solve these problems. Well, yes and no. Yes, there are some problems that have such inertia that humanity will never solve. And, no, these are not because we live in a "wicked, rotten system of things under Satan's control."
She knows I no longer believe, but she still talks to me. I love her for that. I feel sorry for her that she is caught up in this Watchtower inspired mindset and can't see that the Big Picture of the World is a very complicated one. To quote Paul Simon,
It was a slow day
And the sun was beating
On the soldiers by the side of the road
There was a bright light
A shattering of shop windows
The bomb in the baby carriage
Was wired to the radio
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
Thats dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And dont cry baby, dont cry
Dont cry
It was a dry wind
And it swept across the desert
And it curled into the circle of birth
And the dead sand
Falling on the children
The mothers and the fathers
And the automatic earth
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
Thats dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And dont cry baby, dont cry
Dont cry
Its a turn-around jump shot
Its everybody jump start
Its every generation throws a hero up the pop charts
Medicine is magical and magical is art
The boy in the bubble
And the baby with the baboon heart
And I believe
These are the days of lasers in the jungle
Lasers in the jungle somewhere
Staccato signals of constant information
A loose affiliation of millionaires
And billionaires and baby
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
Thats dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And dont cry baby, dont cry
Dont cry
Dean, I appreciate your attempt at bringing a bit of balance to the discussion. You are quite right to point out that the benefits of living in the "here and now" are not evenly nor universally shared by all humans. Please understand that most former Witnesses on this forum come from the wealthier nations of the world. We see the special irony of Witnesses complaining about this "wicked system of things," many of whom enjoy wealth and prosperity like none of their ancestors ever could have imagined. They are like obese people sitting down to a buffet dinner only to complain about the price of food and the "wickedness" of the restaurant owner!
Dave