i don't want to give a full synopsis of saturday's drama, for fear of inducing stupor among this thread's readers, but.... .
the drama deals with a jw family with 3 kids, 2 of whom are in various stages of rebellion against all things jw.. the older brother is one of the "rebels", while the younger brother is a thoroughly annoying piece of brown-nosing crapola, completely buying into the jw mindset.. anyways, the younger brother is asking the older brother about why he doesn't want to attend the family study any more.. the older kid's rambling answer touches on something along the lines of "i'm learning things in school about how life really came here.
it's not as simple as you think!".
When those exposed to this cheesy little drama subsequently hear mention of endo-symbiotic theory they will shut down their brains and not hear another thing
"Endo-symbiotic theory? Oh, that was discussed in detail at our district convention (they even mentioned it twice!) and it was thoroughly debunked
LOL. I spent so much time trying to think my thoughts through and express them in the above post. Then you two come along and state the whole thing in 30 words or less. LOL I suck!
NC
i don't want to give a full synopsis of saturday's drama, for fear of inducing stupor among this thread's readers, but.... .
the drama deals with a jw family with 3 kids, 2 of whom are in various stages of rebellion against all things jw.. the older brother is one of the "rebels", while the younger brother is a thoroughly annoying piece of brown-nosing crapola, completely buying into the jw mindset.. anyways, the younger brother is asking the older brother about why he doesn't want to attend the family study any more.. the older kid's rambling answer touches on something along the lines of "i'm learning things in school about how life really came here.
it's not as simple as you think!".
They want to create the illusion of scholarship. Remember the CREATOR book? That was aimed at intelligent people. They want to "prepare" the flock to discuss difficult concepts at the door and to run intereference with what the kids will learn in school.
Most people that ascribe to evolution believe that those that believe in creation don't know the facts. WT wants to create the image that not only do JW's know the facts, they carefully studied them and judged them, in their infinite wisdom, to be false. By bringing up this theory now, when students bump into in in school their opinions will already be formed. This gives the R&F a feeling that they have been well-educated, but actually they were simply spoon-fed a few facts and a lot of opionion. Kind of like FOX news. Now they are convinced they know the truth about the Endo-symbiotic theory so their armor is intact, so to speak. They've been innoculated against reason. Fed just a tiny bit to make them immune to the fuller picture.
It's a sort of artificial intelligence. It's lazy. The R&F will not likely study this theory independent of the WT, but they have the sense the org did the work for them and prepared them for intelligent discussion. It's a big deal to make a person feel educated. The false confidence emboldens them to disagree with things they don't understand.
Now they can continue to believe in the image they have created, "See, I'm not ignorant. I know all about this scientific theory and in my infinite intelligence and wisdom I have judged it to be false. Now let me show you why."
I used to thiink that the org prepared me SO WELL for the ministry. They fed me these pseudo-intelligent bits and I was confident I could carry on deep scientific discussions at the door. Nothing the householder said would have an impact on me, because my opinion was already formed on shaky foundation, and the actual facts or bigger picture was not going to complicate that. They could fling facts at me like bullets from a machine gun, but they simply bounced off my armor made of "I've already considered this theory and deemed it to be false or inadequate". Only I hadn't. I had only been trained by WT to think so. The false sense of knowledge they gave me made it unnecessary to actually research and think critically.
I I tell a child that glass does not break when it's dropped, and I even demonstrate it by dropping a thick glass on its heavy base, then I have intoduced some doubt. If the child thinks critically and points to the millions of times that glass has broken when dropped, I can explain that it wasn't the impact that broke the glass, it was a flaw in the glass itself. When it was manufactured there was some microscopic imperfection that compromised the integrity of the glass. As a matter of fact, impact makes glass stronger because it causes the molecule to adhere even more tightly together, and I drop the heavy glass on its base again to prove it, then the child is innoculated against the truth.
When he goes out and tells his friends that dropping glass does not break it, his friends will look at him sideways. They will argue and reason. They will drop 20 glasses and prove their point. But he will simply dismiss the evidence because he knows the real reason the glass is breaking is because it has a flaw. He will feel superior in his knowledge. He knows about microscopic things and his friends have jumped to an amateur conclusion. Of course his friends will think he's whacked, but he will simply interpret their attitude as a lack of understanding.
I don't know if that made sense. WT is busy building an armor of misinterpreted facts and false intellectual confidence. In this way they protect the R&F from the truth.
NC
theology is the study of religion and religions are human systems of spirituality.
it could then be said that theology is the study of the applications of human spirituality.
human spirituality is a chosen way of life.
The fact you are not hit by lightning is evidence of His love, mercy, patience, but you will not escape justice if you don't repent.
Christians don't get hit by lightning? Someone should have noticed this! Sign me up!
this has already been discussed but i need to vent.. i just spent the most painful weekend of my life sitting thru this years dc.
what an unbelievably pointless, soulless and demeaning spectacle the assemblies are.
the three days were a blur of monotanous droning and brainwashing.
Fun-ny Gubby! So THAT's where all the available brothers were!
NC
http://news.yahoo.com/casey-anthony-acquitted-killing-young-daughter-191600480.html .
I wish I saw such outrage when innocent people are executed or imprisoned for most of their life for lack of representation. We get mad when people do have a defense lawyer--their constitutional right---but look the other way when poor defendents--usually a minority--get poor representation and lose large portions of their life.
I don't know if justice was served. I do know the prosecution did not prove it's case and she only had her constitutionally protected right to council. This wasn't a rock star lawyer. He was competent, but he wasn't a genius. It seems his main objective now is to expose the problems we have with the death penalty. He could have used his moment in the sun to advance his own interests, he chose to use it to advance a cause he believes in.
What is the alternative? Try people in the media? Deny defendants council? Choose a verdict because it feels right?
It's a horribly emotional thing when a child dies. It makes all of us so sad and angry it's hard to know where to direct the angst. The odds were stacked against this defendant. With the prevailing emotion it should have been easy to convict her--if there was a sound case. Those jurors didn't even pause. They were unanimous. How much should we second guess them? The media has maniupulated our righteous emotions, but obviously when the facts were presented without the loaded emotionalism, the didn't hold up.
I hope she truly is not guilty. Yet I would have felt bad if she was convicted on a tide of pure emotion---which happens all too often. We want revenge, but at what cost?
NC
http://news.yahoo.com/casey-anthony-acquitted-killing-young-daughter-191600480.html .
I agree AK. We already have too many people falsely convicted. This is especially egregious when long prison terms or the death penalty is involved. I didn't follow the case, but I tuned in for the verdict. I said earlier that I cannot dismiss the fact that not only did the jury make the decision immediately, it was unanimous. Whatever the media has fed us--the jury had no hesitation.
NC
this has already been discussed but i need to vent.. i just spent the most painful weekend of my life sitting thru this years dc.
what an unbelievably pointless, soulless and demeaning spectacle the assemblies are.
the three days were a blur of monotanous droning and brainwashing.
You know, Japanese scientist have developed a process to turn poop into meat. They say it tastes like beef. I was surpised, I thought for sure it would taste like chicken.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/16/japanese-scientist-makes-poop-burger_n_878210.html
this has already been discussed but i need to vent.. i just spent the most painful weekend of my life sitting thru this years dc.
what an unbelievably pointless, soulless and demeaning spectacle the assemblies are.
the three days were a blur of monotanous droning and brainwashing.
Awwww thanks Still Thinking! I'm glad someone worries. They'll need SOMEONE to sign the committment papers!
http://news.yahoo.com/casey-anthony-acquitted-killing-young-daughter-191600480.html .
The prosecution introduced junk science because it would set a precedent. They thought they had a open and shut case as she was 'obviously' guilty and introducing junk science would legitimize the practice.
Than Anony--I didn't realize this was the motive. Interesting. I wish they had chosen a stronger case---this gave the appearance of the prosecution grasping at straws. That may be a false impression, but it's an impression all the same.
I know about the problems with dna testing. The more we use that science, the more problems we will find--and solve.
Anony--do you know how reliable that type of forensic evidence is? I don't know much about it. I just wonder if it's a good thing that they wish to use it, or if it will be a disaster.
NC
this has already been discussed but i need to vent.. i just spent the most painful weekend of my life sitting thru this years dc.
what an unbelievably pointless, soulless and demeaning spectacle the assemblies are.
the three days were a blur of monotanous droning and brainwashing.
LOL, I used to hope for apostate protesters at the gate so I could dramatically ignore them. And it would have injected a little excitement into the whole process.
NC
