Astronomers Find Some Other Earthlike Planets Out There

by freemindfade 12 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  freemindfade

  http://www.businessweek.com/news/2015-01-06/astronomers-find-some-other-earthlike-planets-out-there

  This is not really anything new, but every time I see one of these articles about earth like planets in habitable zones, I can't help but hear he echo of past indoctrination at WT studies etc saying "Oh how unique earth is to be placed where it is blah blah blah impossible odds". There are many more articles on this subject that have much less conservative ideas of potentially how many "earth like" planets could be out there, staggering numbers actually. Yes the earth is special, but not "special" that it could not exist many times over in a universe so vast we can't even begin to grasp its size. Almost makes Genesis seem like its accounting of earths importance was written by bronze-age goat herders. 
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  Coded Logic

  But - but - but just look at the trees!  You think that was all an accident?

  (yes, sadly, I used this argument once upon a time)
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  Cold Steel

  Yes the earth is special, but not "special" that it could not exist many times over in a universe so vast we can't even begin to grasp its size. Almost makes Genesis seem like its accounting of earths importance was written by bronze-age goat herders. 

  Or as it was interpreted. We don't know what Moses was shown. Many ancient accounts talk about there being a multiplicity of worlds and heavens. The ancients knew a lot more than we give them credit. Heck, if a Greek could stick a stick in the ground, measure its shadow and tell you the circumference of the earth, my hat's off to 'em. 

  
  
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  freemindfade

  That is true, the ancients had knowledge well beyond, although in my opinion moses did not exist and most of anything from the OT was plagiarized from Egypt and other sources. The bible tries to give simple answers to an infinitely complicated reality that could be just one of many on multiple dimensions and plains. And the idea that the earths conditions are/were an impossibility any where else was really perpetuated by people raising their hands at the watchtower study and in public talks. As recent as last year I heard it mentioned in the congregation bible study how the earth was placed just right. Oooo...awwwwww.  Lol
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  prologos

  There might be even better planets, similar to ours, orbiting around smaller and cooler stars, but closer to compensate, cooler stars that will burn longer, so, yes, we are special, because otherwise we would not be here to write about it. but: of all the trillions of possible planets,

  we are the only one to have Satan now, for 100 years, down here, not just a talking snake any more. and coinciding with that  'kingdom' in place for the same hundert years, and more realistically, 

  unprecedented HUMAN progress, only held back by the backward teachings of the ancients.  
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  freemindfade

  comical... but also sad... 
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  coalize

  we are special, because otherwise we would not be here to write about it. but: of all the trillions of possible planets.

  When I read that, I think at a guy, who never leave his home and say "I am special, because otherwise I would not be here to write about it. but: of all the billions of possible homes of earth.

  Then, what's the argument here ? In what we are somewhere means something special?
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  freemindfade

  Yep. Think about isolated cultures that stayed primitive until only recently being introduced to other modern culture and how their entire idea of reality and belief was changed in a second. If some intelligent life were to be able to actually visit us from somewhere else, I believe more and more people would be less surprised even though we might experience the same thing as those ancient isolated cultures. We are enlightened enough to know the amount of planets in the universe and life could actually be very vast and varied, basic and possibly advanced well beyond us who often believe this giant magnificent universe happened tens of billions of years ago just so the paternal god figure could put us on this one planet oh say 6000 years ago. Makes my hear hurt. Analog thinking. 
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  sir82

  One of the principal reasons that the WTS gives for Jehovah being so loving is the position of the earth in a "just right" position.

  A little closer to the sun, too hot; a little farther away, too cold; a little less dense, no atmosphere; a little more dense, poisonous atmosphere; a little closer to the center of the galaxy, unstable orbit; a little farther away, not enough chemical elements; etc. etc. etc.

  Hmmm....so it turns out that there are (very likely) billions if not trillions of planets, just right here in our own galaxy, in the "Goldilocks" zone and capable of supporting life.

  So much for the "we're so uniquely special, that God must love us!" pseudo-argument.
  
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  freemindfade

  Exactly