Help, got JW in home....need details on how to answer question

by skeeter1 18 Replies latest jw friends

  • skeeter1
    skeeter1

    "THe world is much worse off today then yesterday . . . "

    I know the basic answers, but give me some more ammunition

  • cultBgone
    cultBgone

    Skeeter, just tell them you'll have to agree to disagree. There's really no point in throwing facts at them, they only believe what they've been programmed to say to you. Just smile and wave, boys, smile and wave...them right out the door.

  • designs
    designs

    How do you want to cure diseases- prayer and waiting on angels or Science.

  • snowbird
    snowbird

    Ecclesiastes 7:10.

    Every age has had its problems that were peculiar to that particular age.

    Nothing new under the sun ...

    Sylvia

  • ABibleStudent
    ABibleStudent

    Hi skeeter1, Ask s/he why s/he thinks that "THe world is much worse off today then yesterday . . . ". Ask s/he if she would rather be alive 100 years ago without electric refrigerators/washers/dryers, smart phones, color TVs, satelite weather, entertainment systems, modern cars, airplanes, internet, computers, etc. Ask s/he what it would take to prove that the world is not worse today than yesterday.

    Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

    Robert

  • Oubliette
    Oubliette

    Put the burden of proof where it belongs, on the person making the claim.

    Insist, and I mean INSIST, they back up their claims with verifiable, independent evidence.

    The fact is, if you research just about anything from crime rates to earthquake frequency over the last century, you will find that the facts, and I mean THE FACTS, do NOT support WT "theology."

    That's the way it is.

  • skeeter1
    skeeter1

    Thanks everyone! He tried witnessing to us, and was shut down by my kid. I think it's really rude that people think they can try to bait others into changing their religion. What in intrusion. Anyway, I can't leave this JW alone at all with the kids. He's about to get a mouthful if he tries it again.

  • Syme
    Syme

    If you have time, read Steven Pinker's book, the Better Angles of our Nature, which deals with the decline of violence over the centuries.

    Generally, the world is getting BETTTER than yesterday. You can point the following facts:

    - The violent deaths (by war and crime) are lot less in the last 50 years than any other time in the past! We're talking about relative deaths, i.e. deaths as to the world population. 20th century wars claimed less lives/world population than the wars of the past centuries.

    -Diseases? The 20th century deseases are NOTHING compared to the past centuries. The Spanish flu was nothing compared to the Plague of 14th century. Modern medicine has eradicated/reduced significantly most of the diseases that plagued humanity for thousands of years.

    -Greater life expectancy, greater quality of life, decreased child mortality rate, and lots more.

    You may use an illustration(jws are illustration junkies): If your JW believes we live in the worst era ever, you may ask him "In which era would you rather live if you had a choice, then?" What can he answer? None. Because we live in the best (or less worse) era of mankind since its dawn. If you lived, let's say, 300 years ago in Europe, this is what your life would have been, in average: You would be part of a family with 10-15 kids, most of them who would die in infancy. If you were so lucky as to survive, you would spend your childhood and your entire adult life working from dusk till dawn like a dog, every day, in misery and semi-starvation, and would be lucky if you lived more than 40 years. The most probable is you would die between 30 and 40, due to a combination of diseases, fatigue and ill-nurishment. And THAT era would be better than ours??

  • Crazyguy
    Crazyguy

    seriously the world is way better, less famine and not to mention the plagues, I mean europe lost 50 percent of its population during one plague and they had several.

  • A.proclaimer
    A.proclaimer

    Next time, you could say how famine has dropped. It's easy to find statistics on that. I don't know if you're from the US, but violent crime rates have dropped here and being murdered is less common than that from the 1950's. Also, point to the fact that women have better right and comforts than in the past, civil rights movements have improved for people of different backgrounds and colors. Sure it's not all perfect but it's a lot better than before. The only reason things seem worse is because today we are able to know about it more than in the past. The news highlights stories like these. Technology allows us to stay in constant communication with the world around us, and people like to know more about others. Of course, there are things that have gotten worse but to say everything is all bad is an exaggeration.

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