WTBTS & Plato Bashing

by Valis 12 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Valis

  I remember so many times during my youth sitting at one convention or another and listening to the speaker rationalize the WT view of the bible and always subtly throwing in a bit of Plato bashing. I've been trying to work this over in my head and then it occured to me that maybe what they obejected to was Plato's analogy of the cave. Just for those of you who don't know..

  Plato had an analogy about perception and what reality is without truth and reason. It goes roughly like this...We're all in a cave..maybe like a cave w/seats and we are all staring at the back of the cave. There is also light coming in from the outside and someone behind us as well. That someone is doing the equivalent of shadow puppets which are projected onto the back of the cave and the basis for our perception of reality. It isn't until we look around and see all sides of the cave that we realize there is a way out and "light" out there. As well, we don't see the real reality till we free ourselves of the cave and the puppeteer.

  Perhaps it is the case that the WT saw this as a threat in regards people seeking out other views or rreading or going to school. Just something I have been thinking about and welcome your comments.

  Sincerely,

  District Overbeer of the "glad to be out of the cave" class
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  Gopher

  I thought you meant they didn't allow kids to bring PLAY DOUGH to the kingdom hall !! Yes PLAY DOUGH is obviously designed to take the young ones away from Jehovah.

  Don't cave in!! Resist the temptations of play dough.

  Oh? what -- what was that, ... Plato? Oh!

  Never mind

  Jeff (of the Roseanne Roseannadanna class)
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  Simon

  I'd never heard that Valis ... I can see how such thoughts of freedom from mental control would be a real threat to them. It gives the expression "seen the light" a new significance!

  lol @ gopher
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  NeonMadman

  I had to read Plato's work on "the cave" as part of the first course I took when I started college (English Comp & Lit 101). No wonder the WTS doesn't want people going to college, you hardly get in the door before the WT is exposed in one way or another!!

  But, of course, Plato was a PAGAN, so you can't trust what he says anyway!!

  Edited by - NeonMadman on 27 August 2002 15:26:31
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  LyinEyes

  Very interesting , I have never heard of the cave analogy, guess I was to busy playing with the Play Dough( aka the WT and other silly repetitive publications) to see the light outside of that cave.

  That was funny Gopher about the Play Dough

  I remember alot of talk in a magazine and talks about the "worldly knowlegde " of these scholars and other wise men. The WT discouraged such learning because even thou these were consider wise men by the "world", they were senseless empty thinking. They had us convinced that we were smarter than these men, because we had" the knowledge that leads to eternal life" , and basically that was all we needed to know. Still pisses me off to even repeat that phrase. So we listened to them and went right along with it, blinded by the WT's use of mind control. To even study on these men's philosphies would be a waste of time, time we could be using to preach( sell magazines).

  They use the same tactics on JW's on reading apostate material, it is useless to do so, since they already have the "truth". The real truth should hold up to anything eles you read , you don't need the WT to tell you what is right and wrong. They really do just want to take all free will and free thinking away, to control their members.
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  Valis

  It also occured to me that they might have a problem with Platos approximation of what god is and is not. They may draw from thier tiny minds that Plato set the basis for the Trinity with the concept of the singular divine being, the logos or word of Dog and the thing (in this case Jesus) that is there to help man and works for both Dog and humans. He also reflects on the "likely myth" of Dog and no hard and fast image...or dogma...ehehe sorry couldn't resist.

  Gopher...I hear silly putty has now become an approved Bible Based (tm) substitute for the demonized play dough.

  Neon...are you sure he was pagan? back then there were no christies running around so polytheism was the only game in town.

  Sincerely,

  District Overbeer
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  metatron

  If you carefully examine how superficial the Society's 'scholarship' is, I doubt
  they have any idea what the famous cave analogy is all about.

  Plato say soul immortal
  Plato bad man

  That's about as far as their thinking goes.

  metatron
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  Valis

  metatron...I forgot all about Plato and the immortal soul. If souls were immortal then Jehovah has far less power and throws off thier whole game of control. Thanks for reminding me.

  Sincerely,

  District Overbeer of the "naughty immortal soul" class
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  bigboi
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  NeonMadman

  Neon...are you sure he was pagan? back then there were no christies running around so polytheism was the only game in town.

  Well, I was using the term in the sense that the JW's use it, which includes Catholics and Baptists, along with every other sort of devil worshiper, so, naturally, it would include Plato, too.

  Besides, don't you remember from the publications that Plato was the originator of the PAGAN doctrine of immortality of the soul? At least they said he was...