i can remember kicking off about this heart nonsense when i still attended to keep the domestic peace. the heart is a pump.
end of.
The "figurative" heart
by Sour Grapes 24 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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jws
25 years ago? I'm in my 50's now and I remember this change happening when I was in my teens. 35-40 years ago maybe.
The WBTS insisted that the heart was where things like emotions come from, not the brain. Even as a teen, I assumed it was figurative, though one day I was assured the Society did in fact not take it figuratively. They thought it literal.
My brother and I, who had middle school and high school science thought this was utter BS. The heart is a muscle that pumps blood. It has no control over higher functions like emotions. And my brother and I kind of laughed that anybody would be stupid enough to take that literally.
Upon which, our parents got real serious quick. We were to shut up about what we thought and NOT to ever speak to anybody at the hall about it. As I recall, and I might be wrong, I think it was kind of to the effect of "you can think that if you want, but don't ever let anybody know you think that".
As I recall it, the first artificial heart was used in 1982. And shortly afterwards, the society changed it's mind and published that the heart was a figurative seed of emotions, not literal. I figured the society realized after the first person with an artificial heart still had emotions, they didn't originate in the heart, so they HAD TO change.
Though we still followed the religion, that was eye-opening. WE (my brother and I) were right all along. BEFORE the society. What's up with that? Shouldn't the holy spirit have guided them to the correct understanding in the first place? Obviously the GB was not ALWAYS right. And people could have the correct understanding when they did not. Kids in their early teens knew more about biology than they did.AND, that the bible is not always correct. Now, that's probably an example that's open to interpretation. Obviously you could say the bible was figurative all along. But that whole thing probably planted seeds that were to grow later about both JWs and the bible itself.
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Half banana
I remember reading the JW nonsense about taking the heart literally in Bible text. It made me think how the org, or "the Society" as it was known then, gets things wrong. It was one of the things which added to the list of niggles I had about the truthfulness of JWism leading to complete mistrust and leaving the religion.
JW doctrines change, beliefs change, rules change and their promises fail........
The bottom line is never believe anything the JW organisation teaches.
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Splash
They have flip-flopped their way around this topic for over 100 years:
WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF OUR PHYSICAL HEART?
JUST A PUMP - w1888 July p.6
The secret of how the mind operates upon disease undoubtedly lies in the fact that the brain is not only the seat of all thought, but of all feeling.
MORE THAN JUST A PUMP - w71 3/1 p. 134 par. 5 How Is Your Heart?
The brain, in which the mind resides, is one thing and the heart in our thorax, with its power of motivation, is another thing.
NOT JUST A PUMP - w71 3/1 p. 134 par. 6 - 7 How Is Your Heart?
we do not want to make the mistake of viewing the literal heart as merely a fleshly pump as does orthodox physiology today.
The heart is a marvelously designed muscular pump, but, more significantly, our emotional and motivating capacities are built within it. Love, hate, desire (good and bad), preference for one thing over another, ambition, fear—in effect, all that serves to motivate us in relationship to our affections and desires springs from the heart.
The sensations of the heart are recorded on the brain. It is here that the heart brings to bear on the mind its desires and its affections in arriving at conclusions having to do with motivations... The heart is a marvelously designed muscular pump, but, more significantly, our emotional and motivating capacities are built within it.
IT'S YOUR PERSONALITY - w71 3/1 p. 135 par. 10 How Is Your Heart?
One thing is sure, in losing their own hearts [by heart transplant], they have had taken away from them the capacities of "heart" built up in them over the years and which contributed to making them who they were as to personality.
IT HAS EMOTIONS - w75 8/1 p. 480 Questions From Readers
We should keep in mind that the human body is a harmonious whole, with all the members thereof being dependent on one another. Therefore, emotions, feelings, desires and the like cannot entirely be limited to any one specific organ such as the brain, heart or kidneys.
JUST A PUMP - w84 9/1 p. 12 par. 15 "Who Has Come to Know Jehovah's Mind?"
Regardless of whether a person is conscious or not, the heart keeps pumping the blood to the brain and all other parts of the body.
IT HAS THOUGHTS - w84 9/1 p. 19 The "Kidneys" and the "Heart" in the Scriptures
At Hebrews 4:12 it is stated that "the word of God . . . is able to discern thoughts and intentions of the heart." This signifies that "the heart" is the thing that induces and motivates the thoughts and intentions, which are discerned by "the word of God."
RIDICULE THOSE WHO SAID IT WAS MORE THAN JUST A PUMP - w86 6/1 p. 15 par. 2 Determined to Serve Jehovah With a Complete Heart
The ancient Egyptians believed that the physical heart was the seat of intelligence and the emotions. They also thought that it had a will of its own. The Babylonians said that the heart housed the intellect as well as love. The Greek philosopher Aristotle taught that it was the seat of the senses and the domain of the soul. But as time passed and knowledge increased, these views were discarded. Finally the heart became known for what it is, a pump to circulate the blood throughout the body.
IT DOES NOT MOTIVATE - w95 1/15 p. 16 par. 3 Serve Jehovah With Joy of Heart
Though the physical heart is mentioned in the Scriptures, it does not literally think or reason.
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Lost in the fog
I remember those Heart talks as well. The trouble is that dyed in the wool JWs believe every single word printed in the WT as gospel. It does not matter if it flies in the face of common sense or scientific fact, it was in the WT therefore it must be true.
I remember being taught about the ice age forcing up mountain ranges at school, but the circuit servant had given a talk saying that geology science failed to accept that the flood caused the upheaval. As a child I didn't know what to believe but erred on the side of the WTS to be ridiculed in my classroom. I now know how silly I was to do so. But, I just give that as an example of the mind control of never going against the spoken or written words of the WTS. And I reckon that the majority of the JWs still would not do so even on pain of ridicule or worse.