Animals, Blood, Food, and JW Beliefs

dubstepped

I'm just thinking aloud here. I watched a show yesterday and they were talking about how the largest mammals of the sea (whales) fed on such small creatures (plankton) rather than eating some other large creatures. Anyway, it got me thinking about how as JWs we thought that in paradise animals would all be herbivores, that they would no longer eat other animals. So I was thinking about how whales would survive then. What would they eat? Obviously it would have to be plentiful. Then I got to thinking about mosquitoes, something that always bothered me as a JW. I mean, blood is supposed to be so sacred to Jehovah and we're not supposed to eat it, but his creation does (mosquitoes, ticks, bats, spiders, leeches, etc.). What are those creatures to do in the magic new system?

It seems that the animal kingdom really doesn't support the views on blood or the future panda paradise. Thoughts? Anyone else struggle with that when they were still dubs? I just found the subject interesting and my brain kind of ran with it. I know that others here have much more knowledge of such things, particularly the evolution of such critters.

scratchme1010

Never occurred to me to think about mosquitoes before. Great observation. However, the more we know about animal behavior, the less sense it makes what the WT says.

However, remember that they dismiss any explaining by attacking your trust in that their Jehovah will figure all that out. That's the end of the conversation for them.

OrphanCrow

Nine Creatures that drink the blood of other animals:

Vampire finch (Geospiza difficilis septentrionalis) ...
Assassin bugs (Reduviidae family) ...
Vampire flying frog (Rhacophorus vampyrus) ...
Kenyan jumping spider (Evarcha culicivora) ...
Tongue-eating louse (Cymothoa exigua) ...
Vampire moth (Calyptra thalictri) ...

Vampire fish (Vandellia cirrhosa) ...
The vampire bacterium.

TheWonderofYou

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hematophagy

cofty

Even as a loyal JW elder I did not believe the animal kingdom would/could ever become vegetarian.

Perhaps that was the first signs of "independent thinking".

dubstepped

I had a hard time with all of that too Cofty. It was "independent thinking", but as we all did, I pushed it down with the magic "leave it in Jehovah's hands" or "Jehovah will make it work" thinking. I was good at that until enough of those things built up to where I could no longer do it anymore.

truth_b_known

I had an elder's wife once tell me that the t-rex used its teeth to rip bark off of trees it ate.

steve2

Yes, an interesting OP.

All depictions of "Paradise" (and, by extension, "Heaven") have no place for parasites (maggots, flies, fleas, cockroaches, etc.) and rodents, among other things. It is as though humans long for some kind of "after (Armageddon) life" that is sanitized and smiley-teeth white, free from dirt and grime - the very things that "make" life what it is.

JWs pride themselves on having a very physical depiction of "everlasting" life, finding depictions of heaven as frivilous and unrealistic. Yet, JW organization's depiction of Paradise earth is itself super airbrushed, with no annoying flea and fly life and - ahem - no great smelly piles of animal dung.

compound complex

These are the images that say the so-called thousand words. No wonder the Paradise promised is so deeply embedded into the conscious and subconscious hearts and minds of Jehovah's Witnesses, et al.

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5993135630974976/jws-american-religion-dress-language-etc-joel-elliot

carla

Don't they say satan made some of the things like mosquitoes just to mess things up for us? I thought my jw told me that was a theory once but he was a new jw at that time so maybe some random jw told him that theory (?)

Animals, Blood, Food, and JW Beliefs

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