by seattleniceguy 22 Replies latest jw friends
OldSoul, very interesting observation. That certainly puts their articles in a more sinister light. What a funny choice to put to Witnesses: "Were they intentionally trying to scare off the intelligent and educated people, or were they just totally unaware of the facts?"
Swan, goodness gracious. Goodness f***ing gracious. Goodness Jesus on a bike gracious. Nice find.
SNG
Old Soul wrote:
: What if that is the freakin' intent? ...
Never ascribe to maliciousness what can adequately be explained by stupidity.
Watchtower leaders are completely uneducated in the sciences, and have absolutely no idea how to evaluate anything they read about science. Author Alan Rogerson, in Millions Now Living Will Never Die: A Study of Jehovah's Witnesses (Constable, London, 1969, p. 116) put it well:
A long acquaintance with the literature of the Witnesses leads one to the conclusion that they live in the intellectual 'twilight zone.' That is, most of their members, even their leaders, are not well educated and not very intelligent. Whenever their literature strays onto the fields of philosophy, academic theology, science or any severe mental discipline their ideas at best mirror popular misconceptions, at worst they are completely nonsensical.
AlanF
AlanF, while I appreciate your views and agree when it comes to the R&F ... I raise the possibility that it is not true of the leadership. It makes brilliant business sense, from a purely secular standpoint. How better to cull the massive herd of potential victims down to those most vulnerable to conditioning? All master mesmerizers know how to find those most susceptible to suggestion.
Of course if someone is resistant to the "spell" it is whose fault? Not the mesmerizer's fault by any means. It isn't really even a trick, it's just fishing for fools. This now takes on an aspect having all the earmarks of a carnival show common in the late 1800s. The more I search my memory the more indication I find that this may really be a case of intentional mass hypnosis - on a grander scale than Jim Jones.
As a veteran of big government, I must side with AlanF. There is far more stupidity at the top than we even dare imagine. There is no conspiracy, there was no shooter on the grassy knoll, sometimes the dummies rise to the top and make the rest of our lives miserable.
their ideas at best mirror popular misconceptions
I bet this is it. Those Golden Age pronouncements may sound zany today, but I bet they were merely repeating back to the public what they deeply suspected already.
Ears.
Tickled.
Sound familiar?
ROFL It's been a while since I've seen some of these; others I'd never read before. I had no idea that they actually challenged gravity.
jgnat wrote:Ears. Tickled. Sound familiar? I think their ears would be ringing off the wall. LOL Tor
[quote]There is far more stupidity at the top than we even dare imagine.[/quote]
This rings true with me. I don't mean this unkindly. I never served at Bethel, but in my 50+ years as a JW, I did meet and work with three GB members. Each had admirable traits-humility, kindness, loyalty, etc., but not remarkable intelligence. Much of their "wisdom" was based on the collective experience of JW's worldwide and their personal knowledge of such. They certainly deferred to the younger Writing Committee members who had knowledge of science, technology, history, etc. with the view that Jehovah was directing it all.
tms
However, the facts show that the headship of a man is both somatically and psychologically sound and in the best interests of all concerned, even as we shall see. Thus a leading authority on the human body (soma), Gray's Anatomy (1966 Edition), tells the interesting fact that as regards the human skull there is no difference between the male and the female until the time of puberty; but then as adulthood is reached the difference becomes more and more apparent. The female skull is lighter and its cranial capacity is about 10 percent smaller than that of a male, even as is the rest of the anatomy. The contour of the female skull is also more rounded and the facial bones are smoother. Apparently, with the lines of beauty goes less rugged strength.True, mere brain size in itself is not as important as brain quality, but where the quality is the same the larger brain size has an advantage. Thus Science News, April 1, 1967, told of twenty African children who were so extremely undernourished in the first few years of their lives that "head circumferences...averages an inch less that the others, indicating smaller brain." And over the years all these were found to have verbal, mathematical and perceptual capabilities far below those of other children. Implicit in these findings is that man is advantaged by a greater brain size.
This is from 1967, not so very long ago.
Tammy
Swan, that is just frightening.
Oh, what people will do to try to support their belief system.
SNG
It is said that an atom is composed of one proIt is said that an atom is composed of one proton and its many or few electrons, depending upon the substance, whether gold, silver, lead, wood, or glass; gold atoms containing many electrons, and wood only a few.ton and its many or few electrons, depending upon the substance, whether gold, silver, lead, wood, or glass; gold atoms containing many electrons, and wood only a few.
Wood atoms? Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!
And as far as the "popular misconceptions" go, that's so true. I love the argument in the Creation book "refuting" the big bang:
Do the bombs that fall on cities in wartime produce superbly designed buildings, streets, and signs with traffic laws? On the contrary, such explosions cause wreckage, disorder, chaos, disintegration. And when the explosive device is nuclear the disorganization is total, as experienced by the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
