so you've probably heard of the ethical dilemma question which is a thought-experiment where you imagine there is a runaway train-trolley, a junction with a lever that you can pull and two tracks - one with 5 workers on it and another with just 1, but no way to warn them.. all you can do is pull the lever, or not, thus allowing 5 people to die or through your direct action sacrificing 1 to save them.. what should you do?.
this sort of thing may seem silly but it comes up in real life.
should a self-driving car for instance, faced with a certain collision, chose which pedestrians to run over?
my solution would be to jam the switch half open, the lever ( as I remember them from the 1930s, , were heavily weighted. you would have to hold them in the up, half open position, otherwise they would fall to either left or right).
that way, the rails jammed, , the trolley would derail, missing the six, letting all live.
there are 1000's of wacked out ideas on the planet.. a crazy little man with a mustache in a beer hall in munich germany in 1923 had some crazy ideas for sure....he starting with a dozen people who thought his insanity was a good idea.
in just 22 years his insanity effected the entire world with millions dead.
he duped 95 million germans alone...who thought his insanity was a good idea.. another crazy little man with a beard, started in the basement of a church in pennsylvania in the1870's.
The crazy little man with the mustache in the bierkeller promised to solve a problem of the other beer drinkers, living in a depressed country. one way or another.
The bearded man in the Pennsylvania basement promised to end the long wait for the messiah's return, or the problem of one's death. or both.
The big man with ample blond hair promised to the workers in the US with their bargain basement wages, a relief from competition by highly intelligent asian and motivated latino immigrants, and their cultural influence, one way or another.
Interest groups have a way of asserting themselves, often condensing around a leader that shows up.
safety sometimes depends on the distance you can keep from such concentrations. and their camps or campuses.
PS: I did not see this was about books. how about Mein Krampf or Das Kapital? all hirsute writers too.
i think back on the 30+ years of bs as well as my fading almost a decade and even now being low key in person to hopefully save my nieces from the wt.
i'm a wreck in some ways.
i'm other days i'm stable however when it comes to theism i depart quickly and with anger!
htbwc: are you not extending your discomfort by trying to work out how the bible was written? after all those that were supposed to influence you too, had bible based beliefs, just different than wt's.
the bible exhorts us to “worship the one who made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.”—deuteronomy 4:24; revelation 14:7.. insight on the scriptures, volume 2 pp 1200-1202. worshipone of the hebrew words conveying the idea of worship (ʽa·vadhʹ) basically means “serve.” (ge 14:4; 15:13; 29:15) serving or worshiping jehovah required obedience to all of his commands, doing his will as a person exclusively devoted to him.
(ex 19:5; de 30:15-20; jos 24:14, 15) therefore, for an individual to engage in any ritual or act of devotion toward any other gods signified his abandoning true worship.—de 11:13-17; jg 3:6, 7.another hebrew term that can denote worship is hish·ta·chawahʹ, which primarily means “bow down” (ge 18:2), or do obeisance.
(see obeisance.
R R right. the scriptures paint a caricature of a being that would be responsible for setting up the known universe, not to think of the unknown.
writing is to serve the writers.
how do you dare to withhold all you vowed, when keeping a portion will kill you?
the bible exhorts us to “worship the one who made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.”—deuteronomy 4:24; revelation 14:7.. insight on the scriptures, volume 2 pp 1200-1202. worshipone of the hebrew words conveying the idea of worship (ʽa·vadhʹ) basically means “serve.” (ge 14:4; 15:13; 29:15) serving or worshiping jehovah required obedience to all of his commands, doing his will as a person exclusively devoted to him.
(ex 19:5; de 30:15-20; jos 24:14, 15) therefore, for an individual to engage in any ritual or act of devotion toward any other gods signified his abandoning true worship.—de 11:13-17; jg 3:6, 7.another hebrew term that can denote worship is hish·ta·chawahʹ, which primarily means “bow down” (ge 18:2), or do obeisance.
(see obeisance.
worship fills a human need. It is a human invention. Cain & Abel were not commanded to worship.
we know our end is unavoidable, we want to fill that present and coming void. with presents.
when i was a kid in the late sixties the type of books we would study was very intense compared to the bull shit pablum that they put out today?
i mean the finished mystery and others now its these stupid books that don't dive deep into the beliefs.
.
But, where does that leave JW believers NOW?
SB: it leaves them slaving for their hoped salvation, for jehovah aka the wt bts. , because obviously their saying: "salvation we owe" can not be said until well "after the thousand years. have ended". and they will be toiling on land that belongs to the wt too, because it is the "anointed" aka wtbts, who are "the meek [that\ will inherit the Earth".
"
I guess they are now encouraged to just die if they want assurance so that they can wake up in paradise?
Yes, wt can more easily promise the underground route to paradise, but strongly imply, for the old ones, that tunneling will only work if you leave your estate to "the society" with an elder as an executor of the testament.
"the harvest is great!" really it is a great harvest for the a few workers.
when i was a kid in the late sixties the type of books we would study was very intense compared to the bull shit pablum that they put out today?
i mean the finished mystery and others now its these stupid books that don't dive deep into the beliefs.
.
The good news of the kingdom is primarily a message for those living during the great tribulation. The message during the age of grace is the "ministry of reconciliation". The WT completely ignores and rejects this ministry.
SB: excellent reminder. for us older ones. in FF"s days we taught that the great tribulation had started in 1914, was interrupted in 1918, during the hiatus, until Armageddon,thus: the great crowd of OS would be able to scripturally " come out.of the great tribulation" .Now,
according to wt teaching, the great crowd does not really exist yet, or , anymore,, because the great tribulation has not started yet. and
when it does, the GB, all anointed will be already gone.
The "anointed" generation of 1914 will have passed before all things have occurred.
Jesus was wrong, wt right.
when i was a kid in the late sixties the type of books we would study was very intense compared to the bull shit pablum that they put out today?
i mean the finished mystery and others now its these stupid books that don't dive deep into the beliefs.
.
it all was done to bolster the sincerely held illusion to be linked to great cosmic issues.
beethoven, bach did it through music, Einstein through equations,
Politicians,---
let us older ones ( I am past 90 ) reflect back on the good lives we had.
when i was a kid in the late sixties the type of books we would study was very intense compared to the bull shit pablum that they put out today?
i mean the finished mystery and others now its these stupid books that don't dive deep into the beliefs.
.
well, the Ezekiel book just being studied this week teaches wheel suspension by Holy Spirit. 4x4 too, no steering wheel required.
galaxy andromeda flying towards the milcky way is a fact so why god did that ?
i don't see the point, the galaxies will enter in collision in a very long time but i don't understand why a lovely god would do this it feels stupid.
(or there is no god).
To add, why did god at one time let huge asteroids hit earth killing just about all living things on it ? RAF.
because "god" loves survivors, (us in this case) if you are here. it is proof your ancestors survived it all.
He trust you or some our offspring to survive again.
"god" uses evolution's procreation by the survivors to run the universe efficiently.long live sex.
In the meantime enjoy lfe, whether your offspring will be here after the next one or not.
