Wednesday, February 06, 2008

The Watchtower..

Is it odd that every time I read that title I have the sudden urge to break out into a Jimi Hendrix tune? Maybe it's just me. Anyhow, onward to what I have to say today. It's of course nothing new, but for some reason today it bothers me as I think about it.

Today, after having a wonderful lunch with my wife, I find 2 pamphlets standing upright against my front door. Not surprisingly it was from the Jehovah's Witness. My complaint here is not really about them coming by the house. Heck, I even give them some credit... At least they DO what they preach lol.... Out of the 20 or so churches in town, they have been the only ones that come by consistently trying to find that one moment of insecurity where they can be there to try and save the day.

Anyway, I had to spend a few min in the house after eating a fulfilling lunch so I grabbed the pamphlet on my way to the Throne. This is the February 1, 2008 issue of The Watchtower. The front cover has storm clouds at the top, a man with his head down holding the top his suit jacket over his left shoulder with his forefinger and the jacket on his back, and a newspaper in his right hand. Giving that appearance that his is maybe not having the best of days. Then the title is what got my attention:

How Can
You Find Real
Peace of
Mind?
Yes, on the pamphlet the font slightly increases to emphasize Peace of Mind. So, I figured what the heck, lets see what they have to say. I began to flip through and the first stop was pg 4.
Where did We Come From?

WHY DOES THE ANSWER MATTER? Many people are taught that life on earth emerged by accident. They are told that through a series of unlikely, random events, evolution produced the human race with all its emotional, intellectual, and spiritual capacities.

But consider: If we really are the product of evolution and there is no Creator, the human race would, in a sense, be an orphan. Mankind would have no source of superior wisdom to consult-no one to help us solve our problems. We would have to rely on human wisdom to avert environmental disaster, to solve political conflicts, and to guide us through our personal crises.

Do these prospects bring you peace of mind? If not, contemplate the alternative. Not only is it more appealing but it also makes more sense."
Now, lets just ignore the typical straw man setup at the beginning for a moment. We all know how easy that is to refute. But check out the consider portion!!

"Mankind would have no source of superior wisdom to consult - no one to help us solve our problems.."

Exactly!!! We have to use our own intelligence to get by! That is the point... If you remove the supernatural, you are left with the natural, the common, the normal, the only difference is now you have no one to blame. One of my biggest problems with religion is this small tiny fact that remains constant. Belief in the supernatural removes personal accountability.

After reading that page the rest of the pamphlet got progressively worse, leaning more towards the divine at one point proving my point of removing accountability by answering the question why does god allow suffering by blaming it on Satan. If I have some extra time, I'll try to blog on that because they really did not answer the question, they simply blamed Satan and and said god allows it because there is still a score to settle... Really lame explanation if you ask me..

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I haven't been visited by the Witnesses since I challenged one of them, very gently and in my very best "kind" voice, with "You don't really believe that. I know you don't - and you know you don't."

They left in a hurry, rather upset and I haven't seen them since!