Every week he would come over for an hour, and we would work through one of the Watchtower publications. We did this my entire senior year in high school.
These sessions were interesting to me, but I was never converted.
In a Watchtower publication, you read through an "argument" that's always heavily documented with Bible verses. Then at the end of the article, you're asked to review questions that direct you back to the verses you've read, or to points made in the article's argument.
I found this frustrating, as there was no incentive to think outside of scripture, or beyond what the article said. For example, one article talked about the idea of the Watchmaker. I didn't know that this metaphor had actually been around for 200 years. And unfortunately at that time I didn't know that Richard Dawkins had recently written an entire book refuting the idea. All I knew was that according to the article, I was supposed to see the logic that humans must have a Creator, just as a watch must have a maker.
It wasn't that I was against the idea of God. In fact, I believed in God. What I didn't believe in was being force-fed a specific way of thinking.
After a year, I wore out my teacher. "We're just not making progress," he told me. "I don't feel that you're ready to believe, and I cannot justify spending more time on you when there are other people out there ready to listen."
This year taught me a lot about religion and belief. It also taught me that my brain couldn't be washed.
What do you believe? Are you willing to carefully analyze your beliefs? And if so, have you? Would you even know how to begin a real analysis?
"Belief means not wanting to know what is true." Frederich Nietzsche
These sessions were interesting to me, but I was never converted.
In a Watchtower publication, you read through an "argument" that's always heavily documented with Bible verses. Then at the end of the article, you're asked to review questions that direct you back to the verses you've read, or to points made in the article's argument.
I found this frustrating, as there was no incentive to think outside of scripture, or beyond what the article said. For example, one article talked about the idea of the Watchmaker. I didn't know that this metaphor had actually been around for 200 years. And unfortunately at that time I didn't know that Richard Dawkins had recently written an entire book refuting the idea. All I knew was that according to the article, I was supposed to see the logic that humans must have a Creator, just as a watch must have a maker.
It wasn't that I was against the idea of God. In fact, I believed in God. What I didn't believe in was being force-fed a specific way of thinking.
After a year, I wore out my teacher. "We're just not making progress," he told me. "I don't feel that you're ready to believe, and I cannot justify spending more time on you when there are other people out there ready to listen."
This year taught me a lot about religion and belief. It also taught me that my brain couldn't be washed.
What do you believe? Are you willing to carefully analyze your beliefs? And if so, have you? Would you even know how to begin a real analysis?
"Belief means not wanting to know what is true." Frederich Nietzsche
As I can't accept Evolution, can you point me somewhere else please. I would like to know how it all came about.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your thoughts and agree about thinking outside the square. Can you point me to some another explanation as to how we and the Universe got here?
ReplyDeletePlease not to Evolution as that is inside the square and not proven in anyway.
Hi ya, Nick. I no more believe everything Dawkins writes than I do what non-Evolutionists write.
ReplyDeleteFrom the standpoint of physics, I think it's pretty interesting to consider the idea that the Universe has always been around. That is, matter always has been -- it just changes form. To me, that's the ultimate idea of "evolution," but it's not "evolution" per se.
My personal views aside, though... I'm just a student. I don't pretend to have all the answers, and I don't pretend to be an authority that can lead you. If you haven't read the Tao Te Ching, though, you should. It won't give you the meaning of life, but I think you might like it.