Posted by Randy Watters [2bithonky] on November 04, 1999 at 20:38:58 {yxewwqp4aAozoZs19FYkQNyTO0grzY}:
In Reply to: What I've learned on H2O. posted by angler on November 04, 1999 at 19:59:41:
I would agree with a slight change in how I word the following:
"I've had reinforced the understanding that the reason I had trouble understanding or explaining certain teachings of the Witnesses, was not that I was lacking faith or thinking ability, but that they truly do not make sense to a reasonably intelligent person. "
I think at times we actually have an extraordinary faith, but it is falsely invested in individuals rather than our own critical thinking skills. When the years go by and we see we have wrongly invested our hopes and dreams in a person or body of men, we are sadly like babes when it comes to using our critical thinking skills, because not only have we been taught to mistrust them and demonize such skills, but we actually have little experience in using them, since devotion to a person or persons requires you to think like they do, which necessarily includes NOT thinking about what THEY refuse to think about. Is this compartmentalization a measure of one's intelligence? No, I think we do it so as to preserve our fantasies and dreams. One day we may understand a better way, then we are free to use our mind once more. Fear is the real culprit, in my opinion.