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Monkeying Around



Crazy hypothetical: Monkeying Around*


You are offered an interesting job.  You will work a normal 40 hour week being paid at above what you could typically earn in your normal line of work with great benefits and vacation time.  For this job, every day at the start of work you would be transformed into an animal. You would look like you but all your actions would be on pure instinct and you would have no conscience control over what you did from 9 till 5 but when the horn sounds you would go back to normal.  You would be observed (like in a zoo) and be placed in a protective environment so there would be no greater risk of injury than most typical jobs.  When you went home you would have a complete memory of your actions for the day but no way to control what you do during the day.
You would take this job?

*Crazy Hypothetical is a mental game that gives you a conditional choice that gets you thinking about a subject. I used these for several years as discussion starters in Bible class. This is a way to talk about responsibility and the need of a conscience.

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