by lrkr 54 Replies latest watchtower bible
I kid you not. Page 16 of 1/1/08 WT
"Although evolution is usually presented in scientific language, it is really a religious doctrine."
I had no comment but WTF!!??!! Religious?? Like calculus, gravity, relativity, geology, chemistry, etc, etc. Comments like that should wake someone up. They don't need apostates, just keep spewing that kind of nonsense and people will leave in droves. (ok probably wishful thinking)
The writers of the WT are not educated people in general , I would probably guess not even a High school diploma , you can tell can't you.
Evolutionary teaching is considered by them as ever present antagonistic problem to their power and control .
And it is for this reason they will never study it or give it a thorough examination, if ignorance offers power why dilute it with wisdom.
I will have to look at it later in context, but ditto to the first response to your thread.
They don't know what they are talking about sometimes. They have their own agenda.
I suppose in some ways, any science that challenges any belief is a religious doctrine.
>>I suppose in some ways, any science that challenges any belief is a religious doctrine.
That's an excellent point -- never thought of it that way before.
Dave
If evolution is "religious", it's only because certain religions have made it that way.
The idea that the earth revolves around the sun, and not vice-versa, could have been considered a religious teaching back in Galileo's time. However, in time that scientific "notion" has now come into general acceptance, so religions are no longer considering that idea controversial.
Whenever evolution becomes less of a "notion" and more generally accepted, then it will be out of the realm of a religious controversy. In fact, many religions are now embracing the knowledge that life evolved (although saying that God got the ball rolling).
It's funny how not just the Watchtower, but most creationist literature will call evolution a religion as if they are not a religion.
Maybe news of the real world is finally reaching the inside of the org and they're realizing how much sense evolution makes, how much physical evidence there is to support it, and how widespread the knowledge of it is in the general population. Thus, they need to find a way to make it work with their teachings and skew it to their religion's advantage, that way no one can question the org about it.
If the dubs consider it a "religion" then it can easily be dismissed or condemned because it is then part of "Babylon". That relieves them of the responsibility of actually practicing rational thinking, something they are unwilling to do in general.
Everyone evolved into believing in God so he must exist otherwise he wouldn't have evolved!
I usually disagree with EVERYTHING the WTS says, and am certainly not siding with or defending them; but...
Evolution IS a religious teaching.
It attempts to explain our origins, and since none of us were there for any of the events described, it requires a certain amount of faith to believe.
Faith in the scientists who seek out the evidence, faith in their interpretations of what they found, faith in their honesty and abilities...
Was it extremely improbable that life would spontaneously begin? That it would develop the ability to reproduce and evolve all on its own with no pesky or annoying God to impose His moral codes on you?
It is a simply mind boggling improbability, yet this is EXACTLY what you believe, and that my friend, takes FAITH.
So have at it, believe it if you want, I won't try to dissuade you, but don't fool yourselves that you have some kind of monopoly on reason and have stripped yourself of such nonsense as faith.
Unless you can go back in time and see the events, unless you can look over the shoulder of every scientist so you don't need to take his word for it, unless you can also see through solid rock to the stuff that he DIDN'T find or use your time machine to see the stuff that perished before his great grandfather's birth...
You can't 'know' without a measure of faith.
That, my friends, makes it a religious teaching. Just another of the doctrines in the religion of secular humanism.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's not my belief.
RD
