So I finished reading the Origin of Species last night.....

by Mr. Falcon 65 Replies latest jw friends

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  Mr. Falcon

  ...oh my.

  I am not trying to start a creation vs. evolution debate, but something else really did stand out in my mind upon reading this "infamous" book. And that is that the theory of evolution is a very complex and at times, logically interesting theory. It makes valid points as well as asking fair and legitimate questions of the theory of creation. What I found most startling was that Darwin never ANYWHERE in his controversial book claimed that a Creator (his term) did not exist! He even mentioned at several places that he was open to the possiblity of a Creator utilizing natural selection as a method of creation, much like a dog or cattle breeder.

  Now I may not personally suscribe to all Darwins ideas, but what bothers me is that JWs always attack evolutionary theory based on the assumption that Darwin was this evil anti-God athiest whose ideas are an affront to God himself. We go around door-to-door telling people they are wrong, people with more scientific education than most JWs have. We refuse to listen to any reasonable argument, but insist they conform to our beliefs, which are based more on assumption and prejudice against a book that JWs haven't even read themselves.

  Seeing for myself what Darwin ACTUALLY wrote instead of what uneducated JWs paraphrasing it to me has made me feel guilty about other doctrines or beliefs that I have walked around bashing in field service, talking out of my ass.

  Give me your thoughts, you sexy, sexy people.
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  leavingwt

  What I do know is this: When I was a JW, I was TOTALLY ignorant regarding Evolution. I believed all of the myths and misconceptions that were being put forth by WT. Further, I took the Book of Genesis as a literal, factual account.

  Some may enjoy these two links. . .

  Top Ten Myths about Evolution

  http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/pseudosc/top10mythsevol.htm

  Five Major Misconceptions about Evolution

  http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-misconceptions.html
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  Robdar

  This thread is very interesting.
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  wobble

  Mr Falcon, Thanks for your perceptive and honest post, as a born-in I too was taken in by the WT rubbish about Evolution, and I too once read the Bible and believed the majority of it to be literally true.

  As I read and studied the Bible over the years , I diverged from the WT view more and more, it was just un-supported.

  I must have been guilty so many times, though, of speaking from a position of abysmal ignorance, as do any who spout the WT rubbish today.

  I haven't read "On the Origin of Species " yet, I will do so one day, but I wonder if Darwin was not like many in the WT today, keeping a lot of his thoughts to himself, he knew the furore his book would produce as it was, and it is probably good that he did not come out as not believing in god, if that was really his secret thought, in the milieu he found himself in, his excellent work woud probably have been rejected out of hand.

  What an observer and visionary he was !
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  Giordano

  This is a quote by Sam Harris:

  When scientists don’t know something — like why the universe came into being or how the first self-replicating molecules formed — they admit it. Pretending to know things one doesn’t know is a profound liability in science. And yet it is the life-blood of faith-based religion. One of the monumental ironies of religious discourse can be found in the frequency with which people of faith praise themselves for their humility, while claiming to know facts about cosmology, chemistry and biology that no scientist knows. When considering questions about the nature of the cosmos and our place within it, atheists tend to draw their opinions from science. This isn’t arrogance; it is intellectual honesty.
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  thetrueone

  To say the WTS. has had an open mind about matters involving anything outside of biblical creationism, is such an opposing ideological concept.

  Religion manifests itself on ignorance and the WTS. being that the majority of their expressed doctrines involves specific dating,

  going right back to the organization's very beginning, hence these doctrines are strongly protected.
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  TD

  Yes, Darwin was not hostile to religion per se. People like Huxley, Spencer and Romanes were another story.
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  Justitia Themis

  What I found most startling was that Darwin never ANYWHERE in his controversial book claimed that a Creator (his term) did not exist! He even mentioned at several places that he was open to the possiblity of a Creator utilizing natural selection

  Yep. Most of the scientist I know believe in a Creator. JWs and other Christian religions promote a false choice that you must believe either in God or Evolution and then attribute their narrow dichotomy to others...like Darwin.
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  Franklin Massey

  I too learned all the JW tricks to argue away the evidence for evolution. Some of them are mildly clever and provide a person the self deluded comfort of feeling right about something which they know nothing about. But when I began deep research into the WT creation doctrine, I began to notice that it, like many other WT teachings, has done its own evolving over the last century. Then I started looking into the "scholars and experts" that the Society would quote to prove creation or disprove evolution and found that many quotes were out of context and many others were quotes from wacko Creationists whose "theories" have been totally disproven.

  The problem is, people still use the out of date material to battle evolution.

  I got in a bit of trouble when I told some JWs that I found Darwin's work interesting and compelling. I was barraged with passionately delivered misinformation and anti-evolution jargon. It was almost funny. Almost.
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  unshackled

  Evolution threatens the very core of the JW ideology: Genesis creation account is literal, sin entered into mankind thru Adam, Jesus sacrifice was to atone for man's inherited sin. They need to villify and spread misinformation about evolution and anyone associated with what are the facts of evolution.

  Watched the movie Creation recently. If you're interested in Darwin and his work, as well as his personal struggles with it vs. the church, that movie is actually pretty good. Deals more on the emotional side of things, I found it quite moving.