Phizzy

I realized that I knew nothing about the matter at all, being a born-in JW with a father who made evolution his main target of derision, when a kindly and gentle reply to one of my posts by good old Caedes of this Parish basically said I had no right to an opinion not having examined the evidence.

I then read Dawkin's "The Greatest Show on Earth" and several other books by him, along with much stuff I found on line. It really did not take long for me to see that only an idiot would deny the Theory wholesale.

From then on I was led to examine my faith, and the Bible and so on.

It is good to be better informed and educated than I was, but there is still so much to learn !

Village Idiot

1.) How old were you?

About 21 a few months after my disfellowshipping.

2.) Which person/source first made you reconsider your position on creationism?

Carl Sagan and his series Cosmos.

3.) How long a period of time did it take to fully convince you?

Almost immediately.

4.) What books and videos did you read and watch?

Cosmos book and television series. Other books like People of the Lake by Richard E. Leakey.

5.) How much better do you think you understand biology is now vs. before?

Not too much into biology per se but I have a general grasp of the full spectrum of evolutionary change in inanimate matter - elements being made inside of stars - and how it leads up to elements that make up life.

cofty

1.) How old were you?

40ish

2.) Which person/source first made you reconsider your position on creationism?

I took the decision to research it for myself

3.) How long a period of time did it take to fully convince you?

A year or so

4.) What books and videos did you read and watch?

The first book was something like "Evolution Made Simple". It left me even more sure it was false. I had been confusing evolution with Lamarckianism which is more intuitive

I moved on to "the selfish gene" and "the blind watchmaker", that was the one that convinced me. I have been reading evolution books off and on for the past 10 years. My favourite author at the moment is Sean B Carroll.

5.) How much better do you think you understand biology is now vs. before?

100%

LoveUniHateExams

1. I was 30.

2. Richard Dawkins.

3. I was fully convinced in about a week.

4.The book that really did it for me was The Blind Watchmaker. I started reading it critically to see if Dawkins would persuade me. He consistently pointed out that creationists misrepresented the process driving evolution, and had reasonable answers to their criticisms. In the end, I read about 2/3 of it.

5. I know biology somewhat better than before as I'm a Biology student and in my final year, and I'm doing well in my degree. But, TBH, I'm just a beginner.

stan livedeath

When did you realize evolution was true?

when i started to read genesis

never a jw

I never doubted the scientific spirit. So I must have been exposed and accepted evolution when I was about 11 or 12. I rejected religion and God 2 or 3 years later.

My understanding of evolution is much better, but I have a long way to go.

bemused

As a never-in I never doubted it, although I have subsequently read a couple of Dawkin's books and watched Potholer54's YouTube videos in order to understand it better. In the UK evolution is not a particularly contentious topic - apart from a couple of minor cults pretty much everyone accepts it as far as I can tell (admittedly in most cases without thinking very much about it).

user100

i just accepted creationism without really believing it or understanding evolution.. in high school i looked over the evolution book and never really absorbed it.. however, i did go on to college to study biotechnology and it convinced me that evolution is true...

JWs use the house illustration or the watch.. you are walking in the desert and see a watch.. you KNOW a human created it.. therefore GOD created everything!

The key difference between a watch and life is that watch is a mechanical object while life is made up of chemicals and DNA and DNA changes each time its replicated... the highly accurate mechanism of replication is not flawless!

cappytan

1.) How old were you?
Well, I started believing certain aspects of evolution in High School, but wanted to believe in God so bad that I decided that Jehovah must have used evolution for all the species except humans. I still felt humans were special and that God existed.
It wasn't until my early 30's that I realized that I also believed in evolution of man. It wasn't until this year that I admitted to myself that it was more reasonable to admit you don't know something than to say it was God/Holy Spirit/Magic.
2.) Which person/source first made you reconsider your position on creationism?
When I learned TTATT, I decided that certain subjects weren't off limits to me any more. So I read some Richard Dawkins. Watched more science documentaries with an open mind. Evolution and Big Bang made much more rational sense than believing there was some magic or metaphysical force involved.
3.) How long a period of time did it take to fully convince you?
See above. It was gradual.
4.) What books and videos did you read and watch?
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins.I also watched the debate between Dawkins and Cardinal Pell on QandA. (available on YouTube.)Still learning and gobbling up all I can about the subject.
5.) How much better do you think you understand biology is now vs. before?
I feel I have a real understanding of the world around me. I also feel comforted that it's okay to have unknowns. Unknowns eventually become knowns, even if it's not in your lifetime.

Vidiot

Oubliette - "But the basic idea of evolution is not inherently contradictory to a belief in a creator."

It is, however, inherently contradictory to the belief that Genesis is literal.

Which is the real reason the WTS can never accept it.

When did you realize evolution was true?

When did you realize evolution was true?

when i started to read genesis

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