It has taken me almost 2 years to get to the bottom of the Watchtower Society rabbit hole. Being fully convinced that I was duped....I am still a little ashamed of myself for being so narrow minded. I have vowed never to close off my mind like that again. As such.....I want to begin to explore in more detail the truth about evolution. I'll admit....for the last 2 years....my life (outside of normal activities) has been dedicated to the study of JW materials and beliefs. I've not had the time to devote to creation vs evolution. The only info I know about evolution is from tainted sources such as the WT society and other creationist writers. While I know practically nothing about evolution......I have at least put together that what I've been taught about it by the society is far from the truth. Shamefully I don't even remember much from my days in school. By that age, I had been taught to NOT accept ANYTHING that evolutionists teach. So I did what I had to do in biology class to get by and then my brain automatically deleted what I had "learned". I guess what I am asking for is........do any of you know a good website or book that lays the ground work for the basics of evolutionary teachings that I can read and then build off of from there?
evolution question
by outsmartthesystem 165 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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zero-zero-one
Some good introductory books written for the general public:
Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne
Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin
The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins
talkorigins has some good information to get you started as well.
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leavingwt
I found it helpful to learn about the many misconceptions. When I did this, I quickly learned that most of what I thought I knew was a lie or distortion. More importantly, however, I quickly discovered how supremely ignorant I was.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vss1VKN2rf8
Five Major Misconceptions About Evolution
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-misconceptions.html
Misconceptions About Evolution
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/misconceptions_faq.php
Top 15 Misconcpetions About Evolution
http://listverse.com/2008/02/19/top-15-misconceptions-about-evolution/
Evolution: 24 Myths and Misconceptions
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13620-evolution-24-myths-and-misconceptions.html
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unshackled
I found this site helpful when starting in on learning about evolution. Simple and straightforward. Recommend The Greatest Show on Earth as well.
http://truth-saves.com/evolution/ -
binadub
I did a research on evolution about 5 years ago. It was my purpose to develop a PowerPoint presentation on the subject and see where there was any serious conflict with the Bible story.
Since evolution is taught in the colleges and universities as fact, I expected my research to reveal some of the 'proofs' for the 'theories.' I determined that the proofs would not affect my Christian faith, it would simply show how God created the universe and life. I don't care if that's how God did it.
I wholly expected to discover overwhelming evidence to support speciation theories and was ready to study the facts and address them as to their affect on biblical research. I explain this because otherwise my findings would be assigned to being biased, of "blind faith," not being objective about science, and my faith being threatened if macro-evolution is true, etc. My faith is not threatened if macro-evolution is true.
However, here's what I found--and I'm open to any arguments to the contrary:
People who believe macro-evolution believe it on faith, not facts. If there are any proofs, I would very much like to know of even one.
With reference to the "Scientific Method" for establishing theories and laws, I found that:
There is not a shred of observable evidence of matter, life or energy coming into existence from nothing.
Evidence of speciation is theoretically rare. The only one I'm aware of--and I welcome other information--is that a finch on a remote island evidently evolved into another 'specie' of finch.
DNA proved in the last decade that modern man absolutely did not evolve from Neanderthals. It's not know exactly who the immediate ancestors of modern man are, but it is believed they were out of Africa. (Theory)
Evolutionists chide creationists for their take on science, charging them with blind faith, when they accept the theories of evolution based on the same kind of 'faith.' I have yet to talk to anyone who can offer viable proof or even strong circumstantial evidence for one kind of creature evolving into another.
Having said all that, I haven't totally dismissed it as a possibility. It's just that it should not be taught as fact.
Now to include in your study of evolution, you should also investigate the history of "civilization." As taught in the universities, civilization appeared suddenly, in Mesopotamia-Babylonia, began with city building about 7-8 thousand years ago.
Google "Mesopotamia", "first civilization", first cities, and things like that. You'll discover that what we call civilization with city building and cultural development appeared suddenly with language, math, metalurgy, art, religion, banking, commerce and trade, music, marriage, etc. The professors and authors of archeology claim it is something of a mystery as to how this actually began to suddenly, but they of course have various theories. A most popular secular study believes that Sumer (Sumerians) was the first city and the Assyrians were the first kingdom about 8000 years ago.Do a Google on Sumer.
While Stephen Jay Gould was a world-famous evolutionists, generally thought to be atheist but many say he was a deist, he did not accept the Darwinian theory of gradual evolution. He believed in a theory called "punctuated equilibrium" in which he and his colleges promoted the concept of sudden leaps of evolutionary change. He offered the theory that a new specie might appear suddenly, even from a single pair! (Imagine that. :-)
Anyway, do not exclude the study of archeology and the history of civilization from your study.
~Binadub
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cantleave
One of the best explanations I have read is in Dawkins new book for children (and IMO great for most adults too) "The Magic of Reality"
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cofty
Congratulations on deciding to investigate evolution honestly.
Some of this has been covered but here are my book recommendations.
"The making of the fittest" by Sean B Carroll
"Evolution, what the fossils say" by Donald Prothero
"Why Evolution is true" by Jerry Coyne
"Your Inner Fish" by Neil Shubin
"The Greatest Show on Earth" by Dawkins (summary of some of it here)
"Life Ascending" by Nick Lane
You will not regret making it a long term project, there are few things more fascinating.
Binadub - Based on your post above I doubt you actually did any research. Could you tell us what books you studied?
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Mad Sweeney
marking
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Ding
Might as well read as much as you can on all sides of the issue.
On the anti-evolution side of the debate are books by Philip E. Johnson and Michael Behe and Lee Strobel arguing in favor of intelligent design.
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cofty
And if you want to study geography you also might want to check out the other side of the issue - The Flat Earth Society