Awake January 2015: How did life begin? - More misquotes

by Designer Stubble 82 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • OneEyedJoe
    OneEyedJoe

    You guys are so cute getting worked up about this. I find it surprising that you find this so surprising. The WBTS is committing a massive fraud - that is obtaining an advantage through deception. They have been doing it for nigh on 100 years. What you have uncovered up is nothing short of standard practice. That is not to denigrate the good work in showing how brazen it is but my guess is that WBTS publicatioons are riddled with this sort of intellectual dishonesty. If they were a commercial organsation they would have been indicted for conspiracy to defraud a long time ago.

    In my case (and I suspect other's) this is useful for a couple reasons.

    Firstly, it's recent. You can always point to stuff in the creation book, but JWs are so focused on what's current (new light and all that) that they'll just brush it off as insignificant. Also, with the creation book there's the excuse that it was written before the internet so fact checking was more difficult for them to do, so of course there will be a few errors on quotes, etc. With this new awake, you can find the source of the misquotes in about 3 seconds online, so there's no way anyone can claim it was anything but intentional. Additionally, anything not available on JW.org is immediately questioned unless you have a physical copy. Then, if you have a physical copy of something written before you were born, they'll immediately assume that you only aquired it in order to try and create doubts, which then leads to the assumption that you found out about it in the first place from an apostate website. Once there's a hint that you might've viewed an apostate website, nothing you say is credible to them anymore.

    Second, it's not open to interpretation. The WTS has totally taken the place of God to the JWs, so it belongs to them the sole ability to interpret scripture or translate manuscripts in any way that they see fit. In this case, the WTS has (and fairly recently, at that) condemned quoting out of context, and it's certainly obvious that they did just that.

    Third, it's handy because this is something that you could plausibly have found and you can show to someone without them immediately asking "Have you been going to apostate web sties?" If you challenge doctrine (especially the blood doctrine or anything to do with pedophiles or a whole host of other things) the first assumption is that you had to have gone to an apostate web site to get your information. In this case, the information is clearly available from a google search and requires no apostate information, so it can get past the charecter assasination that the WTS constantly ingrains.

    I'm not getting worked up about it because it's surprising (well it was a little bit, I figured they'd up their game now that we're in the information age...their last two creationist brochures did pretty good at avoiding misquotes and just relied heavily on misdirection and fallacy) I'm excited about this because it's something that might be useful to me in my endeavor to wake up my wife (or at least explain why I no longer want to be a part of the WTS).

    Edit: wow that got really long. I guess I am a little worked up. I guess having a clear goal that gets me closer to freedom is exciting.

  • Stealth
    Stealth

    Standard operating proceedure for the JW.ORG cult. It is shocking to most, once they see this tactic for the first time. But once you know it's a method they use intentionally, then it really does not shock anymore.

    I tried to read a couple months of WT rags to see if I could do the same to them and partially quote the WT to say something they did not intend. I could not find anything. I think they even write in a way to prevent others from doing this to them.

  • Theredeemer
    Theredeemer

    @ stealth: sure you can. All you need is the "...". For example, you could quote them when they said "We...have...sex...with...animals"

  • AnnOMaly
    AnnOMaly

    How the hell do they keep getting away with it and how are people so easily manipulated is what I find particularly fascinating. Especially because so many truly (otherwise) intelligent people are taken in by it and continue to gobble it up. Just fascinating.

    It comes down to TRUST.

    The reader TRUSTS the writer has used sources carefully and honestly.

    It is drilled into the JW's mind that the Org. is trustworthy and truthful in all things, while 'the world' should be treated with suspicion because it is dishonest and deceptive. The Org. depends on its adherents buying into that claim.

    It is only when there is a chink in that trust of the Org. that a JW will scrutinize what the Org. says and begin to see how unscrupulous the Org's writers really are - not just once or twice, but over and over and over again.

    *** yb11 p. 9, 13 Highlights of the Past Year ***

    The Writing Department follows the pattern of ‘tracing all things with accuracy.’ ...

    ... In summary, the Writing Department insists on using only material that is accurate and truthful, even regarding seemingly insignificant details. As a result, “the faithful and discreet slave” can consistently supply spiritual food that brings honor to “the God of truth,” Jehovah.—Ps. 31:5.

    *** km 12/93 p. 1 par. 2 Set Aside Time for Magazine Activity ***

    The Watchtower and Awake! are products of careful research

    *** sg study 21 p. 110 par. 9 Informative Material, Clearly Presented ***

    Accuracy of statement. Jehovah’s witnesses are an organization of truth. We should want to speak the truth and be absolutely accurate in every detail at all times. This should be so not only as regards doctrine but also in our quotations, what we say about others or how we represent them, also in matters involving scientific data or news events.

    *** w81 2/15 p. 18, 19 Do We Need Help to Understand the Bible? ***

    How shall we view the spiritual food provided by this “faithful and discreet slave”? Should it be viewed critically—‘Oh, well, it might be true but then again it might not be and so we have to scrutinize it very critically’? Some apparently have felt that way about it. To support their way of thinking they have quoted Acts 17:11 ...

    ... But does this mean that those Beroeans were looking for flaws in the message they were hearing, or that their attitude was one of doubting? Does this set a precedent for regarding critically the publications brought forth by the “faithful and discreet slave,” with a view to finding fault? Not at all! ...

    ... We can benefit from this consideration. If we have once established what instrument God is using as his “slave” to dispense spiritual food to his people, surely Jehovah is not pleased if we receive that food as though it might contain something harmful. We should have confidence in the channel God is using.

    *** w67 6/1 p. 338 par. 12 Move Ahead with Jehovah’s Organization ***

    We may think of study as hard work, as involving heavy research. But in Jehovah’s organization it is not necessary to spend a lot of time and energy in research, for there are brothers in the organization who are assigned to do that very thing, to help you who do not have so much time for this, these preparing the good material in The Watchtower and other publications of the Society.

  • redvip2000
    redvip2000

    This sort of selective quoting has been done continuously by the Watchtower org. Another one that comes to mind is regarding the quality of the New World Translation.

    There was a scholar named Jason BeDuhn who reviewed the NWT and concluded that although it was a "remarkably good translation", the introduction of the name "Jehovah" into the New Testament 237 times was "not accurate translation by the most basic principle of accuracy", and that it "violate[s] accuracy in favor of denominationally preferred expressions for God"

    Of course the Watchtower just cherry picked the favorable comments and left out everything else.

  • WHATSGOINGON
    WHATSGOINGON

    Hi everyone

    I too wrote to Professor Singh

    My email is as follows.

    At 11:56 AM 10/28/2014, you wrote:

    Good Morning Professor

    I expect you are extremely busy so I really appreciate you taking the time to read this - I just wanted to ask you a question from one

    of your writings.

    There is a reference to your work printed in the Awake Magazine of January 2015 (published by Jehovahs Witnesses)

    The quote is referring to evolution and creation and is on the first page of the article 'How did life begin?'

    The Awake article quote on page 3 states

    "SOME might assume that a scientifically-minded person would
    pick evolution and that a religious person would pick creation.

    But not always.
    Rama Singh, professor of biology at Canada's McMaster University,
    says: The opposition to evolution goes beyond religious
    fundamentalism and includes a great many people from educated
    sections of the population.

    It seems as if your saying that many educated people are rejecting evolution ?

    Is this the case?

    Please can you email me back when you get the time.

    Many thanks.

    P.S I have attached a PDF copy of the magazine for you to look at.

    He replied to my email as follows.

    Good Morning,

    Yours is the third or fourth enquiry that I have received on this.
    There are lots of people who are not against evolution but they do not understand how it works.
    There are lots of non-biologists academics who do not believe in evolution but they are not necessarily creationists.
    My article is a serious attempt to warn biologists on the poor understanding of evolution by the public. We are not
    going to worry about crafting our sentences such that creationsits can not misquote them. If they are involved in such
    trickery should we worry about them.

    Rama

    Thought you would all find this interesting. WGO

  • Vidiot
    Vidiot

    poopsiecakes - "The opening question is ridiculous because the study of evolution is a different field from the study of origin of life and it just gets more and more manipulative."

    If you have to cheat to defend your beliefs...

  • sir82
    sir82

    We are not going to worry about crafting our sentences such that creationists can not misquote them. If they are involved in such trickery should we worry about them.

    Well, there's a quote we won't see in the Awake any time soon....

  • braincleaned
    braincleaned
    marked
  • braincleaned

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