Latest cherry picking: August 2015 Awake!First Life: Discovering the Connections between Stars, Cells, and How Life Began

by ILoveTTATT2 8 Replies latest jw friends

  • ILoveTTATT2
    ILoveTTATT2

    The August 2015 Awake continues a cherished Watchtower tradition: Misquoting / cherry picking scientists.

    It is clearly a selective use of information because when you read what they are saying, you know they are saying "life is complex, therefore, God."

    Whereas the scientists, although they show admiration for life and how amazing it is, also recognize that we are getting closer and closer to understanding the origin of life. It doesn't seem like it takes a Supreme Being to make life when you read the next paragraph in the actual quote.

    http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/g201508/dna-in-your-cells/

    First Life: Discovering the Connections between Stars, Cells, and How Life Began

    By David Deamer

    Pages 244-245




  • Island Man
    Island Man

    I don't know if I would call this a misquote. They only quoted him to support the point that life is complex. They're not making it seem like he's implying an intelligent designer or calling evolution or abiogenesis into question.

    I would say this is a case of Watchtower cherry-picking information. They quoted only part of his statement which supports one of their secondary points - a point that the source would also agree with, namely, that life is complex. But they omitted to share the sources thoughts which would go against their agenda of promoting intelligent design.

    Not a misquote that the source can honestly fault them for. But definitely a case of Watchtower disingenuously cherry picking information. IMHO.

  • ILoveTTATT2
    ILoveTTATT2
    Hi Island Man, I changed the name of the topic and edited accordingly. I believe you are right in that it is perhaps not a misquote but more of a cherry-picking.
  • ILoveTTATT2
    ILoveTTATT2

    Guess the nice people at Reddit beat me to it:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/37mbl4/by_evolution_we_mean_macroevolutionapes_turning/

    "A number of respected scientists say no. These include Dr. Gene Hwang and Professor Yan-Der Hsuuw. Consider what they say.

    Dr. Gene Hwang studies the mathematical basis of genetics. At one time he believed in evolution, but his research changed his view. “The study of genetics,” he told Awake! “provides insight into the mechanisms of life—an insight that fills me with awe for the Creator’s wisdom.”

    Professor Yan-Der Hsuuw is the director of embryo research at Taiwan’s National Pingtung University of Science and Technology. He too once believed in evolution—until his research led him to conclude otherwise. "

    http://imgur.com/YvbzwUy

    Well... quote a JW who's a mathematician, not a biologist, and quote a person who was in a Christian university?

    Shame!

  • sir82
    sir82
    There are far more egregious examples of WT use of out-of-context quotes. This one is relatively mild.
  • username
    username
    That's why the US are currently testing Jade 2, a quantum enabled computer that will soon be self aware. I'd say that we are closer than those goons at the watchtower think we are to knowing the complexity of life!
  • berrygerry
    berrygerry

    I would consider the Sep 2016 WT as quote-mining, as the conclusion drawn and sought by WT is not what Deamer believes or teaches :

    http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2016687?q=One+professor+of+chemistry%C2%A0&p=sen.

    Par 13.

    If someone seems to be attacking your belief in creation, you may tactfully shift the responsibility to him. You might ask him to explain how life could have begun without a Creator. For the first life-form to continue, it had to be able to reproduce, to make copies of itself. One professor of chemistry said that among the things needed would be (1) a protective membrane, (2) the ability to get and process energy, (3) information in the genes, and (4) the ability to make copies of that information. He added: “One is struck by the complexity of even the simplest form of life.”

    What Deamer actually believes:

    https://www.quantamagazine.org/20160317-david-deamer-origins-of-life/

  • konceptual99
    konceptual99

    If faced with this attempt to put the onus on the questioner then you may tactfully shift the responsibility to him. You might ask him who this professor of chemistry is and what he really has had to say about abiogenesis and early evolutionary events.

    When the Witness fails to be able to tell you this then you could respectfully inform him that you know the professor is David W. Deamer and the WTS is paraphrasing information he published some time ago in publications like "Evolution, Investigating the Evidence". You could also perhaps suggest in a kindly way that the Witness follow the suggestion in paragraph 7 of the September 16 WT article "Young Ones, Strengthen Your Faith" which states:

    "Jehovah wants you to use “your power of reason” to prove the truth to yourself. He does not want you to believe just because others do. So use your thinking ability to gain accurate knowledge."

    You could provide further assistance by suggestion they read the actual publications written by Professor Deamer. If they don't have easy access to these you could make good use of your tablet or smartphone and show them an online article such as http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/events/deamer1.html which provides free access to a section of the the aforementioned publication where Professor Deamer makes his opinions clear.

    At this point you could ask the Witness for their contact details and arrange to revisit them once they have had a chance to read the references and find out if they think Professor Deamer's remarks really should be used to support an implication that the complexity of even single celled organisms can be used to conclude that they could not have emerged from processes of abiogenesis hypothesised by expert researchers in the field.

  • konceptual99
    konceptual99

    Oh... and if the Witness is a bit of a simpleton and can't grasp such content then you could point them to a really straight-forward summary of current research into abiogenesis linked to here:

    https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/6348035359506432/great-bbc-article-on-abiogenesis

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit