It seems that either my computer or my WT-CDROM is not working properly, othewise I wouldn't need to post this.....anyway my pioneer mother called here ranting about how a new discovery was made that will ruin the evolution theory as we know it today and she was saying how they used carbon dating - and in her words - "which we as JW's don't believe in, since the dates are very inaccurate". I was curious as to whether or not the WTS has ever used carbon dating to SUPPORT any of their theories.....I seem to have it stuck in my head that they have done this several times. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
carbon dating
by DIM 7 Replies latest jw friends
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Francois
I don't know if the JWs have ever used carbon dating in support of any of their hare-brained teachings, but I do know that the type of carbon dating that they continue to find fault with is ancient and does not address the newer techniques. Of course, if you are a typical JW with no education, and no scientific curiosity, you'd not be aware of this simple fact. The JWs criticize out of date technology in support of their out of date interpretation of the nature and character of God.
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Skeptic
I am just speculating, but I doubt if they would use it directly. I am typing the rest of this from memory, as I am too lazy to plug in my WT CD-ROM.
There have been references in the Awake! to men who were about 5,000 years old. This age would have most certainly determined by radiocarbon dating. They could quote the age without making a reference to how it was determined.
BTW, calibrated radiocarbondating is very accurate. This gets around the problems they used to have with radiocarbondating. Also, like any tool, radiocarbondating must be used correctly. The limitations and correct use of it are now known, which has removed the previous errors.
Interestingly, the Make Sure book criticizes radiocarbondating specifically. Make Sure was published before calibrated radiocarbondating was used.
The Reasoning book, which is published after calibrated radiocarbondating was used, does not directly criticize radiocarbondating. Instead, it makes a vague reference to "radioactive dating" which can be out by "millions of years". Well, there are any number of radioactive dating techniques, some of which are used to measure rocks that are billions of years old. An error of a few million years when measuring something that is billions of years old is insignificant. I find the Society's phrasing to be misleading.
I believe the change in quotes is because calibrated adioactive dating is very accurate....the Society cannot credibly attack it, so it makes a misleading statement about "radioactive dating". Their mostly scinetifically illerate auideince would not notice the difference.
Richard
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gsx1138
I had a Fundy Christian give a speech in my class on the errors of carbon 14 to justify his belief in a 6,000 year old planet. When asked about Potassium dating he just stared off into space. One thing creationists love is semantics unless you apply it to them. If you even admit that the dating method could be off by more than a second they take it and run.
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Amazing
I am not aware of the Watchtower Society ever using Carbon dating to support any of their ideas ... though I will try to remember to check my CD ROM tomorrow and see what I can find. The Society has always sought to play down carbon dating, showing it to be inaccurate, precisely because it throws off their pet theories, such as there belief that there were NO intelligent humans on this earth tens of thousands of years before Adam and Eve. They hold that 4,026 BCE is the earliest date for intelligent humans showing up on this planet.
Carbon dating is highly accurate. Adjustments have been made due to some calibration issues resulting from and associated with nuclear testing that took place in the 1940s through 1960s. ALL contamination issues result in a specimen showing a younger life ... so a human bone dated at 30,000 years ago, if contaminated, would actually be much older, never younger. The Watchtower Society only cites the contamination issue in an effort to pooh pooh carbon dating, but never discusses its real meaning, and how this actually destroys their pet ideas. Carbon dating is good for about 45,000 to 55,000 years and max out at about 60,000 years where the readings are too small to be of meaning. So other methods such as potassium-argon, etc. are good for much longer periods, but not as good for more recent periods and it has been proven that humans have been on this planet hundreds of thousands of years using non-carbon dating methods so either way, the notions that the Watchtower wants to believe just cannot be supported by science.
I have posted extensively on this in the past, and if needed I will resurrect those posts. - Jim Whitney
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jack2
Always an interesting topic.....good posts by all thus far. It's been quite a while since carbon dating of any sort has been discussed in WT publications. I wonder what they'd have to say about the newer methods. Of course, it's quite obvious that they would publish whatever quotes they can find to try to discredit such methods.
Edited by - jack2 on 10 November 2002 20:38:9
Edited by - jack2 on 10 November 2002 20:39:18
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Beans
If you also use the search link it will promp you to previous discussions on any subject along the creation evolution lines, like this...........
http://www.talkorigins.org/origins/feedback/may97.html
I wish I had the time to read read read all this theocratic info!