My son is not sure about what he has been taught about the common ancestor

by KateWild 51 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  KateWild

  This week my son expressed he is agnostic as he is not sure what to believe about evolution and the common ancestor.

  I thought any JW hang ups were gone. I told him that what they teach in school is trustworthy and he can be rest assured that there is evidence to support that the common ancestor was the real link to the evolution of humans.

  He has got critical thinking skills. And responded with "for hundreds of years schools have been teaching things and have changed their thoughts". He gave me an example which I can't remember now. ButI commended him for his critical thinking skills.

  He is only 14 so I need to approach him with material that he will understand.

  Do you have any ideas how I can prove to him that the evolution of humans coming from a common ancestor is a fact and not an opinion?

  Kate xx
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  LoveUniHateExams

  Hi Kate. It's certainly good that your son has critical thinking skills.

  I'm not sure what you mean by common ancestor. Do you mean that humans evolved from a primate ancestor or are you talking about the common ancestor for all life (LUCA: the last universal common ancestor)?
  
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  cofty

  I think there is a series of threads here somewhere... (See bottom of OP for links)

  Probably the most accessible book on the topic is "Our Inner Fish" by Neil Shubin or Coyne's "Why Evolution is True"
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  cantleave

  Buy him this

  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ancestors-Tale-Pilgrimage-Dawn-Life/dp/0753819961https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ancestors-Tale-Pilgrimage-Dawn-Life/dp/0753819961
  
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  KateWild

  LUHE,

  To find out what the common ancestor is and what teenagers are taught at school.....look up on google " bitsize evolution GCSE "

  Cofty, I have seen all your threads about evolution. I don't understand them. I appreciate how much effort you put into them but really if I don't understand the biology then how can I expect to teach it to my son.

  The GCSE teaching of human evolution is very simple. I understand it and it is a fact. I just need a way to help my son realise that it is fact.

  Angus, thanks for the suggestion of the book. I will have a look now.

  Kate xx
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  KateWild

  Okay Angus,

  Just checked out the book. A big fat no. I am not buying him anything by Dawkins. He is a fundamentalist and he writes with bias. I don't care if my son believes in God or not. I just want him to know evolution is a fact.

  Cofty, I will check out your books too.

  Kate xx
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  cofty

  Kate - I can't believe you don't understand the OPs in 90% of the Evolution is a Fact series.

  Dawkins is a brilliant teacher and The Ancestor's Tale is his magnum opus.
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  Xanthippe

  I can't believe you can't understand the biology in Cofty's evolution threads Kate. He explains them very well. You understand chemistry, you're an intelligent woman, don't sell yourself short. I can understand them and I don't have a science background. By the way you have a very bright son, he must have got that from somewhere.
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  KateWild

  Cofty, I don't understand the series, because I am not interested in biology. It's not a linear subject like chemistry.

  You haven't written the series at a lamans level. There are too many phrases that are non comprehensive to the laman at my level of high school biology.

  I understand that you have put a lot of effort into writing the series and its commendable. But it's not going to hold the attention of a teenager or someone who only has high school biology qualifications.

  Thank you for your responses. I appreciate you want to help and be supportive thanks very much

  Kate xx
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  KateWild

  In 1966 microbiologist Kwang Jeon was studying a population of amoebae in the lab when they began to die off unexpectedly. He noticed thousands of tiny dots in the cytoplasm of each individual which turned out to be a bacterial infection. Most of them weakened and died but surprisingly a small percentage recovered and seemed to be back to norm

  
  

  I don't know what amoebae are and I don't understand the relationship they have with cytoplasm. For me to continue reading I need to know more and have to have the desire to check definitions. This is higher than high school biology.