Posts by peacefulpete

49

Early Hominem. Neanderthals. Evolution.

by solameguy12 in

so i grew up as a witness but i’m no longer active, i have some family that still practices very seriously.

but i don’t want to ask them my question.

but what does the bible and teaching’s of jw’s say about early hominids?

peacefulpete

Disi....The chart represents a model, a proposed reconstruction. Debates are the lifeblood of science. Sure there are uncertainties about the minutia. Just as today there are those who argue for regarding Bonobos a subspecies rather than a separate species, there are legitimate debates about where to spit the species lines in the deep past. The best part of science is the process. New evidence is always refining the big picture.

That can be frustrating to those who impatiently crave absolutes. There is simply no way to be dogmatic (tho individuals often are) about the details. Sadly conspiracy theories (I include Creationism) thrive on uncertainties and complexity.

Ironically, the new DNA evidence has illuminated the pictured by making it more complicated. While there always those who suspected it, the DNA evidence from Neanderthals seems to support the intermixing of distinct line of hominids. Simple models that look like a tree are oversimplifications, (and are recognized as such) in reality there were branches that merged, more dead ends, and branches that occasionally bumped into each other while remaining largely separate. It looked more like a matrix, a network of lineages.

Fossils can only show changes to bone, DNA can show much more. Subtle changes in protein signals that effect changes in cognition and immunity. Unfortunately this wonderful new window into the past is very limited by time and environmental conditions. But the Neanderthal. DNA seems to be proof of concept, distant cousins can and did interact and effect evolution of our species.

My reason for posting the chart wasn't to assert that that exact proposal was the last word on the topic but to show the authors of the papers did not doubt the relationship of Neanderthals to us.

121

Babylon the Great

by Godlyman in

do jw's still believe that babylon the great is the empire of false religion?

inquiring minds want to know .

estephan.

peacefulpete

Ancient Babylon was a center of false worship. So, then, Babylon the Great must represent all forms of false worship.

That's about as silly as anything ever said by them. Babylon was a city, the capitol of a short-lived but significant empire. It's religious practices were no more "false" than that of any empire before or after them. Of course some Jewish writers hated the empire for what it had done, at the same time most Jews living in Babylon stayed there and thrived.

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-babylonian-jewish-community

49

Early Hominem. Neanderthals. Evolution.

by solameguy12 in

so i grew up as a witness but i’m no longer active, i have some family that still practices very seriously.

but i don’t want to ask them my question.

but what does the bible and teaching’s of jw’s say about early hominids?

peacefulpete

Your rather anticlimactic YouTube video shows the paleontologist patiently explaining to the interviewer how the skull was reconstructed from the existing fossils and what can be inferred through anatomical necessity and similar fossils. The nostrils must have been approximately where they were located in the reconstruction, as they were not anywhere else. Ultimately the exact nostril position does not determine the value of the fossil and is open to refinement if/when another specimen is found.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthiacetus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilosaurus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakicetus

etc.

49

Early Hominem. Neanderthals. Evolution.

by solameguy12 in

so i grew up as a witness but i’m no longer active, i have some family that still practices very seriously.

but i don’t want to ask them my question.

but what does the bible and teaching’s of jw’s say about early hominids?

peacefulpete

Regardless the way the AIG article spins the data, the conclusion of the two scientific papers/articles are as follows 1:

," this suggests that Neandertals and present-day human populations separated between 270,000 and 440,000 years ago (SOM Text 14), a date that is compatible with some interpretations of the paleontological and archaeological record (2, 72)."

2.By way of chart:

49

Early Hominem. Neanderthals. Evolution.

by solameguy12 in

so i grew up as a witness but i’m no longer active, i have some family that still practices very seriously.

but i don’t want to ask them my question.

but what does the bible and teaching’s of jw’s say about early hominids?

peacefulpete

Press releases comparing DNA between species can be pretty confusing. Typically the story fails to say what was actually measured, mtDNA, coding or noncoding DNA, how long a sequence, etc. Ratios and percentages are often not what is assumed.

https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics/ancient-dna-and-neanderthals

28

Jesus as 'The mighty + almighty God'

by JW Answers in

jehovah's witnesses refuse to believe that jesus is the almighty god.

they would state that jesus is 'mighty', but not almighty.. below is a 30 minute video proving from the word of god that the lord jesus christ is both mighty and almighty, separate from the father but equal too.. the verses used from scripture show without a doubt that christ is mighty (isaiah 9:6) and almighty (rev 1:7-8)..

peacefulpete

2000 years and countless lives later and Christians still can't agreed who they are supposed to worship.

49

Early Hominem. Neanderthals. Evolution.

by solameguy12 in

so i grew up as a witness but i’m no longer active, i have some family that still practices very seriously.

but i don’t want to ask them my question.

but what does the bible and teaching’s of jw’s say about early hominids?

peacefulpete

Sea Breeze. Yes the understanding of homo sapiens and related species is expanding. Neanderthal DNA and recent discoveries have lead some scientists to recategorize them as a subspecies rather than separate species. The majority however feel the differences easily justify a distinct species.

The labeling conventions are not really relevant once again. It is only relevant if you want to argue about something.

Neanderthal and Sapien forms of homo (man) did on rare occasions interbreed but the populations largely remained separate for many many thousands of years. Eventually, as we know' Neanderthals were lost about 40,000 years ago leaving behind a small bit of DNA with their Sapien cousins.

BTW, I found it rather inconsistent on the web site you linked to accept the formation of a new "species" in a couple generations of finches through hybridization but insist Neanderthals and us to be same species. Sounds like arguing for the sake of arguing.

49

Early Hominem. Neanderthals. Evolution.

by solameguy12 in

so i grew up as a witness but i’m no longer active, i have some family that still practices very seriously.

but i don’t want to ask them my question.

but what does the bible and teaching’s of jw’s say about early hominids?

peacefulpete

Man, I remember the arrogance of mocking stuff like those in that video. So much is assumed about the subject and so little respect given for the intelligence and integrity of science. The key words in the NOVA transcript are: This was a plaster cast of the pelvis. And that location of where 2 parts of the pelvis joined together was... broken into a series of individual pieces, which were then fused together in later fossilization.....they're in an anatomically impossible position.

He (Lovejoy) then removed the fragmented pieces and found the intact pieces naturally oriented at a more curved shape.

The speaker in that video made himself a fool by mocking that he could read a newspaper through the holes as if that was relevant. Of course there were holes! The area of the shattered pieces had been removed!

49

Early Hominem. Neanderthals. Evolution.

by solameguy12 in

so i grew up as a witness but i’m no longer active, i have some family that still practices very seriously.

but i don’t want to ask them my question.

but what does the bible and teaching’s of jw’s say about early hominids?

peacefulpete

The WT used to accept evolution until Rutherford regressed to literalism. Anyway today they are playing a coy game of denying evolution but insisting all the worlds species came from a couple hundred "kinds" in just 3500 years. It's ludicrous of course. Key to this is never defining "kind".

As far as hominid fossils, they dismiss them as deformed humans or apes. They dismiss the dating.

121

Babylon the Great

by Godlyman in

do jw's still believe that babylon the great is the empire of false religion?

inquiring minds want to know .

estephan.

peacefulpete

The WT leadership is again not being original or unique in their interpretation. Protestants have labeled the Roman Catholic Church as the Harlot for hundreds of years, (ironically because the real target the Roman empire no longer exists) The WT shared that doctrine. Then around the time of the birth of Adventism/Millennialism (late 1800s) the individual sects widely identified all Christendom (apart from themselves of course) as the Harlot. The WT was actually late to adopt that teaching.