When a JW, what did you think about human fossils of 1.2 million years

by LouBelle 21 Replies latest jw friends

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  LouBelle

  When I was in and documentaries came on the telly about human fossils being found dated 800 000 years old or 1.2 million years old I would always say - they surely must have the dating process wrong (hello - I'm not expert) or would try find a loop whole to make sure that the belief of mans' 6/7000 year existance.

  I also used to reason that they were probably a species of apes or forgeries - anything to make myself believe we as JWs' were right - I did this without even "thinking" really - like breathing.

  I even studied science & biology at school and would also have to come up with ""excuses"" for this or that. Ag what did we know we were only kids, but when you become an adult and have adult reasoning faculties one can't ignore the facts.

  So what did you create as a safe bubble when things like this came up?
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  B_Deserter

  I'd always do the "radiocarbon dating is flawed" line to myself. Then I studied how they date things and discovered how they compensate for those "flaws" now, as well as using different dating methods.
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  helenhall

  By telling myself they arent human, but humanlike, as this is usually the way they are described in the newspapers.
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  Awakened07

  I always laughed at the 'millions' and 'billions' of years, as this was the custom at my house. I was always interested in science, especially astronomy and archeology, I just thought the Bible (the way I had been taught it) had to be right since it was the word of God, and He should know...

  I also thought to myself that these ancestors were just types of apes that are now extinct, and - - well, I was right, but they are still our ancestors. But back then, there were much fewer discoveries, and biology (DNA research) hadn't really entered into it yet (well - that may be wrong; more likely it was just that this research hadn't reached me yet, for obvious reasons). I didn't know much about evolutionary theory other than a misunderstood version of it, and didn't know about the various radiometric dating methods outside of Carbon 14. I also of course thought that some of it was the forgeries of some overzealous scientists out to get fame and fortune, and/or an opportunity to deny God's existence.

  I had a very skewed view of science from my upbringing. On the one hand, science was great, but on the other hand, not to be trusted once they contradicted our view of the Bible. "Mustn't forget also that Satan is pulling his strings"....

  -Would I read a medical dictionary, form my own opinions of medicine, and then go to a hospital to tell the doctors and surgeons that they're doing it all wrong, from the ground up? I've come to understand that - although of course fallible - real scientists are actually specialized professionals with a sense of pride in their work like anyone else, and to say that anthropologists, archaeologists, biologists etc. etc. don't know what they're doing is an insult, just like going to any other professional and saying the same. Especially if the person pointing it out is not even educated in the field. When the scientists say that 'this and this ape was our ancestor', they're not saying it simply because there's a superficial likeness, but they actually examine the bones carefully, often several specimens of the same ape, and see homologous features that - when compared to the other specimens - show a progression over time, since these bones are also found in different strata. Add to that comparative DNA research on living apes, and we're getting somewhere.
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  OnTheWayOut

  Besides the "radiocarbon dating is flawed" thinking, I just assumed of Science what I should
  have assumed about WTS. "Men are wrong, but have to tell us something in order to keep
  more funds available for their field. They dig up any evidence that supports their claim and
  twist it to totally fit their purposes."

  Besides, I read my "Creation" book so I knew there was another side of the story. HA.
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  sacolton

  "Has my religion been lying to me?"
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  Caedes

  Besides, I read my "Creation" book so I knew there was another side of the story.

  When I read the creation book it just made me interested in finding out more about evolution. Then I was at school one day and a teacher was asked about what she believed and she said that she believed in god but thought that he used evolution to create all the animals and plants. I remember thinking that makes more sense than anything I've heard at home.

  After that it was studying geology that made me realise that everything in the creation book was nonsense and that it's authors knew nothing about the subject of fossils.
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  yourmomma

  i always secretly felt that you cannot take the Genesis creation account literal. no big deal right? wrong, when i did make the mistake of leaking that I was strongly counciled. The main thing was about the creative days. I think its clear that if you are going to believe in the Bible, the creative days have to be millions of years. Whats funny is the society in an article says this, but then somehow gives each day 7,000 years. How do they know? So all these dinosaur fossils that are hundreds and millions of years old are being faked or planted by demons? Well, yes is the answer according to some. LOL! The other issue was that in some of the research I had done about the flood, it was pretty clear it was localized and that some of the words used in the Bible could very well of meant that. Whats the big deal right? Well its a very big deal to them, it must be a literal global flood just like all the other stuff. Its ridiculous because here is a way to satisfy the scientific evidence and the Bible together, but noooooooooo, we cant do that. we must stumble people away from the Bible if they choose not to believe the impossible about the flood, fossils, etc. Its a sad joke. oh well.
• 

  WTWizard

  They bashed radiocarbon dating. I cannot understand how they discredit something that has been proven by tree ring analyses and other proven methods to make room for their crap.

  I guess that is one of the ways they are setting up the Second Dark Ages. With science out of the way, they can blame the demons for things they are not willing to understand. And, through initiatory force (UN, anyone?), they are hoping to plunge everyone into the same Dark Ages, stoning to death anyone that dares make an observation that blatantly contradicts the Filthful and Disgraceful Slavebugger.
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  Caedes

  I guess that is one of the ways they are setting up the Second Dark Ages. With science out of the way, they can blame the demons for things they are not willing to understand. And, through initiatory force (UN, anyone?), they are hoping to plunge everyone into the same Dark Ages, stoning to death anyone that dares make an observation that blatantly contradicts the Filthful and Disgraceful Slavebugger.

  However much I dislike the WBTS cult, I somehow doubt that even they are that deluded that they think they could set up a second dark age. But what 'initiatory force' do you think they could use and to what end? It sounds all a bit too tinfoil hat to me.