Are Earthquakes Really On The Increase?

by cognizant dissident 29 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  cognizant dissident

  I had coffee with my JW mother today. It was the weekend of her circuit overseers visit. "A very nice man" according to her. I nodded and smiled.

  I suppose that may have encouraged her to continue with an interesting tidbit from his talk today. It seems he has printed out a graph from the internet showing the increase in earthquakes since 2001. He qualified that this information was not to scare people into "the truth", because people will either want to learn about Jehovah and worship him or not.

  However, every time he hears someone say that there have always been earthquakes, he pulls out this graph to show them the proof that there is a steep rise in earthquakes since the 1900's and especially in the last decade.

  I don't reply to this but change the subject. I want to say that I would want to make sure his graph came from a credible scientific website and that even if it had, there may be other reasons for the apparent increase that have nothing to do with the impending doom of Armageddon. I know this will hold no sway with my mother though, and I want to have my facts absolutely straight, so I said nothing at the time.

  When I got home, I immediately typed "increased in earthquakes" into my search engine and the first site to pop up was a geological survey page with many scientific articles, including the following article explaining the reason for the seeming increase in earthquakes.

  http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/increase_in_earthquakes.php

  Since this was the very first site that came up, do you suppose the CO really didn't see this or truly doesn't understand simple science written in layman's terms, or is he purposely being misleading? Hmmm..... I'm starting to doubt the sincerity....

  Anyway, I emailed this article link to my mother. It's the first time I've ever actively tried to convince her of anything different than she hears at the Kingdom Hall. At her age, I don't consider it a kindness especially since she is already prone to depression. However, she did bring up the topic and this is a credible science site, nothing apostate about it. What could be the harm? We shall see.....I'll update if I get a response from her.
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  rnicole76

  no
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  cognizant dissident

  nicole: You are nothing if not succinct!
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  HintOfLime

  I've seen a few such graphs promoted by Christian websites. Usually upon inspection of their source (if they even list one) I'll find that these graphs reflect the number of recorded earthquakes rather than reported earthquakes. All these graphs really reflect is the increase in seismological recording stations. The USGS (the people who actually study earthquakes) has repeatedly stated that they have seen no indication that earthquakes are on the rise - they're just getting better at aggregating the data.

  - Lime
• 

  DaCheech

  heard the same bullshit last month:

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/196402/1/signs-of-the-end-of-times-CO-talk

  they love to scare people, and wonder why they're all on meds and/or depressed
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  doofdaddy

  The technology for world wide recording of accurate data has only been around, for what, 20yrs? All those little (and not so little) eartkquakes in Asia and even here in Australia were just facts of life, not recordable incidents. It'a bullshit.

  There are lies, damn lies and statistics.
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  blondie

  The Watchtower Society Backpedals on Earthquakes
  or How Magicians Write Essays

  Alan Feuerbacher

  http://corior.blogspot.com/2006/02/watchtower-society-backpedals-on.html

  *** w93 12/1 p. 6 Natural Disasters—Is God Responsible? ***In this regard, note what the book NaturalDisasters—ActsofGodorActsofMan? has to say: "There is no evidence that the climatological mechanisms associated with droughts, floods and cyclones are changing. And no geologist is claiming that the earth movements associated with earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunami (earthquake waves) are becoming more violent." Similarly, the book Earthshock observes: "The rocks of every continent contain a record of innumerable major and minor geological events, every one of which would be a catastrophic disaster to mankind if they occurred today—and it is scientifically certain that such events will occur again and again in the future." In other words, the earth and its dynamic forces have more or less remained the same throughout the ages. Hence, whether or not some statistics indicate an increase of some forms of geologic or other activity, the earth has not become uncontrollably violent in recent times.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/99752/1/Earthquakes-in-one-place-after-another
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  cognizant dissident

  Thanks DaCheech and Blondie for the links. I didn't realize there was a topic recently done on this, and not so recently (as with Alan F's essay).

  The essay was well written, however, I could never send something like that to my JW parents. They would never read it and I would be a confirmed apostate in their eyes. I try to stick with non-religious science based factual info if I'm going to show them anything, sites that have nothing to do with religion at all.

  What gets me, I think, is that it says right there on the first page that there is no true increase in earthquakes only an increase in detecting stations and the sensitivity of the detecting equipment. The person printing off the graphs could not miss this! I think it just cements in my mind that it is deliberate misrepresentation. I think I always tended to give them the benefit of the doubt, that their misinformation was based on genuine ignorance. I still think it is at the rank and file level, and even the elder level. At the CO level, I have seen some pretty outrageous stories lately, that one would have to be an imbecile to believe.
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  Black Sheep

  When a Dub claims they have documentation to support a claim, demand that they produce it.

  In this case it should be easy, as his printout should include the URL.

  Once you have the website you might very well find other pages on it that you can print out and ask them to read to you.
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  thetrueone

  The ancients long ago believed earthquakes were caused by gods, as well as lightening and thunder.

  Earthquakes having been occurring for millions of years on are planet,

  they have created some of the most prominent mountain ranges, such as the Rockies and the Alps.

  They were occurring " In one place after another " well before the ancient Israelite civilization appeared.

  Fear propagates ignorance and the WTS. publishing company is guilty of doing such a thing for exploitation purposes. $