i don't know about now, but back then when we did go over the creator book, i'd say emphatically no, jws did NOT believe in the big bang and it REALLY put a damper on that book study lesson. i didn't comment for weeks after that and by then we had passed through the cool part of the book...the part that addressed science directly.
at the time, i would have put myself in that category of science-y witnesses. i believed god started the big bang. i also believed in evoltion...to a degree. i believed in adaptation but in another thread, i mentioned that it's something i basically swept under the rug and never really thought about it too deeply because then my head would hurt ;)
cognitive dissonance is a strange thing. it really does allow you to believe to opposing things. on the one hand, you can believe that the governing body is a fallible group of men that are not inspired by god, yet you can believe that despite the numerous false prophecies they've published until the light magically got brighter.
the brainwashing is real and it's incredible how good they do it. my nature is to question everything. when i read up on political news, or a textbook, it's not enough for me to simply accept what is said, i like to know the background information on the subject to prove the assertion to myself. now it's possible this is a reaction to being duped my entire my life. yet, i NEVER questioned the witnesses. on the surface, everything seemed logical and i remember being shown in the encyclopedia when i was about 6, that christmas was pagan. coupled with the 'we don't lie and we're nothing like anyone else in the world' mantra, i simply believed without question what they had to say because...lying is a sin and that's not what jehovah likes. therefore if these dudes are lying then they're not making it into heaven/paradise and they know this so there's no way they wold lie right?
the logic is mind boggling and logic should never be mind boggling unless you have some incredible weed.
