by cantleave 27 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
English Standard Version (ESV)
37 Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks. 38 He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, 39 the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.
I ask because this appeared on my facebook time line.
As you lil avatars' eyes show - I too am befuddled. Splice apples and oranges you'll get orapples or appanges
It's what one might call a miracle. The Bible's full of them.
Gen.31:10-13--miracle
It's a shame that "miracle" performed in this case was so bloody useless. Why didn't he just explain what genetics are? How chararcteristics are passed from generation to generation? He could have expalined that some genes are dominant and others are recessive. Why couldn't have recorded something that could have spear headed the human race's fight against disease? No rather than educating the Human race, he does a magic trick.
Remember, it's what Jacob believed. The reason why God didn't set him straight and explained the whole thing, we do not know. I agree, I would have at least explained Mendel's laws to him and with what ratios he could expect, 1:3:1 if I'm not mistaken.
I would have at least explained Mendel's laws to him
Poor old Bro. Mendel would have had to find something else to do in his Augustian Friary!
The WTS does say that God explained the genetics to Jacob.
*** it-1 p. 1244 Jacob ***
Results? The offspring abnormally marked or colored, and therefore Jacob’s wages, proved to be more numerous than those of normal solid color, which were to be Laban’s. Since the desired results were obtained, Jacob probably thought his stratagem with the striped sticks was responsible. In this he no doubt shared the same misconception commonly held by many people, namely, that such things can have an effect on the offspring. However, in a dream his Creator instructed him otherwise.
In his dream Jacob learned that certain principles of genetics, and not the sticks, were responsible for his success. Whereas Jacob was tending only solid-colored animals, yet the vision revealed that the male goats were striped, speckled, and spotty. How could this be? Apparently they were hybrids even though of uniform color, the result of crossbreeding in Laban’s flock before Jacob began being paid. So certain of these animals carried in their reproductive cells the hereditary factors for spotting and speckling future generations, according to the laws of heredity discovered by Gregor Mendel in the last century.—Ge 31:10-12.
....Does Genesis 31:10-12 say that?
(Genesis 31:9-12) 9 So God kept taking the herd of YOUR father away and giving it to me. 10 At last it came about at the time when the flock got in heat that I raised my eyes and saw a sight in a dream and here the he-goats springing upon the flock were striped, speckled and spotty. 11 Then the angel of the [true] God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob!’ to which I said, ‘Here I am.’ 12 And he continued, ‘Raise your eyes, please, and see all the he-goats springing upon the flock are striped, speckled and spotty, for I have seen all that La′ban is doing to you.
*** w50 11/1 p. 432 Questions From Readers ***
Jehovah God here gave Jacob instruction in the modern science of genetics. There were no spotted goats in the flock Jacob tended, yet the vision disclosed spotted goats. How could this be? It is apparent that the spots were not visible, yet their presence in these solid-colored animals was supernaturally revealed to Jacob and doubly impressed upon him by what he saw in the dream and by the angel’s specifically calling his attention to them. Apparently these plain-colored goats were hybrids, that is, they were the result of a cross between the spotted goats and plain goats that ran together in Laban’s flocks. Though these hybrids were uniformly colored themselves, they carried in their germ cells the hereditary factors for spotting and speckling, and, in accord with the laws of heredity discovered by Gregor Mendel in the nineteenth century and clarified and enlarged in this twentieth century, many of the offspring of these solid-colored hybrid goats were spotted and speckled. By the vision God opened Jacob’s eyes to the naturally invisible presence of the hereditary factors for spotting and speckling that were in the plain-colored hybrid goats, and Jehovah could well cause the proportion of spotted offspring to run heavy. Both Laban and Jacob acknowledged Jehovah’s interest in this matter. (Gen. 30:27-30; 31:5, 7, 9, 16) As for the point raised by Genesis 30:41, 42 that the stronger offspring were Jacob’s, it should be remembered that all the speckled and spotted would come from the hybrids, and it is a modern biological truth that hybrids are stronger than uncrossed breeds. Not all the goats in the flock Jacob tended were hybrids, and these feebler ones, without the hybrid vigor, would breed true and produce only solid-colored offspring, and which feebler kids would be Laban’s.
I'm finding it quite difficult to believe that genetic makeup can be altered just by viewing some sticks. I think the proper question would be "Please provide evidence to support this claim."
The Christians I speak to say "You have to have faith." and "You need to pray more." So then I bring up a scripture like the one you've mentioned, cantleave and I get ...
"You're taking the scriptures out of context."
When I say "Please explain to me how I am taking this scripture out of context." they can't do it.
