Awake January 2015: How did life begin?

William Penwell

Yes it is not the first time the WT has misquoted someone and I am sure it won't be the last time. The rank and file dub lap this stuff up.

AnnOMaly

The Awake quote comes from the bottom of page 870.

The 2nd quote in the OP comes from the article's abstract on page 868.

I know. I can see that. Hence the query.

OneEyedJoe

I wonder just how evil the Awake editor is? Did he (or a minion) actually read the article from its original source, or did they pull the misleading partial quotation from some fundy creationis website?

I suspect the latter scenario will be the excuse given by any JW that is confronted with the misquotes. If anyone suggests that they incompletely vetted the quote I'll just refer them to the 2011 yearbook (page 13):

In summary, the Writing Department insists on using only material that is accurate and truthful, even regarding seemingly insignificant details. As a result, “the faithful and discreet slave” can consistently supply spiritual food that brings honor to “the God of truth,” Jehovah.

So, if this is true, then it would be impossible that they just grabbed these quotes off of some fundamentalist website. This suggests that they would have read the entire article prior to using the quotes to ensure accuracy. They must also have checked the credentials of the author and decided that the author is on solid footing in their field, just like they must've done with Michael Behe as well....oh wait...his own science department has published papers refuting just about everything he stands for.

But, I wonder, how would the WTS feel if something they'd written was ever misquoted to further a contrary agenda?

This civil war created immediate problems for the small group of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The press labeled them an “anti-Christian sect and socially pernicious.” Journalists misquoted articles from Awake! and wrongly claimed that the Witnesses’ purpose was “to justify, if not to incite, the acts of terrorism that the north of the Province has experienced recently.” Beneath a photo of Awake! was the caption “Religious propaganda poisons the spirits of the natives.”

2001 Yearbook - p80.

The funny thing is, the perpetrators of this plot to cast the WT in a bad light actually painted a very accurate picture of reality with their caption.

cantleave

Awake editors read "answers in genesis" and then promulgate the fallacies promoted there.

OneEyedJoe

Found some more ironic WT quotes I thought I'd share (emphasis mine)...

w03 1/1 p27 - taking things out of context is a tactic used by satan!

A THEATER critic for a newspaper once went to see a certain play. He did not much like it and afterward wrote: “If triviality is what you happen to be wanting, by all means go and see this play.” Later, the promoters of the play published an advertisement that featured a quote from the critic’s review. The quote was: “By all means go and see this play”! The advertisement accurately quoted the critic’s words, but it lifted them out of context and thus grossly misrepresented his view.

That example illustrates how important the context of a statement can be. Taking words out of context can distort their meaning, just as Satan distorted the meaning of Scripture when he tried to mislead Jesus. (Matthew 4:1-11) On the other hand, taking the context of a statement into account helps us to get a more accurate understanding of its meaning.

w11 2/15 p19 - who else takes things out of context? Satan's best friends, of course, those evil apostates!

André, who had served Jehovah for years, had the bitter experience of being led astray by apostate thinking. He felt that having a quick look at an apostate Web site would not be dangerous. He recalls: “Initially, I was attracted to the so-called truths that the apostates spoke of. The more I examined what they said, the more I came to think that I was justified in leaving Jehovah’s organization. But later, as I did some research on the apostates’ arguments against Jehovah’s Witnesses, I became aware of how crafty the false teachers were. Information taken out of context was their ‘strong evidence’ against us. Thus, I decided to start reading our publications again and to attend the meetings. Soon I realized how much I had missed.” Happily, André returned to the congregation.

Evidently the WTS is a close associate of satan, and may even be an apostate organization!

BluesBrother

An one time poster on here, the brilliant Alan F got to sit down with a Senior Writer for the WTS and discuss this very issue . This was part of the conversation:

Peloyan's overall attitude about using quotes in a way the original author would disagree with was that it did not matter. As long as the words
were quoted properly, the author's intent was irrelevant. He seemed to take some delight in the idea of using evolutionist's words against them
in this manner, as if it served them right for being so pigheaded. In other words, he and other WTS writers think that the end justifies the
means.

I told Peloyan that I didn't agree with this philosophy because, even though one might justify the result by saying that it defends Jehovah, it
violates the idea expressed in Job 13:7-11 ("Will you be deceivers for God? ..."). He got rather upset at the implication that he and other WTS
writers would actually lie to defend God, and launched into a defense by saying that these writers would “never” do such a thing, even though
they might make mistakes every once in a while. I said that I accepted this, but the fact that the Society has had many such errors pointed out
but failed to correct them showed that they indeed had some spirit of being "deceivers for God." I illustrated this by telling him that I and others
I knew had written to the Society about certain errors and that the Society either did not reply, or refused to acknowledge them. He hemmed
and hawed about this.

This thread contains the full text if you scroll down - the original may still be on-line somewhere.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/109489/1/Looking-for-Alan-Fs-essay

Awake January 2015: How did life begin? - More misquotes

William Penwell

AnnOMaly

OneEyedJoe

cantleave

OneEyedJoe

BluesBrother

St George of England

Hairtrigger

steve2

rebel8

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