What was so new about The Theory of Evolution?

by iconoclastic 7 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  iconoclastic

  The East had already been teaching the 10 stages of human evolution (that should happen in the life-span of a human being) using an allegorical story of 10 incarnations of God:

  1) Fish (Water borne life, a fish-like start in the womb of mother) — amoebae or primeval evolution.

  2) Turtle (Life moves into land, crawling child once outside the womb) — amphibians.

  3) Boar (adapting to land life) — mammals

  4) Half lion-half human (Semi-human, growing from animal nature to human nature) — primates.
  Evolution of man:

  5) Dwarf (Life between childhood and adulthood) — primitive human.

  6) User of weapon (axe).

  7) User of superior weapons like bow and arrow.

  8) Agriculturist (plough)

  9) Spinner of swadarshana chakra (swa = self/soul; darshana = vision; chakra = wheel) which means one’s realizing that he is a metaphysical being that continues to exist after the dissolution of the physical structure.

  10) Kalki/Destruction (Homo spiritus) — leaving behind whatever acquired/accomplished materially, body is destroyed, and person moves into spirit world.

  This is the ten stages that happen during one life-span of an individual. Simply put, a spark from God descends and incarnates into the watery womb of a woman where it starts its journey something like a fish, then comes out, and through other stages, finally reaches the finishing point where its physical body is dissolved, after which it continues to exist as a spirit being.

  When what was originally meant to apply to the stages (an individual passes through his one life-span) is made applied to collective man (humanity as a whole, passing through various evolutionary stages and many generations) we have the Theory of Evolution. Hence the question whether Darwin was influenced by the East is not important, what is noteworthy is the twist it received—what was originally meant to highlight the evolution into spirituality evolved into something purely material!

  Such a purely materialistic outlook would not have arisen if the believers in God ‘had a form of godliness that did not deny its power.’—2 Timothy 3:5
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  kaik

  Whatever any Eastern religion/philosophy teaches about evolution is irrelevant, as evolution is about change of species over time, from one generation to the next. This is taught in USA, Europe or Asia, and has nothing to do with "something spiritually evolved".
  
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  Ruby456

  icon, spirit is retained in the idea of material things always being in process - whether they are in the process of being dissolved or of being reconstituted. But you may not like the materiality of processes that science describes.

  But you know eastern philosophy is closer to atheism than monotheism as monotheism generally gives all authority to God and to those who represent him.

  onoh, many argue that monotheism is closer to atheism as now you only have one god to deal with. My motto is to stick with the materiality of science
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  iconoclastic

  Ruby456

  I agree with you. One can be humane without the belief in God—and this is more important as religionists make a mockery of their belief in God as they worship God to receive material favors from Him, thus making themselves materialists (or beggars for material things).

  Thus we have materialists on one hand who are materialists on their own right, and on the other hand we have believers in God, who become materialists with the help of God!
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  cofty

  Bollocks
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  LoveUniHateExams

  ^^^^^^^^

  What cofty said.
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  cantleave

  
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  Vidiot

  It wasn't new.

  It just freaked out 19th-Century fundamentalists more than most other things.