Another example of WTS anthropology - The Flood and racial differences

by Pole 51 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  TD

  The human race has never experienced an evolutionary event even remotely comparable to the flood story. The Toba catastrophe theory posits a reduction of human forbearers to thousands, not 6

  Reduce a mammal species to only three closely interrelated breeding pairs and it will die out ---period. Again, there have been more than enough captive breeding programs of endangered species in the last century to know this from direct observation. Even in programs of as much as 25 breeding pairs you still have to introduce at least two animals from outside the group a minimum of every 10 generations. If you don't do this the entire program will be consumed by sterility and stillbirth

  Humans seen to know this intuitively and this is reflected in marriage customs almost everywhere. Small tribes of humans invariably set up either a moiety system for endogamous unions and/or practice some form of exogamy with other tribes.

  Take the Australian Aranda for example. Two unamed moieties divided the tribe in half. Each moiety was divided into two sections and each section was subdivided into two subsections. Although the tribe as whole was endogomous, the moieties were strictly exogamous. In othe words, marriages must cross moiety lines. Spouses had to be chosen from the proper subsection of the opposite moiety.

  In other cultures exogamy has taken the form of either buying the bride from friendly tribes and/or stealing a bride from hostile tribes.

  T he obvious purpose of all such systems is to preserve genetic diversity. Without it, small tribes die out.
• 

  XQsThaiPoes

  The thing is and I am not being contrary how do you know that humans are not dying out? Remeber this is a book that says two people (2^-3 of the noah survivors) made enought people in a handfull of generations to bring down a global apocalypse that killed everything on earth. Also remember there is nothing to say that noah was not the son or decendant of an incubus (or secubus if want to be fair).

  I know it is temping to really use models based on today's observations. Noah was barely human. Now you can look at this 2 ways. One try to make a real nomal noah survive a local flood, or make a supernatural noah survive a global deluge. A normal noah can't survive the global flood he would be dead (from old age) before he finished the ark.

  Also notice this. Everything on that ark sired different specise than the parents. That is more spectacular mojo than death by incest. It would classic monsterism straight out of X-men.

  You clould pose a totally theological solution. The future generations was not closely genticaly related to noah and God inseminated all the females on the planet like he did marry, elizabeth, samsons mom, and those color changing sheep. He has shown a pinchant to get all up in that A*.

  If this was a local flood it is obvious they met up with othere people and animals later on.
• 

  heathen

  I did say a couple of thousand in the theory by scientists . I saw it on the discovery channel but anyway they were more or less guessing but were certain that there was a bottle neck in the diversity of human genes did happen . The animals on noahs ark were 7 pairs of the clean and just 2 of the unclean . The unclean are animals that eat carrion so again it does kind of make sense since you of course would not need alot of vultures after such an event .
• 

  XQsThaiPoes

  Um yes you would. Everything on the planet died. That is quite a clean up. After mass extinction usually the most versitile scavenger is what turns into the next generation of earths epoch. Scavengers are built for the apocalypse every day is lived like it is the end of the world. The scavengers even eat dead scavengers. There have been times on the planet were the most feared preditors were packs of hyena like pigs.
• 

  Pole

  XQ,
  

  You are right about the superhuman vitality of Noah's family, just like FunkyDerek is right when saying that there's no point in speculating about a story which is impossible to verify in scientific terms.

  But the impression you get from reading such stories is that the writers suggest that the events described are feasible. They give you all the tiny little details, and measurments. That's called naive realism. Something the WTS uses a lot to make an impression they are scientifically verifiable.

  Anyway, my last attempt to take this story seriously is a computational simulation I've posted on this thread:

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/77664/1.ashx

  Pole
• 

  TD

  XQ,
  
  I know you're not being contrary. The global flood story is riddled with problems from top to bottom and a believer has no choice but to play the divine "What if" game over and over and over.
  
  I think it reaches a point where you have God intervening so many times to circumvent what are ostensibly his own physical laws as they pertain to meteorology, engineering, genetics, geology, and anthropology that you have to wonder why.
• 

  heathen

  First off to answer what funkydereck said about examples of scientists quetioning the accuracy of the bible . There was a time when archeaologists did not believe the king nebuchadnezzar existed and there are other examples of this such as the assyrian kings and cities mentiond were always disbelieved until they found evidence . They doubted that the hebrews could have been lost in the desert with moses but lately found evidence of ancient hebrew encampments . That one I saw on the discovery channel .

  XQ--- The whole purpose of the flood was to wipe out all living things left behind not that there would be any remains of anything . What I find interesting here is that today they are finding unwater ruins of ancient civilizations off the coast of japan and india .I don't think they have raised enough money to investigate but when they do I think there will be some very astounding scientific evidence of pre flood humans .
• 

  XQsThaiPoes

  Everyone agrees there were humans before the flood they just dont agree on if there was a global flood considering a aweful lot of people and animal seem to live right through it uneffected.
• 

  Mac

  
  Forty lonely days
  And a dozen towns ago
  I reached out one night
  And you were gone
  Don’t know why you’d run,
  What you’re running to or from
  All I know is I want to bring you home
  
  So I’m walking in the rain,
  Thumbing for a ride
  On this lonely Mesopotamian backroad
  I’ve loved you much too long
  And my love’s too strong
  To let you go, never knowing
  What went wrong
  
  A local rain keeps pouring down
  And up ahead’s another town
  That I’ll go walking thru
  With the rain in my shoes,
  Searchin for you
  In the cold Mesopotamian rain,
  In the cold Mesopotamian rain
  
  Showed your chisled form
  To some old gray bearded man
  Sitting on a bench
  Outside a gen’ral store
  They said yes, she’s been here
  But their memory wasn’t clear
  Was it yesterday,
  No, wait the day before
  
  So I fin’ly got a ride
  With a preacher man who asked
  Where you bound on such a dark afternoon?
  As we rode on thru the rain
  As he listened I explained
  And he left me with a prayer
  That I’d find you

  Searching for you...

  In the cold Mesopotamian rain...
• 

  Pole

  Heathen,

  What I find interesting here is that today they are finding unwater ruins of ancient civilizations off the coast of japan and india .

  How do you think Noah preached to people living off the coast of Japan? Oh, it's easy, isn't it - God could have sent a divine hologram of Noah, his family and the ark, so those folks could know the Flood was coming and repent, which they refused to do and thus were rightly obliterated. Children, adults and the mentally ill living off the ancient shore of Japan before the Flood - they were all equally guilty and deserved death only.

  I don't think they have raised enough money to investigate but when they do I think there will be some very astounding scientific evidence of pre flood humans .

  Again, you are using fuzzy assertions. You think there will be "astounding evidence of pre-flood humans". If it's your dream, then fine. If mentioning the possibility of discovering some evidence is your evidence then it doesn't convince me. Besides, do you basically mean astounding evidence of pre-2300 BC humans?

  Correct me if I'm wrong, but you really seem to have no problem with combining the two methods:

  a) the scientific method

  b) the Deus ex Machina method