Iok a few examples of speciation at work....p. maniculatus (a mouse species in the rocky mountains), A. leucurus and A. harrisi (2 chipmunk species at the grand canyon), hundreds of drosophila species (fruitflies) on hawaii, a finch species in asia, and so on and so forth...there is an endless number of cases. And a million more examples exist as has been extensively discussed by ID theorists and even creationists. This fact does not help the case for Darwinism but hurts it. So called microevolution is not at debate. The mechanism in these cases is fairly well understood. The question is, how do we get the information in the first place, not how it can be rearranged to produce new varieties?
Jerry Bergman
JoinedPosts by Jerry Bergman
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JW scientist banned from Institute's WebSite because of Creationistic Views
by GermanXJW inrecently, dr. wolf-ekkehard loennig, a jw working in a leading position at the gene-science-department at the max-planck-institute, has been banned from the institute's website for spreading his view about evolution.
he promotes the so called "intelligents design".
max-planck-institute calles this creationism in disguise.
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JW scientist banned from Institute's WebSite because of Creationistic Views
by GermanXJW inrecently, dr. wolf-ekkehard loennig, a jw working in a leading position at the gene-science-department at the max-planck-institute, has been banned from the institute's website for spreading his view about evolution.
he promotes the so called "intelligents design".
max-planck-institute calles this creationism in disguise.
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Jerry Bergman
Please feel free to use any information that may be helpful to you. I am amazed at all the "false Dilemmas" that are created when discussing this matter.
Thanks. It seems that few topics are as emotional as this one. One would think that the Darwinists would calmly relate their case and not get so emotional and ego involved. We evolution skeptics must be knocking on a sore spot, but from their standpoint, if there is no God, why does it all matter? Why not let us entertain our doubts about macroevolution and let us go on our way without the nasty comments?
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JW scientist banned from Institute's WebSite because of Creationistic Views
by GermanXJW inrecently, dr. wolf-ekkehard loennig, a jw working in a leading position at the gene-science-department at the max-planck-institute, has been banned from the institute's website for spreading his view about evolution.
he promotes the so called "intelligents design".
max-planck-institute calles this creationism in disguise.
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Jerry Bergman
the 95% refer to the entire genome....the 99.4% to the genes . The article (by a Prof. from the school where I earned my Ph.D.) only looked at 97 genes. My question is which ones and why did he pick these? Also, I would expect that most of the sequences for the genes involved in, for example, ATP synthesis chemical pathways (such as charging ADP) would be very similar no matter what organism they were in. Do you know of any study that covers this? The same would be true of most genes involved in manufacturing the specific biochemicals involved in biochemical pathways. Also we need to sequence most all of the genome to make any firm conclusion about similarities. At this point we do not know and should admit this instead of proclaiming to the world that the similarity is 99.7, then 98, then 95, then another number and now, for at least the 97 genes evaluated, 99.4.
I agree...the media is generating the impression that health science and nutritional science is changing its mind constantly. this is unfortunate but probably can't be avoided. It could in part if scientists, and especially science writers, were more careful.
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JW scientist banned from Institute's WebSite because of Creationistic Views
by GermanXJW inrecently, dr. wolf-ekkehard loennig, a jw working in a leading position at the gene-science-department at the max-planck-institute, has been banned from the institute's website for spreading his view about evolution.
he promotes the so called "intelligents design".
max-planck-institute calles this creationism in disguise.
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Jerry Bergman
Below are some <snipped> excerpts that may be of interest. Taken from: http://www.the-scientist.com/yr2003/may/research3_030519.html
The Dark Side of the Genome
Researchers shine their lights on noncoding sequence | By Brendan A. Maher
<snip> --- The human genome, the now essentially decoded 1 map of life, likewise has a light side--the genes encoding mRNA and protein--and a dark side, which is coming into view for the first time. The dark side encompasses more than its opposite: The majority of the genome comprises intronic regions, stretches of repeat sequence, and other assorted gibberish that has attained the ignoble dubbing, "junk." <snip> --- "The experimental work that we've done in the laboratory ... indicates that these low-level transcripts are really valid," she says. Referring to the genome's nonprotein-coding elements as "our own dark matter," she asks: "Is there a whole world within the nucleus about which we're fairly ignorant?" I think this comparison of "junk" DNA with "dark matter" might be a useful comparison in certain creation/evolution discussions --- legitimately pointing out the "ignorance" of science concerning the basis upon which many current (evolutionary) explanations are founded. -
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mass murder by a Witness
by Jerry Bergman inhas anyone read the book jungle gods by carl von hoffman?
it tells of a watchtower convert who decided that he needed to start armageddon on his own and ended up killing over a hundred persons before he was caught.
it is now long out of print but i found several copies using addall.com (a search engine) and on abe.com.
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Jerry Bergman
Has anyone read the book Jungle Gods by Carl von Hoffman? It tells of a Watchtower convert who decided that he needed to start Armageddon on his own and ended up killing over a hundred persons before he was caught. It is now long out of print but I found several copies using addall.com (a search engine) and on abe.com. See page 42 - 68. It is must reading!!
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JW scientist banned from Institute's WebSite because of Creationistic Views
by GermanXJW inrecently, dr. wolf-ekkehard loennig, a jw working in a leading position at the gene-science-department at the max-planck-institute, has been banned from the institute's website for spreading his view about evolution.
he promotes the so called "intelligents design".
max-planck-institute calles this creationism in disguise.
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Jerry Bergman
PS: did you see the article in PNAS this week dealing with chimp-human similarity? humans and chimps have 99.4% of the coding DNA in common. Yes I did. Now we are back up to 99%! Many of my students, in addition to biology majors, are premed or health science majors of some type. I spend some time on health (such as trans fatty acids and cancer) and find many are skeptical of science as a whole. They argue that science implies that everything causes cancer and one day scientists say this, the next day it is a new story (eggs are bad for you now they are OK; fats are bad for you now they are good - some types are, at least, such as monounsaturated). I think that science now has a big creditability problem with the public and it is not hard to see why. Part of the problem is the news media is not always very accurate in reporting our findings, but part is our own fault. We need to deal with this problem.
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JW scientist banned from Institute's WebSite because of Creationistic Views
by GermanXJW inrecently, dr. wolf-ekkehard loennig, a jw working in a leading position at the gene-science-department at the max-planck-institute, has been banned from the institute's website for spreading his view about evolution.
he promotes the so called "intelligents design".
max-planck-institute calles this creationism in disguise.
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Jerry Bergman
ThiChi I think that you usually have done a fairly good job of defending yourself. I would like to have a student analyze these posts (all of them) not for facts but argumentative techniques. It always amazes me that Darwinists and Theists use very different approaches in dealing with this topic. For example note A person who fully understands a topic can summarize and pull small quotes to back up points where necessary. It is evident, both by your style and by the content you are pasting, that you do not have a firm grasp of the concepts. Interesting and unsurprising quote from Gould. Unfortunately you don't seem to understand the context it was written in. If you did, you would never have posted it. about your other post....what is the purpose of your crusade against evolution with simply copy pasting trash from creationist webpages? Contrast this with your responses (usually, but not always, different in form and approach). Does anyone else note this?
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can you believe this?????
by Jerry Bergman inhere is an interesting story from way up in the "boonies" of saskatchewan, .
canada:.
in the congregation my family goes to, during one of the watchtower studies mentioning "apostates" and "bad" media coverage, a sister commented in regard to a man confronting her and another sister in the previous morning in service.
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Jerry Bergman
Here is an interesting story from way up in the "boonies" of Saskatchewan,
Canada:
In the congregation my family goes to, during one of the Watchtower studies mentioning "Apostates" and "Bad" media coverage, a sister commented in regard to a man confronting her and another sister in the previous morning in service. He answered the door armed with a bad disposition and several newspaper articles in regard to Jehovah's Witnesses and the pedophile issue. She and the other sister knew nothing about it so they were speechless. This was "news" to them!
The local pioneer sister said whenever she runs into this, she "just tells them the truth ... It's lies, all lies coming from apostates who want to dirty God's clean organization".
The visiting speaker, an elder for many years then made this comment that surprised those there; he said" "No, that's not what we say. We don't go around anymore condemning other religions for this. Times have changed and now we're in the same boat and our brothers have made some very serious mistakes. We have to say we're 'not sure of all the facts' ".
# Two Story: I don't know whether this one would fit "Battered Lambs" or what but I thought this story may also be of interest to some. I was a battered and silent lamb for some seventeen plus years so it makes my heart ache to see others having to endure abuse from any source, especially from their "spiritual brothers". The story I'm about to relate is in progress. It's about two fleshly brothers - one in his late 80's, the other in his early 90's. They are also our spiritual brothers. Their family was favorable to Bible discussions way back in the '40's and eventually, in the early '90's these two brothers dedicated their lives to Jehovah. Because of ill health my father could not help them so he told my Mom and youngest brother to help them in the service and to the meetings. Mom did and when she couldn't she asked others from the congregation to help, which they would not. These two old brothers were too much of a bother. But their generous contributions of $50.00 or more per meeting was most welcome!
After my Dad died in '96, Mom and my brother continued to help them out - get fire wood for them, clean their house, do shopping, laundry, gardening, etc. When they were making out their wills they wanted to show their appreciation to my mother and brother for all they had done and continued to do for them. Mom declined any of this and said it would be best to leave their material possessions to the Watchtower Society to further Jehovah's work. She arranged for a meeting with a couple of brothers from the local congregation and the three 'boys" (there was still three of the four brothers alive at the time). The older two had put the family farm and vehicles, etc. in the name of the youngest one, thinking they would go before him - although in their will it still said whoever was left of them would inherit the possessions; then finally, once they were all gone the Watchtower Society gets it.
However, this past February the youngest one died. The two older brothers are still alive and their minds are very sound even if their bodies are a bit weak. But the "spiritual" brothers have taken things over already; they have requested that the two remaining brothers NOT sell or give any of their possessions away to neighbors or friends.
Last week against the wishes of the eldest brother, one of the brothers from the congregation came with a video camera to video all they have so they can have it on tape what "IS the Society's". This was extremely disturbing for these two old boys. Also, to pay for funeral expenses the congregation told them NOT to touch the money in their savings account even though their checking and savings account was in ALL three brothers names. For the funeral lunch, the neighbor ladies offered to do it for free for all their kindness and generosities shown to their families by the older boys.
An elder's wife said "NO, thank you, we'll do it". A few days later the surviving brothers received a bill from the congregation for the lunch - an expensive lunch which a few sisters divided up - LARGE leftover "loot" among themselves and gave the two older boys a small plate of dried up sandwiches.
Also, they were billed for the floral arrangement purchased by the congregation "designed" to show sympathy, caring, comfort, brotherly love! My brother was SO upset - he could not believe it. Not a good witness in the neighborhood indeed!
From this, from personal experiences and from the information they have learned through the TV program - The Fifth Estate and information I've given them from Silent Lambs, they have quite a different view of the "loving brotherhood". -
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JW scientist banned from Institute's WebSite because of Creationistic Views
by GermanXJW inrecently, dr. wolf-ekkehard loennig, a jw working in a leading position at the gene-science-department at the max-planck-institute, has been banned from the institute's website for spreading his view about evolution.
he promotes the so called "intelligents design".
max-planck-institute calles this creationism in disguise.
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Jerry Bergman
I am working on a paper on the definition of a species. Could someone give me a clear definition of the term species? How do we scientifically determine if two animals are one or two species? Remember most species reproduce asexually (some both sexually and asexually).
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JW scientist banned from Institute's WebSite because of Creationistic Views
by GermanXJW inrecently, dr. wolf-ekkehard loennig, a jw working in a leading position at the gene-science-department at the max-planck-institute, has been banned from the institute's website for spreading his view about evolution.
he promotes the so called "intelligents design".
max-planck-institute calles this creationism in disguise.
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Jerry Bergman
That is a dishonest argument. Not at all. I have had articles accepted in writings (with glowing reviews) then my religious views were found out and the journal would not even answer my letters as why the article never appeared. I have been beaten up twice openly because of my views and the American government refused to do anything. Serves me right, they said. Do you know what it is like to get death threats? It is not fun. Shall I go on? I know that the American government is very corrupt and one study found that one out of seven inmates on death row were innocent (mostly exonerated by DNA) and all of this does not endear me to my government much. It may interest you to know that I have interviewed hundreds of creationists for a book that I wrote and, of the out of the closet breed, all but two were denied tenure at state colleges (I am one of those rare birds; I was awarded tenure at a state college of over 4,000 students to teach biology and biochemistry in a science department; Prof. Keith who teaches at a major State University is the other one). Many creationists were also denied tenure at "Christian" colleges (including me although my Witness background probably was part of it). Those creationists in the closet do very well, though. Also, out of the closet ID advocates don't do too much better. This is pure hate.