Walter Veith

Walter Veith

Walter Julius Veith (born January 25, 1949 ) is a South African zoologist . After joining the Seventh-day Adventist Church , he rejected the theory of evolution in favor of creationism and had to give up the chair of zoology at the University of Cape Town . In lectures, videos and books he presents creationist and Adventist beliefs as well as conspiracy theories around the world . These include an evangelical understanding of the Bible with massive support for the textus receptus , advertising for a vegan diet and the belief in the imminent fulfillment of the biblical end times - prophecy with the second coming Jesus Christ .

Life

childhood

Walter Veith was born in 1949 and grew up in a mixed-denominational family. The father was a Catholic, his mother, a Protestant , died prematurely of cancer . Repeated statements by his religion teacher that his mother had to “languish forever and ever” in hell because of her non-Catholic faith, prompted Veith to become a declared atheist at the age of ten.

Education

From 1971 Walter Veith began studying zoology at the University of Stellenbosch , which he completed with a Master of Science in zoology. His thesis dealt with the reproduction of the colored dwarf chameleon . After a two-year postgraduate course, he did his dissertation at the University of Cape Town in 1979 , which examined the diet of the bone and clipfish Clinus superciliosus in the embryonic state using X-ray spectrophotometry and electron microscopy . By then he had also given lectures on zoology at the universities in Durban-Westville and Stellenbosch.

Teaching and religious development

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After receiving his doctorate, Veith was an associate professor at Stellenbosch University for a long time and held lectures in zoology until 1987. In the early 1980s he found his way back to the Catholic faith, meanwhile married, when his young son became seriously ill and survived this illness.

A few years later, inner doubts about Catholicism and a craftsman renovating his kitchen led him and his wife to the Adventist faith . In his first lectures as an associate professor, he refuted a student when she called the theory of evolution a lie and instead presented the biblical story of creation as true. His new faith and his own Bible studies made him adopt this position himself and brought him into conflict with his teaching assignment. His scientific reputation declined. He had to leave Stellenbosch University while lecturing on the supposed scientific evidence of the biblical creation story .

Walter Veith sold his house in Stellenbosch and bought a wheat and dairy farm, but faced economic failure in 1988 due to a bad harvest. In the same year he took a position as an associate professor at the University of the Western Cape in zoology. His serious concerns about the theory of evolution were allayed by pointing out that he only had to work scientifically.

The temporary closure of the university because of race riots took Veith order in California to visit Ariel Roth, of the creationist Geoscience Research Institute in Loma Linda for geoscientific researched evidence of the biblical creation story. This visit prompted him to develop his own series of lectures on the biblical story of creation.

The following year Veith received a one-year contract at the University of Cape Town. His series of lectures meant that his contract was not renewed and he was only employed without teaching at the University of the Western Cape.

During this time without teaching, Veith began to give series of lectures outside the university. The lectures initially took him to mostly Adventist churches in the United States , Canada , Australia, and Europe . In his lectures on nutrition, he conveyed Adventist values ​​such as vegetarianism and fasting . His first book was published in 1993 under the title Diet and Health . In the meantime, according to his religious convictions, Walter Veith himself kept the Sabbath , which for Adventists is from Friday to Saturday evening according to the biblical understanding.

In 1995, after five years, he became a full professor with a teaching position and at the same time head of the department for zoology, which also dealt with the theory of evolution. He used his position to support the biblical creation story from his point of view and to refute the theory of evolution. He found a colleague in his colleague Quincy Johnson. In 1997 he published his results in the book The Genesis Conflict .

In addition to nutrition, his lecture series also dealt with the biblical story of creation as the only explanation for the origin of life, also in lectures at the University of the Western Cape. In 1998 Veith temporarily resigned from teaching.

After serious conflicts within their department of zoology at the University of the Western Cape, which focused on Walter Veith and colleague Quincy Johnson, they left the department. Johnson switched to the department of microbiology , while Veith from then on taught the department of physiology , where he worked until 2003. With the change, their license to teach zoology was withdrawn. Since the end of his activity in physiology, Veith has devoted himself to his lectures.

Mission Center "Amazing Discoveries"

Walter Veith is closely associated with the Mission Center Amazing Discoveries e. V. , which, according to its own statements, wants to make information that is essential for the common good accessible to the public, and is its most prominent speaker. It is affiliated with the Adventist church in Nuremberg-Marienberg. Additional mission centers are located in Champier, France , Blaine, Washington, and Langley , Canada .

With a comprehensive media program, it aims to show the connection between current events and biblical prophecy and to offer people a meaning in life, hope and peace. Further goals are to show that science and modern Christian faith do not contradict each other. At the same time, a positive and healthy lifestyle should be promoted in the eyes of those involved and other charitable goals should be pursued. According to their own information, all centers are not profit-oriented and are largely financed through donations and sales proceeds. They are all members of the Adventist Association ASI , the lay association for Adventist services and industries.

Veith's lectures in German and English will be recorded and offered for sale as recordings.

In January 2010 Walter Veith gave lectures as part of the premiere tour for the film Die Schöpf von Henry Stober, the official organizer of which was Amazing Discoveries e. V. and which led through numerous German cities. In Aachen there was a spontaneous demonstration by a few opponents of the film showing. The demonstration was broken up by two police officers.

Critical books and lectures

In his 2003 book On the truth matters - escaping the labyrinth of error , Veith criticizes current religious and political developments on the basis of biblical texts. In this book and also in his lectures such as the War of the Bibles and the Reformation series - Reigniting the Truth, he identifies the papacy , Freemasonry and the United Nations as anti-Christian organizations, among other institutions . For example, high dignitaries of the Catholic Church (including the Pope himself), members of the ecumenical movement , founding and high lodge members of the Freemasons and UN politicians are quoted on a topic-related basis and these statements are juxtaposed with Bible texts.

Critique of Adventist theologians of Veiths understanding of the Bible

Due to a lecture entitled "War of the Bibles" on April 26, 2004, Walter Veith was withdrawn from giving lectures in Adventist congregation premises in Germany, because the Adventist church leadership did not agree with the content of this lecture.

The Adventist Biblical Research Institute criticized Veith's defense of the Textus receptus in his lecture War of the Bibles as "wrong", "one-sided and inaccurate". Johannes Kovar, Adventist lecturer in New Testament, becomes even clearer. He accuses Veith of a lack of competence and seriousness, irresponsibility and populism on this topic.

The Seventh-day Adventist leadership recommended Veith on the subject of "Bible translations and Textus Receptus",

" Either to completely revise future statements on this topic and to present them in a balanced, fair and serious manner or to do without them entirely "

- Johannes Kovar : AdventEcho (November 3, 2004)

Fonts

• Something else. Vegan culinary art. New great, delicious recipes. Schosch, Nuremberg 1993
• Rediscover nutrition. The influence of diet on our health. Scientific knowledge. 2nd Edition. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-8047-1468-4 , (original title: Diet and Health , Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-88763-068-8 ).
• The Genesis Conflict. Amazing Discoveries, Delta BC 2002, ISBN 0-9682363-5-9 .
• The truth is what counts. 3. Edition. Amazing Discoveries, Heroldsberg 2003, ISBN 3-9809109-0-3 , (Original title: Truth Matters - Escaping the Labyrinth of Error. ).

Web links

• Literature by and about Walter Veith in the catalog of the German National Library
• Amazing discoveries
• allexperts.com encyclopedia entry
• Films (mostly English, different sizes)
• About Diet (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Walter Veith: From evolution to creation: My difficult journey. On the Adventist website ( Memento of April 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Information about Walter Veith on the website of amazing discoveries e. V.
3. ↑ Amazing Discoveries: Professor Walter J. Veith, Ph.D. ( Memento from May 2, 2002 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ CURRICULUM VITAE - WALTER JULIUS VEITH . Archived from the original on November 13, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2007.
5. ↑ Information on Walter Veiths problems with his son's illness
6. ↑ Walter Veith begins to study the belief in God and the teaching of the Seventh-day Adventists
7. ↑ WebArchive of the interview in Answers about his path to becoming a creationist ( Memento from February 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
8. ↑ Leaves of Life ( Memento from February 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) reports in 2001 on ten years of lecturing (English)
9. ^ The Royal Society / National Research Foundation (NRF) Evaluation Report 1996-2001, p. 20 ( Memento from August 1, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF)
10. ↑ Information iidb.org
11. ↑ Creation tour through Germany  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. PDF download from the Amazing Discoveries eV website  
12. ↑ Center right creationists and evangelicals flood Aachen
13. ^ "Walter Veith Freemason 1" Lecture series z. B. can be accessed via Google.de
14. ↑ See section: The conflict arose as early as 2004 (version of December 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive) ( Memento of December 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
15. ↑ see BRI : Assessment of the tapes by Dr. W. Veith on the subject of Bible translations ( Memento from March 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 47 kB)
16. ^ Johannes Kovar: Textus Receptus and modern translations. ( Memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 252 kB)
17. ^ Johannes Kovar: Textus Receptus and modern translations. (with a statement on the lecture “War of the Bibles” by Dr. Walter Veith). (PDF; 252 kB) Assessment of the lecture “War of the Bibles” by W. Veith. Summary. In: "AdventEcho" (November 3, 2004) . October 31, 2004, archived from the original on September 27, 2007 ; Retrieved on March 24, 2011 (The text was published in abbreviated form in November 2004 in AdventEcho ^, The Advent Verlag also has this detailed version available online, which is provided with the following note: “ Version October 31, 2004. This version is in comparison to Older versions slightly improved. The original draft was created for the Austrian Union and jointly edited by the lecturers Bogenhofen. "):" Summary. As much as W. Veith is to be valued in his fundamental views and especially in his scientific lectures, his explanations on the subject of Bible translations and Textus Receptus are unfortunately one-sided, unbalanced, scientifically dubious and lead to unnecessary uncertainty. They cannot be recommended. W. Veith should therefore be urgently asked either to completely revise future statements on this topic and to present them in a balanced, fair and serious manner or to dispense with them entirely. "